We might be moving towards an abstract future.
Please Remember:
The opinions expressed are mine only. These opinions do not necessarily reflect anybody else’s opinions. I do not own, operate, manage, or represent any band, venue, or company that I talk about, unless explicitly noted.
Want to use this image for something else? Great! Click it for the link to a high-res or resolution-independent version.I once wrote an article on this site about how I don’t feel like I can predict the future of live audio. I still don’t think I can predict it. Even so, I may have had a flash of inspiration lately, stemming from a conversation I had some months ago.
We were setting up for the Samba Fogo show run, and Jeff, the lighting designer and operator, reacted to something I said.
“Look at where digital consoles are now, relative to the start of your career. Lots of things are going to change.”
Well now – that got the juices flowing, even though I wasn’t consciously aware of it.
Those juices were working their way through my system a few days ago, when suddenly it hit me:
What it we’re moving toward a future where everything is networked and essentially abstract? Consoles and system management devices use networked audio right now. More speakers (some already do this) would have network ports to handle audio and remote management.
The only thing missing is the input side.
Microphones and DI boxes themselves could house a sub-miniature preamp and network interface, connecting via cables with Ethercon ends. Power-over-ethernet is already a real and mature technology, so the problem of needing bias voltage is essentially solved.
We might encounter a world, not too far distant, where the channel number is essentially obsolete. Sure, the input devices would tag what port they’re connected to, so that multiples of the same model could be sorted out. In the end, though, a device connects to the network, IDs itself, locks to the network clock, and then you just put it on your console’s input list. Because it’s all abstract, the patching order ceases to matter. You just drag and drop whatever channel you want into any position you want. It would no longer be a case of “Vocal 2 is on input 10 which is patched to channel 4.” The situation would be “The vocal 2 channel is currently at this place on the screen.”
It’s similar with output patching. You could just say something like, “Main LR to Yamaha DZR 1/2,” and that would be the end of it.
This doesn’t solve every problem, of course, and it has complexities that are all its own, but I see it as perfectly viable and a way that things might go.