SuperRack Routing and Patching Options

May 18, 2022

Learn advanced patching and routing tips for your live Waves SuperRack setup: Watch how to patch SoundGrid interfaces, console expansion cards and MADI devices, and how to set up playback and recording with SuperRack. Video with WavesLive product specialist Fabrizio Piazzini.

Let’s walk through some of the patching options that are available in SuperRack. These options are valid for most consoles that are equipped with a Waves SoundGrid I/O, such a an SSL console with a DiGiGrid MGB or MGO, a Allen & Heath with a D-Live or Waves SQ card, or a Yamaha Revive series with an HY128 card – just to pick a few examples.

In this example we will use the built-in Waves SoundGrid I/O on a DiGiCo console.

We will use SuperRack in a 32-rack configuration and route audio in and out of the processing racks. This can be done one-by-one by choosing the rack input, or via the ‘Auto-Route All Racks’ function.

When selecting to route all racks automatically, we will be prompted to choose between the two available input banks. Note that outputs are assigned automatically to the corresponding inputs. Now we have established a setup with an internal Waves I/O expansion card, and two SoundGrid servers.

On your DiGiCo console, the Waves I/O will be displayed inside the patch menu, as ‘Waves’ and displayed in SuperRack, as ‘DiGiCo IO.’

Now, see that the Internal Console Routing is aligned with SuperRack so that we can send and return the audio in and out of the console, through the DiGiCo Waves I/O on the same corresponding channels.

For Example: We’ve decided that Rack 1 in SuperRack is dedicated to processing the Bass Drum channel.

  1. Route the I/O input 1 and I/O Output 1 to the Bass Drum Rack
  2. Route the Bass Drum channel insert located on the console to the Waves I/O.
  3. Open the insert patch menu on the Bass Drum channel and route it as follows:
    • Send from Waves I/O 1 OUT
    • Return to Waves I/O Input 1

To recap, we routed the Bass Drum channel’s insert point on the console to Waves I/O 1 OUT which we received on Rack 1 in SuperRack. We then returned the processed signal through Rack 1 and sent it out to Waves I/O 1 to get it back to the console’s return point.

MADI

If your console is not equipped with a SoundGrid I/O expansion card but has a MADI option available, you can use a Waves MADI I/O such as the DiGiGrid MGB to send and return audio from the console to SuperRack and back.

We want to follow the same concept but route the Bass drum channel to the console’s MADI ports instead. In this case, the MGB is connected to console’s onboard MADI IO using BNC cables. Open the insert patch menu on the Bass Drum channel and route the send from MADI 1 OUT and Return to MADI Input 1.

We’ve just seen how we can send audio from the console to SuperRack and back for plugin processing by using a built-in Waves expansion card or a MADI SoundGrid IO.

Adding a recording and playback driver to our setup

Our setup is now patched with 32 channels for insert points processing using the DiGiGrid MGB. We can now add a recording/playback computer to our setup.

In this example we will route an additional 24 channels to and from the SoundGrid DAW Driver.

  1. Assign the SoundGrid DAW Driver and give it a friendly name (such as “Playback”). The SoundGrid driver allows us to stream up to 128 channels of audio to and from the computer. The driver can be used on any supported computer that is connected to the SoundGrid network.
  2. In SuperRack Patch tab’s ‘Device to Device’ section, route channels 33 to 56 of the MGB to channels 1-24 of the recording computer. These channels are not processed by SuperRack as we already used channels 1-32 of the MGB for insert processing.

Verify that channels 33-56 of the MGB receive the correct audio source from the console.

  1. Open the ‘Copy Audio’ menu on the console and route channels 1-24 from the stage box to MADI channels 33-56.
  2. Open your DAW, select Waves SoundGrid as your audio engine and route channels 1-24 to your recording channels.

If your DiGiCo console is equipped with an internal Waves I/O card, follow the same concept:

  1. Route 24 output channels from our DAW to the SoundGrid Driver channels 1-24.
  2. In SuperRack Patch tab’s ‘Device to Device’ section, route SoundGrid DAW driver channels 1-24 to Waves I/O channels 33-56.
  3. At this point we are ready to receive the playback channels into our console.

We have gone over some of the most used routing schemes that are available in SuperRack, by using a Waves expansion card or a MADI Waves I/O and patching it between our console. We also learned how we can utilize the SoundGrid Driver for the purpose of recording and playback via a DAW.

For more info on setting up SuperRack with DiGiCo, watch these videos:

  1. SuperRack DiGiCo Integration Guidelines
  2. SuperRack DiGiCo Tips & Features

Check out the SuperRack Knowledge Base for everything else you need to know using and setting up SuperRack.

Need more help? Contact Waves Technical Support.