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DigiDesign PRE, Manual

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Chapter 2: Hardware Overview and Stand-Alone Operation

5

chapter 2

Hardware Overview and Stand-Alone 
Operation

This chapter describes the PRE front and back panels, and includes instructions for using its switches, 
indicators, and connectors for Stand-alone mode operation. To use PRE in Remote mode (remote con-
trol of PRE by Pro Tools or a dedicated control surface), see Chapter 3, “Remote Operation.”

PRE Front Panel

PRE has the following front panel switches, indicators, and connectors:

Power Switch and LED Ring

This switch turns PRE on and off. When lit 
(green), the LED ring around the power switch 
indicates that the unit is switched on.

By default, PRE powers up in Stand-alone mode. 
In this mode, controls can be adjusted from the 
front panel or remotely. The Remote “Lock-
Out” LED is unlit (signifying Remote Lock-Out 
mode is inactive).

At power up, PRE units default to the last set-
tings they had at power down, with the excep-
tion of Remote Lock-Out mode.

PRE front panel

Activity and Remote LEDs

Channel Select and Mute
switches and LEDs

Shift, Oscillator, and
MIDI Chan switches

Line/Inst 1 and 2

Gain/Param

Power switch,
and LED ring

Peak Meter

Clear Clips

Peak Hold, Source,
and Input Impedance

Signal Present/Clip, 48V, Insert, Pad,
Phase, and High-Pass Filter indicators

48V, Insert, Pad, Phase,
and High-Pass Filter

Summary of Contents for PRE

Page 1: ...PRE Version 8 0 ...

Page 2: ... a Class A digital device pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules Communications Statement This equipment has been tested to comply with the limits for a Class A digital device Changes or modifications to this product not authorized by Digidesign Inc could void the Certification and negate your authority to operate the product This product was tested for CISPR compliance under conditions that include...

Page 3: ...brating PRE and Other Devices 14 Adjusting Channel Controls 15 Adjusting Input Gain 16 Muting Channels 16 Chapter 3 Remote Operation 17 Connecting PRE to a Pro Tools System 18 Configuring AMS for PRE 20 Configuring MIDI Studio Setup for PRE 21 Configuring Pro Tools Software for PRE 22 Mic Preamps in Pro Tools Edit and Mix Windows 26 Viewing Mic Preamp Controls in Pro Tools 27 Mic Preamp Controls 2...

Page 4: ...PRE Guide iv Appendix A Specifications 37 Appendix B Pinout Diagram for the PRE DB 25 Connector 39 DB 25 Connector 39 Appendix C MIDI Controller Numbers 41 PRE MIDI Data 41 ...

Page 5: ...ontrol with qualified Pro Tools TDM systems and Digidesign control surfaces such as D Control D Command C 24 Com mand 8 Control 24 and ProControl Industry standard DB 25 output connectors for easy connection to Pro Tools audio inter faces or any other recording or mixing me dium Each channel features Support for microphone XLR line level inputs 1 4 inch or direct instrument 1 4 inch Selectable imp...

Page 6: ... quickly register your purchase online Registering your purchase is the only way you can be eligible to receive complimentary technical support and future upgrade offers It is one of the most im portant steps you can take as a new user Conventions Used in This Guide All Digidesign guides use the following conven tions to indicate menu choices and key commands The following symbols are used to high...

Page 7: ... online An swerbase or join the worldwide Pro Tools com munity on the Digidesign User Conference Training and Education Study on your own using courses available online or find out how you can learn in a classroom setting at a certified Pro Tools training center Products and Developers Learn about Digidesign products download demo software or learn about our Development Partners and their plug ins...

Page 8: ...PRE Guide 4 ...

Page 9: ... green the LED ring around the power switch indicates that the unit is switched on By default PRE powers up in Stand alone mode In this mode controls can be adjusted from the front panel or remotely The Remote Lock Out LED is unlit signifying Remote Lock Out mode is inactive At power up PRE units default to the last set tings they had at power down with the excep tion of Remote Lock Out mode PRE f...

