DRAWMER MX60 FRONT END ONE OPERATORS MANUAL CONTENTS SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS page 2 INSTALLATION page 3 INTRODUCTION • Audio Connections • Power Connection page 4 page 6 page 8 CONTROL DESCRIPTIONS page 9 OPERATION page 13 IF A FAULT DEVELOPS page 16 CONTACTING DRAWMER page 16 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION page 17 BLOCK DIAGRAM page 18 SESSION RECALL page 19 1
COPYRIGHT This manual is copyrighted © 2011 by Drawmer Electronics, Ltd. With all rights reserved. Under copyright laws, this manual may not be duplicated in whole or in part without the written consent of Drawmer. ONE YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY Drawmer Electronics Ltd., warrants the Drawmer MX60 Front End One to conform substantially to the specifications of this manual for a period of one year from the original date of purchase when used in accordance with the specifications detailed in this manual.
DRAWMER MX60 Front End One SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS CAUTION - M AINS FUSE TO REDUCE THE RISK OF FIRE REPLACE THE MAINS FUSE ONLY WITH THE SAME TYPE, WHICH MUST BE A CLASS 3, 230 VOLT, TIME DELAY TYPE, RATED AT 63mA WHERE THE MAINS INPUT VOLTAGE SWITCH IS SET TO 230 VOLTS AC. AND 125mA WHERE THE MAINS INPUT VOLTAGE IS 115 VOLTS AC. ALL FUSES MUST COMPLY WITH IEC 127-2. THE FUSE BODY SIZE IS 20mm x 5mm. CAUTION - M AINS CABLE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CHANGE OR TAMPER WITH THE SUPPLIED MAINS CABLE.
INTRODUCTION The MX60 is a high quality mic/line preamplifier with integral gate, de-esser, compressor, parametric equaliser and peak limiter. It also features Drawmer's proprietary multi-band tube-sound circuitry which provides independently adjustable saturation in three separate audio bands. This may be used either to create subtle warming or high frequency enhancing effects, or it may be applied more strongly to create very obvious effects.
A conventional de-esser can be set up by introducing equalisation into the side-chain of a compressor and adjusting the equaliser so that the signal is boosted in the area of the spectrum where sibilant sounds occur, forcing the compressor to react more to high frequency sibilant sounds than to general speech frequencies. This is less than ideal because the whole signal drops in level whenever a sibilant sound occurs, which can result in the vocal taking on an unnatural lisping characteristic.
AUDIO CONNECTIONS Input and Output connections are provided for use at +4dBu via balanced XLRs for Mic. Line is either at +4dBu via a Balanced jack or at !10dBu via unbalanced jacks. It is permissible to use both +4dBu and !10dBu outputs simultaneously. If unbalanced operation at +4dBu is required, simply connect the unused terminal to Ground inside the balanced jack socket. This applies to both inputs and outputs. The wiring convention for XLR being: pin 1 Ground, pin 2 Hot and pin 3 Cold.
AUDIO CONNECTION DIAGRAM 7
POWER CONNECTION If, for some reason, the unit is to be operated at a mains input voltage which is different to that as supplied, the following procedure must be carried out by a qualified technical engineer. 1: Disconnect the unit from the mains. 2: Using a number 1 size pozidrive screwdriver, remove the seven self-tapping screws that retain the top cover. Accessing the internal power switch and fuse 3. Set the voltage rating and replace the fuse. 4. Replace the cover.
CONTROL DESCRIPTION INPUT PRE-AMP STAGE The preamplifier section is based around Drawmer's own discrete component mic preamp similar to that use in the well respected 1960, which provides very low distortion and a wide dynamic range with an equivalent input noise performance of !134dB. Source Selection Mic and Instrument buttons are provided along with status LEDs for the direct selection of mic and line sources.
DYNAMICS STAGE GATE Threshold Release DE-ESSER De-Ess Male/ Female COMPRESSOR Threshold Sets the threshold below which signal is assumed to be noise and therefore muted. Setting the control fully clockwise turns the gate off. Red and green LEDs show the gate's open/closed status. Sets the release time of the gate. A fast release is suitable for percussive sounds or other sounds having a fast release envelope whereas the Slow setting is better suited to sounds that have a naturally slow decay.
EQUALISER STAGE L.F Cut/ Boost Mid Parametric Frequency High-pass shelving filter providing up to 18dB of cut or boost below the turnover frequency of 100Hz. Centre frequency of the mid-range parametric equaliser, variable from 150Hz to 16KHz. Bandwidth Bandwidth of mid-range parametric equaliser, variable from 0.3 to 3 octaves. Cut/ Boost Controls the amount of mid-range cut or boost up to a maximum of ±18dB. H.
OUTPUT STAGE Master Fader Sets the overall output level of the MX60 from off to +15dBu. An eight-section LED mater shows the output level from !20dBu to +15dBu. (Levels referenced to +4dBu.) Pre Fade Limiter Hard The output stage includes a fixed threshold limiter set at +16dBu. A red LED lights when hard limiting is taking place Soft An amber LED will illuminate for soft limiting to show that the signal level is approaching the hard limit point.
OPERATION Preamp For use as a front end, the MX60 may be connected directly to the line input of a tape recorder, hard disk recorder, mixer or other line level compatible device. However, by using the line input or the insert return as an input, the MX60 may be used in the insert loop of a mixing console to provide dynamic processing, equalisation or Tubesound processing.
may be an audible tonal change in the voice during sibilant sounds, in which case the control should be backed off. The de-esser may also be effective in removing or reducing other unwanted high frequency sound such as string squeaks on acoustic guitars. Experiment with both the male and female settings to see which gives the best result. Compressors are sometimes accused of dulling the sound being processed, and a little explanation is needed to understand exactly why that should be.
Tubesound The Tubesound section is a purely creative tool, so it's up to you how you use it. To create subtle tube amp or tube mic effects, apply the Drive controls sparingly and back off if any distortion becomes audible. However, some instrument sounds will benefit from higher settings where the distortion is used as an effect.
IF A FAULT DEVELOPS For warranty service please call Drawmer Electronics Ltd. Or their nearest authorised service facility, giving full details of the difficulty. On receipt of this information, service or shipping instructions will be forwarded to you. No equipment should be returned under the warranty without prior consent from Drawmer or their authorised representative. For service claims under the warranty agreement a service Returns Authorisation (RA) number will be given.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS (Measurements taken using +4dBu balanced input where applicable) INPUT IMPEDANCE 20KS (bal), 20KS (unbal) MAXIMUM INPUT LEVEL +21dBu LINE INPUT CMR Better than !40dB OUTPUT IMPEDANCE 100S MAXIMUM OUTPUT LEVEL +20dBu BANDWIDTH 16Hz to 28KHz !1dB (20Hz - 22KHz) NOISE ref +4dBu Wideband (worst case) 22Hz - 22KHz AV !85dB !90dB DISTORTION Typical Input Unity Gain (+4dBu input, +19dBu output) 100Hz 1KHz 10KHz < 0.05% < 0.05% <0.
BLOCK DIAGRAM 18
