Behringer MDX1400 manual

D AUTOCOM ® PRO MDX1400 www.behringer.com ENGLISH Users Manual V e r s i o n 1 . 4 June 2001[...]

2 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 This symbol, wherever it appears, alerts you to important operating and mainte- nance instructions in the accompanying literature. Read the manual. SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS CAUTION: T o reduce the risk of electric shock, do not remove the cover (or back). No user serviceable parts inside; refer servicing to qualified personnel. WAR[...]

3 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 FOREWORD Dear Customer, Welcome to the team of AUTOCOM PRO users and thank you very much for expressing your confidence in Behringer products by purchasing this unit. It is one of my most pleasant tasks to write this letter to you, because it is the culmination of many months of hard work delivered by our engineering team to r[...]

4 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 MDX1400 AUTOCOM ® PRO I nteractive 2-channel expander/gate/compressor/enhancer of the reference class s IKA (Interactive Knee Adaptation) compressor concept combines the advantages of hard knee and soft knee characteristics s Attack and Release times controllable automatically or manually s Switchable highpass fil[...]

5 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 T ABLE OF CONTENT 1 . INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 6 1. 1 The Design Concept .......................................................................................................... .............. 6 1. 2 Before you begin ...[...]

6 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 1. INTRODUCTION In purchasing the new AUTOCOM PRO Model MDX1400, you have acquired an extremely efficient and universal dynamics processor, which combines the most commonly used dynamic functions within a compact stereo unit: every channel has its own independent Compressor/Limiter, an Expander/Gate and a Dynamic Enhancer. The[...]

7 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 Gate section can be used as an independent unit to eradicate noise offering almost limitless possibilities within this application. The BEHRINGER Dynamic Enhancer One of the most common negative effects of broadband compressors is the dulled or squashed sound that is produced when it is applied to composite music, [...]

8 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 2 . CONTROLS 1 Fig. 2.1: AUTOCOM PRO front panel The BEHRINGER AUTOCOM PRO has two identical channels. Each channel is equipped with 8 backlit push-buttons, 7 rotary controls and 26 LEDs. The COUPLE switch is for stereo operation: 1 By engaging the COUPLE sw itch th e AUTOCOM PRO is converted to stereo mode, where the contr[...]

9 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 2.2 Compressor Section 11 14 16 17 13 10 8 9 7 6 15 5 12 Fig. 2.3: Control elements of the compressor section 5 The THRESHOLD control sets the threshold point for the compressor section. It has a range of -40 to +20 dB. If the channel is switched to INTERACTIVE mode (Interactive Knee Adaptation), a Soft Knee characterist[...]

10 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 15 The SC FILTER switch activates a highpass filter in the sidechain path and thus limits the influence of low frequencies on the AUTOCOM PROs control processes. 16 The 12-digit GAIN REDUCTION meter indicates how effectively the gain is reduced by the compressor, within a range from 1 to 30 dB. 17 The 12-digit INPUT/OUTPUT[...]

11 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 22 AUDIO IN . These are the audio inputs of your AUTOCOM PRO, available both as balanced 1/4" TRS and XLR connectors. 23 AUDIO OUT . These are the audio outputs of your AUTOCOM PRO. Matching phone jack and XLR connectors are wired in parallel. These outputs can be transformer-balanced by retrofitting the optional output [...]

12 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 Clipping In contrast to the two previously mentioned limiters, the clipping mode features infinitely fast control times, an infinite compression ratio and creates an unsurpassable barrier (brickwall) for all signals above a certain level. To be able to control the signal peaks, the clipping function radically cuts signa[...]

13 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 adjacent mics and results in conflicting frequency and phase coherence problems, as well as unspecified sounds (comb filter effects). It is vitally important that every instrument is recorded into a separate mic and that each mic is individually gated. Patch the BEHRINGER AUTOCOM PRO into a snare drum channel for exampl[...]

14 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 3.2.4 Reducing Feedback In Stage Mics When a singer is using a vocal mic, their voice effectively stops other sounds from entering the mic. But in pauses between the singing, the mic will pick up noise from the house PA and monitors, which can lead to unpleasant feedback problems. If the AUTOCOM PRO is inserted into the mic c[...]

