Soundcraft Compact Stagebox

The Compact Stagebox is an extension to the range of Soundcraft digital live sound consoles, and adds a low-cost expansion option to the Soundcraft Vi Series, Soundcraft Si Series, Soundcraft Vi1 and Soundcraft Si Compact.

The Soundcraft Compact Stagebox offers a high density of I/O connections in only 4RU of rack space. The modular unit is fully configurable but is offered with a standard configuration of 32 mic/line inputs, 8 line outputs, 8 channels of AES/EBU outputs and 2 expansion slots for standard Studer D21m I/O cards. The D21m is the I/O architecture for Studer as well as Soundcraft digital mixing systems and allows connection to most popular digital formats, including CobraNet, AVIOM A-Net, Ethersound, ADAT and RockNet. A MADI recording interface can also be fitted to the expansion slots.

It is possible to equip the Compact Stagebox with an additional 16 mic/line input XLR module instead of the output module, providing 48 inputs, In this case, analog or AES outputs could still be obtained on D-Type connectors via D21m cards fitted to the expansion slots.

As well as the flexibility of the D21m option card interface, the Compact Stagebox also uses the same Mic/Line I/O modules as found in the Soundcraft Vi1 console, and as a result it is possible to move or share modules between console and stagebox, should a different configuration of I/O be required on either the Vi1 or the Stagebox. For example, the 8 line out/AES output card from the Stagebox could be fitted to the Vi1 console in place of a 16ch line output card. Alternatively, the mic input modules can be replaced with output modules if large numbers of outputs are required. When fitting cards to the expansion slots it should be noted that the maximum input and output capacity of the CSB is limited by the MADI console link to 64 in/64 out.

The Compact Stagebox is connected to the host console using Optical-fiber MADI, the same way as the larger 64 Mic/Line Vi6 Stagebox is hooked up, and shares the same redundant MADI cable capability.

The unit comes complete with twin redundant power supplies, thermostatically-controlled fan cooling and full LED status monitoring. An 8ch GPIO Interface is also provided.

The Compact Stagebox is ideal for existing owners of the Vi Series consoles as a cost-effective method of expanding the input capability by expanding to up to 96 mic/line analog inputs from remote stageboxes, or as a partner for the Vi1 and Si range of consoles providing cost-effective remote I/O capability in conjunction with the optional MADI interface cards available from those consoles.