TC Electronic DBMAX, User Manual

Page 1: ...DBMAX V 2 90 DIGITAL BROADCAST MAXIMIZER English USER S MANUAL...

Page 2: ......

Page 3: ...ipment should be installed near the socket outlet and disconnection of the device should be easily accessible To completely disconnect from AC mains disconnect the power supply cord from the AC recept...

Page 4: ...suant to part 15 of the FCC rules These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in residential installations This equipment generates uses and can radiate rad...

Page 5: ...S Decoding 26 MS Encoding 26 Expander 28 Compressor 30 Limiter 34 Inserts Post Dynamic Transmission Limiter 36 Production Limiter 36 Output Dither 38 Fade 38 TC Electronic Sindalsvej 34 DK 8240 Rissko...

Page 6: ...Output level from the DBMAX If you work against digital peak meters or in transmission the setting should be spot on If you work in an environment depending on analog PPM meters this setting should be...

Page 7: ...i band compression Processing at any Sample Rate between 32 and 48kHz Relay bypass of analog I O on power down Unlock detection of digital Input Audio bandwidth to 24kHz or variable lo pass filtered f...

Page 8: ...MPLE RATE INDICATOR 48000 Hz 44100 Hz 32000 Hz MIDI IN LED MIDI or RS485 receive indicator CARD LED Indicates presence of a valid memory card ACTIVITY LED Indicates when a calculation is performed EDI...

Page 9: ...ential parameters BYPASS Bypass the signal processing CONTROL SECTION OK Confirm operations and switch individual blocks on off HELP LOCK Get help on selected display by pressing the HELP key Press an...

Page 10: ...ced XLR Inputs Balanced XLR Outputs Serial No Word Clock Input AES EBU digital In Out S PDIF digital In Out RS485 In Thru Out EXTERNAL CONTROL Pedal Fader Input NOTES To comply with international regu...

Page 11: ...put ANALOG OUTPUTS balanced A D INPUT PPM OUTPUT PPM Defined Overload Left Left Left Right Bypass Fader Right Right Input Selector Digital Output AES Digital Input AES AES EBU S PDIF Digital Output S...

Page 12: ...can be used in different applications we propose a few different setups Radio Production Transmission applications DAB production or FM Production suite The two applications for the DBMAX in this con...

Page 13: ...d encoded signal 2 The DBMAX can be inserted post master to emulate the signal processing in transmission TV continuity Transmission The two applications for the DBMAX in a transmission situation are...

Page 14: ...It is possible to store four different custom user setups Place the cursor next to Save Setup using the MENU keys Press OK and use the MENU keys to select the location where you want to store the setu...

Page 15: ...ll trims may be stored using the Save setup command Output Gain Sets the digital Output level Define Overload LED Overload This parameter allows you to custom define the DEFINE LED The Overload level...

Page 16: ...igital Out OPERATING LEVELS ____________________________ Ref Level 0dBu dBFS 18dB Abs Peak max 9dBu dBFS 9dB ____________________________ ANALOG LEVELS In level 0dBFS 18dBu Trim Input 0dB Trim Output...

Page 17: ...ecall confirm Recall conditions It is possible to set up a couple of conditions for the preset that you are about to recall Use the MENU keys to step through the filters Recall This function enables y...

Page 18: ...preset is write protected Note The READ ONLY flags may be disregarded if you wish to replace the entire RAM bank from the Utility page Deleting a Preset To delete a preset in the internal RAM bank or...

Page 19: ...n Dither and Output Fader Parameters in the Utility Page Display Angle RS485 Security General Purpose Input Parameters in the Tools digital Out Page User Data Name and Phone and Keyboard lock Setup Pa...

Page 20: ...k Page select Input type selector Sample Rate converter on off Clock select Master Input delay in milliseconds Lo Cut adjust Hi Cut adjust Reference level selection Choose whether the setup should fol...

Page 21: ...ynchronous data transfers are complete and should be used if possible It is not possible to loop through Channel Status or User Bits on the AES EBU interface when the SRC is inactive MAIN PAGE Input C...

Page 22: ...sed Hi Cut filters are high order and provides additional Pilot tone notching at 19kHz If very hot digital Inputs are used for FM transmission we recommend trimming the digital Input level down by 1dB...

