X32 questions

[IA76]

Hi

 

I've been playing around with the software for the X32 on pc & ipad and have a few questions.

 

1) With the XLR outputs can you adjust the output level on these for each indivudual output and if so how?

 

2) What's the best way of assigning mics to different XLR outputs eg. mic 1-4 to XLR output 1 only, mic 5-10 to XLR output 2 only and mics 11-18 to all XLR outputs?

 

3) Is there a problem if the desk is switched off by just cutting power to it or is there a shutdown process?

 

 

 

 

 

[MarkBarl]

Regard to Q3 I would suggest saving the scene but after that there is no shutdown process

 

With regards to Q1 & Q2 there are a number of ways depending on what you are trying to accomplish. The simplest would be to route a mix bus to the required output and then put the inputs in the required busses. E.g. Mix bus 1 - Ouput 1 Mix bus 2 - output 2. Then put in 1-4 to mix 1, 5-10 to mix 2 and 11-18 to mix 1 and 2

 

If you can give some more detail of what you are trying to achieve we can suggest the best way.

[IA76]

The scenario is that there are 3 separate areas and each area has it own amp and 4 x mic points. Each amp would be connected to one of the XLR outputs on the X32.

 

The audio from mic points for area 1 should only go to amp 1, the audio from mic points for area 2 should only go to amp 2 and the audio from mic points in area 3 should go to all 3 amps.

 

My questions regarding adjusting the output level for each XLR output on the X32 is because as well as going to the 3 amps the other XLR outputs will be used to send audio to some other devices so it would be good to have some control over the output level.

 

 

 

[Stuart91]

What you've explained above is perfectly possible. Each area would have an auxiliary send going to the amplifier, this would be routed via the XLR outputs on the X32.

 

So you will have three auxiliary sends, and just adjust the mix going to each, so that mic signals end up coming out in the correct place.

 

However, if you patch the outputs so that one auxiliary appears on more than one of the XLR outputs, the signal coming out of each physical output is identical.

[revbobuk]

Q1 - I'd set up the outputs to each come from a Matrix, and then you can adjust the Matrix level as needed - and also add any delay that you need. You can also arrange for each Matrix to have a slightly different mix if that's needed.

 

Q2 - set up (some of) the mix busses as groups, then include or exclude those groups from the various matrix feeds.

 

Q3 - not had any problems just switching off. I prefer to use the switch on the back. There is a power down process which involves putting it into 'lock' mode first, but I've never used it. The desk remembers where it was when powered down, although the main l/r fader is always down on power-up.

[Stuart91]

Q1 - I'd set up the outputs to each come from a Matrix, and then you can adjust the Matrix level as needed - and also add any delay that you need. You can also arrange for each Matrix to have a slightly different mix if that's needed.

 

That makes perfect sense too.

 

It might help to know a bit more about the actual setup here. What's the layout of mics and speakers? Is this in a church, a corporate environment, or somewhere else?

 

As you've just seen, there is more than one way to skin a cat and digital desks are much more flexible than their analogue counterparts. The "best" solution depends on your situation.

[IA76]

Thanks for the replies. It looks like with a digital mixer there is more than one way of getting the same result so will play around with it some more. Our usage environment is a mix but it looks like the X32 would have no problem dealing with our scenarios.

 

Just one more question for now! You mentioned that the main volume fader is always down on power up. Does it then automatically go back up to the last setting?

 

We would be buying a X32 Rack.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[revbobuk]

Thanks for the replies. It looks like with a digital mixer there is more than one way of getting the same result so will play around with it some more. Our usage environment is a mix but it looks like the X32 would have no problem dealing with our scenarios.

 

Just one more question for now! You mentioned that the main volume fader is always down on power up. Does it then automatically go back up to the last setting?

 

We would be buying a X32 Rack.

 

We've got an X32 compact, and no - manual intervention is required to bring the master fader up. Don't know if the Rack is different.

[Shez]

You mentioned that the main volume fader is always down on power up. Does it then automatically go back up to the last setting?

That's a setting in general preferences of the setup menu. You can enable or disable it - I had to look that up as I've never seen that behaviour before so I don't think it defaults to it.

[timsabre]

You mentioned that the main volume fader is always down on power up. Does it then automatically go back up to the last setting?

That's a setting in general preferences of the setup menu. You can enable or disable it - I had to look that up as I've never seen that behaviour before so I don't think it defaults to it.

I'm glad you said that because I was convinced that our full size X32 does not do that. We normally leave a "dumb user" scene active so that someone can just turn on the mains switch and get a working PA, and that would spoil it somewhat.

[revbobuk]

Did not know that was a setting you could change. There's always something new to learn!

[IA76]

I'm understanding more now about bus mixes & matrixes the more I play around with the software.

 

My next questions are about effects.

 

1) Let's say that we have 8 mics plugged in to channels 1-8 and we want to send the same reverb effect to all these channels but we want to have a different amount of effect on each channel. How do we control the amount of effect on each channel?

 

2) We have the same mics as above plugged in but this time we want to send a reverb effect to channels 1-4 and a different reverb effect to channels 5-8 but again control the amount of effect on each channel.

[paulears]

Same as analogue - stick the effects on busses 13 to 16 for ease maybe, then just send the appropriate amount to them on the sends to the left of the screen. The thing to remember is that most things are done in little boxes - and then you connect the boxes almost any way convenient for you - which could be different to somebody else. Somebody who uses mine hates my way and always loads in shows with his way - which just doesn't work with me. If you have fathomed out how to assign fx and processing to busses, and how these can, if you wish, come into the mix via a fader pair on another layer - you can use the desk exactly like how an analogue mixer - routing on an X32 is usually personal. No right or wrong way. Spend some time and experiment. So many ways to do simple things, all quite valid - for you!

[Shez]

1) Let's say that we have 8 mics plugged in to channels 1-8 and we want to send the same reverb effect to all these channels but we want to have a different amount of effect on each channel.

It might help to think of it the other way around - you're not sending reverb to the channels - you're sending the channels to the reverb unit. Logically then, you use the sends on each channel to send to the bus on which the reverb is inserted.

[IA76]

I understand now and we have placed an order for an X32 rack.

 

Thanks for all the help so far. I'm sure I will have more questions once we get it!