Wheatstone Corporation D-8, Technical Manual

Page 1: ...D 8 Digital Control Surface TECHNICAL GUIDE 600 Industrial Drive New Bern North Carolina USA 28562 ...

Page 2: ...nce confirmation of main bus and Mix Minus assignments Above each fader on the input panel is a channel ON switch 8 character backlit LCD source display PFL switch BUS MINUS TB switch eight Mix Minus and four subgroup assignment LED s two lighted stereo bus assign switches four mute group status LED s two AUX Send encoders with ON switches and a SET switch The SET switch provides instant access to...

Page 3: ...ovide single wire studio integration schemes Once configured the system operates entirely independently of external computers Configuration itself is intuitive and customized onsite by means of user friendly graphical interfaces provided by Wheatstone desktop software The D 8 surface also takes full advantage of Wheatstone s exclusive VDip configura tion software so that studio functions like mute...

Page 4: ...used to mount the surface securely to the countertop Carefully remove the appropriate end panels from the frame screw the mainframe to the counter top and reinstall the removed panels The frame dimensions in inches are shown in the drawings below Do not connect the D 8 control surface to its power supply until the surface is installed or mounted on the leg set Never connect the power supply to the...

Page 5: ...combinationofbothmethodsinday to dayoperation Note that the Input fader strip has a minimum number of physical controls and certain bus assign ment buttons located on the MASTER output and MONITOR panels are shared among all input faders Input Sources Each input fader panel is fitted with four faders Mono Stereo or5 1Sourcescanberoutedtothefader from any cage in the system Note that certain fader ...

Page 6: ...evel of the channel s audio in the AUX SENDS Two switches ON 1 and ON 2 determine whether the channel feeds AUX 1 ON 1 and or AUX 2 ON 2 Aux sends may be pre configured in the Options txt file to be tapped pre or post fader See the User Programming section in the Appendix 2 of this manual for details Mute Assign Displays Each fader can be assigned in any combination to MUTE MASTER A B C or D by pr...

Page 7: ... eight Mix Minus buses The assigned settings are displayed in the MXM 1 8 LED displays Faders are assigned to these MXMs by using the touch screen GUI on the VGA monitor see Chapter 6 for details or using the hardware switches located on the MON D8 panel On the GUI press the MIX MINUS button at the top of theVGAmonitor UsetheMXMMatrixtoselect the desired input fader and then press the desired MIX ...

Page 8: ...f the board s main program output bus say ST 1 minus the remote talent s fader Many other Bus Minus configurations are easily configured including direct outs for recording You can control and meter the output level of any Bus Minus output by switching to the Input screen for your fader or navigating to the main BUS MINUS screen You can always press the SET button on the fader strip to cause the V...

Page 9: ...annel ON Switch The channel ON switch turns the channel signal ON and OFF and fires the channel ON START OFF STOP logic The switch LED lights to indicate the channel is ON Channel ON may be remotely controlled by a physical GPI or by external automation via the surface s TCP IP control interface Fader Channel output level is set by a long throw motorized fader for automated level control NOTE that...

Page 10: ...uttons to talkback to the two STUDIO sections A soft MODEselectorislocatedontheMAIN screen that allows users to switch between SUR ROUND STEREO MONO LEFT only and RIGHT only modes Monitor sources can be selected using the MONITOR MIX PRESETS buttons located di rectlyabovetheControlRoomknoborbyscrolling the list of available sources using the SOURCE SELECT knob Selecting Monitor Sources Press the S...

Page 11: ...am a button decide on the source you want that button to represent If the source in question is not currentlyassignedtooneofthemonitors maketheassignmentnow asdescribedabove Next make sure the SET button on the monitor to which the source in question is assignedislit Thenpressandholdtheprogrammablebuttonforthreeseconds Thenew source is now loaded into the button Confirm the source storage by switc...

