PreSonus’s recent introduction of the EarMix 16M is important news for churches on two fronts. One is obvious, the other a bit more subtle. We’ll start with the obvious.
PreSonus StudioLIve mixers have been phenomenally popular, with thousands now at work as main mixers in small- to mid-sized churches or in secondary rooms at larger churches. Very early on, PreSonus offered an attractive bonus for StudioLive users: personal monitoring via remote control of aux sends using a free app – dubbed QMix – for your iOS or (later) Android device. The price was unbeatable and for many applications it worked amazingly well.
However, even in later upgraded versions, QMix could not provide the flexibility, reliability and immediate tactile control of a dedicated, hardware-based personal monitor mixer. That meant turning to a third-party supplier for solutions, which sometimes proved awkward, costly or both. But now …
Eureka! The long-awaited – some might say long overdue – EarMix 16M networked hardware solution has arrived. With a street price pegged a nickel below $400, it looks to be highly competitive in its capabilities, user friendliness and build quality. Designed as a seamless, plug ‘n’ play solution for use with StudioLive Series III mixers, EarMix 16M offers a scalable solution that lets you start with a just a few personal mixers and keep expanding along with your growing music team.
With a street price pegged a nickel below $400, it looks to be highly competitive in its capabilities, user friendliness and build quality.
First, a check of the basics: Each EarMix 16M accepts up to 16 mono channels over the network, with sources for each channel configured on the StudioLive Series III console or by using free UC Surface cross-OS software. The control surface has select buttons for each channel plus a complete control section for the selected input: level (with LED meter), limiter, pan, 3-band EQ with swept frequency midrange, and buttons for link, solo and mute. The Global section lets you group channels as well as store and recall your mixes, with up to 16 scenes stashed in local memory.
The Output section has a level control for the local analog aux input, separate level knobs for line and headphone outputs, and a mono sum button. The rear panel sports the headphone (stereo ¼”), line out (1/4” pair) and Aux input (1/8”) jacks, network in and thru, power supply input, and power switch. The strong headphone amplifier is designed to drive low-impedance devices such as premium in-ear monitors. A mic stand mount is available as an option.
For a starter system, you can daisy-chain up to six EarMix 16M units directly to a StudioLIve Series III mixer, though you would need to hook up power supplies to each as the mixer’s port does not have PoE—power over Ethernet. However, if you invest $400 (minus a nickel) in PreSonus’ SW5E switch, you will get PoE from four of the ports, with the fifth open for connecting to the mixer or other switches. Of course you can still daisy chain off the individual EarMix 16M units, but PoE works only for the first in the chain. If you want more ports with PoE, larger “industrial grade” AVB switches are available. And those three letters bring us to…
The less obvious news: it’s the AVB network. Rather than fencing in users with a proprietary network or licensing a third-party solution (like the one connecting everything from Inferno to Paradiso and in between), PreSonus has signed on to the growing number of companies building their network ecosystems around the open AVB/TSN standard – that stands for Audio-Video Bridging/Time-Sensitive Networking. Based on the IEEE 802.1 standards, AVB (for short) has been adopted in applications ranging from project studios (MOTU) to high-end sound reinforcement (Meyer Sound and L-Acoustics) and complex AV installations (Biamp Systems).
“AVB offers strong benefits to our customers,” comments PreSonus Senior Project Manager Ray Tantzen. “There are the technical aspects, including a built-in high precision clock and guaranteed bandwidth. But there’s also ease of use. With AVB switches there’s no special set-up required, and we have control over the user experience, allowing us to handle setup tasks under the hood so the user doesn’t need to deal with them.”
Right now, the AVB network is guaranteed to work seamlessly and flawlessly when connecting PreSonus components within the company’s own network ecosystem.
Right now, the AVB network is guaranteed to work seamlessly and flawlessly when connecting PreSonus components within the company’s own network ecosystem. Regarding possible connection with other components also employing AVB, here Tantzen is more cautious. This is a matter of “interoperability”, and to ensure this a trade group called the Avnu Alliance offers a stringent certification process.
“These units have been designed with Avnu certification in mind but have not yet been certified,” Tantzen says, “though we’re working with our partners on a plan for certification.”
Tantzen says that the EarMix 16M should work in any AVB system with the same stream configuration, which would include selected products from MOTU, Pivitek, Biamp and QSC.
But at this point, such interoperability is more future-oriented, keeping possibilities open. “We don’t want to officially support third parties until we’ve had a chance to work with them to fully test and provide documentation,” he says.
But the door to the future is assuredly wide open. Right now, you know you’ll have a seamless networked personal monitoring connection to a StudioLive III via AVB. Down the road, many more useful connections are likely.
