SoundCraft MFX manual

1 USER GUIDE TM TM TM[...]

2 © Harman Inter national Industries Ltd. 2007 All rights reser ved P arts of the design of this product ma y be protected by w or ld wide patents. P art No. ZM0358-02 Soundcraft is a trading division of Har man International Industries Ltd. Infor- mation in this manual is subject to change without notice and does not repre- sent a commitment on t[...]

3 Contents IMPORT ANT SAFETY INSTR UCTIONS 4 SAFETY SYMBOL GUIDE 6 INTRODUCTION 7 THE 60-SECOND GUIDE 8 WIRING UP 10 BLOCK DIAGRAM 14 MONO INPUT CHANNELS 15 STEREO INPUT CHANNELS 18 MASTER SECTION 20 Le xicon® FX PROCESSOR O VER VIEW 24 FX OPERA TION 24 FX PROCESSOR CONTR OLS 25 REVERBS 26 REVERB CONTROLS 27 DELA YS 28 DELA Y CONTR OLS 28 MODULA T[...]

4 IMPORT ANT SAFETY INSTR UCTIONS Read these instr uctions. Keep these instructions. Heed all war nings. Follow all instructions. Do not use this apparatus near water . Clean only with a dr y cloth. Do not block an y ventilation openings. Install in accordance with the manufacturer’ s instr uctions. Do not install near an y heat sources such as r[...]

5 with liquids, such as vases, on the apparatus. No naked flame sources, such as lighted candles, should be placed on the apparatus. V entilation should not be impeded b y covering the v entilation openings with items such as newspapers, table cloths, cur tains etc. THIS APP ARA TUS MUST BE EARTHED . Under no circumstances should the safety earth b[...]

6 For your own safety and to a void inv alidation of the w a rr anty please read this section carefully . SAFETY SYMB OL GUIDE For y our own safety and to a v oid in validation of the warranty all text marked with these symbols should be read carefully . WARNINGS The lightning flash with ar rowhead symbol, is intended to aler t the user to the pres[...]

7 INTRODUCTION Thank y ou for purchasing a Soundcraft MFX mixer . The MFX range is our most cost- effective mixing solution, bringing y ou all the features and perfor mance that y ou expect from a Soundcraft product, at an extraordinarily low price. The packaging , w hich y our MFX arrived in, for ms part of the product and must be retained for fut[...]

8 THE 60-SECOND GUIDE 1 MIC INPUT (XLR) Connect Microphones here. If y ou are using a condenser mic, ensure phantom pow er is supplied by pressing the switch at the top of the master section. WARNING: Do Not apply Phantom P ow er before connecting a microphone. 2 LINE INPUT ( ¼ ” J ack) Connect Line lev el sources here, e.g. Synth, Dr um Machine[...]

9 12 PFL When pressed the signal will appear on the monitor and headphone outputs - use this to monitor the post-EQ signal from the channel. 13 MIX/SUB SWITCH When this switch is up, the channel’ s post-pan-pot signal is routed to the Mix (left and right) buses. When the switch is depressed, the post-pan-pot signal is routed to the Sub-group (lef[...]

10 WIRING UP Mic Input The MIC input accepts XLR-type connectors and is designed to suit a wide rang e of BALANCED or UNBALANCED lo w-lev el signals, whether from deli- cate vocals requiring the best lo w-noise perfor mance, or dr um kits needing maximum headroom. Professional dynamic, condenser or ribbon mics are best because these will be LO W IM[...]

11 A ‘Y’ lead ma y be required to connect to equipment with separate send and retur n jacks as sho wn below: Stereo Inputs STEREO 1/2 These accept 3-pole 6.35mm (1/4") jacks, or 2-pole mono jacks which will automatically ground the ‘cold’ input. Use these inputs for sources such as ke yboards, dr um machines, synths, tape machines or a[...]

12 Polarity (Phase) Y ou will probably be familiar with the concept of polarity in electrical signals and this is of par ticular importance to balanced audio signals. Just as a balanced signal is highly effective at cancelling out unwanted interference, so two microphones picking up the same signal can cancel out, or cause serious degradation of th[...]

13 PROBLEM SOL VING Basic problem solving is within the scope of an y user if a few basic r ules are follo wed. • Get to know the Block Diag ram of y our console (see pag e 14). • Get to know w hat all controls and/or connections in the system are supposed to do. • Learn where to look for common trouble spots. The Block Diagram is a represent[...]

