AUDIO MANAGEMENT CONTROLLER (AMC) MANUAL
WINDOWS AND OS X VERSION 10.3
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Page 1: ...AUDIO MANAGEMENT CONTROLLER AMC MANUAL WINDOWS AND OS X VERSION 10 3 Page 1 ...
Page 2: ...ass management system can be customized on a channel by channel basis or turned off completely The AMC has 6 presets each of which stores complete setup information including filter setting I O configuration delays etc The AMC includes control software that is a Windows and OS X application that connects through the USB port The AMC includes SRO Sound Room Optimization software which includes an M...
Page 3: ... AMC CONTROL SOFTWARE IN OS X 18 RUNNING THE PROGRAM 18 THE AMC CONTROL MAIN SCREEN 19 NAVIGATING AROUND THE INTERFACE 19 CROSS MIXER 22 BASS MANAGEMENT 23 1 3 OCTAVE EQ 25 UNASSIGNED CHANNEL FILTERS 25 TARGET CURVES 27 SPEAKER ROOM OPTIMIZATION SRO 29 OVERVIEW 29 ADDITIONAL EQUIPMENT YOU WILL NEED 30 SETTING UP THE ART USB DUAL PRE in WINDOW 30 SETTING UP THE ART USB DUAL PRE IN OS X 31 GUIDELINE...
Page 4: ...tal and analog outputs o Adjustable analog and digital output offset o 16 in x 8 out cross mixer o Quad Analog Devices 56 bit fixed point processor o Digital input sample rate range 44 1 kHz to 192 kHz o Internal sample rate 48 kHz or 96 kHz switchable o 31 Band 1 3 octave double precision digital EQ per channel o 8 user definable 2nd order double precision digital filers per channel o 6 user defi...
Page 5: ...IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS Page 5 ...
Page 6: ...en into the apparatus the apparatus has been exposed to rain or moisture does not operate normally or has been dropped 10 The system must be placed on a firm level surface where it is not exposed to dripping or splashing liquids 11 Do not place flammable material above or beneath the AMC 12 Before making connections to a Blue Sky AMC ensure that the power is off and other components are in mute or...
Page 7: ...ller is operating normally AMC REAR PANEL 1 POWER The AMC has switching power supplies that operates on 100 230 VAC 56 60 Hz No voltage change switch required Standard IEC 3 pin power connector 2 CHANNEL ASSIGNMENTS The AMC I O connections use DB25 connectors wired to the TASCAM Avid protocol for both analog and digital These DB25 cables are not supplied The channel assignments are SMPTE standard ...
Page 8: ...thers 3 ANALOG I 0 The analog inputs and outputs are balanced with a switchable maximum level of 12 24 dBu Both analog and digital outputs are active irrespective of whether the inputs are digital or analog 4 DIGITAL I 0 The digital inputs and outputs are AES EBU 110 impedance transformer isolated I O The digital inputs have built in 140 dB dynamic range sample rate converters which convert any di...
Page 9: ... pin 5 n 3 Close the switch to mute the AMC and open it to unmute the AMC To use an external 5 V trigger to mute the rack connect the voltage across pin 4 and pin 5 A 5 V signal will now mute the rack REMOTE CABLE The cable between the remote and the rack unit is a standard Ethernet Cat 5 6 UTP cable with RJ 45 connectors However the signal protocol between the remote and rack is RS 232 not Ethern...
Page 10: ...ed to scroll through the menus and change parameters MUTE mutes all channels both digital and analog REF sets the system gain to a user defined reference level The default setting is 20 dB The default setting can be changed utilizing the remote menu or the AMC Control Software Page 10 ...
Page 11: ...n press those buttons all at once PRESETS loads the preset MENU allows a limited number of parameters to be changed on a preset When exiting the menu mode the changed parameters are automatically stored in flash memory REMOTE MENU LOCKOUT Access to the full menu can be restricted by requiring the user to enter a 4 digital access code If this feature is activated whenever the menu button is pressed...
Page 12: ...meter mode 4 Rotate the gain control CW or CCW until the display reads 3 0 dB 5 Tap the menu key to go back to scroll mode 6 Tap the dim cancel switch to exit the menu and store the preset 7 To change multiple items follow 1 5 on each parameter and then hit the dim cancel key when you have completed all your changes MENU ITEMS 1 Channel Calibration sets the output gain offset for the selected chan...
Page 13: ... used to trace down output channel wiring or to verify the AMC is outputting a signal 8 Restore to factory defaults clears all entered preset data and restores the factory default presets which include the default target curve setup Follow the prompts on the screen 9 System rate rate selects either 48 or 96khz as the system sample rate Changing the sample rate will reset the system so it is recomm...