Page 10: ...librating the inputs of audio interfaces such as Digidesign s 192 I O When lit the OSC LED indicates the oscillator is on The oscillator generates a fixed tone of approxi mately 1k Hz at 4 dBu 1 228 Vrms The PRE oscillator signal can be routed through the OSC output on the back of the unit or through individual channels on the DB 25 connector To route the signal to the OSC output Press the OSC swi...

Page 11: ...annel that currently has its Select switch enabled If multiple channels have their Select switch enabled only the left most channel will be represented in the Peak Meter display The meter is referenced from the clip point of the amplifier for example 22 dB is 22 dB below the clip point of the amplifier Clear Clips Switch This switch clears Clip indicators on the Peak meter and Signal indicators Pe...

Page 12: ...e is Mic press Input Z once to change to the next setting or multiple times to toggle through the three settings If the input Source is Line press Input Z to change to 1 5K or 15K If the input Source is Inst instrument the In put Z cannot be changed from its default 1 5M setting Channel Status Section Each PRE channel provides switched control for 48V phantom power phase reverse input pad access t...

Page 13: ...udio path Insert send levels are post output trim Pad Switch and LEDs This switch applies an input pad to individual channels to reduce input sensitivity by 18 dB When lit green Pad LEDs indicate which channels have Pad enabled Phase Switch and LEDs This switch applies phase reversal to individual channels When lit green Phase LEDs indicate which channels have phase reverse enabled High Pass Filte...

Page 14: ...ls can be adjusted 48V Phantom Power see 48V Switch and LEDs on page 9 Phase Reverse see Phase Switch and LEDs on page 9 Pad see Pad Switch and LEDs on page 9 Insert see Insert Switch and LEDs on page 9 High Pass Filter see High Pass Filter Switch and LEDs on page 9 Mic Line Instrument Source Switching see Source Switch and LEDs on page 8 Input Gain see Gain Param and Input Gain on page 15 When PR...

Page 15: ...tor for line out puts 1 8 For pinouts see Appendix B Pinout Diagram for the PRE DB 25 Connector This connector can also output a fixed oscillator signal on each channel For more information see OSC Oscillator Switch and LED on page 6 Send and Return Inserts 1 8 These are balanced 1 4 inch TRS Send and 1 4 inch TRS Return jacks with Tip wired hot or Ring cold and Sleeve ground In sert send levels a...

Page 16: ...so need to set each unit to a unique MIDI channel number refer to MIDI Connections on page 18 The MIDI Thru connector is not used for Pro Tools remote control Oscillator OSC Output This is a balanced 1 4 inch TRS jack that outputs a fixed oscillator signal 4 dBu reference signal at approximately 1 kHz for calibrating the in puts of gear not connected through the DB 25 output For more information s...

Page 17: ...up 4 Verify that phantom power 48V is disabled Press the 48V switch so that the 48V LED is off 5 Plug a microphone directly into the Mic Input on the back of PRE These inputs accept XLR connectors 6 If your microphone requires phantom power press 48V 7 Turn the Gain Param control to raise the gain Use the Peak Meter to determine the proper level If the output trim has been calibrated to the in put...

Page 18: ...t of the external signal processor 2 Connect the output of the external signal pro cessor to the Return jack of the same PRE channel 3 Press the Channel Select switch for the Send Return channel you will be using 4 Press Insert Repeat these steps for additional connections Calibrating PRE and Other Devices Before you use PRE you may want to calibrate its output level as well as the input and outpu...

Page 19: ...nel control switch to change its current setting For example if the 48V LED is off pressing 48V will enable 48V phantom power on all the selected channels 48V can only be enabled when input source is set for Mic input It is disabled as a choice when input source is set for line or DI input To return the selection to a single channel Press Shift to disengage then press the Select switch of the indi...

Page 20: ...ource one or more times until the Mic LED is lit so that the Mic Input is active 4 Rotate the Gain Param control to change the input gain level Muting Channels To mute a channel Press the Mute switch on each channel you want to mute To mute additional channels press their corresponding Mute switches Meters remain active and Channel Status controls can still be changed To unmute a channel Press Mut...

