An Overview of the Genesys Black Signal Flow
Traditionally, mixing consoles are either
Split
or
Inline
monitoring
design:
•
A
Split
console has a number of input channels, and has a separate
monitor mix panel elsewhere on the control surface.
•
An
Inline
console has a second
Monitor
path input on each Channel
strip.
An Inline console incorporates multitrack (DAW) monitoring into the
channel strips, so each channel strip has both an input signal path and a
monitor signal path.
Genesys Black is an Inline mixing console – this means it has both
Channel input and Monitor input paths in each channel strip. In this way,
a 8-channel Genesys Black also has another 8 Monitor inputs, in effect
turning it into a 16-input desk.
Historically, the Monitor path was used to send and return to an analogue
tape machine, but these days this is more likely to be a Digital Audio
Workstation (DAW) such as Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase etc.
This means there are two main sources of sound in the studio - one is
from the musicians you are recording, the other from the tracks already
recorded on your multitrack tape or DAW (these have a 'Send To' and a
'Return From' path, either of which can be listened to).
•
When
Recording
with Genesys, the Channel path is used for sending
Microphone or line sources to the DAW/Tape Machine, and the monitor
path is used for listening to the output of the DAW/Tape Machine.
Having these two paths in each Input module allows you to have fader
control of the recording and to use the monitor path 'fader' to start a
rough mix at the same time.
•
When
Mixing
with Genesys the Channel path becomes your first
series of returns from the DAW to the console and the Monitor path via
I/P2 allows more inputs to be brought into the mix. For example an 8
channel Genesys Black when mixing allows 16 inputs to the mix buss
for mixing - 8 inputs on the channel path and 8 inputs on the monitor
path.
To be able to listen to all the individual channels and tracks that form the
input on the control room loudspeakers they must be
routed
from the
channels to the Main Mix.
On the Monitor Panel, when in Routing mode, you can send either the
Channel (
CH
) path or Monitor (
MON
) path of each input to the
L
and/or
R
of the Main Mix.
As an example, let's look at Channel Strip 1...
The channel input path will take the signal from the selection at the top of
the strip, either the
Mic
or
Line
(LN) plugged directly into the rear of each
channel strip, or the
DAW
or
DLN
Digital Line Input. The DAW return
connection is made via a D-type connector, 1 per 8-fader section. The
Digital Line connection is made either by FireWire, MADI, or AES (via a D-
type connector).
This selection is made pressing the knob itself and cycling through the
options, the selection being displayed via the adjacent LEDs. This knob
also pr/15dB of input trim.
The level control for the selected channel signal is via the channel fader.
Channel Strip 1 also has a Monitor path for Track 1 from the multitrack
recorder or DAW. This is an entirely separate signal path from the Channel
input.
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