Page 14: ...the AMC and your speaker system 2 Connect AMC Remote to AMC Rack using supplied Cat 5 6 cable 3 Connect power cable to AMC Rack 4 Turn on Rack AC power switch 5 Wait until front panel LED is flashing and remote mutes 6 Power up your speakers 7 Hit mute button to cancel mute 8 Enter menu and scroll to Pink Noise 9 Hit Menu button to switch to parameter mode 10 Scroll through pink noise channels to ...
Page 15: ...e The firmware can only be updated when the rack is powered down 1 Install the Blue Sky AMC RACK Firmware X XX update tool The installation tool will create a Blue Sky in the Program Files 0x86 sub directory and install the update program and the new hex file in that directory 2 If you get a message that the program requires Elevation and will not run right click on the installer and click Run As ...
Page 16: ...ation and will not run right click on the installer and click Run As Administrator 3 Disconnect AMC Remote and plug in the USB cable If this is first time you ve connected the AMC Remote to your computer you may get a message that the computer is installing drivers for the USB interface 4 Start the program and the dialog box will show BLUE SKY AMC Remote BOOTLOADER REV 1 00 and the currently insta...
Page 17: ...ion where you can find it Double click of the setup program to install it The installer will create a folder under the program files 0x86 called Blue Sky and install the program in that folder INSTALLING THE AMC CONTROL SOFTWARE IN OS X Download the zip file and unzip it to your desktop or application folder RUNNING THE PROGRAM Turn on the AMC and wait unit the red LED on the front of the AMC is f...
Page 18: ...that can be entered directly using the delete key the backspace key numerical keypad and the enter key The check boxes square or radio button round represent an either or setting For example if you click the 12dBu Max the 24dBu Max button is turned off Master Gain displays the current master gain of the AMC This value is automatically updated if the gain control is moved or if reference and or dim...
Page 19: ... display these 3 lines of text are what will appears on the remote when a preset is loaded Each line of text can be changed directly using the keyboard Remote Access Code a 4 digit access code for the remote menu Since the preset buttons are used to enter the code only digits 1 to 6 are allowed Restrict Remote Menu Enable when checked requires the user to enter the correct 4 digit code to access t...
Page 20: ...ay in milliseconds set some master time delay for all channels both digital and analog and is used mainly match audio to picture Analog gain dB master offset for the analog outputs and is normally used when operating with digital in and analog out Digital gain dB master offset of the digital outputs and is normally used when operating analog in to digital out Grey preset setup buttons the buttons ...
Page 21: ...t channel will be disabled and displayed in red indicating that they cannot be changed If in this state the user will have to go to the base management screen and turn bass management ON before these values can be edited The gray buttons along the right side configure the mixer to common settings These buttons only program the cross mixer and do not affect EQ or crossover values Note In some cases...
Page 22: ...The filter labels have the following meanings Bypass No filter in circuit LP2 2nd order 12 dB oct low pass filter with a Q of 707 LPBW4 Two LP2 filters in series resulting in a 24 dB oct low pass LP6 6th order Chebyshev 36 dB oct filter typical LFE Filter HP2 2nd order 12 dB oct high pass filter with a Q of 707 HPBW4 Two HP2 filters in series resulting in a 24 dB oct high pass For the feeds to the...
Page 23: ...These filters are not in the subwoofer feeds but on the individual channels The choices are Bypass HP2 or HPBW4 The bypass setting is used when you re not using bass management HP2 or HPBW4 are used depending on the actual speaker attached to the channel If the speaker is made for bass management IE Blue Sky SAT6D then you use a HP2 set to 80 Hz If however if the attached speaker is a full range m...
Page 24: ...tave EQ is used for optimization in the SRO process UNASSIGNED CHANNEL FILTERS There are 8 uncommitted filters per channel that can be used for additional EQ beyond the 1 3 octave equalizer Optimize sets whether the filter is used in the SRO optimization process Active selects whether the filter is in the signal processing path or bypassed Filter type a drop down menu to select various types of fi...
Page 25: ...allowing boost to be adjusted in real time Double click the gray area of the box to close it Note Boost setting have no affect on LP2 or HP2 filters Max filter cut DB sets the maximum amount of cut used in the SRO process This setting affects the 1 3 octave EQ and uncommitted filters Max filter boost DB sets the maximum amount of boost used in the SRO process Save to Presets saves the displayed EQ...
Page 26: ...ur application you can construct a custom target curve using any or all filters Note Not all the values in the boxes are used for all filters For example the slope dB oct and Q are not used for HPBW4 etc If you change a value and there is no change in the graph that parameter is not used Also the HP Shelf and Low Pass Shelf are not real shelving filters but special target filters Real shelving fil...
Page 27: ... for a narrow area between 100 Hz to 500 Hz it s best to keep the low target frequency at the 3 db point of the measured speaker Trying to correct below this point usually leads to excessive boost at low frequencies due to noise floor issues GATE TIME MS the AMC uses the maximum length frequency MLS method to measured the impulse response of each speaker The impulse response is converted into freq...