Page 21: ...ls Mix and Edit windows and you can do one of the following Control PRE remotely from the Pro Tools Mix or Edit window Use PRE front panel controls to adjust Mic Preamp controls Use a control surface to adjust Mic Preamp controls For specific controls see Mic Preamp Remote Control with Digidesign Con trol Surfaces on page 31 PRE Remote Control in Pro Tools The following PRE front panel controls ca...

Page 22: ... MIDI Out port on your MIDI interface 3 For additional PREs daisy chain them by con necting the MIDI Out port on the first PRE to the MIDI In port of the second PRE and so on For multiple PRE MIDI cabling considerations see Installations with Multiple PREs on page 19 Setting the PRE MIDI Channel To set the global receive transmit MIDI channel 1 On the PRE front panel press the MIDI Chan switch so ...

Page 23: ...m In order for Pro Tools to communicate properly with audio interfaces and other peripherals it is important that you start up and shut down your system in the following order Power up your system in this order 1 Turn on your Pro Tools hard drives Wait ap proximately ten seconds for them to spin up to speed 2 Turn on PRE 3 Turn on synchronization or other MIDI pe ripherals or interfaces 4 Turn on ...

Page 24: ... and Transmits options 6 Click Apply and close the Properties window 7 Connect the PRE icon to the correct port on the MIDI interface icon Click the arrow for the output port of the PRE and drag a connection to the input ar row of the corresponding port of the MIDI interface Click the arrow for the input port of the PRE and drag a connection to the output arrow of the corresponding port of the MID...

Page 25: ...con nected to the MIDI Out of the PRE 6 From the Output pop up menu choose the output port on your MIDI interface that is con nected to the MIDI In of the PRE 7 Enable the appropriate MIDI channels 1 16 for the Send Channels and Receive Channels options These determine which channels send and receive MIDI 8 Pro Tools supports the use of up to nine PREs at the same time If you use multiple PREs mak...

Page 26: ...m menu choose the PRE s source port and MIDI channel to receive data It is important to choose the correct MIDI channel if using multiple PREs as the software will not know how the PREs are connected to your system except by MIDI channel assign ments 4 From the Send To pop up menu choose The PRE s destination port and MIDI channel to transmit data Again be sure you choose the cor rect MIDI channel...

Page 27: ...t Mode Sets PRE to ignore front panel controls Remote Lock Out mode can be disabled by deselecting this option in the Pro Tools Peripherals dialog or by power cy cling the PRE Mapping PRE Outputs to Audio Interface Inputs in Pro Tools Individual PRE outputs must be manually mapped to audio interface inputs before their audio and remote controls will be available within Pro Tools After mapping PRE ...

Page 28: ...n the Grid in order for audio and remote control to be available in Pro Tools To map channels 1 Choose Setup I O and click the Mic Preamps tab 2 In the row for the selected path the high lighted PRE name click in the Grid column un der the desired audio interface and channel The PRE s first output channel will appear in this col umn as the number 1 while the remaining seven channels fill to the ri...

Page 29: ...ss Enter to set the new path name 4 Click OK to close the I O Setup dialog If there are any identically named paths you will be in structed to correct them before the I O Setup di alog will close Resetting Paths with the Default Button The Default button in the I O Setup dialog al lows you to Reset selected path names to PRE 1 PRE 2 and so on corresponding to the order that PREs appear in the Peri...

Page 30: ... track in put to an analog input that the PRE output channel is mapped to the PRE controls identi fied as Mic Preamps appear on top of the track channel strip If you do not see these controls choose Display Mix Windows Shows Mic Preamps View To create a track with a Mic Preamp 1 Choose Track New and create a mono or ste reo audio or Auxiliary Input track 2 Select an input path from the track Input...

Page 31: ...erns such as M S pairing you will not want the micro phones to be ganged together In this example you would want phantom power enabled on the condenser mic but not on the dynamic mic Furthermore it is unlikely that they would have the same gain setting If you need to use multi microphone configurations and do not want their PRE controls to be linked use individual mono inputs and mono paths Viewin...