Page 12: ...ection of the MON D8 panel The CUE PFL signal is pre fader and is normally used to check signal integrity When a channel is CUE d its pre fader signal will appear in the surface s D1PFL mix and the switched meter array on the MAIN screen will show the level of the pre fader signal The CUE PFL level control determines the overall loudness of the cue signal Engineering Notes There are two ways to li...

Page 13: ...the output levels of AUX sends 1 and 2 respectively Mix Minus Master This section is a secondary way to control the MIX MINUS MASTER level for each of the eight Mix Minus outputs Double tap the MXM MASTER knob then press a MIX MINUS ASSIGN button The assign button will flash and any other assign button may be pressed Rotate the MIX MINUS MASTER control to set the output level for that Mix Minus No...

Page 14: ...lier in this section MONITOR Buttons The two switches labeled SETTINGS and BUS act as hot buttons to switch between the Input settings and BUS MINUS screens CONF Button Pressing the CONF button activates the D 8 s Confidence Feed function and lights the LED Confidence feed automati cally replaces mix minus output audio with a user defined source during commercial breaks Please see details below Wh...

Page 15: ...esired event is displayed in the PROGRAM PREVIEW window then quickly press MODIFY then SAVE Taking an Event Rotate the PREVIEW SCROLL encoder until the desired event is shown in the PROGRAM PREVIEW display To prevent accidental takes the ARM button must be pressed to arm the function The TAKE button will now flash indicating that the panel is ready to act on a take Then press the TAKE button to ex...

Page 16: ...y by the preview feature Event Default Button This control allows rapid access to a default or home control surface setting Push it and the TAKE button in the Preview section will flash Hit the TAKE button and the default setting will be executed Establishing the Default Setting This setting would normally be set only once For example it may be desirable to have all controls set to zero or everyth...

Page 17: ...n XPoint are 1234 for Admin 2222 for User and 0000 for Guest After dialing up the first character of the password pressTAKE Thendialuptheseconddigit Continuethisprocedureuntilthefour characters have been entered Upon pressing TAKE after entering the fourth character the display will read Okay if you were successful and Sorry if you were not When finished turn SOURCE SELECT until the display reads ...

Page 18: ...ping an Input Fader to a Mute Group To map an input fader to a MUTE GROUP first press the input fader s SET switch then select the desired A B C D INPUT CHANNEL MUTE ASSIGN switches Routing an Input Fader to an Audio Group To route an input fader to an audio GROUP first press the input fader s SET switch then select the desired G1 G2 G3 G4 INPUT CHANNEL GROUP ASSIGN switches AUX Talkback Below and...

Page 19: ...turns the channel signal OFF The switch LED lights to indicate the channel is ON Master Faders These motorized controls set the levels of the master channels NOTE that 5 1 MASTER fader s knob engraved with 5 1 Mute Groups Mute Group Assign Each input fader Group and Master can be as signed in any combination to MUTE ASSIGN A B C or D Assignment is made by first pressing the channel s SET button th...

Page 20: ...as two GROUP ASSIGN switches located in the center of the MASTERS panel which are used to assign the Group mix to either or both of the two main output busses 5 1 ST 1 or ST 2 Each switch s LED will light to indicate assignment is made Groups may be used to control the level of several common signals e g band mics round table mics etc That GROUP signal is then routed to the main program mix out of...

Page 21: ...crete mix However GROUP mix audio does appear as four individual stereo SOURCE signals in the router and may be freely routed to any physical audio output destination Group mixes usually appear in XPoint software at SOURCE signal ID numbers higher than ID1001 The default signal names for Groups are D1GRP1 through 4 but the exact name depends on the number of surfaces in your system In multi surfac...

Page 22: ...hes and processing functions An optional user provided mouse may be used with a standard VGA monitor in lieu of the touch screen Connecting the D 8 and the GUI Before applying power connect the touch screen VGA monitor to the DB 15 VGA connectorontheleft rearoftheD 8frame Connectthetouchscreen sUSBcabletotheD 8 s USB connector then apply power to the D 8 No other configuration is required Touch Sc...

