Behringer is now shipping the S16 Digital Snake, a modern alternative to the bulky and more expensive copper snake cables.

The S16 is an integral component of Behringer's X32 Digital Mixer family, providing a scalable solution for remote microphone inputs.

Digital mixers have changed and improved the landscape of live music production, unfortunately it left out the cumbersome analog "snake" cable. The Behringer S16 Digital Snake changes all that, simplifying the process of connecting your microphones to your mixer.

This digital snake is developed with the help of Klark Teknik, which provided the SuperMAC digital audio processing technology, while Behringer made sure that it stays affordable and accessible.

The S16 comes with 16 programmable and remotely controllable mic preamps, and it has 8 analog, balanced XLR returns at the stage end. It then conveniently connects to your Front of House console via a single CAT5 cable without the need for a dedicated router.

Behringer exlplained what the Klark Teknik SuperMAC (AES50-Compliant) technology is about: "It gives the S16 its high-capacity digital inter-connectivity with ultra-low latency operation, as well as superbly simple deployment and ease of use. KLARK TEKNIK engineers worked hand-in-hand with BEHRINGER product developers to ensure the S16 meets, or exceeds, the requirements of live performance entertainers and their professional audio engineers." Features include has 48 bidirectional audio channels over CAT5 cable (48 kHz) or 24 bidirectional audio channels over CAT5 cable (96 kHz).

Another cool feature of the S16 is its remotely controllable preamps. It has an intuitive monitoring control section that lets you pick any of the inputs or outputs for quick line-in checks. Once you setup, you can easily lock the settings right at the console, which means less running back and forth during the performance.

The S16 shows its true colors when connected with Behringer's X32 mixer, you get seamless integration and flexibility. You can cascade two S16 stage boxes via its AES50 ports, giving you up to 32 mic/line inputs. You can also quickly integrate the S16 into Behringer's Powerplay P-16 Personal Monitoring system which can feed up to 48 monitor mixers. This means quick and convenient setups and tear-downs for mobile music productions.

If you don't have the X32 mixer, you can still use the S16 with other mixing boards that have AES50 compatibility. It can even work with analog mixing boards by using two pairs of S16 and ADA8000 to form a high-performance, lightweight 16 x 16 digital snake, all on one CAT5 connection, while keeping the preamp remote control functionality.

The S16 Digital Snake also comes with two optical ADAT sockets for connecting channels 1-8 and 9-16 to outboard devices, a convenient USB port for system updates via your PC, plus a nifty MIDI I/O for lighting systems and sound module control.

The Behringer S16 Digital Snake is currently retailing online for a little under $900. You can get more information by visiting Behringer.

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