#142

2019-07-19
#soundtools
#proaudio
In this video we're taking a quick first look at the SoundTools Cat Rack audio over quad twisted pair system. Stick around for the whole video to find out how to enter to win the set of CAT racks we are giving away.
One lucky viewer will get a set of one input & one output CAT Rack units when we pick the winner next week. Enter before July 26, 2019 for a chance to win.
Check out ALL of the SoundTools RAT CAT Family of Products at - amzn.to/2SpHGBk
Find the CAT RACK here - amzn.to/2y0pip2
For more info head over to www.dcsoundop.com/SoundTools Cat Rack/
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[@severinedellaporta2760]

This set will help our public school setup get working faster. Every year, a different group of high school students undertakes the task of learning how to get the sound and light going for the students art presentations and proms in our non-dedicated forum. This Cat set will definitely give our a school setup a deserved kick in the ass!

[@timothytay4744]

I just got to use one of these 4 channel sets at a corporate gig. I love how handy it came in when we were trying to get last minute audio into a foyer and it saves us a few hundred cables runs. My hope is to put this in my kit for other AV and church needs! Thanks for setting up this giveaway, including Rat Sounds.

[@amwhatiis]

I have been looking at these for a little bit now for use as a drum mic stage drop as well as getting monitor feeds out for larger setups.

[@jeremyoake5790]

Great way to route monitor mixes to wedges or even to amp racks from my DL32/M32R setup! Also great for any type of audio/dmx/coms setup. Streamlining setup and teardown! A must have tool in your rig for sure!

[@cameronfindlay3894]

I have been doing some small choir gigs and recording sessions, this would be a great way to have a neat little cable run to keep a busy small stage tidy 👍 thanks for the vids!

[@Grisefisk]

They seem great for drive lines cross stage, thats most likely my usecase, or a quick stagebox for a few inputs. Looks awesome!

[@abertulfo]

Love the sniffer sender. I’d use this for sending board outputs to the stage. Sometimes I do playback only gigs and don’t want to bust out the whole snake or multiple long xlrs...

[@joejetpack4073]

im a young guy doing freelance audio/light work at smaller events and helping out at bigger ones. and man, this would totally fit my growing kit as im currently searching for nice snakes / stagedrum systems. nice vid btw

[@roll9898]

I would use in place of a db25 breakout snake for my brass bands setup. Would make a 2 hour loading in into an hour load in. Thanks Sound Tools!!!!

[@MfcoolProductions]

I would use these for literally everything from studio to live sound. I use an old 50ft 24 channel snake for everything but a lot of times I only need about 4 to 8 channels for gigs. Also having the ability to send outputs via one cable is awesome, I can send to powered tops and mons signal without multiple 50 ft Xlr cables.

[@henrybeckwith6893]

I'd use these on stage. Did a few tour where we had these at drums and around the stage, amazing how fast and neat this system is. Never had an issue. Would love to own some myself.

[@pietropaloschi7450]

Amazing new gear... I have a band and I would use it tu simplify our live and studio setup. We are all very young, just turned 18, and we don’t have a lot of budget for our band gear.

[@marloustrydom9426]

These would definitely come in handy to use as breakouts for our stagebox (which is currently installed in a very awkward place in the venue) for everything from a band setup to an orchestra! (Taking more channels into consideration though! 😄) And thinking about it, we can actually use it to split our DMX as well, as the lines from FOH also end up next to the stage box! Love you content by the way! Great hearing about gear and getting advice from someone who actually works in the industry!

[@DanBamberAudio]

They would be used on my upcoming gigs/tours between dual SD9s for talkback/shout plus a few extra channels that always get sent both ways inevitably.

[@koursaros1924]

Great video and great gear! These would be a great addition to me freelance kit. Countless times that a small and light system (easy to carry) like this would save the day either as main snake or used as stage satellite boxes. Good luck to everyone!

[@williamotis2688]

A set of Cat Racks would be used in our system at Church to mic drums and organ Leslie cab. It would give us an easy solution extending snake across the stage.

[@jamesburke1245]

So many options. I could see a different use every week. Com subsnake to FOH, subsnake for a stage or computer inputs in video, sending out to scattered powered speakers on a truss or around the room.