Page 23: ...r Fader view Input control view Mix Minus view Bus Minus view Help and technical Info Along the bottom of the GUI window is the Input Selector Bar that remotely invokes any of the 24 input fader SET switches providing instant access to control functions for any input fader The numbered buttons indicate by color the status of each channel The button is gray if the channel is OFF and the fader is do...

Page 24: ... jumps to the Bus Minus control screen HELP displays an integrated help system INFO displays technical information about the D 8 surface MAIN Navigation Button When first powered up the D 8 defaults to the MAIN Screen You may access this screen anytime by selecting MAIN from the Navigation bar at the top of the monitor The Output meter array in the top half of the display is divided into four sect...

Page 25: ... may access this screen anytime by selecting INPUT from the Navigation bar at the top of the monitor or by pressing a fader s SET button Once the INPUT screen is open you can change fader channels by clicking on the INPUT SELECTOR BAR located at the bottom of the monitor The INPUT screen is divided into top and bottom sections with Input Source controls filters delay and Bus Minus output controls ...

Page 26: ...phase of the input signal path in case there is an inadvertent reversal elsewhere in the signal chain PH Phantom Power Switch When a microphone signal is selected as the source for the current fader youcanswitchphantompowerONorOFF Thisswitchisinactiveforallother analog or digital sources HPF High Pass Filter Use the IN switch at the top of the HPF slider to activate this filter Use the slider to a...

Page 27: ...us Minus output and set a nominal output level Press the BUS button to remove the fader s own signal Select a Base Mix This is typically a Master 1 or 2 bus but could be any Mix Minus 1 8 bus What the talent hears is the base mix minus their own voice Bus Minus Controls Bus Minus ON Switch select this to enable or disable the fader s Bus Minus out put Output Gain Slider adjust Bus Minus output lev...

Page 28: ...crease in background noise of some recorded material when subject to heavy compression A common usage in live sound is to effectively turn a microphone off when not being talked or sung into so as to reduce corruption of a mix or reduce the chances of feedback with an unwanted open microphone The expander is slightly counter intuitive when first encountered in that unlike nearly any other processi...

Page 29: ...s to attenuate away the input signal high enough to capture the noise but not too high as to snatch at the lower levels of the desired parts of the program material That can sound really irritating Sometimes the gain reduction is required to be subtle so as not to draw attention to the fact that the expander is in operation Under these conditions shallow expansion ratios such as 1 1 5 or 1 2 are p...

Page 30: ...rtened it becomes progressively shorter in relation to the lower audio frequencies them selves the effect is to turn the detector into more of a peak level detector necessary for limiting or wilder effects A secondary effect at intermediate to fast attack times is that low frequencies are peak sensed while high frequencies are average sensed resulting in an effective high frequency bias up to as m...

Page 31: ... slower integration times for attack and release sothatitrespondsmoretothemediumorlong termenergyoftheprogram material in a given band unlike the more typically energetic actions of the compressor The AGC action rides underneath the compressor Depending on the time constant settings and character of the program material the AGC can follow the average long term level changes and create a gain reduc...

Page 32: ...h Low and High Shelving The high and low shelving EQ sections are designed to correct for real or subjective lack in low or high frequency energy in the program material The low shelver at the lower end of its range will enable specific kick drum or bass guitar elements of a source to be balanced with respect to the rest of the source at higher frequency settings it acts progressively more as a co...

Page 33: ... Note Normally 5 1 source signals are routed to input faders that have been configured as surround inputs Routing a 5 1 signal to a stereo input fader will get just the L R front signals LEFT RIGHT Slider moves the signal left to right FRONT REAR Slider moves the signal front to back CENTER SURROUND Slider controls the ratio of CENTER imaging Full downremovessignalfromCENTERandisappliedtotheLT RTa...

