The RSS system uses CAT 5e to connect the stage hardware to the FOH desk. At the stage end there are numerous female XLR connectors mounted directly onto the brains of the PCB. To make this connection point more rugged - and to give PA companies the opportunity to incorporate their existing line systems - Roland asked VDC's technical staff to devise a panel that would sit over these XLRs and provide one simple multipin connection.
At the other end of the system, where it connects to the FOH mixer, VDC was asked to devise another panel that would convert the fiddly D25 connectors to a simple and much stronger VDM150.
VDC director Giles Copeman, who was in charge of the project, says: "We were able to complete the FOH end panel in time for PLASA, where it was incorporated into Roland's Digital Snake display. We are now working on a flightcased version of the stage end panel and we should have this product completed very soon. We plan to use VDMs as our default connectors and incorporated both 85 and 150 so that PA companies can choose the connector that best suited their system."
(Jim Evans)
