These two knobs feed their respective stereo AUX RETURN signals to a mono summing amp and then: TO AUX 5 feeds AUX RETURN 1 to AUX SEND 5 master, and TO AUX 6 feeds AUX RETURN 2 to AUX SEND 6 master. They are off when turned fully down, and provide up to 10 dB gain turned fully up.

41. AUX RETURN 3 SEND TO MAIN/SUBS

With this button up, AUX RETURN 3 behaves like the other AUX RETURNS—it delivers a stereo signal, regulated by its level knob, to the MAIN MIX. When you push this button in, the AUX RETURN 3 signals are removed from the MAIN MIX buses and sent to the SUBS 1-2/3-4 switch, which diverts the signal once more. We’re not finished. Please read on.

42. SUBS 1-2/3-4

If the AUX RETURN 3 SEND TO MAIN/SUBS button is up, the SUBS 1-2/3-4 button does absolutely nothing. Let’s now assume it is pushed in. AUX RETURN 3’s stereo signal will not be sent to the MAIN MIX, but to the subgroup faders 1 and 2 (SUBS 1-2/3-4 button up) or to subgroup faders 3 and 4 (SUBS 1-2/3-4 button down).

Let’s say you’ve made a stereo drum submix on subgroup faders 1 and 2, so you can ride those two faders instead of the seven channels that the drums came from. Subgroup fader 1 has its ASSIGN TO MAIN MIX LEFT button engaged and subgroup fader 2 has its ASSIGN TO MAIN MIX RIGHT button engaged, blending the drum submix back into the MAIN MIX. The drum channels are also sending signals to your reverb via the AUX sends and the reverb outputs are patched into the AUX RETURN 3. So far, so good.

Even though you could send AUX RETURN 3 directly to the MAIN MIX (AUX RETURN 3 SEND TO MAIN/ SUBS button up), you don’t want to. Instead, engage the AUX RETURN 3 SEND TO MAIN/SUBS switch and make sure the SUBS 1-2/3-4 switch is up. Now the reverb return is blended into the drum submix, and as you ride the two subgroup faders, the reverb level will follow.

Why do we want that? Because if you had just sent the reverb directly to the MAIN MIX (AUX RETURN 3 SEND TO MAIN/SUBS button up) and you did a drum fadeout using the subgroup faders 1 and 2, the “dry” signals would fade out, but the “wet” signals would keep on sing- ing. All you would hear is the drum reverb (the “wet”), and none of the original drum signals (the “dry”). That’s because the reverb is being fed by the channel’s AUX SEND, and they have no idea that you’ve pulled down the subgroup faders. That’s why we threw in these switches.

45. SUB 1-4 Faders

s’Owner

 

 

As you might expect, these faders control the levels of

 

 

the signals sent to the SUB OUTS. All channels that are

 

 

assigned to subgroups, not muted, and not turned fully

 

 

down will appear at the SUB OUTS. Unlike the MAIN

 

 

OUT, the subgroup signals do not pass through an insert

Manual

jack on their way to the subgroup faders. That’s no prob-

 

 

lem—should you want to send these signals through a se-

 

 

rial effects processor, simply patch from the SUB OUTS to

 

 

the effect’s input, and from the effect’s ouput to whatever

 

 

the final destination is, usually a multitrack recorder.

 

 

The subgroup signal is off when its fader is fully down,

 

 

the “U” marking is unity gain, and fully up provides 10 dB

 

 

additional gain. Remember that if you’re treating two

 

 

subgroups as a stereo pair, subgroup 1 and 2 for exam-

 

 

ple, make sure that both subgroup faders “ride” together

 

 

to maintain the left/right balance.

 

 

43. SUB ASSIGN

 

 

One popular use of the subgroups is to use them as master

 

 

faders for a group of channels on their way to the MAIN MIX.

 

 

Let’s say you’ve got a drum kit hogging up seven channels

 

 

and you’re going to want to fade them out at a different rate

 

 

than the other channels. You don’t want to try that with sev-

 

 

en hands or seven fingers, so just un-assign these channels

 

 

from the MAIN MIX, reassign them to subgroups 1-2, engage

 

 

the ASSIGN TO MAIN MIX LEFT on subgroup 1 and ASSIGN

 

 

TO MAIN MIX RIGHT on subgroup 2. Now you can ride the

 

 

entire drum mix with two faders—subgroups 1 and 2.

 

 

If you engage just one ASSIGN TO MAIN MIX button

 

 

per subgroup (LEFT or RIGHT), the signal sent to the

 

 

MAIN MIX will be the same level as the SUB OUTS. If

 

 

you want the subgroup to appear in the center of the

 

 

main mix, engage both the ASSIGN TO MAIN MIX LEFT

 

 

and RIGHT buttons. The signal will be sent to both sides.

 

 

44. POWER LED

 

 

This LED performs one function—it lets you know

 

 

when the Onyx 1640 is turned on and ready to go!

 

 

46. MAIN MIX Fader

 

 

The MAIN MIX fader controls the output level just

 

 

before the MAIN OUTPUTS (1/4" and XLR) [52/54] and

 

 

the TAPE OUTPUTS [58]. When MAIN MIX is selected for

 

 

the CONTROL ROOM/PHONES SOURCE [18], the MAIN

 

 

MIX fader [46] also controls the main mix level in the

 

 

CONTROL ROOM and PHONES outputs [59/30].

 

 

When the fader is fully down, the MAIN MIX is off.

 

 

The “U” marking indicates unity gain, and fully up pro-

 

 

vides 10 dB of additional gain. Typically, this fader is set

 

 

near the “U” label and left alone, but it can be used for

 

 

song fade-outs or quick system-wide mutes.

 

 

 

 

 

Owner’s Manual

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