DiGiCo's Little Red Box is specifically designed to work with DiGiCo's SD9 digital mixing console and allows you to connect a D-Rack or a MADI Rack (DiGi-Rack or MiNi-Rack) to two SD9s.
Currently, a single D-Rack only allows you to connect to one SD9, with no way of sharing the rack. The Little Red Box, however, will allow you to plug in your D-Rack, main console and a secondary console. The main console controls all gains, as well as outputs on the rack, whilst the secondary console acts as a 'receive only' module for the inputs, allowing you to share a rack and operate either Front of House or monitors. DiGiCo's gain tracking system can be activated when required.
The handy SPLIT MADI switch allows you to decide if you want to split a D-Rack or one of DiGiCo's other racks. On an SD9, this connector is usually limited to 32 inputs and 16 outputs. By connecting a DiGi-Rack it allows all 56 I/O to run and is therefore a great way of expanding the I/O capabilities of an SD9.
The Little Red Box is powered via USB, with a second USB port acting as a 'thru', meaning there is no loss of available connections.
The Little Blue Box, meanwhile, allows you to connect an SD9, D-Rack and MADI console (SD8, SD7 or even a D-Series), thus allowing you to share a D-Rack between two or three consoles. The SD9 / MADI switch allows you to select between the SD9, or whatever console is plugged in to the MADI connector to control the D-Rack.
Both boxes can be easily connected to the mixing console with a Velcro strip, or by use of a specially designed19" rack plate.
(Jim Evans)