14 BLOCK DIA GRAM[...]

15 MONO INPUT CHANNELS 1 Mic Input The MIC input accepts XLR-type connectors and is designed to suit a wide rang e of B ALANCED or UNBALANCED signals. Professional dynamic, condenser or ribbon mics are best because these will be LO W IMPEDANCE. Y ou can use low-cost HIGH IMPED ANCE mics, but the lev el of background noise will be higher . If y ou t[...]

16 The Send ma y also be tapped off as an alter native pre-fade, pre-EQ direct output if required, using a lead with tip and ring shor ted tog ether so that the signal path is not interr upted (see below). 5 Gain This knob sets how much of the source signal is sent to the rest of the mixer . T oo high, and the signal will distor t as it o verloads [...]

17 POST -F ADE), but for Foldback or Monitor feeds it is impor tant for the send to be independent of the fader (this is called PRE-F ADE). A UX SENDS 1 and 2 are both globally switchable betw een pre and post-fade (see master section on pag e 20). 8 FX SEND This control sets the lev el of the post-fade signal being sent to the FX bus; from there i[...]

18 STEREO INPUT CHANNELS 1 INPUTS STEREO 1/2 These inputs accept 3-pole 6.35mm (1/4") jacks. Use these inputs for sources such as ke yboards, dr um machines, synths, tape machines or processing units. The inputs are BALANCED for lo w noise and top quality from professional equipment, but y ou can use UNBALANCED sources b y wiring up the jacks [...]

19 7 MUTE All outputs from the channel are enabled w hen the MUTE switch is released and muted w hen the switch is do wn. The MUTE switch’ s inbuilt LED glo ws when the chan- nel is muted. 8 F ADER The 60mm F ADER gives y ou smooth control of the o verall signal le vel in the channel strip, allowing precise balancing of the v arious source signal[...]

20 MASTER SECTION[...]

21 1 POWER INDICA T OR This LED lights to show w hen pow er is connected to the console. 2 PHANT OM POWER Man y professional condenser mics need PHANTOM PO WER, which is a method of sending a po wering voltag e down the same wires as the mic signal. Press the s witch to enable the +48V pow er to all of the MIC inputs. The adjacent LED illuminates w[...]

22 12 HEADPHONES SOCKET The PHONES output is a 3-pole 6.35mm (1/4") jack, wired as a stereo output, ideally for headphones of 150 Ω or g reater. 8 Ω headphones are not recommended. 13 METERS & AFL/PFL ACTIVE LED The three-colour peak reading BARGRAPH METERS normally show the le vel of the signal(s) selected b y the monitor source-selec[...]

23 AUX 22 AUX MASTERS These controls set the output lev els of the two A ux Outputs. 23 AFL These After F ade Listen switches route their respective aux output signal to the monitor/headphones out- puts. 24 PRE/POST SWITCHES These two s witches globally switch the A UX 1 and AUX 2 feeds, respectiv ely , on all the input modules to be either pre-fad[...]

24 Lexicon® FX PR OCESSOR OVER VIEW The effects within the console hav e been designed with both live sound reinforcement and home recording in mind. Featuring the deep, rich rev erb algorithms that Lexicon® are reno wned for the effects processor offers increased versatility and high quality effects, all instantly accessible via the extremely in[...]

25 FX PR OCESSOR CONTR OLS 1. T empo Button - T apping this button twice sets the Dela y T ime of the selected program. The LED flashes to indicate current tempo. Can be tapped in time with music source to synchronise the dela y . 2. Store Button - Stores program modifications to one of the prog ram locations. Press and hold for three seconds will [...]

26 REVERBS Rev erberation (or “reverb” for shor t) is the complex effect created by the wa y w e perceive sound in an enclosed space. When sound wav es encounter an object or boundar y , they don’t just stop. Some of the sound is absorbed by the object, but most of the sound is reflected or is diffused. In an enclosed space, re verb is depend[...]

27 Reverse Reverb Rev erse reverb w orks in the opposite fashion from nor mal re verb . Whereas a normal reverb has the loudest series of reflections heard first that then become quieter ov er time, the Rev erse rev erb has the softest reflections (essentially the tail of the rev erb) heard first, and then gro ws louder ov er time until they abrupt[...]

28 Shape This control helps give a sense of both room shape and room size. Low v alues for Shape keep the majority of sound energ y in the early par t of the re verb tail. High v alues mov e the energy to later in the rev erb , and are helpful in creating the sense of a strong rear wall or “backslap. Boing This is a unique parameter to the Spring[...]

29 increase the time between repeats. Range 0-72. See the Effects Data Char t for exact note v alues. Feedback Controls the number of dela y repeats by feeding the dela y output signal back into the dela y input. This creates a series of dela y repeats, each slightly attenuated until they become inaudible. Higher settings create more repeats; low e[...]

