User Manual
G
ROUPING
February
16,
2010
Xynergi Media Production Centre
Page 217
The Spread Control
The spread control is only available when a link group is selected. The spread control adjusts the
perceived size of a surround mix. The spread control range is from 0 to 100%. At 0 the display reads
POINT, meaning point source. At 100 the display reads FULL, meaning full surround. At FULL spread the
LR and FB pan controls have no effect as each member of the link group is hard panned to their
respective bus elements. As the spread is reduced, the panning of each link group member is made to
converge with the location of the link group master pan control. With the spread control less than full,
the pan control enables the sound field to be moved to favour the location of the pan target. As the
spread control approaches POINT, the panning of each member becomes closer to the pan location of
the link group master. This has the effect of mixing the signals of each link group member so that they
all emerge from the same loudspeakers as determined by the link group master pan.
When a link group is created with default pans, spread is set to maximum, divergence is set to minimum
and rotation is set to zero.
The spread control can be used to great effect when it is desired to collapse the surround sound field to
a point source. This may occur for instance, where the camera moves continuously from an interior shot
to an exterior or visa versa. The surround field can be established for the interior and then as the
camera moves through the door or window, the surround field collapses and pans and fades down to the
location of the window. As this is occurring a pre-mixed surround field for the exterior can be growing
from the rear speakers and spread out to the entire speaker system as the exterior shot is established.
Fader Groups
There are 10 VCA-style Fader groups on Constellation. Members of a Fader Group have their fader levels
controlled by a Master, and can also be accessed individually to set relative levels within the group.
Control
Faders in a group are controlled relatively by the Group Master fader. To do this, you must either:
CALL the Group Master to the Pad, then control it with the Pad Level control or the Master
Fader, if you have one.
To call the Group Master, click on its tile on the Mixer Screen.
If the Group Tiles are not shown on the Mixer Screen, open the System Variables screen by
typing
ctrl+u
. and select one of the Screen Layout options that include VCA Masters.