OUTPUT SECTION DESCRIPTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

You’ve just learned about the

 

 

 

 

TM

 

input channels and how the sig-

CR1604-VLZ

 

 

12V

 

 

0.5A

nals get in and out. The signals

 

 

 

16-CHANNEL MIC/LINE MIXER

LAMP

 

 

 

 

 

come in via MIC and LINE input

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

U

 

U

U

 

jacks, are manipulated by the

1

 

1

 

1

TO AUX

 

 

SEND 1

channels, and then sent to the

OO

+10

OO

+20

OO

+15 EFFECTS TO

 

U

 

U

U

MONITORS

output section. In the output

 

 

 

 

 

TO AUX

2

 

2

 

2

section, things get a bit more

 

 

SEND 2

OO

+10

OO

+20

OO

+15

complicated, so put on your

AUX

 

 

 

 

SENDS

 

U

ASSIGN OPTIONS

thinking caps.

 

 

1

 

3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SOLO

 

+20

MAIN MIX

1–2

MAIN L-R MIX FADER

 

 

OO

TO SUBS

3–4

2

 

 

U

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SOLO

4

 

 

 

As the name implies, this

 

 

OO

+20

C-R / PHNS

RETURNS

PHAN

PWR

ONLY

SOLO

fader controls the levels of

 

 

 

STEREO AUX RETURNS

 

 

 

U

 

LEFT RIGHT

signals sent to the MAIN OUT

 

 

 

 

CLIP

0 dB=0 dBu

1

and TAPE

 

 

 

 

28

 

/4" TRS jacks

OO

MAX

OO

+20

10

 

OUTPUT RCA jacks

. All

 

 

C-R / PHONES

TAPE IN

7

 

 

channels and AUX RETURNs

 

 

 

 

4

 

TAPE

TAPE TO

2

 

that are assigned to the MAIN

 

 

MAIN MIX

0

 

 

 

 

 

 

L-R MIX, not muted and not

SUBS 1–2

 

 

2

 

 

 

 

 

turned fully down will appear

 

 

 

 

4

 

 

 

OO

MAX

LEVEL 7

 

 

 

 

at the MAIN OUT. Before the

SUBS 3–4

SOLO

SET

 

10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

20

 

main mix gets to this fader, the

MAIN MIX

MODE

 

 

30

 

signals pass through the MAIN

 

 

 

 

 

SOURCE

NORMAL (AFL)

RUDE

 

LEVEL SET (PFL)

SOLO

 

 

 

 

 

LIGHT

 

INSERT .

 

 

 

ASSIGN TO MAIN MIX

 

 

 

 

 

The MAIN L-R MIX signals

 

 

 

 

 

 

LEFT

LEFT

LEFT

LEFT

 

are off with the fader fully

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PHONES

down, the “U” marking is unity

RIGHT

RIGHT

RIGHT

RIGHT

MAIN

gain, and fully up provides

1

2

3

4

L-R MIX

 

 

 

 

dB

dB

10dB additional gain. This ad-

 

 

 

 

10

10

 

 

 

 

5

5

ditional gain will typically

 

 

 

 

U

U

never be needed, but once

 

 

 

 

5

5

again, it’s nice to know it’s

 

 

 

 

10

10

there. The fader itself is a ste-

 

 

 

 

20

20

reo version of the channel and

 

 

 

 

30

30

subgroup faders — same su-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

40

40

persmooth custom taper, same

 

 

 

 

50

50

 

 

 

 

60

60

dead silence when turned fully

 

 

 

 

OO

OO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

down. This is the fader to pull

 

 

 

 

 

 

down at the end of the song

 

 

 

 

when you want “The Great Fade-Out.”

 

VLZ MIX

ARCHITECTURE

When designing a mixing

circuit, the lowest noise and best crosstalk specs are

achieved by using Very Low Impedance (VLZ). To implement VLZ in a mixer, the power supply must be able to deliver plenty of current to the circuitry. That’s why those “wall wart” mixers are often noisy — they can’t power a VLZ circuit.

At Mackie, audio quality is much more im- portant than the price of wall warts. All of our mixers now employ VLZ and built-in power supplies that deliver more than enough cur- rent, resulting in sonic specifications that rival consoles upwards of $50,000!

SUBGROUP FADERS

As you might expect, these faders control the levels of signals sent to the SUB OUTS. All chan- nels that are assigned to subgroups, not muted and not turned fully down will appear at the SUB OUTS. Unlike the MAIN OUT, the sub- group signals do not pass through an insert jack on their way to the subgroup faders. That’s no problem — should you want to send these sig- nals through a serial effects processor, simply patch from the SUB OUTS to the effect’s input, and from the effect’s output to whatever the fi- nal destination is, usually a multitrack recorder.

The subgroup signals is off when its fader is fully down, the “U” marking is unity gain, and fully up provides 10dB additional gain. Re- member that if you’re treating two subgroups as a stereo pair, subgroup 1 and 2 for example, make sure that both subgroup faders “ride” together, to maintain the left/right balance.

ASSIGN TO MAIN MIX

One popular use of the subgroups is to use them as master faders for a group of channels on their way to the MAIN L-R 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 seven hands or seven fin- gers, so just un-assign these channels from L–R, reassign them to subgroup 1–2, engage the AS- SIGN TO MAIN MIX, LEFT on subgroup 1 and the ASSIGN TO MAIN MIX, RIGHT on subgroup 2. Now you can ride the entire stereo drum mix with two faders — 1 and 2.

If you engage just one ASSIGN TO MAIN MIX switch per subgroup (LEFT or RIGHT), the signal sent to the MAIN L-R 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 ASSIGN TO MAIN MIX, RIGHT switches. The signal will be sent to both sides, and will be attenuated just enough to pre- serve constant loudness , just like the channel PAN knobs when set center.

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Mackie CR1604 - VLZ owner manual Output Section Description, VLZ MIX Architecture, Subgroup Faders, Assign to Main MIX