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0406 AMSR
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| you, with only a single button press required |
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| to bring the next 16 auxes onto the surface. |
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| The solo section has A and B solo busses, |
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| which are exclusive. In other words, if a |
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| channel’s solo is assigned as a ‘B’ solo it |
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| cannot be an ‘A’ solo at the same time. This is |
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| useful for driving two monitor outputs, or for |
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| dual operator use for exampe. Incidentally, |
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| the console does have freely assignable A |
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| and B sections for dual operator use or for |
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| convenience. Both sections scroll through the |
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| channels independently. |
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| The automation on the XL8 is, as you’d |
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| expect, pretty comprehensive. The system |
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| stores all settings, and can even store |
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| parameter isolation settings within each |
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| scene, though there is independent isolation |
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| available as well. The main feedback centre for |
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| this is the |
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| the surface itself and large illuminated ‘next’ |
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| button does the obvious, along with Last, Now, |
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| Confirm, and Cancel buttons. You can use the |
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| jog wheel to navigate through the scene list as |
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| well – when the show isn’t quite ‘linear’. |
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| Incidentally, the two screens that |
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| correspond to the centre sections show, by |
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| default, |
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| console, and the |
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| There’s plenty more to talk about, but that |
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| will have to wait for another issue. One point |
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| of interest may well be the three KVM switches |
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| inside the console and data tunnelling over |
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| the network. This means you can feed |
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| external video in to the console and switch |
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| the screens around, you could |
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| laptop control system and run that from the |
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| console controls, or you could even throw |
strips are peppered with little round navigation | compression types based on RMS, Peak, Linear, | TCP/IP and USB data around the auditorium. | ||
buttons that assign that to the Channel Strip. | and Vintage types. Again, Midas says it has been | For a Sound Reinforcement community becoming | ||
You don’t have to hunt for a select button, for | working on these algorithms almost as long as it’s | |||
example, when you want to get into | For a company that | been working on the console in order to | are nice extras. | |
the EQ – just press the button where | provide the best fundamental tools for | Conclusion | ||
the EQ would normally be and the | was exclusively | the XL8 user. | ||
Channel Strip is at your disposal. The | analogue not so | Plug And Play | The Midas XL8 is not cheap, but it does offer the | |
screen for that bay then displays the | kind of scale, | |||
detail of that control down its right- | long ago to recruit | Also on board you’ll find a large array | hard, if not impossible, to find elsewhere. For a | |
hand side. | the right people | of | company that was exclusively analogue not so | |
It ’s wor th mentioning the | grow but for now the console has 16 | long ago to recruit the right people and create | ||
compressor and EQ sections on this | and create such | stereo effects processors with a choice | such a sophisticated and | |
console, mostly because Midas has | a sophisticated | of | this is an incredible achievement. Will it live up | |
done an incredible amount of work | DN780 reverb, stereo flanger, Midas | to the legacy left by the outgoing XL4? I have a | ||
to give options and control to suit the | and | reverb, and graphic EQs. As mentioned | feeling it will. ∫ | |
live sound engineer. Take for example, | product as this | earlier, graphic EQ control is via the Helix |
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work done on interpolation of the EQ | Rapide controller. |
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control. Midas says that one difficult | is an incredible | On the centre section of the console | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | |
aspect of most digital EQs is the ability | achievement. | you’ll find the 12 VCA group masters, |
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to ‘dial in’ the right frequency – sweep | 16 auxiliary masters (and associated |
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the frequency of an analogue EQ |
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| ‘detail’ section), and 16 matrix masters, | I N F O R M A T I O N |
and a good engineer will settle in the right place | as well as the main output controls, monitor, |
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almost immediately. Try that on a standard digital | talkback and oscillator controls, dual track balls, | £Midas XL8 £194, 000 + VAT. | ||
EQ and it will take some twiddling to hone in on | and more. | Midas (UK) | ||
your target. Thus by doing | In monitor mode you can bring the auxiliary | T+44 (0)1562 741 515. | ||
shifting and detailed interpolation Midas claims | mixes onto the faders, and lock particular | ∑ www.midasconsoles.com | ||
to have fixed this particular bugbear and make a | auxiliaries to the two knobs on each channel |
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better EQ in the mean time. |
| strip. By assigning your mixes to the first 16 | Midas USA (Telex Communications, Inc) | |
In fact, there are several EQ types available | auxiliaries and the 16 matrix outputs you have | T +1 952 736 4031 Ext. 84031 | ||
to the user, just as there are a wide selection of | access to the first 32 mixes right there in front of | E matt.larson@us.telex.com |
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