nearly as many people as you’d think from the when I perform live, but I do this because I trust Once the network has been set-up there aren’t
way they’re discussed online. the audio interface to travel better than a less really any cons to speak of to this approach.
road-worthy set of adaptor cables, not because It’s cost effective, fast, and sounds excellent.
When it comes down to it, if you’re on a budget I notice any real difference in the quality of the The main thing is applying the initial energy and
or if you’re new to the software keys world, I audio itself. research to figure out whether it will work with
think the headphone jack is the best place to
start. Your mileage may vary.
your front of house hardware.
In my opinion, the flexibility and possible
reliability increases are the main reasons to go
AN AUDIO INTERFACE
Whichever of the three options you choose
audio quality.
The second (and most popular) method is to
use a USB or FireWire interface to connect
GREAT OPTIONS
with an interface over the headphone jack, not
to go with, the truth is it’s never been easier
AUDIO OVER DANTE
than it is right now to get high-quality audio
audio from your computer to your soundboard.
from your keys rig to the sound system. My
With this method, you’re most often buying This third option is also the least commonly encouragement to you would be to not get
something built with a studio recording context utilized. I think that’s the case not because hung up on the endless debate on the ‘best’
in mind and instead using it only for its audio of any problem with this approach but rather approach and rather make your decisions
outputs. because it’s simply not as well understood and based on what makes sense for your budget,
is often completely overlooked in this type of how much time you have to invest in the
conversation. process, and where you foresee your team’s
There’s a huge range of price points in the
audio interface world from low double digits all
needs growing over the next few years.
the way up to over a thousand dollars. Audio If you’re not familiar with Dante, it’s a very interfaces can give you more routing flexibility powerful way to send multi-channel audio over If you make your choices based on those
and road worthiness than the headphone jack standard Ethernet networks with ultra- considerations, you’ll find those RadioShack
method above and as you get up to higher low latency. Many modern digital soundboards inspired nightmares a thing of the past.
price points you can also start to perceive audio are capable of receiving Dante from other quality and latency improvements in some (but devices so often the only thing a church needs not all) cases. to do to start using Dante is connect a single
cable between the two devices and set it up.
Many people swear that an audio interface is
essential to a stable worship keys rig but I’m There can be a bit of a learning curve to the
not sure that I agree with that in every scenario. setup process but there is a lot of useful
To be fair, I personally use an audio interface documentation online that walks you through it.
September 2019
David Pfaltzgraff
Founder
and
Lead
Sound
Designer
at
SundaySounds.com, a site that resources worship
keys players and guitarists around the world.
David currently resides in Des Moines, IA with his
wife and two boys. He enjoys volunteering in his
church’s worship ministry, old synthesizers, and a
good super-hero movie.
SundaySounds.com
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