Page 28: ...red against a desired frequency response called the target curve The target curve can be an X curve a flat frequency response curve or an arbitrary curve that the user created The software then compares the speaker response against the target and generates an error value The error value is a quantitative measure of how well they match The larger the error the worst the match The software uses filt...
Page 29: ...ts operates at 48 kHz and has a phantom power supply for the measurement microphones It uses the built in driver for windows 3 Microphone stand 4 2 1 4 TRS to XLR male microphone cables One can be short 1 5 ft for the loop back connection and one should be long enough to connect to the speaker 5 XLR microphone cable for the measurement microphone SETTING UP THE ART USB DUAL PRE in WINDOW 1 Plug th...
Page 30: ...o through this process again SETTING UP THE ART USB DUAL PRE IN OS X 1 Plug the short TRS to XLR male cable from the Dual Pre right output to the Dual Pre right microphone input 2 Set the mix fader to computer Max CW 3 Set the output level straight up 12 O clock 4 Press the phantom switch to on 5 Press the power to on 6 Plug the measurement microphone into the Dual Pre left microphone input 7 Set ...
Page 31: ...re related to standing waves and boundary effects which occur at frequencies below 1KHz and typically below 200 Hz If this is the main area the user wants to focus on the exact aiming of the microphone to the speakers is noncritical The mic can be pointed at the speaker or at an angle of 45 or straight up Many users find that straight up gives the best response 3 If you re interested in correcting...
Page 32: ...ne to the LEFT Input on the ART USB Dual Pro Set the Left Gain control on to 18 5 Connect the RIGHT Output of the ART to the RIGHT Input Set the Right Gain to 3 6 Connect the Left Output of the ART Dual Pre to the CH 8 analog input on the AMC 7 On the rear of the ART set the MIX Knob FCW to Computer 8 On the rear of the ART set the LEVEL knob to 12 o clock straight up 9 On the rear of the ART pres...
Page 33: ...hs will open up a larger graph Measure measures the selected speakers You must have at least one speaker selected for the measure button to be active Optimize Starts the optimization process on the selected the speaker response to the target curve You must measure the speaker before the optimize button is active Clear EQ clears the EQ on the selected channels USB audio in shows a compatible audio ...
Page 34: ...w bars are the target range AVG MIC LEVEL measured microphone level This is the average level between the Target scale low and high frequency limits Green lines on the target curves The optimum level avg microphone level is 20 dB If the level is low increase the gain on the remote control If the measured response is too low the noise floor of the room and or the microphone may prevent an accurate ...
Page 35: ...t try to optimize any filters or areas outside of the yellow lines The program will automatically jump to the next speaker when the program can no longer find a better match However if you re happy with the current results you can cancel optimization by double clicking the blue stop optimization button Note You can stop optimization at any time by double clicking the Stop Optimization button 6 If ...
Page 36: ... limits vertical thick yellow lines 9 Return to the main screen click OFF the box Optimize using 1 3 Octave EQ 10 Activate the number of filters you want to use by clicking the Filter Optimize Box 11 Press the OPTIMIZE 12 The screen will show the optimization in process with live updates The optimization process calculates the least squared error between the target curve and the corrected frequenc...
Page 37: ...here is a broad peak at approximately 450 Hz that we want to reduce using one parametric filter 1 We have selected one parameter filter double clicked on the frequency box and the graph to the approximate center of the peak This sets 470 Hz in the frequency box Page 37 ...
Page 38: ...ou can see the frequency range is the default 80 to 4 khz kHz 3 Double click on the LOW TARGET FREQ and the graph to set the low target to the low end of the peak 4 Double Click the HIGH TARGET FREQ and the graph to the high target Page 38 ...
Page 39: ...5 Go to The SRO screen and hit Optimize Here is the result Page 39 ...
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Page 41: ...luesky com support blue sky calibration test files 2 Complete EQ ing and optimizing your speaker system including channel calibration 3 Follow the Blue Sky Calibration instructions and measure the SPL of the center channel at the listening position 4 Without changing the Remote Master Gain setting go into the menu and adjust the dBSPL setting to match the reading of your SPL meter Alternately you ...
Page 42: ...Bu In 20 Hz 20 kHz Digital THD N 00002 20 dBFS 20 Hz 20 kHz Digital In Lock Range 44 1 kHz 192 kHz Frequency Response 10 Hz 22 kHz 0 1dB Lip Sync Delay 0 176 ms 48 kHz Channel Delay 0 27 ms 48 kHz Internal Processing Sample Rate 48 kHz 96 kHz Input power 90 to 240 V AC 50 60 Hz 42 watts Chassis 19 rack 1 U high Note All specifications are typical and subject to change without notice Page 42 ...
