29 X32 DIGIT A L MIXE R Preli minar y User Manual
5. 8 Using Mute Groups
The X32 has 6 sep arate “mute groups ” . In dividual c hannels can b e assigne d
to these m ute group s, allowing you to mute mult iple channe ls with a singl e
but tonpush.
This is par t icularly u sef ul in theater conte x ts, w here grou ps of micr ophone s
(suchas the ones b elongin g to a group of b ackground p er for mer s ) may need
to be muted an d unmuted of ten. By assigning t hem to a mute gro up, you can
quick ly mute/unmute a large gr oup of channe ls, which is muc h fas ter than
muting /unmuting each c hannel one by one.
1. Press t he MUTE GRP but ton.
2. While holding the de sired Gr oup but ton (lo cated on to p panel ’ s lower
right-hand cor ner) , press th e SELECT keys fo r any channels you wish to
assignto that mu te group.
3. When you are done a ssigning c hannels to the mute gr oup, press t he MUTE
GRP but ton ne x t to the display again. The c hannel SELEC T but tons will now
work normally again.
4. Press the cor respon ding mute gro up but ton, on the con sole top pan el to
mute that spe cic mu te group and all c hannels belo nging to it.
5.9 M ix Buses, Sub Groups and DCA Groups
On a live sou nd console suc h as the X 32, channels can be comb ined into a single
outpu t channel in t wo ways.
A “Bus” is a co mbined co llec tion of c hannel signals wh ere each chan nel fee ding
the bus c an be done s o with a va riable level. One t y pical u se of a bus would b e
an ee c ts loo p (where for ex ample, dier ent channels f eedin g the bus and t he
reverb e ec t ass ociate d with it , do so at di erent levels, so t hat a snare drum
has a small amount of r everb applie d while a lead voc al has a large am ount of
reverb) . Another use of a b us would be to fe ed a s tage mon itor. By feeding the
monitor mi x with a bu s, dier ent channels c an fee d the monito r bus at di ering
levels, allowing cre ation of a cu stom mon itor mix that is “ju st rig ht ” for t he talent
on stage.
A “Group” is similar to a Bus, e xcept that all channe ls feedi ng the grou p do so at
a ” unit y gain” level, with t heir respe c tive levels the s ame as thei r levels fee ding
the main mix b us. Thus, a gro up is bes t use d to control t he levels of a grou p of
signals using a single f ader, such as controlling t he level of an enti re group of
drum microphones.
T o quickly di vide up whic h of the 16 mix buses ar e congure d as regular b uses,
and which ar e congure d as group s, press t he SETUP but ton an d page ri ght to the
CONFIG page. Adjust the f th encod er to selec t b et ween di erent combi nations
of buse s and group s for the 16 mix outp uts o f the conso le. This set ting c an later
be change d indiv idually for eac h of the 16 mix buses eit her on the SE TUP page
of the cor respo nding mix bu s or indivi dually per channe l on the SEND page o f
the sele c ted channe l. Y ou can fee d the signal of any mix b us either d irec tly to
the main bus o r back to any inpu t channel if you w ant to apply lo op t ype e ec t s
or send to a mo nitor mix. A ll mix buse s are available as SOURCE on a c hannel’s
CONFIG page.
Las tly, the X32 oers a “D CA Gr oup” . T his is similar to a nor mal group, except
that the signals o f the under lying chan nels are not ac tually co mbined into a
single audio p ath. Instea d, channels are assi gned to a DC A grou p (short f or
“Digit allyContro lled Ampli er ” ) and when a single f ader re prese nting the
DC Agroup is moved, i t has the e ec t of adjus ting th e level of all the unde rlying
channels assi gned to that D CA gr oup.