Page 23: ...On the following pages the different Insert options are explained Please use this illustration for overview of the level handling in accordance to various parameters in the DBMAX MAIN PAGE Inserts 1...

Page 24: ...erform on your signal INPUT I 1 I 3 I 2 EXPANDER COMPRESSOR LIMITER OUTPUT I 4 Parametric Equalizer Frequency Band Level Curve Type Gain Manual Make up gain or EQ match Low Level Target Low level limi...

Page 25: ...t to 6dB this is the Max attenuation the AGC can perform If both Min and Max are set to 0 no gain correction will be applied by the AGC Low level If the signal is below the Low Level value the AGC wil...

Page 26: ...o the stereo perspective Cross over frequency Image Width In Added width The actual added width Black box indicates selected block CURVE Sets the frequency characteristics of the dynamic damping filte...

Page 27: ...can not create stereo information but only enhance exsisting stereo information Max added Width With this parameter you set a limit for the Width you will allow to be added to the signal MAIN PAGE Ins...

Page 28: ...MS Encoding Fine balance adjust MS Decoding Mid Side balance control MS Decode on off switch Normalizer Consecutive samples clipped Counts the number of clipped samples within a 1 sec time period Act...

Page 29: ...id Side miking technique uses a forward facing directional mic and a side facing bi directional mic MS recording offers very good stereo imaging with the added benefit of excellent mono compatibility...

Page 30: ...R OUTPUT I 4 Expander page select Selected band indication A dot indicates selected band or bands By default all bands are selected but you can adjust each band individually Gain Reduction Shows the a...

Page 31: ...hut off Gain Reduction Monitor Graphical indication of the performed gain reduction in each of the five bands Page 2 Press Menu keys to select page 2 Attack Attack is the time the Expander uses to bri...

Page 32: ...rol for the five bands INPUT I 1 I 3 I 2 EXPANDER COMPRESSOR LIMITER OUTPUT I 4 PAGE 2 Gain Reduction Shows the actual gain reduction on each of the 5 individual bands The Edit guide Arrow direction i...

Page 33: ...ase or decrease the intensity of compression while keeping the relationship between the Threshold and Band level parameters in accordance to the specified Ratio settings Threshold Ratio and Band level...

Page 34: ...lease Individual Release times for each of the five bands Hold From 10 200ms Attack Individual Attack times for each of the five bands Cross over point Cross over frequency Slope type Crest This param...

Page 35: ...of the Expander Compressor and Limiter but they are identical in all three blocks Two different filter structures are available SYM with soft slopes MID with higher order middle band focused filter s...

Page 36: ...ividual Attack times for each of the five bands Release Individual Release times for each of the five bands INPUT I 1 I 3 I 2 EXPANDER COMPRESSOR LIMITER OUTPUT I 4 Gain Reduction Shows the actual gai...

Page 37: ...n all three blocks Two different filter structures are available SYM with soft slopes MID with higher order middle band focused filter slopes The MID setting is designed specifically for low intermodu...

Page 38: ...rmally used in Production and Continuity applications Softclipper PPM Characteristics Softclipper Release time pr second Limit Gain Reduction Shows the actual gain reduction performed by the Productio...

Page 39: ...D D De Emphasis on both analog and digital Outputs Lim The Threshold setting of the Limiter Rel s Sets the Release time in the Transmission Limiter This is the fallback time for the Limiter after the...

Page 40: ...itor the Output of the receiving device e g post DAT to hear the final result Dither Resolution The Output resolution of the DBMAX is 24 bit When the receiver of the DBMAX s signal has a lower resolut...

Page 41: ...uto Fade The DBMAX is capable of auto fades up to 60 seconds Select the Fade Curve type and the Fade time To start the fade select the fade up down parameter and turn the ADJUST wheel You also have th...

Page 42: ...ter refers to absolute peak in the Ref Levels menu When a block is overloading use the parameter keys to select the current block and press OK for direct access TOOLS Surround meter Surround meter Fou...

Page 43: ...els are in phase Minus means that the two channels are out of phase Time division Sets the curve drawing speed TOOLS Peak Hold Meter Numeric readout of peak values Peak The Peak Hold meter is an Outpu...

