I recently installed the new v3.0 firmware on my dl16 digital snakes and found out about this new split mode and have not seen anyone talking about it online so I figured I would write up a guide on how to set it up. The end result is simple, inputs of 2-3 stage boxes are shared between two consoles and the outputs can be split between them as well. People who are familiar with complicated routing on the X/M 32 series of desks may not think that this is particularly ground breaking because this could be achieved before with additional routing from desk to desk but what I find interesting about this new function is not that it unlocks new capabilities but that is it quite easy to set up and understand once you've decoded the routing matrix provided by behringer/midas. For simplicity sake I won't include that matrix here but it can be found in the firmware download for the respective devices.
Inputs are shared, Outputs are divided: DL16 #1 Out 1-8 for Mons, DL16 #2 Out 1-8 for FOH
I prefer to think of AES50 connections as a long chain as there is no redundancy mode available so there is no in and out its just a long two way street. For this configuration the chain looks like this:
Mons A --> DL16 #1 A, DL16 #1 B --> DL16 #2 A, DL 16 #2 B --> FOH A
Both Desks should be set to 48kHz and the Monitor desk Clock Source should be set to internal and the FOH desk clock source should be set to AES50 A.
There should now be green sync lights on both desks and all 4 DL16 sync lights.
DL16 #1 Settings
Hold the CONFIG button and turn the encoder until you reach the setting that turns on the splitter light as show in the image
DL16 #2 Settings
Hold the CONFIG button and turn the encoder until you reach the setting where the three bottom lights are turned on.
Splitter, Out +16, and Out +8
MONS Desk Routing and Clock settings
Under Block Routing select all 32 inputs to come from AES50 A 1-32
The Monitor desk will have control over preamp gain as it is plugged into AES50 A.
On the Patch Out page set outs 1-8 to the sources desired for DL16 #1 xlr outputs
Using the user outs allows for more advanced setups where outs 17-32 are sent to the adat outputs of dl16 #1 and outs 33-48 are sent to the ultranet port 0f dl116 #1 for p16 systems.
Monitor bus outputs selected for demonstration here.
FOH Desk Routing and Clock settings
Under Block Routing select all 32 inputs to come from AES50 A 1-32
The FOH desk will have Digital Trim available for inputs as it is plugged into AES50 B.
On the Patch Out page set outs 1-8 to the sources desired for DL16 #2 xlr outputs
Using the user outs allows for more advanced setups where outs 17-32 are sent to the adat outputs of dl16 #2 and outs 33-48 are sent to the ultranet port 0f dl116 #2 for p16 systems.
Matrix outputs selected for demonstration here