Allen & Heath dLive S3000 (AH‑DLIVE‑S3)

Overview

The AH‑DLIVE‑S3 is a digital mixing console “surface” (control surface) from Allen & Heath’s dLive S‑Class line. It’s designed to pair with a MixRack (or audio engine) to give you a full digital mixing system. As a “surface-only” mixer, it offers advanced control, routing, and flexibility in a relatively compact footprint — ideal for live concerts, touring, houses of worship, theaters, and complex productions where you need many inputs, outputs, and flexible mix control.

It combines a tactile control surface (motorized faders, knobs, soft keys) with a 12" touchscreen and a modern, flexible user interface — giving a hybrid workflow (physical + digital) that suits complex live‑sound or studio setups.

  Key Features & Specifications

• 20 motorized faders, with 6 layers — providing up to 120 assignable fader strips.

• Single 12″ capacitive touchscreen with a modern touchscreen-based UI, supporting gesture controls (pinch, swipe, drag‑and‑drop).

• “Harmony UI” — the interface unifies touchscreen + wrap-around physical controls (knobs, soft keys) for smooth, intuitive workflow:

  • 26 (or 27) assignable SoftKeys for custom shortcuts/functions.

  • 3 pages of 6 assignable rotary controls for parameter tweaks.

  • Dedicated multi-mode EQ view, flexible routing & widget areas (scenes, meters, FX, mixes) for quick access to key controls.

• Built‑in connectivity & routing (when used with MixRack / external I/O setup):

  • 8 × XLR mic/line inputs (with phantom power + fully recallable preamps).

  • 8 × XLR line outputs.

  • Digital I/O: 2 × AES3 inputs and 3 × AES3 outputs.

  • Dual redundant gigabit network links (e.g. GigaACE) to MixRack, plus redundant DX link configuration for I/O expansion.

  • 2 option‑I/O ports, each supporting up to 128 channels at 96 kHz (when paired with compatible I/O modules).

  • Additional I/O features: network ports, Wordclock BNC I/O, video output (for display/monitoring), USB stereo recording/playback.

• Robust system architecture:

  • 24‑bit Delta‑Sigma ADC and DAC for high‑quality audio conversion.

  • 96 kHz internal processing and routing (when properly configured).

  • High dynamic range, low noise and low distortion for clean signal path.

  • Redundant, hot‑swappable power supply option for reliability in pro/live settings.

• Flexible workflow & user customization: assignable fader layers, virtual scribble‑strips (for naming/color‑coding channels and mixes), custom screen layouts (scenes, meters, FX, mixes), quick recall of scenes/patches — enabling efficient handling of large, complex shows.