XL-Desk – Owner’s Manual Page 9
4. Tutorials
T
He
vHD
PReAMPLIFIeR
XL-Desk has 8 Variable Harmonic Drive preamplifiers built-in.
The red pot provides up to +75 dBs of gain, whilst the black pot provides a variable mix of 2nd to 3rd harmonics (once the
vHD
button is engaged).
The outputs of these 8 preamplifiers feed the main inputs of mono channels 1-8.
vHD
Engages the Variable Harmonic Drive circuit within the preamplifier
HI-Z
Switches the preamplifier impedance from 1.2K Ω to 10K Ω
+48v
Applies phantom power
PAD
Applies 20 dBs attenuation before the signal enters the preamplifier
Using the preamplifier
When the
vHD
button is not engaged, the preamplifier has been designed to give a transparent
sound, great for sources such as acoustic guitars, vocals and strings.
When the
vHD
button is pressed, the preamplifier can be driven to give a wide-range of overdriven
sounds, ranging from subtle to... well, not so subtle! Drums and electronic instruments can often
benefit from VHD colouration.
The best way to drive the VHD preamplifier is to increase the input gain (red pot) whilst using the
Line Trim pot to reduce the overall level and not clip the channel output. Remember, it’s the input
to the preamplifier that likes being driven. From this point, adjust the harmonics to fine-tune the
desired sound.
If sending pre-recorded audio back through the preamplifiers, you will find it useful to engage the
input
PAD
. This will lower the level at which the signal hits the preamplifier.
M
ONO
C
HANNeLS
Input
Each channel of XL-Desk has two inputs, switchable by pressing the
DAW
button.
The primary input on channels 1-8 is the VHD microphone preamplifier. This is labelled as
MIC INPUT
1-8
on the rear panel. Pressing the
DAW
button will instead source the line-level input labelled
DAW
INPUT 1-8
on the rear panel.
The primary input on channels 9-16 is the line-level input labelled
LINE INPUT 9-16
on the rear panel.
Pressing the
DAW
button will instead source the line-level input labelled
DAW INPUT 9-16
on the
rear panel.
Typically, the outputs from your DAW’s audio interface/converter would be connected to
DAW INPUT
1-8
and
DAW INPUT 9-16
. Some people may like to think of these as ‘monitor returns’.
LINE INPUT
9-16
may be connected to outboard microphone preamplifiers (to extend the number of
preamplifiers already available) or perhaps a line-level instrument.
Mono
Channels
1 – 8
Mono
Channels
9 – 16
Summary of Contents for XL-Desk
Page 2: ...Page B XL Desk Owner s Manual Document History 82BMLM01A Initial Release September 2014 ...
Page 30: ...Page 26 XL Desk Owner s Manual This page is intentionally bank It s a tradition ...
Page 34: ...Page 30 XL Desk Owner s Manual APPeNDIX B CONSOLe DIMeNSIONS 7 3 7 3 ...
Page 38: ...Page 34 XL Desk Owner s Manual NOTeS ...
