27 X3 2 PRODUCER DIGI T AL MIXER User Manual
5. 8 Using Mute Groups
The X32 PRODUCER has 6 sepa rate “ mute g roups” . In dividual 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 ne ed
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 / unmu ting each channel on e 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 e r
right-hand cor ner ), press t he SELECT keys for any channels you w ish 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, Sub Group s and DC A Groups
On a live sou nd console such as th e X3 2 PRO DUCE R , channels can be co mbined
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 ( w here for exam ple , d ierent channe ls feeding the bu s 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) . Anot her use of a bus would be to f eed a sta ge monitor . 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 ” uni ty gain” level, wit h their respec tive levels the s ame as their levels fee ding
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 a s controlling the level of a n entire group of
drum microphones.
T o quic kly divide up w hich of the 1 6 mix buse s are congured a s regular 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 ou tputs of th e console. This set ting can later
be change d individually fo r each of the 1 6 m ix buses eith er on the SETUP page
of the cor responding mi x bus or individually p er channel on the SEND page of
the sele cted c hannel. Y o u can feed t he signal of any mix bus eithe r direc tly 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 X 3 2 PRODUCER o ers a “DC A Group” . This is si milar to a normal group,
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 e ls of the individual c hannels assigned to the D CA
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 c an adjust their overall level
as desire d in the FOH mix by adjus ting DCA f ader 1 . However , if you then no tice
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 cr eate a DCA grou p on the X32 PRODUCER:
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 ret urn channels, and bu s
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 adju st the level of a DC A group, simply adjus t its resp ecti ve 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 gr oup of signals
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 under lying channel s digit ally .
5 .1 0 User Assignable control se ction
The X32 PRODUCER’s assignable contro ls sect ion lets you ta k e th e adjustment s
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 . Ro tate any of the rs t ve encoders 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 mad e in both
scre en color and tex t.
6. Y ou are n ow free to use an d enjoy the custom as signments you have made.