[@batman13ify1]

I would add it into my x32 rack as a separate stage box for iem/monitor mixes. Instead of using a heavy 16 channel snake to be run out every time. I would even buy extra ethercon cable from soundtools

[@colinklassen542]

They would be perfect for having on hand for any last minute changes/weird runs/or just about anything!

[@dominicrossi4160]

I'd use these for all sorts of stuff. Throwing them in a rack to feed processor inputs would be sweet. Also really love the flexibility they provide in a normal stage snake configuration!

[@christrevino1206]

I work as the TD for a non-profit that operates a 119 year historic theatre that has a FOH position on the main floor and a projections position on the 1st balcony. The FOH position has 32/8 I/O and the projections position only has 1/2 I/O. The Cat rack would be a great way to augment either position, depending upon production needs, but it would be especially helpful in the projections position since we sometimes do talking head things from there after film premieres with multiple microphones.

[@LifeOfDubstep]

This is going to make our stage setups so easy with drop boxes and monitors! I would love to win these!

[@bob76451]

I'm the owner of a live sound business in Northern Virginia and I already have a decent set of these that I use on nearly every gig. I can't recommend them enough. Instead of running a huge bundle of XLR cables to the stage snake, I can cut down the stage clutter by using a series of Cat Boxes on one end for monitors and mics, and Cat Tails on the other end to plug right into the snake.

[@Videditor1067]

Hey Dave, I am a free lance TV A2. The Cat System would be a breeze to use for many of the unwired sports stadiums I visit for a National TV network. From truck to field many times I have to pull a DT12 500’ and 350’ for just 3-4 effects mics. DT is a 12 pair heavy mult. So it’s OVERKILL for sure. Running a couple Cat5s to each end of the field seems to be a perfect solution. And save my old back for sure!

[@burtbaxter6567]

I would use them to upgrade our analog patch system between DSP racks and amplifier racks. Installing them with the ethercon side facing out it would make our system much faster to set up, as well as the ability to cleanly/easily link amp racks together with the same channels.

[@DJMax446]

Those Beasts would be used for my small rental gigs. Propably a combination of DJ, dmx and talkback snake... Awesome gear!

[@henniewagner]

I would use these for getting audio from the drum riser to a digital rack, but it would be an amazing tool to have to get audio anywhere!

[@johnpenovich8974]

Great video and product. I'd use them as stage sub snakes, or augment the Dante I/O when I exceed 16 inputs at my house gig.

[@samtorresnoise]

I would use them for all the live electronics in contemporary music I do in venues that don't have much audio infrastructure built-in, as well as for faster/easier setups for live concert recordings. thanks for all your videos on this product line! it's awesome

[@bohdankolesnyk2899]

Cool piece of gear! Will work ideally in portable recording production

[@mattbuckley9191]

Adding cat racks to amp rack setups for FOH using the useful pass through’s as a convenient solution to quickly and easily patch in amplifier inputs. Utilizing the 12 channels to send AES and Analogue fallback signals as a redundant system for large system setups.

[@JL-tm5pt]

I love that idea to carry xlr through cat, I'm a freelancer and have often problems with festival stages and other venues, where the provided subsnakes are broken or too small. Those products could help me with many different problems and save time when fast problem solving is needed

[@JesseWorleyxo]

I would use these for live theater. Quick disconnect for mic racks, drop snakes for various band locations, powered monitors, so many uses!

[@tomcotter9531]

I’d use these as break out boxes to efficiently get signals round the stage with a quick and easy set up

[@leethefixitman7530]

I'd use them to replace analog snake and also to feed speakers in some setups. Its always nice to have more in/out for whatever comes your way!

[@ludman2299]

These would be such a timesaver for the work that I'm doing...theatrical and live music performance support. Thank you for the chance.

[@collinjklein]

I'd use this in multiple situations. It'd be great to use for freelance situations with getting inputs from the stage back to FOH without needing a huge snake. It would also work great for theatre to run some audio lines as well as dmx and intercom around the booths and put etc. And for install work when needing to test inputs easily without having to walk back and forth. Would love to have a set! Thanks for all the great videos you put out, I really enjoy them!

[@joshbobby]

Such a cool product, I'd use these in a rack with my digital stagebox, and buy some CAT boxes to easily distribute the audio across stages.

