SoundTools debuted its latest product, the new CAT Snake, in prototype form at the recent 2014 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, CA.
CAT Snake units create a quick and cost-effective 4-channel analog snake that can alternatively carry up to four AES/EBU digital feeds utilizing common Cat-5 cable.
“The CAT Snake is a wonderful solution for the analog lines we run to delay clusters at Coachella,” says Dave Rat, president of Rat Sound Systems, the primary audio vendor for the event. “We literally entrench thousands of feet of analog and digital audio cable that invariably gets destroyed during load out. By switching to the CAT Snake for analog backup lines, we can just leave the shielded Cat-5 in the ground and the cost per foot is so affordable, it’s easy to replace.”
The application of the CAT Snake at Coachella showcased it’s functionality for live sound as well as its potential use in recording, commercial, and home projects.
“It’s simplicity at its best,” says Bryant Poole, lead engineer on the project. “You can run four lines of audio down a simple shielded Cat-5, Cat-5e, or Cat-6 cable. It’s a passive unit that provides the added versatility of having an EtherCon input or feed through connection on either side.”
