Snake Card For Digidesign VENUE FOH Rack Digidesign 2001 Junipero Serra Boulevard Daly City, CA 94014-3886 USA tel: 650·731·6300 fax: 650·731·6399 Technical Support (USA) tel: 650·731·6100 fax: 650·731·6375 Product Information (USA) tel: 650·731·6102 tel: 800·333·2137 International Offices Visit the Digidesign Website for contact information Website www.digidesign.
Legal Notices This guide is copyrighted ©2008 by Digidesign, a division of Avid Technology, Inc. (hereafter “Digidesign”), with all rights reserved. Under copyright laws, this guide may not be duplicated in whole or in part without the written consent of Digidesign.
Contents Chapter 1. Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Snake Card Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Snake Card Features and Capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
iv Snake Card
Chapter 1: Overview The Snake card allows you to connect a Stage Rack to your FOH Rack via a Digital Snake cable, transmitting a maximum of 48 inputs and outputs to and from your console. Adding a second Snake card to your FOH Rack allows you to add a second Stage Rack, expanding your system’s I/O capacity to a maximum of 96 inputs and outputs. For Snake card installation instructions, see “Installing a Snake Card” on page 3.
Conventions Used in This Guide All Digidesign guides use the following conventions to indicate menu choices and key commands in D-Show and Pro Tools: : Convention Action File > Save Session In Pro Tools, choose Save Session from the File menu Options > System Config In the D-Show software screen, click Options to display the Options page, then click the System Config tab.
Chapter 2: Installing a Snake Card Adding a second Snake card expands your VENUE system’s I/O capacity by allowing you to connect a second Stage Rack to your FOH Rack. You also need a second Snake card in order to use the HDx2 TDM Record option, even if you are not using a second Stage Rack.
5 Remove the Snake card from its packing material. Hold the card by its edges. Mounting bracket Ribbon cable connector 7 When the card is seated in its slot, secure both sides of the Snake card to the inside of the FOH Rack chassis with the two provided mounting screws (accessible from the open front panel of the FOH Rack). Power connector Securing the Snake card to the FOH Rack chassis 8 Secure the Snake card to the back panel of the FOH Rack us- ing four of the provided mounting screws.
Make sure the keyed connector is oriented correctly in each socket. Secure each connection by moving the tabs on each side of the connector inward. Check to make sure the cable is connected securely. Confirming Snake Card Installation After installing the Snake card, you should confirm that you have installed it properly. You can confirm installation by checking your system hardware status. To complete and confirm installation: 1 Reattach the FOH Rack faceplate.
Connecting the Stage Rack to the FOH Rack The Stage Rack is connected to the FOH Rack with the Digital Snake cable (purchased separately) via the Snake card. It is recommended that you use a second, redundant Digital Snake cable connected to the Snake card’s Snake 2 ports. To connect the Stage Rack to the FOH Rack: 1 Connect the send snake to the Stage 1 Out port of the Stage Rack to the Stage 1 In port on the FOH Rack.
When connecting two Stage Racks with redundant snake connections, make sure each Stage Rack is connected to a single Snake card on the FOH Rack, as shown in the following figure.
8 Snake Card
Chapter 3: Digital Snake Cables You can purchase 250-foot Digital Snake cables from Digidesign for use with VENUE systems. For more information on purchasing a Digital Snake cable, visit the Digidesign website at www.digidesign.com. Alternatively, you can build your own snake cable assembly using various brands of copper coaxial cable and BNC connectors.