[@computerwiz18]

I would install them into my travel rack, giving me some help with my smaart rig, and cutting down on all the copper I end up running between my mics and FOH. Another great video, Steve!

[@EdgetoneStudios]

Cool gear. I'm currently planning a new project studio build as I've moved my business to a new town. I would use the CatRacks to bring audio from the Tracking room to the Control room for the new build. Thanks.

[@MrStartTrekPicard]

I've been looking for a good solution for having several subsnake drops at the small venue I work at in order to maximize cable management and changeover speed. These would be perfect for that! Could also be be useful for house lighting as we expand the amount of fixtures. Wouldn't hurt to have these for future touring gigs either!

[@jameshodges5213]

I'd use them as a way to clean up stage runs of cables for my backline amps as well as the microphones for my rhythm section.

[@TrevorWeller]

As a freelance corporate AV tech I am super interested in the cat rack and cat box systems. The flexibility to quickly run and drop channels with out having to pack a punch of copper is huge.

[@housenator]

definitely to help with a portable setup to reduce hauling our analog setup for the random pop-up pressers on campus.

[@taylorbrodie3907]

I’d use this pair as a drum drop as I really need a new drum snake, but in the future it would be awesome to be able to use these in a rack with a digital stage box to split out drive lines to amp racks or build a stage rack split over cat lines beautiful!

[@Fetchbruce2]

I end up with a mess of cables in front of my RM32ai mixer on stage. I would use this to run at least a stage drop to the front of the stage for vocal mics to keep things neater and safer.

[@drasik1000]

We already use the cat tails on many corporate audio productions, so a catrack set would be a logical upgrade. We mainly use them to get signal to our active speakers and from laptops on lecterns.

[@michaelyarabinee2425]

I would use a set of cat racks to transmit main audio, comm lines and DMX from front of house to the stage in a variety of theatre applications!

[@catsicle54]

I'd love to put these in at my venue for additional lines run between foh and monitor world!

[@SuperMarksman2010]

The analog snake on the stage at my theater has lost about half it's channels, and I've been looking for a more elegant replacement. These would work great!

[@mattnichols3555]

These sure would beat the heck out of the analog sub snakes I’m using!

[@dancoronado7955]

These will be a great help. I have lots of rooms that have over flow rooms and i can send all my outputs to my amp racks back stage and loop out of the cat rack to the other room to duplicate my setup. Good by old heavy snake.

[@chuckferrellmusicmusicandd9998]

I would use them for remote recording and drum input output. This would be a time saver and clean up my set up.

[@wfeeley1451]

As a freelancer who does a wide variety of jobs, I can think of a score of uses. From press risers to a I/o drop for a an artist with an active monitor. They'd make any active boxes easier to use, I could switch the current one or two way HK I work on for a regular clinet into a three way PA. Including looming in the shielded cat cabled with a 16a for power distribution.

[@cristopherzelaya4116]

I would use this in my church's setup. We currently have some rather old equipment that's starting to break down on us and this would help us improve our sound quality and options exponentially.

[@AndyNance]

Several times I have been using a mixer without a control surface like an x32 rack or an XR18 and had the mixer on stage, but my mix position somewhere out in the house. I’ve wanted I/O at my mix position, but running a bunch of xlr seemed cumbersome. This would be a great solution.

[@shadreckkalukusha1321]

I mainly do corporate gigs inside the week. Operating screens lights and sound. Sound system is mixed via wifi. This would b great to run playback and video feed back to my mixer position. Comment all the way from malawi to you my friend. Keep up the great work.

[@kyleshadow2]

I've been looking at these to get myself some remote stage inputs when we have bands on stage, for my small PA setup that i use to supplement Children and Community Theater shows, but have still been a bit pricey for me to jump on at this point in my freelance life. The price point over spending $1200+ on a digital stage box is also out of budget right now.

[@lamininmedialive]

I operate in South Africa, Cape Town and managed to buy a Behringer XR18 and have hunted it inside a box and connect my laptop to control the audio, record the audio and improve my live stream audio quality. I also run a 30m stage box which I have a number of challenges with. I would use the CAT rack pair to cleanup my connections and this will help me when I do events that require me to rent a longer analogue stage box.

