29 X32 C OM P AC T DIGIT AL MIXER User Manual
5. 8 Using Mute Groups
The X32 COMP A CT has 6 s eparate “mute groups” . Individual channels c an be
assigne d to these mute gro ups, allowing you to mute multip le channels with a
single but tonpush.
This is par ticular ly useful i n theater contex ts, where gr oups of microp hones
(suchas the ones b elonging to a group o f background per for mers) ma y need
to be muted an d unmuted of ten. By assigning t hem to a mute group, you can
quick ly mute/unmute a large group of c hannels, which is much f aster than
muting / unmuting each c hannel one by one.
1. Pre ss the MUTE GRP but ton.
2. While ho lding the desire d Group but ton (located o n top panel’s low er
right-hand cor ner ) , press t he SE LECT keys f or any channels you wish to
assignto that mu te group.
3. When you are don e assigning channels to the mu te group, press the MUTE
GRP but ton nex t to the display again. The chann el SELECT but tons will now
work normally again.
4. Pre ss the corresp onding mute group b utton, on the co nsole top panel to
mute that spe cic mute grou p and all channels belongin g to it.
5.9 M ix Buses, S ub Groups and DCA Groups
On a live sou nd console such as th e X3 2 COMP AC T , chann els can be combine d into
a single out put channel in t wo ways.
A “Bus” is a co mbined collec tion of channe l signals where each chann el feeding
the bus c an be done so wit h a variable level. One t ypical us e of a bus would be
an ee cts l oop ( where fo r example, diere nt channels feed ing the bus and the
reverb e ect a ssociated wi th it, do so at di erent levels, so that a snare dr um
has a small amount of r everb applied while a le ad vocal has a large amou nt of
reverb) . Another use of a b us would be to feed a s tage monito r . B y feeding the
monitor mi x with a bus, di erent channels can f eed the monito r bus at dierin g
levels, allowing cre ation of a custo m monitor mix that is “jus t right ” for the talen t
on stage.
A “Group” is similar to a Bus, e xcept that all channels fee ding the group do s o at
a ” unit y gain” level, with their re spect ive levels the same as thei r levels feeding
the main mix b us. Thus, a group is be st used to cont rol the levels of a grou p of
signals using a single f ader , such as contro lling the level of an entire gr oup of
drum microphones.
T o quickly di vide up which of the 16 mix buse s are congured as r egular buses,
and which ar e congured as gro ups, press the SE TUP button an d page right to the
CONFIG page. Adjust the fth enco der to selec t bet ween dierent co mbinations
of buse s and groups for t he 1 6 mix output s of the console. This s ettin g can later
be change d individually fo r each of the 1 6 mix buse s either on the SET UP page
of the cor responding mi x bus or individually p er channel on the SEND page of
the sele cted c hannel. Y ou c an feed th e signal of any mix bus either d irect ly to
the main bus o r back to any input channel i f you want to apply loop t ype e ect s
or send to a mo nitor mix. All mix bus es are available as SOURCE on a chann el’ s
CONFIG page.
Las tly , the X32 C OMP ACT oer s a “DCA Gr oup” . T his is similar to a normal grou p ,
except that the si gnals of the underly ing channels are not ac tually combine d
into a single audio p ath. Instead, channels ar e assigned to a DC A group (shor t
for “Dig itallyControlle d Amplier ” ) and when a single fa der represent ing the
DC Agroup is moved, it has the e ec t of adjusting th e level of all the underly ing
channels assi gned to that DC A group.
DC A groups are use ful in situati ons where you have a collec tion of similar
signals, and you want to be ab le to quickly adjus t their overall level, but also
easily adjus t the individual le v els of the indi vidual channels assig ned to the DCA
group. Fore xample, say you have a concert t hat employs 4 separate b ackground
vocalis ts. By assi gning them all to DCA g roup 1 , you can adjust t heir overall level
as desire d in the FOH mix by adjus ting DCA f ader 1 . However , i f you then notice
that backgr ound vocalist #3 is a lit tle too sof t in the “b lend” of backgro und
vocals, you c an adjust the level f ader on their spe cic channel.
T o create a DC A group on the X 3 2 C OMP ACT :
1. Pre ss the GROUP DCA 1-8 but ton on the out put fader layer.
2. Hold t he respec tive DCA G roup Selec t but ton on the right-hand sid e of
theconso le .
3. While st ill holding down the DC A Group Se lect bu tton, pres s the SELECT
but tons for all the inp ut channels, aux channe ls , f x return c hannels, and bus
master s that you wish to assign to s aid DCA Gr oup. Those channels are n ow
assigne d to the DCA gro up.
4. Y ou can als o press the DC A Group Sele ct but ton in order to c heck which
channels are alr eady assigned to it ; the assigned chann el SELECT but tons will
light up.
5. T o adjust th e level of a DCA gro up , simply adjus t its resp ecti v e fader.
DC A groups can also have cu stom names, color s, and icons assigne d to them tohelp
you remembe r what groups of signals ar e assigned to each of th e 8DCAgroup s.
1. Pre ss the SETUP but ton, then page ri ght to the DCA GROUP S page.
2. Adjus t the rst e ncoder to selec t the DC A group you wish to cus tomize,
thenpre ss the encoder to edi t.
3. On the e diting pop -up window that app ears, use the var ious encoder s to
selec t a color, icon , and pres et or custom na me for the sele cted DC A.
4. Pre ss the six th encoder to exi t the editing s creen.
By contr ast, conventional “groups” are u seful wh en you ha ve a group of signa ls
that you wish to comb ine into a single signal, perhaps to s end that combined
signal to a single e ect p rocessor. For example, a commo n method for mak ing
drums s ound punchy and aggre ssive in a rock and ro ll mix would be to combine
all of the dr um channels to a single stere o group, then proce ss that group signal
throug h a compressor, and then nally bring t he mono or stere o compresse d
drum gr oup back into the mix . This approach wo uld not be possible w ith a DCA
group, bec ause the DC A is not act ually combining the audio sig nals, it is merely
linking the levels of al l of the underlying channels digitally .
5 .1 0 User Assignable control se ction
The X32 COMP A CT’s assignable contr ols sec tion lets you t ak e the adjus tments
you make most of ten, and assig n them to a group of ded icated contro ls that are
assigne dto just those f unct ions, and nothing else. The as signable controls o er
8 but tons for a vari ety of f uncti ons.
Set ting up the as signable controls is eas y:
1. Pre ss the “view ” button in t he assignable contro ls sect ion. The main scre en
will sw itch to a view that let s you make assignments f or the custo m controls.
2. The main s creen will show as signments for all 3 s ets of cus tom controls
(A, B, and C) on one pag e . Rotate any of the r st ve encoder s to move the
orange “ focus ” box to the specic s et of custo m controls you wish to assig n.
3. Press any of enco ders 1-5 to switch to the ed it screen f or the speci c custom
control t hat you hav e highlighted . The main screen w ill switch to an edi ting
scre en where you can as sign a console par ameter to the cus tom control.
4. Adjus t and press the enco ders 3- 6 on the editing s creen f rom lef t to right to
make a custom co ntrol assignmen t.
5. When you are ni shed, you will see that the LCD sc reen locate d in the
cus tom controls sec tion re ect s the assignment yo u ha ve made in both
scre en color and tex t.
6. Y ou are now fre e to use and enjoy the cus tom assignment s you have made.