Mackie CFX20 Owner's Manual - Page 12

OO OO OO OO OO U 1 MIC GAIN ZERO 6 +50 LEVEL -15dB +30dB TRIM LOW CUT 100 Hz U AUX 1 +15 U 2 +15 PRE FADER U +15 U EFX 1 (EXT) EFX 2 (INT) +15 U EQ HI 12k -15 +15 U MID -15 +15 600 150 1.5k FREQ 100 8k U LOW 80Hz -15 +15 PAN LR 1 ASSIGN MUTE dB 10 1-2 5 3-4 U 5 10 20 30 40 SOLO 50 PFL 60 Mono Channel CHANNEL STRIP FEATURES PHANTOM POWER Ha! We tricked you! The phantom power switch is not located in the channel strip section at all! It's way over on the right side of the mixer (see graphic on previous page). We're just mentioning it here since it applies to the channels; specifically, what type of microphones you have plugged into them. Push in this switch to provide phantom power to the XLR MIC input jacks. All of the XLR mic inputs are capable of providing phantom power. Phantom power is required to operate most condenser microphones (some condenser microphones are battery-powered). The CFX Series provide +48VDC phantom powering on pins 2 and 3 of the XLR connectors. If you have dynamic, ribbon, or tube mics that do not require phantom power, leave the PHANTOM POWER switch out. If you are using both condenser and dynamic mics, don't worry. Phantom power will not hurt most dynamic mics. Check the microphone's user manual if you're not sure. Caution: Turn all output levels down before operating this switch to avoid the possibility of a "pop" in your speakers. Connecting an external line-level device to an XLR input connector with the phantom power switched on could damage the device. We recommend using the LINE IN and STEREO LINE IN jacks for connecting line-level signals. TRIM If you haven't already, please read the "SET THE LEVELS" portion of "QUICK START," on page 5. TRIM adjusts the input sensitivity of the mic and line inputs connected to the channels, mono and stereo. This allows signals from the outside world to be adjusted to optimal internal operating levels. If the signal originates through a mono channel's MIC XLR jack, there will be 6 dB of gain with the knob fully down, ramping to 50 dB of gain fully up. Through a mono channel's LINE IN TRS input, there is 15 dB of attenuation fully down and 30 dB of gain fully up, with a "U" (unity gain) mark at 12:00 (knob halfway up). 12 Through a stereo channel's stereo LINE IN TRS inputs, there is 20 dB of attenuation fully down and 20 dB of gain fully up, with a "U" (unity gain) mark at 12:00 (knob halfway up). Having 20 dB of line-level attenuation can be very handy when you are injecting a signal that is very hot, when you want to add a lot of EQ boost, or both. Without this "virtual pad," it would be very difficult to control the signal and might lead to channel clipping. ZERO LEVEL This handy LED, which (we hope) you already read about in "QUICK START," is triggered to glow when it receives an audio signal at or above 0 dBu. If the LED is glowing, as opposed to flickering, turn the TRIM down. If the LED is doing almost nothing, turn the TRIM up. For a more accurate method of setting trim levels, please see RUDE SOLO (page 15), where a soloed signal will appear on the mixer's meters . LOW CUT The LOW CUT switch, often referred to as a High Pass Filter (depends on how you look at it), cuts bass frequencies below 100Hz at a rate of 18 dB per octave. We recommend that you use LOW CUT on every microphone application except kick drum, bass guitar, or bass-heavy synth patches. LOW CUT can also help reduce the possibility of feedback in live situations and it helps to conserve amplifier power. AUX These knobs tap a portion of each channel signal and send it out, via the AUX SEND jacks, to an external device for parallel effects processing or stage monitoring. AUX levels are controlled by these AUX knobs and by the AUX MASTER SENDs . These are more than mere effects and monitor sends: they can be used to generate separate mixes for recording or "mix-minuses" for broadcast. Each AUX knob's level ranges from off through unity (the center detent position) on up to 15 dB of extra gain (fully clockwise). The line-level stereo channels' AUX knobs control a mono sum of the channel's stereo signals. For instance, on the CFX•20, channel 17 (L) and 18 (R) mix together to feed that channel's AUX send knobs.