[@ducaplays5521]

I would use them on my mobile studio/live rack . Its a game changer

[@rosealex6]

I would use this as a drive return from F.o.h. for things like comm and lighting word dmx I already run 4 cat lines from F.o.h to the stage usually only using two for the stage box having the ability to use the other two cables to do all that and then some over one cable run (4 cat loom) is amazing. It’s all about the out.

[@sha3d]

These would save me so much in running cable. My setups are generally festival style stages. Would love to trade this out for all of my sub snakes

[@joshuaculross1387]

My use for this product would be for my main FOH snake run for smaller venues or feed to a larger stagebox box for bigger events or stages

[@austinperkins2556]

These would be a great addition to my flight rack as a light weight stage box system. It would also be great to get a Aes signal to foh when needed.

[@CanvasCommunityLR]

I love the idea of the cat snakes like cat rack. I would love a set in my racks to carry comm, DMX, and incidental audio between my FOH drive rack and the stage rack. I have a multi cable with several extra Cat5e that are ready and waiting to be plugged in.

[@checodosan4358]

I would use this system as extensions for my main PA and subs config outputs. Also for my drum set inputs and returns for IEMs.

[@GDSchaefer]

I would use them to help better organize the cables that are on stage! Shorter runs in a more efficient manner. Should save time pre and post show as well as make the stage safer from trip hazards

[@IntroIsaac]

I’d use them as stage boxes to run lines to Behringer at FOH, Dante lines from Ableton and a ULX Quad, and a DMX line. With even more of these it just makes it a cost effective way of being mobile and packing gear easily.

[@isaace.2244]

What is really nice about these products from sound tools is that they are digital signal, without the configuring hassle, and yet still retain a type of ruggedized that is sought after in all professionals I'd use these as a travel kit to use for any scenario on the road/on shows. I've also dreamed about using them in certain installs to eliminate the bulkiness of copper and the expense of stage boxes (especially with high end consoles)

[@DcSoundOp]

Just to clarify, these do not convert analog to digital for transmission. They are simply using the four twisted pairs in a Cat5 cable to transport a signal like an xlr would. The ground is carried on the shield & shared. Thanks for the message, good luck! 👍🏼

[@isaace.2244]

Ohhh, I see - thanks for clarification!

[@jcaudio4938]

I'd use them for an upcoming tour as additional tie lines between foh and mons!

[@Ghaerther]

I'd love to use a pair for running long xlr lines for delay stacks, overflow rooms, or the occasional recording session I do in big theaters

[@MattArlita]

I would use it for conference setups requiring lectern mics and laptop playback on stage with a cat5 running back to FOH. Nice and clean.

[@Bryan-or9hc]

I I have a set of cat tails and they have made a huge difference In some of my smaller dj setups. But a set of cat racks could be a game changer for my small sound and light company . The setup and tare down times would be greatly improved.

[@CBR372]

I would use them in higher ed event AV where no two events are the same and adaptability are key!

[@insaneboostracing7140]

I’m planning on getting a few of these I use all active speakers an want to use for sub/main sends from my driverack for left/right and center fill then would like to use another for stage monitors be nice to have less cables running long distances

[@nagrom04v]

This would be great in a house of worship where audio has to broken down and setup each week. I would use it as a patch panel for my drums or even keys. We have a two Tio1608Ds racked and this would allows us to keep the drum channels setup and use the Female Cat Tails to mic down the drums. We can also do the same with our keys. We have a Behringer 8 channel D/I that we use now. Running one Cat6 cable makes setup 10times taste, especially with non-audio volunteers.

[@djthornton98]

I do traveling Theater camps as well as other odd jobs with my AE school. I’d put one of these in my computer/mic rack witch would make sending track audio and mic audio to house consoles that we have use in those different locations much easier and cleaner vs needing to run 8 mic lines and 4 track lines to the house console. Just have one cat rack in the box and the other behind the console with some patch cables.

[@AndyTheElectrician]

This would be a great simple snake for corporate events, I freelance and this is a great solution to a lot of setups I end up ruining into this would extremely simplify the setup and operation of many events I get hired to do.

[@ryanwilliams1821]

Id replace our aging split snake for live stages thanks for the videos!

