Class Piano Lab Manufacturers: Roland
The RCS-848 Conferencing System is Roland's latest Class Piano Lab teacher controller.
The RCS-848 Conferencing System has replaced the popular MTLC-16 Teaching Lab Center.
Based on the MTLC-16's design, the RCS-848 consists of a HUB with a basic 8-unit control panel (8 student workstations and 1 teacher station). Additional control panels (RCS-8EXP expansion kits) can be networked to the HUB for a total of 48 individual student workstation controls. A short coming in the past was that Lab configurations beyond 16 student workstations could only be obtained by networking an ENTIRE extra unit for a total of 32 student workstaions. So if a lab configuration of 20-24 student workstations were needed, it required two complete units ($$). Also, small lab configurations (4-8 workstions) were still required to use the complete 16-unit MTLC-16.
With the introduction of the RCS-848, Roland has given welcomed flexibility to Class Piano Lab design and configuration. Consequently, it is now possible to configure a Lab in any combination of individual student workstions from 8 - 48.
On the RCS-848, individual keyboards are equipped with a small mixer -- student interface unit (SI Unit) -- into which are plugged the sound output of the keyboard along with the student's headphones. The SI Units are then connected to the RCS-848 via network cables (CAT-5) which are plugged into the back of the RCS-848. Students controlled their individual volumes by adjusting the volume control on their keyboards. There are no volume controls on the SI Units.
The RCS-848 is equipped to control 8 individual keyboards and additional modules (RCS-8EXP expansion kits) can be connected (networked) to HUB for a total of 48 individual stations.
Visit Roland's site to view detailed specs for the RCS-848
See Room Layouts for ideas on how to configure your Class Piano Lab.
See A Critical Overview of Class Piano Lab Manufacturers.
Back to Class Piano Lab Resources.
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