30 Knob 3: V oices Controls the number of additional Chor us v oices. Up to 8 voices can be added, continuously v ariable in 100 individual steps. Flang er This effect was originally created by simultaneously recording and pla ying back two identical prog rams on tw o tape recorders, then using hand pressure against the flange of the tape reels to [...]

31 speaker . Knob 3: Stereo Spread Increases or decreases the stereo imaging of the Rotar y effect. V ibr ato V ibrato is obtained b y smoothly v ar ying the pitch of the signal just sharp and flat of the original at a deter mined rate. V ibrato Stereo (Wet only) Rotar y Mono (Wet only) T remolo/P an Ster eo (W et only) Knob 1: Speed Controls the m[...]

32 EFFECTS D A T A CHART No NAME ADJUST1 VALUE RANGE ADJUST2 VALUE RANGE ADJUST3 V ALUE RANGE FIXED1 V ALUE FIXED2 V ALUE FIXED3 VALUE ROUTING 1 SMALL HALL PREDELA Y 10ms 0-100ms DECA Y 1.0s 0-99 LIVELINESS 75 0-99 2 LARGE HALL PREDELA Y 20ms 0-200ms DECA Y 2.0s 0-99 LIVELINESS 35 0-99 3 VOCAL HALL PREDELA Y 10ms 0-200ms DECA Y 1.0s 0-99 LIVELINESS[...]

33 USING Y OUR MFX CONSOLE The final output from y our sound system can only ev er be as good as the w eakest link in the chain, and especially important is the quality of the source signal because this is the star ting point of the chain. Just as you need to become familiar with the control functions of y our mixer , so y ou must recognise the imp[...]

34 • Repeat this procedure on other channels as required. As more channels are added to the mix, the meters ma y mov e into the red section. Adjust the ov erall lev el using the Master Faders if necessar y . • Listen carefully for the characteristic sound of “feedback”. If y ou cannot achiev e satisfactor y input le vel setting without feed[...]

35 MARK-UP SHEETS Y ou ma y freely copy this pag e, and use it to record the settings used for par ticular applications/gigs.[...]

36 FITTING OPTIONAL RACK-MOUNT BRA CKETS The rack-mount kit par t numbers are: for MFX12/2 = R W5753, for MFX8/2 = R W5765 (note that this kit includes an extender plate to pad the console out to fit a 19” rack). (MFX12/2 & MFX8/2)[...]

37 DIMENSIONS[...]

38 APPLICA TIONS APPLICA TION 1 - LIVE SOUND REINFORCEMENT[...]

39 APPLICA TION 2 - MULTISPEAKER APPLICA TIONS This configuration demonstrates how multiple speak er configurations can be driven b y the EPM.[...]

40 APPLICA TION 3 - PLACES OF W ORSHIP This configuration uses the A ux 2 output to driv e an induction loop for the hard of hearing . A ux 1 output is used to g enerate foldback monitoring for the speaker/sing er . The main outputs are used to drive the main speaker system. The record and pla yback connections are used to pass audio to and from a [...]

41 APPLICA TION 4 - RECORDING The inser t points on channels 1-8 ma y be used to feed a multitrack recorder as shown (link the send and retur n signals). The Mix outputs are used for a preliminar y stereo mix on a D A T recorder .[...]

42 TYPICAL CONNECTING LEADS[...]

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44 MFX TYPICAL SPECIFICA TIONS Frequency Response Mic / Line Input to an y Output ...........................................+/-1.5dB , 20Hz – 20kHz T .H.D. Mic Sensitivity -30dBu, +14dBu @ Mix output .............................< 0.02% @ 1kHz Noise Mic Input E.I.N. (maximum gain) ............................………..-127dBu (150 Ω source[...]

45 WARRANTY 1 Soundcraft is a trading division of Har man International Industries Ltd . End User means the person w ho first puts the equipment into regular operation. Dealer means the person other than Soundcraft (if an y) from whom the End User purchased the Equipment, provided such a person is authorised for this purpose b y Soundcraft or its a[...]

46 GLOSSARY AF L After-fade listen: a function that allows the operator to monitor the post-fade signal in a channel independently of the main mix. A uxiliar y send An output from the console comprising a mix of signals from channels derived inde- pendently of the main stereo mix. Balance The relative le vels of the left and right channels of a ste[...]

47 Pre-fade The point in the signal path before a fader , and therefore unaffected by the fader position. Rolloff A fall in gain at the extremes of the frequency response. Shelving An equaliser response affecting all frequencies abov e or below the break frequency i.e. a highpass or lowpass deriv ed response. Spill Acoustic interference from other [...]

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