[@CvHLJC]

Live sound flexibility on stage is what I'd need those for.

[@robmcculley6835]

I work for a large AV company and I would love to introduce the CAT Tails and Cat Rack in break out sessions. Having a single CAT6 cable running into a podium, under a speaker stand or under air walls would make cabling virtually disappear! It would be my goal to have this innovation adopted in many applications in our conference space.

[@behindthecurtains2163]

I plan to use the cat rack with my line 6 stagescape m20d mixer.

[@Cletusaz]

I would use those for my LR, Sub, Fill sends but it looks like I would have some left over for TalkBack drivelines! :-)

[@PeakEfficiency]

A far more elegant solution to go from video world to the stage box with the addition of comms aswell as program audio feed, swapping the xlr gender where necessary. I also do a large number of corporate gigs where I need to connect my mic rack to a mixer, would be so much faster doing 2 ethercons instead of 8 xlrs each time The way they look elegant and professional and the endless ways they could make almost any system more streamline would make me feel more confident to go freelance, a plunge i have yet to make.

[@colehaaf4425]

I would put it in my stage rack for quicker patching.

[@willleslie4440]

I would give it to my school as we have a new theatre but the patch panel in the tech booth only has 4 male xlr points! We have also have a bunch of cat 6 patches so I would use it to expand the capabilities of the new theatre

[@jesseshepherd8535]

I would use them to replace or supplement some installed and temporary snakes in some different buildings across a camp.

[@HeatherScott182]

I would love to double our stage inputs with these.

[@nicktayloradventures]

I'd use them for house tie lines and as stage boxes.

[@oliwalker7386]

It would be great to be able to turn up to some of the smaller venues, which often have poor existing infrastructure and analogue desks and use the cat boxes to either send a few extra microphones to the desk over just three cables rather than 12 or to get some of on stage inputs to the patch point at the side of the stage without having to run all of my individual cables over there!

[@alexsweet6534]

I would use these for a multitude of applications, I’m a freelance live audio engineer but cover a lot of side stages for bigger events with my own gear, I work solo on all of my gigs and I’m still hauling a 150’ 24x8 copper snake for all my gigs which is often overkill for smaller setups, a pair of cat racks would cut improve my speed of setup and workflow tremendously. I also recently being asked by clients to provide some sort of satellite fill, the cat rack would provide a flexible, elegant solution to move audio long distances on the fly, without compromise. Be it analog audio for a stage box, AES to interface with a monitor console, a satellite feed, or a dmx extension, I feel that the Cat Rack and frankly the whole Cat family of products are something I could see being an integral part of my live event production setup at every show for extended future!

[@beesting789games7]

I would use them to replace my digital snake. I would mount them in my sound cart to receive the signal from my frontline marimbas and vibes which I would mount them to. It would really decrease the amount of cables needing to be plugged in and out with the time sensitive marching band competitions we preform in.

[@shishirxs]

I will use it to connect delay stack in live concert by replacing the audio-link. It will be an effective replacement of sub-snake

[@dfncinc]

We would use these as press drop system in the video work we do and also use it to split off multiple monitor splits!

[@Nasute]

I'd love to use these in my church. With all the keys, bass, guitar, drum and vocal mics, this would be great to streamline our setup and use less cords.

[@DcSoundOp]

I know a few churches using these around their stages and loving them for sure. Really helpful if the setup changes from week to week too. Thanks Ellis.

[@xMUDK1Px]

definitely would use them to assist with my free lancing gigs!

[@dannymc3900]

I do corporate and band stuff. I would use the CatBox for Lectern mics (stereo) and audio playback (stereo). I would use the CatRack, either for using my multiple channels for amps for main Pa, front fills, side fills & delay fills. Could also be used for my wireless radio racks, placed at stage. Can also be used for I/O mixed by using gender changers. E.g multiple top table mics and floor monitors for foldback audio. All with a SINGLE CABLE!!! Thanks for great content!

[@JasperBoers8014]

I would use them for my drive-in show. So i can more easy run the cables to my pa system. And also i would use them to mix bandjes on a easyer way.

[@jamesshelton9126]

These would be great for small festivals I do with powered monitors. It would eliminate multicable runs