Page 34: ...signment matrix This matrix provides a very easy way to view the Mix Minus setup of the entire board Using the Mix Minus Matrix TheMix MinusmatrixprovidesaneasywaytoviewandconfigureMix Minus assignments for the whole console There are 24 columns one for each input fader and eight rows one for each Mix Minus bus Simply touch the intersection of a fadercolumnandMix MinusrowtosubtractthefaderfromtheM...

Page 35: ...rfaces recording feeds or other devices as required Note that Bus Minus is a separate system from the dedicated eight Mix Minus busses What appears at the Bus Minus output for a fader is determined by how you configure the Bus Minus output on the D 8 Input screen for your fader In a typical application like feeding a TV remote one might configure the remote talent s Bus Minus output to include a b...

Page 36: ...LP button at the top of the touch screen will display a browser style linked help window The Help system guides users through basic setup and control of the console Simply select a browser link by touching the screen To close this window select the main HELP button again ...

Page 37: ...g the INFO button will display an information window INFO the technical information about the surface s software versions and connection status to its companion rack MT link Ethernet link and automation interface To close this window select the INFO button again ...

Page 38: ... Signal Id of 36 We want the Studio 1 output to mute when a fader with this signal is on air From the XPoint menu select Configure VDip Settings The following form appears Make sure the Control Surface Id matches the surface you want to mute with this mic signal On the Per Signal tab dial up the Input Signal Id of the target mic signal in this case 36 Put a check mark in the Override Defaults chec...

Page 39: ...abled column on the line that starts with 1 If you already are using LIO 1 go to the first available LIO go to the Logic I O 7 12 tab if necessary Select Tier Rack and Card numbers that point to the Logic IO card you will use to control the player and select a Port for a currently unused logic output on that card Select Out as the Direction and select MachStrt as the Function Click Apply and save ...

Page 40: ...remote channel ON indicator OffTally Out light a remote channel OFF indicator RemOn In turn a fader channel ON from a remote switch RemOff In turn a fader channel OFF from a remote switch RdyLED In control the OFF LED on a fader typically by flashing from a CUE output of a remote machine Cough In mute the audio from a remote location typically the audio signal here is from a microphone by pressing...

Page 41: ...on radio group select Logic I O Only from the radio group of signal types select the Logic I O 1 6 Tab and put a check under Enabled for LIO 1 assuming it is not already in use select the Tier Rack and Slot where the Logic IO card you will use is located select the port you want to use I ll use 1 in my example set Direction to Out you use a logic OUTPUT port to provide the tally closure make sure ...

Page 42: ...helpful if you write down the signal IDnumbersofthesourcesthatwilltriggerthetallybeforeyougettothis point for our example assume the signals Mic1 Mic2 and Mic3 will be used and that the signal IDs for these three signals are 33 34 and 35 highlight the Input Signal Id box entry defaults to 1 and type 33 the signal name of Mic1 is now also displayed clickOverrideDefaults putacheckmarkintheStudioTall...

Page 43: ...me the Confidence Feed function is active and the audio source you have selected in XPoint is heard at all Mix Minus and Bus Minus outputs When master control takes the audio board live the relay opens and normal Mix Minus Bus Minus audio is fed to the respective outputs To set this up you need to do the following 1 Create a new DESTINATION signal in XPoint call it REM TRIG Note that this signal m...

Page 44: ...inationsignalinXPoint 4 Wire up the Logic input port that you chose in step 1 Remember that when wiring logic inputs you need to supply an external DC voltage 5 to 12 VDC to the logic port s input and switch the GND side of the logic input port with the relay Now when you go into a break Mix Minus confidence feed audio will be heard at all remotes phoners IFB s etc We the newscast is over confiden...

Page 45: ...Point to cross connect the surface s SPARE button Source signal to your newly created signal The surface s SPARE signal is typically D1SPAR1 Here is an example of how to configure the Destination Signal NotethatitisanOUTPUT LogicI OOnly Type theandtheFunctionisSWITCH1 The Function is selected from a drop down list By choosing SWITCH1 you are mapping the first Programmable button to control this lo...