Page 44: ...e level Level Set the desired level of the test tone TOOLS Digital I O DIO Pre emphasis indicator On off RECEIVED STATUS BITS Source device DAT CD mixer etc Number of audio bits received Copyright Non...

Page 45: ...will be lost However in order to take full advantage of the DBMAX s 24 bit resolution you should select AES EBU to make sure that the receiving device after the DBMAX will accept all 24 bits S PDIF W...

Page 46: ...ote change of presets is implemented in the DBMAX by using a RS485 controller A PC or Macintosh computer may therefore easily control the system The command structure for a Program Change is AA cmd va...

Page 47: ...page This will release the DBMAX from the locked state You do not have to run any of the reset functions A keyboard lock facility is also provided Press and hold the Help key for about 3 seconds and a...

Page 48: ...ful for example when you have finished a special production and want to go back to normal To Store settings using this the function In normal operation mode not the Reset page setup all your preferred...

Page 49: ...en Production or On Air The Wizard settings may later be modified e g by adding AGC EQ etc and stored to a RAM location or PCMCIA card Reset System Parameters This will reset all system parameters bac...

Page 50: ...nput selector in the I O menu is set to digital in The analog Input level is set too low No sound through the DBMAX You are using analog Inputs but the Input selector in the I O menu is set to digital...

Page 51: ...S PDIF Input and press OK Connect the DBMAX s ADAT Output to the DBMAX s ADAT Input and press OK PPM must show 0dB to pass test Press the HELP key again to exit test MIDI I O test Select MIDI I O tes...

Page 52: ...2 dB 80 dB 10 Hz to 20 kHz typical 100 dB 1 kHz XLR balanced pin 2 hot Through relay 40 Ohm balanced 26 dBu balanced 4 dBu to 26 dBu balanced 24 bit 1 bit 128 times oversampling 0 57 ms 48 kHz 100 dB...

Page 53: ...and load a suitable setup e g EBU Broadcast Film Mastering or CD Mastering Also check that the Hi Cut filters on Input page no 2 are not activated and the Delay on Input page no 1 is set between 3 an...

Page 54: ...f you use a digital composite generator normally the DBMAX should handle Emphasis generation HF Limiting and Soft Clipping to maximize the signal and avoid overshoots Emphasis should be generated as a...

Page 55: ...truncation and it introduces digital distortion of low level signals due to the lack of complete signal information To compensate for this dither must be applied Dither is a small amount of filtered...

Page 56: ...momentary type PEDAL SWITCH or similar JACK PLUG Mono male 6 35mm 1 4 max 100m MASTER FADER or similar 2 wires SHIELDED CABLE 3 or 5 wires screen NOTE On TC units with RS485 interface pins 1 and 3 on...

Page 57: ...ctions Sleeve Pin 1 Ground Tip Pin 2 Hot Ring Pin 3 Cold Pin 1 Pin 1 Ground Pin 2 Pin 2 Hot Pin 3 Pin 3 Cold Sleeve Pin 1 Ground Tip Pin 2 Hot Sleeve Pin 3 Cold XLR XLR Jack unbalanced XLR Jack balanc...

Page 58: ...Webcast and Web Authoring No Name Main Function Typical Level Setup Applications 20 EBU Webcast Codec optimize Europe EBU Webcast WC 21 NAB Webcast Codec optimize US NAB Webcast WC 22 EBU WebMax Code...

Page 59: ...e Main Function Typical Level Setup Applications 50 Live Sports 1 Mix Assist Limit NAB Broadcast OB 51 Live Sports 2 Mix Assist Limit NAB Broadcast OB 52 Gameshow 1 Mix Assist Limit NAB Broadcast OB 5...

Page 60: ...A AA CMD VALUE CR AA is Unit Address number as set on the Utility page CMD is command PRE for preset change BYP for Bypass VALUE is RAM preset number required 0 for not bypassed 1 for bypassed CR is c...

Page 61: ...ve the Master Fader to maximum position To compensate for mechanical tolerances draw back the Master Fader slightly Press OK Move the Master Fader to minimum position To compensate for mechanical tole...