15 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 Threshold Gain 0 dB Input Output o o:1 Limiter Ratio 2:1 Ratio 4:1 Hard Knee IKA Curve Fig. 3.2: IKA characteristic of the compressor section The new IKA (Interactive Knee Adaptation) circuit prevents aggressive compression, created by high ratios, from sounding too unnatural. This is achieved with an interactive control func[...]

16 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 The experienced user will be in a position to specify parameters while in bypass mode and thus realize the effect before the unit is actually switched into operation. This is important in live situations, where a signal needs to be managed efficiently by the engineer, without the convenience of continual A/B comparison. For u[...]

17 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 0 dB -20 dB No Gain Reduction 20 dB Gain Reduction Without Enhancer With Enhancer Frequency Output Fig. 3.3: The frequency response with and without dynamic enhancer 3.4.1 Initial Settings For The Dynamic Enhancer Section Turn the PROCESS control beginning from Off to a value, where you have the impression of a correct [...]

18 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 4.1.1 The AUTOCOM PRO In Digital Recording And Sampling In an analog recording, too low recording levels lead to an increased noise level, whereas too high levels will cause a compressed and squashed sound. In extreme cases, it will cause distortion due to tape saturation. In contrast to analog, side effects in the digi[...]

19 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 the midrange/tweeter range caused by high-energy bass signals! This statement, as paradox as it may seem at first, can be explained with the fact that especially low-frequency signals with high amplitudes can overload the power supplies in the amplifier(s). The resulting clipping (cutting off of signal peaks) produces high-en[...]

20 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 5 . EXTERNAL SIDECHAIN APPLICATIONS 5.1 The Sidechain Function With the AUTOCOM PROs sidechain function you have a very useful external control option. By activating the SC EXT switch, the AUTOCOM PROs control path is disconnected from the audio input and therefore interrupted. The audio input is routed to the SC SEND output [...]

21 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 Control Setting SC EXT swit ch IN SC MON swi tch OUT INT ERACTIVE switch OFF SC FIL TER swi t ch OUT THRESHO LD co ntrol +20 dB RATIO control 1:4 AUTO sw itch OUT ATTA C K co ntro l 0,5 ms RELE ASE con trol 200 ms OUT PUT control 0 dB T ab. 5.1: Initial settings for the De-Esser functions 5.2.2 Frequency Selective Filtering O[...]

22 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 5.4 Voice-Over Compression (Ducking) The B EHRINGER AUTOCOM PRO can be used to automatically reduce music to a background level, when an announcer is speaking through a microphone. For this purpose, the BEHRINGER AUTOCOM PRO is used as an automatic fader and is controlled by the announcers microphone, which is [...]

23 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 Ear Microphone Amplifier Power Amplifier T ape Recorder Radio Cassette Recorder P/dB 140 120 100 80 60 40 Fig. 6.1: The dynamic range capabilities of various devices It is therefore useful to keep the operating level as high as possible without risking signal distortion in order to achieve optimum transmission quality. It is [...]

24 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 of distortion or, for example, to avoid loudspeakers being damaged by overload, Compressors or Limiters are used. The principal function used in these devices is dependent on an automatic gain control as mentioned in the previous section, which reduces the amplitude of loud passages and therefore restricts the original dynami[...]

25 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 7.1.2 Transformer Balanced Outputs (Optional) In contrast to electronic balancing, the use of transformer-balanced outputs offers the advantage of galvanic separation between units. Electrical potential differences and ground loops in audio installations do not therefore impair the performance of the units. The transformer-ba[...]

26 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 8 . TECHNICAL DATA AUDIO INPUT Connectors XL R and 1/4" jack T yp e RF filtered, servo-balanced input Impedance 50 kOh m b a l anced, 25 kOhm unbalanced Nominal Operating Level +4 dB u/-10 dBV switchable Max. Input Level +21 dBu balanced and unbalanced CMRR t y p . 4 0 d B , >55 dB @ 1 kHz AUDIO OUTPUT Connectors XL R[...]

27 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 DYNAMIC ENHANCER SECTION T y pe Dynamically controlled frequency correction Process v ar ia bl e (O ff t o 6) FUNCTION SWITCHES SC EXTERN S w i t ches the detector section to the external SC input. SC MON Monitoring the external SC input, disengaging the normal audio. INTERACTIVE E nables the Interactive Knee Adaption c[...]

28 AUTOCOM PRO MDX1400 9. WARRANTY The information contained in this manual is subject to change without notice. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording of any kind, for any purpose, without the express written permission of BEHRINGER S pezie[...]