Page 32: ...s filter to individ ual channels Each PRE channel includes a high pass filter with a center frequency of 85 Hz and a roll off of 18 dB octave Use the high pass filter to re move microphone proximity effects hum rum ble wind and other low frequency sounds Pad Button and LED This button applies an input pad to individual channels to reduce input sensitivity by 18 dB Insert Button This button enables...

Page 33: ...ndow to remain open Make sure the Target is deselected gray unlit For more information see the Pro Tools Reference Guide Mic Preamp Window Controls Mic Preamp windows provide standard selectors for PRE controls and other controls in the top area of the window Standard Controls Refer to Mic Preamp Controls on page 28 for a description of Mic Preamp view controls that are mirrored in the Mic Preamp ...

Page 34: ... enable the Target it is red when en abled gray when disabled Adjusting Mic Preamp Controls To adjust a control on a single channel 1 Choose View Mix Window Views Mic Preamps 2 Click the Mic Preamp control that you want to adjust Adjusting Controls on Multiple PREs When working with PRE controls on multiple channels in Pro Tools you must select tracks from within Pro Tools Pro Tools does not regis...

Page 35: ...bel for example 1 1 The F3 switch located at the top left of the Fader section enables this mode or returns ProCon trol to its previous operation mode To set input gain for one Mic Preamp channel 1 Press F3 to enable Channel Wide Gain Con trol mode 2 Rotate an encoder until the desired gain level is displayed To set input gain for multiple Mic Preamp channels simultaneously 1 Press F3 to enable Ch...

Page 36: ...play updates with PRE parameter names and values see the table below Mic Preamp Parameters in the DSP Edit Assign Section The Mic Preamp name is displayed in the CHANNEL GROUP display of the DSP Edit As sign section the default Mic Preamp name is PRE 1 Channel parameters and values are dis played in the DSP Edit Assign LED displays as follows Channel focus is determined by a lit INS SEND button on...

Page 37: ...p mode ProControl reverts to its previous state Resetting Defaults Mic Preamp defaults can be reset from ProCon trol while in Individual Channel mode as fol lows To reset a channel s input gain to 0 1 Press F2 to enable the DSP Edit Assign section for Mic Preamp control 2 Press a channel INS SEND switch to focus a channel This should be a channel with a Mic Preamp 3 Press DEFAULT BYPASS IN OUT for...

Page 38: ...ates with the following message MIC PRE To set input gain using Channel Wide Gain Control mode 1 Press REMOTE MIC PRE 2 Rotate an encoder until the desired gain level is displayed To view a level before adjustment press SHOW VALUES To exit Global mode Press REMOTE MIC PRE Individual Channel Mode This mode dedicates the Control 24 s Data En coders 1 8 for control of all parameters of Mic Preamps in...

Page 39: ...lashing REMOTE MIC PRE again or do any one of the following Press EXC CANCEL button Press any PAN SEND or INSERT button Press the MASTER FADERS switch Resetting Defaults Mic Preamp defaults can be reset from Con trol 24 while in Individual Channel mode as follows To reset all the parameters on a channel to their defaults 1 Press a channel PAN SEND or INSERTS button to focus a channel 2 Press REMOT...

Page 40: ...PRE Guide 36 ...

Page 41: ...oise 0 0005 1 kHz 0 dB gain 20 dB signal 0 001 20 Hz to 20 kHz 0 dB gain 0 dB signal Equivalent Input Noise 128 dB 66 dB gain 20 Hz to 20 kHz unweighted 150 ohm Phase Response 2 5 degrees 20 Hz to 20 kHz Dynamic Range 124 dB 0 dB gain 20 Hz to 20 kHz unweighted Maximum Input Level 47 dBu Pad In 1 kHz 0 1 THD Maximum Output Level 29 dBu balanced 1 kHz 0 1 THD Common Mode Rejection Ratio 75 dB 1 kHz...

Page 42: ...PRE Guide 38 ...

Page 43: ...Appendix B Pinout Diagram for the PRE DB 25 Connector 39 appendix b Pinout Diagram for the PRE DB 25 Connector DB 25 Connector Figure 1 DB 25 Connector pinouts ...

Page 44: ...PRE Guide 40 ...

