Small Gig rack with wheels, 15kg, 2U. Cantabile PC, touchscreen monitor, band mixer, IEM amp, UPS, WiFi, DMX

a6325435 · November 2, 2021, 8:02pm

Inspired by some of the recent threads to post this. Not sure if anyone’s interested, but just in case… I built this one in Aug 2019, and did a few gigs and rehearsals with it before everything changed. It is based around a 2u SKB Studioflyer case, with a few minor modifications. I’m in a bar band with generally no space, and limited patience! I like this case because the top comes off easily in case anything needs to be inspected.

This case covers everything I need, plus house and monitor mixer for the band, power distribution, and DMX lighting control.

There’s enough power in the UPSs to power everything except the mains fed Behringer expander for at least 20 mins to cover an orderly shutdown during the rush to unplug everything at the end of a gig.

Power Supply - 2x12V 200w PSUs which are connected in parallel for redundancy.

UPS - 3 low voltage UPSes, which give me 12V for the Keyboard, 15V for the Motu, and 19V for the PC.

PC - Gigabyte Brix, 7th Gen, i5. It runs C3 and lighting software.

Audio Interface + 20input Mixer - Motu AVB with Behringer 8in+8out expander. Ipad for mixing.

Monitor - Liliput 10.1" HDMI touchscreen

Wifi - Access Point for ipad mixing, lighting controller, and Cantabile web interface. Network switch for PC, DMX controller, and uplink to home network.

IEM Amp- Behringer P1.

In transport mode

Packed up just before putting the the lid back on

The Back
Switched power to PA speakers and lights, Mains Out, 3xDMX outs, Network in.

Powered up and ready to plug in
USB light & Gooseneck ambient mic (front left)
Wireless DMX transmitter (rear left). There’s also a wired DMX controller and 4 way DMX splitter in the rack.
Voltage, current, and rack temp display next to the IEM amp
Custom lower panels right to left contains switched power to rear sockets for PA + lights, buttons to control the UPSs, Stereo in for house music, 12V out for Keyboard, USB out to Keyboard, and Backup audio in for keyboard, 4 monitor speaker outputs, 3 band inputs.

Inside

Just the PSUs and UPSs

Snake to Keyboard rack with split wrap.
I also have 2 x 15m snakes that go to the PA speakers and lighting bars. These snakes take power, audio and DMX, and plug into the back of the rack.

Here’s the keyboard end (but with the old rack - back when gigging was a thing)

mmichaelc · November 2, 2021, 10:07pm

That’s seriously awesome.
One question about the screens above your keyboard, how are they mounted? On separate stands or attached to the keyboard stand?

PeterFitz · November 3, 2021, 2:33am

That is VERY cool I would live more details/photos, Flow chart, Cantabile rack, even a video. (so I can steal some ideas)

PS You must have an Electronics/engineering background, this set up is next level

a6325435 · November 3, 2021, 9:09pm

That’s a custom mount made from a bit of timber painted black, a spare clamp for the Spider stand, and a couple of K&M tablet mounts. Here’s a pic. The timber could be chopped down a bit, but I wasn’t sure where I wanted the screens at the time of painting.

a6325435 · November 3, 2021, 9:25pm

Thanks. Anything in particular you want to know about? There’s a lot of thought in the physical layout to make best use of the panel space, the electronics, the network routing and configuration, the lighting software and hardware (and how it is all driven via C3) and the connections for quick setup and tear down and redundancy.

Here’s a link to my previous 4u rack with mostly the same features, and a bit more information. It was quite a satisfying effort to get it all in 2u.