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Soundboard Being Hacked

Are there any types of sound systems that could theoretically be hacked and receive a signal from an outside source without the engineer being able to control it? Any point of entry for the signal, whether it's a DMC, or even somehow a power amp receiving a foreign signal. Asking for a piece of fiction writing.

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Edited

Anything with a wireless connection (Like mics) would be an easy entry point. I'm not sure it would be very hard for someone with the skills.

They might mimic the signal being used to pair mics with the mix. This would allow them to pump any audio they want into mix under the guise of being a mic onstage.

Edit to add: unless you could override gain settings, the engineer would likely shut it down REAL quick. If you can't control the gain you would have to know which mic connection is which. It would be a guessing game. But you would be playing cat & mouse with whoever is on the mix - if the point is to play something for an extended period of time, a hard connection into an equipment would be way easier - but it wouldnt be hacking.

There are plenty of mixing boards that can be controlled with an ipad over a wireless network these days. All you have to do is be on the same network and have the associated app. That’s why normally it’s advised for engineers to bring their own wireless router.

Sounds like a few things you could check for an exploit!

u/bandito143 avatar

I also recommend not broadcasting your SSID.

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Not really the board itself, but many big venues use networked audio systems now, so yeah, that could be "hacked" as any network could be. The engineer probably would have a way to mute or shut off the system, though.

u/mycosys avatar

May modern commercial systems are completely networked, controlled over the network, with network media servers providing the audio. They also arent known for high security.

Such systems would be running Dante or similar, which could give some texture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dante_(networking)