Page 45: ...based MIDI channel 1 16 cc means controller number and vv means value All values are in hexadecimal format and may need to be converted to decimal for some MIDI devices X indicates the PRE s MIDI channel minus one for example for PRE MIDI channel 1 X 0 Table 1 PRE MIDI Implementation cc Name PRE Channel vv 0Eh Reset to Default N A N A 00h Input Source 1 00h mic 01h line 02h inst 01h Input Impedanc...

Page 46: ...Table 2 30h Input Source 4 00h mic 01h line 02h inst Table 1 PRE MIDI Implementation cc Name PRE Channel vv 31h Input Impedance 4 00h 1 5k 01h 15k 02h 1 5M 32h Pad 4 00h out 7Fh in 33h Insert 4 00h out 7Fh in 34h 48V 4 00h off 7Fh on 35h Phase 4 00h off 7Fh on 36h High Pass Filter 4 00h out 7Fh in 37h Mute 4 00h off 7Fh on 39h Input Gain 4 See Table 2 40h Input Source 5 00h mic 01h line 02h inst 4...

Page 47: ...off 7Fh on 65h Phase 7 00h off 7Fh on 66h High Pass Filter 7 00h out 7Fh in 67h Mute 7 00h off 7Fh on 69h Input Gain 7 See Table 2 70h Input Source 8 00h mic 01h line 02h inst Table 1 PRE MIDI Implementation cc Name PRE Channel vv 71h Input Impedance 8 00h 1 5k 01h 15k 02h 1 5M 72h Pad 8 00h out 7Fh in 73h Insert 8 00h out 7Fh in 74h 48V 8 00h off 7Fh on 75h Phase 8 00h off 7Fh on 76h High Pass Fi...

Page 48: ...evel dB 1 00h 0 2 01h 3 3 02h 6 4 03h 9 5 04h 12 6 05h 15 7 06h 18 8 07h 21 9 08h 24 10 09h 27 11 0Ah 30 12 0Bh 33 13 0Ch 36 14 0Dh 39 15 0Eh 42 16 0Fh 45 17 10 48 18 11 51 19 12 54 20 13 57 21 14 60 22 15 63 23 16 66 24 17 69 Table 2 PRE Gain Steps Step vv Level dB ...

Page 49: ...witch 7 Command 8 remote operation 31 configuring AMS Mac 22 MSS Windows 20 Pro Tools software 22 connecting analog devices 13 audio sources 13 microphones 13 PRE to a MIDI interface 18 PRE to a Pro Tools system 18 Control 24 remote operation 34 D DB 25 Outputs 1 8 11 D Command remote operation 31 D Control remote operation 31 declaring PRE 22 Default Path Order 26 E Export Settings 26 external ef...

Page 50: ...ine Inst inputs 1 8 11 line level connections 13 14 M mapping paths in I O Setup 25 mapping PRE outputs 23 Mic Inputs 1 8 11 Mic Preamp window 29 Mic Preamp Window switch 28 Mic Preamp windows controls 29 Mic Preamps 26 controls 27 paths 27 viewing 27 Mic Preamps View 27 microphone connections 13 MIDI controller numbers 41 data 41 gain steps 44 MIDI Chan switch and LED 7 MIDI connections 18 MIDI I...

Page 51: ...on 2 remapping PRE channels 24 Remote LED 6 Remote Lockout mode 6 remote operation 17 31 34 requirements 2 returns 11 S Select switches and LEDs 10 sends 11 settings changing 30 Shift switch and LED 6 SIG LEDs 8 signal connections 13 Signal Preset CLIP LEDs 8 Source and Input Impedance in Pro Tools 28 Source switch and LEDs 8 specifications 37 Stand alone mode 5 13 switches 48V 9 Clear Clips 7 HPF...

Page 52: ...City CA 94014 3886 USA Tel 650 731 6300 Fax 650 731 6399 TECHNICAL SUPPORT USA Tel 650 731 6100 Fax 650 731 6375 PRODUCT INFORMATION USA Tel 800 333 2137 INTERNATIONAL OFFICES Visit the Digidesign website for contact information www digidesign com ...

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