ResonantLive Sound Archive

Equipment file · Digital live console

VENUE D-Show

Digidesign · 2005

Evidence status · documented

Identity and core specifications are documented; some historical fields remain unavailable.

The Digidesign VENUE D-Show was a digital console system with a separate stage rack and digital snake, launched at $55,000. It ran the same TDM plug-ins as Pro Tools, so studio processing could be used live, with 96 mic inputs and 27 buses in expanded form.

Introduced
2005
Category
Digital live console
Intended use
Front-of-house and monitor mixing for touring, theatre and broadcast
Production
Digidesign (later Avid), shipping from February 2005; D-Show discontinued 2015

Equipment photographs · 1

Digidesign VENUE Profile (D-Show family) in use at a corporate event

1 / 1 · Digidesign VENUE Profile (D-Show family) in use at a corporate event

Digidesign VENUE Profile (D-Show family) in use at a corporate event·Binksternet·Public domain

Why it mattered

  1. 01

    One of the first large-format digital consoles designed for touring, pushing major tours to recallable digital signal paths.

  2. 02

    Its Pro Tools link enabled multitrack recording and 'virtual soundcheck', continued by the [[avid-s6l|S6L]].

Engineering record

Launch configuration
96 mic inputs and 27 buses with console, stage rack and digital snake[2]
Processing
TDM plug-ins shared with Pro Tools, with optional Pro Tools recording link[1]
Surface
D-Show main unit expandable with up to three sidecars to 56 faders[3]

Original pricing

$55,000 base system (2005)

2026 equivalent

≈ $94,300

Period US list or retail price reported by the cited source.[2]

Estimated in 2026 US dollars using the BLS CPI-U annual average for 2005 (195.3) and 334.980 for 2026, rounded to the nearest $100.[4]

Use in the field

Used by Dave Haines for the Black Eyed Peas and Michael Prowda for Nine Inch Nails soon after launch[2]

Paul 'Pab' Boothroyd recorded 64 tracks nightly through VENUE on Paul McCartney's tour[3]

Manuals & original documents

Sources

  1. 1Digidesign Ships Venue Live Digital ConsoleCDM Create Digital Music · archive · 2005-02-25
  2. 2Digidesign Ships Venue SR SystemMix · archive · 2005-03-18
  3. 3VENUE: A Digital Revolution in Live SoundDigidesign · brochure
  4. 4CPI Inflation Calculator methodology and CPI-U dataU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · reference · 2026

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