DSC260 Preliminary Owners Manual
Revision 0.9
23
11.0 Techniques, Tricks and Traps
When developing a product such as the DSC260, you must balance how much flexibility is designed in versus the
inevitable traps that might occur by having complete control over each outputs capability. The following section was
designed to give the user a bit of a head start when delving deeper into programming the unit.
11.1 Use Both Hands: When programming the unit it might be helpful to use a two hand technique. Using the right hand for navigation
around the programming grid and the left hand for adjusting the parameters. It helps remind the user that the right keys are
for navigation and the left are for changing parameters.
11.2 Oh, Where has my output gone? If you have a signal source assigned to an output, but do not have any output, check that the
Low Pass Filter Frequency parameter has not been set to “Off”. If this has been adjusted upward beyond 16kHz, it will turn
the output off.
11.3 Delays in 1, 2, 3 Steps: When using Delay Linking, it is recommended that the adjustment order is: 1. Transducer alignment within
cabinets; 2. Cabinet alignment within Clusters; 3. Delay Alignment between Clusters. In 2 channel x 3 Way and 3 channel x
2 way, the default settings include delay linking as well as stereo linking. See section 5 for additional information.
11.4 Why do both Input Clip LEDs light without a +20dBu input: Situations can occur when both Input Clip LEDs light. If this
occurs without full input signal, then this signifies a clip within the digital signal path. This normally occurs if excessive EQ
boost or gain has been programmed into one or more outputs.
11.5 I’m trying to adjust a crossover or EQ frequency but it won’t go as high or as low as I want. Check for any stereo linked
parameters that might contain an offset. If there is an offset between a stereo linked variable and the linked variable is at its
limit, then the parameter you are adjusting will not go any further. You can check this by turning Stereo Linking Off and
looking at the parameters in question. As an example, you could have a stereo EQ variable that is linked with a 5kHz offset so
that output 5 is at 10kHz and Output 6 is at 15kHz. If you try and adjust the EQ on output 5 upward, it will only go to 11kHz,
not all the way to 16kHz. This is because as you adjust output 5 upward, output 6 also goes upward to a maximum of 16kHz.
11.6 I can’t get the delay to go to it’s maximum of 635 ms. As with example 11.5 above, linked parameters can cause confusion
when they are linked with offsets. If a linked delay is at its maximum, trying to adjust another linked delay will stop at a value
of 635ms minus the amount of the offset. As an example, you have a delay link between output 3 (100ms) and output 5
(200ms). If you try and adjust output 3 upward you will be able to get a maximum of 535ms. (635ms - 100ms = 535ms)
11.7 I don’t have any linked delays, but I can’t get the maximum 630ms on an input or output. The maximum delay is a
combination of the amount of delay assigned at the input section plus the amount assigned at the output section. The
maximum combined delay from input to output is 635 ms.
11.8 “Warning, No More Filters” Even with the flexibility and full feature set of the DSC260, you could run out of DSP power at some
stage. While the engineers and designers of this product have tried to squeeze out every last bit of power, in some cases you
might see the dreaded “Warning, No More Filters?” message. This indicates that there are no more filter sections available in
the DSPs. This can occur when trying to add more EQ, adding a crossover slope or increasing a crossover slope. This
message is most likely to occur when using 48dB/Octave slopes that eat up DSP power quickly. Check below for more
information.
11.9 The DSC260 has a Split Personality. There are two DSPs in the DSC260. Crossover and EQ filter assignments are split between
them. It is possible to use up all available EQ on the inputs and outputs 1 & 2 and still have EQ available on Outputs 3-6. For
people who like clever number puzzles, section 9.5 details these guidelines. For the rest of us, there is almost always enough
EQ to go around.
11.10 Start with the Bass: Because of the way DSP is allocated, it is recommended that the programming sequence is as follows:
Assignment
Order
Parameters
Reasoning
1
Output Crossovers 1 & 2
Use these for Low Frequency Outputs. They generally need the least amount
of EQ and lower order crossover slopes. All EQ for outputs 1 & 2 and Inputs
comes from DSP 1 only. Using less power hungry crossover slopes typical of
low frequency crossovers frees up EQ for Outputs 1 & 2 and inputs.
