Having played thousands of shows and announced that they are not breaking up as a band but that 2025 will be the last year of shows for an indefinite amount of time, Athens, Georgia-based band Papadosio put Allen & Heath’s Avantis Solo digital mixing console to the test with their mix of prog rock, livetronica, jazz, and jam on a recent outing.
With extensive prior experience with the dLive and SQ series, FOH engineer Jon Chadwick readily made the transition to Avantis, opting for a digital split over Dante with the monitor console, and using three DX168 expanders positioned around the stage. This choice offered significant flexibility for I/O placement and simplified cabling, replacing bulkier analogue snakes with more convenient Ethercon runs.
‘The Avantis’ flexible I/O routing made setting up the Dante split seamless,’ he says, ‘I could tie-line mix outs from the monitor console to DX168 outputs, ensuring the band retained their familiar monitor setup without needing to run any additional cabling.
Chadwick’s decision to use the Avantis Solo stemmed from a desire to bridge the gap between portability and powerful features. He had previously considered an SQ5 for its compact size, but needed more bus flexibility than the console allowed.
Conversely, a dLive set-up, while appealing for its capabilities, was not in the budget. Chadwick found the Avantis Solo to occupy the middle ground: ‘Avantis Solo fits perfectly between SQ and dLive, offering an abundance of mix buses and more advanced processing capabilities without the massive price tag- all while still being a great control surface.’
The Avantis Solo features a 96kHz XCVI FPGA engine, delivering ultra-low latency, and comes with the option for a dPack upgrade, which includes acclaimed dLive Deep processing. The console’s processing was a match for Papadosio’s dense sound. ‘The Dyn8 was a game changer across vocals, keys, guitars, and our Ableton mix bus,’ Chadwich says, also highlighting the Mighty compressor model for creating a parallel compressed drum bus, and the Opto compressor for its effectiveness on bass and vocals.
Beyond technical performance, the Avantis Solo’s compact form factor was a significant advantage for touring. ‘It’s small enough to check on flights, transport in a sedan, and still powerful enough to handle complex mixes,’ Chadwick says.
The sonic impact of the Avantis Solo was immediately evident, particularly to the band members. ‘One of the standout moments on this tour was the reaction from the band when they put in their IEMs during soundcheck,’ he continues. ‘They immediately noticed the increased clarity and transient response, despite keeping the same mics, mic placement, processing, and gain staging.’
‘Overall, the Avantis Solo exceeded my expectations,’ he adds. ‘The combination of portability, processing power, and flexible I/O, especially with a DX-Hub and DX168s, makes it an incredible value.’
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