DC A groups ar e usef ul in sit uations wher e you have a collec tion of sim ilar
signals, and you want to be ab le to quick ly adjus t their overall level, but also
easily adjus t the indi vidual levels of t he individ ual channels assi gned to the D CA
group. Fore xample, say you have a concer t that emp loys 4 separ ate backgro und
vocalis ts . By assignin g them all to DC A group 1, you can adjus t their overall level
as desire d in the FOH mi x by adjust ing DC A fader 1. However , if you then notice
that backgr ound voc alist #3 is a lit tle too s of t in the “b lend” o f backgroun d
vocals, you c an adjus t the level f ader on their sp eci c channel.
T o create a DC A group on t he X32 console:
1. Press t he GROUP DC A 1-8 butto n on the out put f ader layer .
2. Hold the respe c tive DC A Group S elec t bu t ton on the rig ht-hand side of
theconso le.
3. While sti ll holding dow n the DC A Group S elec t bu t ton, press the SELEC T
but tons fo r all the input c hannels, aux c hannels, f x ret urn chan nels, and bus
master s that you w ish to assign to s aid DC A Group. Thos e channels are n ow
assigne d to the DC A group.
4. Y o u can also p ress the D CA G roup Sel ec t but ton in or der to che ck which
channels are alr eady assig ned to it; th e assigned c hannel SELEC T but tons will
light up.
5. T o adjust the l evel of a DC A group, simply adj ust it s resp ec tive f ader.
DC A groups c an also have cus tom names, colo rs, and icon s assigne d to them
tohelp you rememb er what gro ups of signals are a ssigned to eac h of the
8DC Agroups.
1. Press t he SETUP but ton, the n page rig ht to the DC A GROUPS pa ge.
2. A djust t he rs t encode r to selec t th e DCA g roup you wish to c ustom ize,
thenpre ss the enco der to edit .
3. On the ed iting po p- up window that ap pear s, use the var ious enco ders to
selec t a co lor , icon, and prese t or cus tom name fo r the sele c ted DC A.
4. Press the six th en coder to ex it the ed iting sc reen.
By contr ast, conventi onal “ groups ” are use ful w hen you have a group of sig nals
that you wish to comb ine into a single signal, per haps to send t hat combine d
signal to a single e ec t pr ocesso r . For examp le, a common metho d for mak ing
drums s ound punc hy and aggres sive in a rock a nd roll mix would b e to combine
all of the dr um channels to a singl e stereo g roup, then pro cess that gr oup signal
throug h a compres sor , and then nally b ring the mo no or ster eo compre ssed
drum gr oup back i nto the mix. T his appro ach would not be p ossible w ith a DC A
group, bec ause t he DC A is not ac tually combin ing the audio sig nals, it is merel y
linking the levels of al l of the underlying channels digitally .
5 .1 0 User Assignable control sec tion
The X32’ s assignable co ntrols s ec tion le ts you t ake the adjus tment s you make
most o f ten, and assign t hem to a group o f dedic ated contr ols that are assi gnedto
just th ose f unc tions, and n othing else. The a ssignable cont rols oe r 8 but tons
and 4 knob s, with de dicate d LCD screens to rem ind you of the c urrent ly
assigne dfunc t ion.
For exam ple, you could pro gram one of t he knobs to co ntrol t he aux send o n the
vocal c hannel fe eding an inter nal reverb e ec t. Th en, if you ever want to make
the voc alist so und more “wet ” or “ dr y” dur ing di erent son gs in a set, you c an
simply reac h for that k nob and it w ill always provi de a quick and convenient p lace
to make that adjust ment.
Additionally, the assignable co ntrols ar e divide d into “ A ” , “B” , and “C” grou ps,
so you can a c tually prog ram in 3 di erent se ts of con trols, o ering a tota l of
36dierent func tions.
Set ting u p the assigna ble contro ls is easy:
1. Press t he “view ” but ton in th e assignable co ntrols se c tion. The m ain scre en
will sw itch to a view tha t lets you m ake assignment s for th e custo m controls .
2. The main screen w ill show assignme nts f or all 3 set s of cus tom contr ols
(A, B, and C) on one pag e. Rotate any of the r st ve enco der s to move the
orange “ foc us” box to th e speci c set of c usto m controls you w ish to assign.