Using the Mackie Effects (MFX)

The Digital 8•Bus comes with one MFX card installed to provide two stereo effects. Three additional MFX cards can be installed for a total of up to eight mono-in, stereo-out internal effects available simultaneously.

The console ships with the Mackie FX (MFX) plug-in installed. This plug-in provides five useful effects that can be globally selected and used with the aux sends and FX returns.

Each effect has a 3-Band Parametric EQ

which filters the signal prior to the actual effect.

3-Band Parametric EQ

Click the EQ button in the lower right corner of the Mackie Effects window to turn the EQ on and off. This provides a low-shelving filter with a corner frequency at 100 Hz, a mid-band fully parametric EQ, and a high-shelving filter with a corner frequency at 10 kHz.

Click the EDIT button to change the EQ parameters.

Low Shelf Gain: This adjusts the boost and cut below 100 Hz. This is calibrated in decibels (dB), with a range from –12 dB to +12 dB.

High Shelf Gain: This adjusts the boost and cut above 10kHz. This is calibrated in decibels (dB), with a range from –12 dB to +12 dB.

Mid Gain: This adjusts the boost and cut at the mid-frequency setting. This is calibrated in decibels (dB), with a range from –12 dB to +12 dB.

Mid Frequency: This adjusts the center frequency of the parametric EQ. This is calibrated in Hertz (Hz), with a range from 100 Hz to 10 kHz.

Mid Q: This adjusts the bandwidth of the

frequencies affected by the parametric EQ. It is a unit-less measure, with a range from 0.1 to 10. A low Q setting provides a very tight bandwidth (less than an octave), and a high Q setting provides a very wide bandwidth (covering several octaves).

Effects Type

Click on the TYPE control to select the type of effect you want to use.

Reverb

This uses a room reverberation algorithm that provides the following controls:

Size: This adjusts the time between reflections to simulate different room sizes. It is calibrated in meters (m), with a range from 3.0 m (small) to 40.0 m (large).

Decay: This adjusts the amount of time that reflections continue to propagate. A “live” room will have a longer decay time than a “dead” room. It is calibrated in seconds (s), with a range from 0.9 seconds to 2.0 seconds.

PreDelay: This adjusts the amount of delay between the dry audio signal and the start of the

wet reverberant signal. Adjusting this control can provide better separation and definition to the dry signal. It is calibrated in milliseconds (ms), with a range from 0 ms to 299 ms (0.3 seconds).

Diffusion: This controls the increase in echo density over time in the reverberant signal. The higher the diffusion setting, the higher the echo density. This is a unit-less measure, with a range from 0 to 10.

Damping: This control causes the higher frequencies to roll off faster than the low frequen- cies. The higher the damping setting, the faster the high frequencies roll off. This is a unit-less measure, with a range from 0 to 10.

Rolloff: This adjusts the cutoff frequency for rolling off the entire reverberant signal. This is different from the damping control which rolls off only the higher frequencies over time. It is calibrated in Hertz (Hz), with a range from 500 Hz to 20 kHz. It also has a Flat position, which bypasses the control.

Mono Delay

The mono delay effect provides an adjustable delay, which is returned to the left and right stereo effect return. It also provides an adjustable feedback path for a multiple echo effect. The mono delay has the following controls:

Delay: This adjusts the amount of time between the original signal and the delayed signal. It is calibrated in milliseconds (ms), with a range from 0 ms to 1599 ms (1.6 seconds).

Feedback: This adjusts the amount of signal that is fed back to the input of the delay. It is calibrated in percent, with a range from 0% to 99%.

Rolloff: This adjusts the cutoff frequency for rolling off the feedback signal. It is calibrated in Hertz (Hz), with a range from 500 Hz to 20 kHz. It also has a Flat position, which bypasses the control.

Stereo Delay

The stereo delay effect provides independently adjustable delays which are returned to the left and right stereo effect return. It also provides an adjustable feedback path for a multiple echo effect. The stereo delay has the following controls:

Left and Right Delay: This adjusts the amount of time between the original signal and the delayed signal. It is calibrated in milliseconds (ms), with a range from 0 ms to 799 ms (0.8 seconds). Notice that the stereo delay effect has precisely one-half the amount of delay available per channel as the mono delay.

Left and Right Feedback: This adjusts the amount of signal that is fed back to the input of the delay. It is calibrated in percent, with a range from 0% to 99%.

Rolloff: This adjusts the cutoff frequency for rolling off the feedback signal. It is calibrated in Hertz (Hz), with a range from 500Hz to 20kHz. It also has a Flat position, which bypasses the control.

D8B Manual • Appendices • page 158