reduc Microphone Preamp Remoting Kit Remote Gain Controller RGC-24A-M w/accessories User's Manual
CONTENTS 1. DEVICE OVERVIEW.................................................................................................................................................... 4 1.1. Kit Contents........................................................................................................................................................ 5 2. INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................................................
17. APPENDIX.............................................................................................................................................................. 30 17.1. Warranty......................................................................................................................................................... 30 17.2. Contact..........................................................................................................................................................
1. DEVICE OVERVIEW Element Function “ACTIVE” LED On when the controller is active (gain control is enabled), off when the controller is inactive. If a valid MIDI command is detected, the light goes dark for a moment to indicate reception. “ACTIVE” Button Press to toggle between active and inactive mode. To perform “factory defaults reset”, press and hold down while connecting power until the “ACTIVE” LED flashes three times.
1.1. Kit Contents The kit contains everything you need to bring remote gain control to three eight-channel preamps: Remote Gain Controller box, model RGC-24A-M Power supply 12V, 1A 24 high-grade analog optocouplers, individually selected to match to +/-5% resistance value 3 pcs. D-SUB cable, 9 pin, 1:1 male-female (for connecting the preamps to the controller) 3 pcs D-SUB connectors, 9 pin, male, for preamp mounting 3 pcs.
Modified preamps retain original gain control function Full opto-isolation between preamp and control box Passive design, does not draw power from the preamp's supply Quality product „Made in Switzerland“ 6
3. TYPICAL APPLICATIONS 3.1. Remote gain control with mixer at FOH Preamp Preamp Remote RemoteGain GainController Controller RGC-24A-M RGC-24A-M Preamp Preamp Preamp/DAC Preamp/DAC Stage ADAT ADATMulticore MulticoreExtender Extender ADX-32B ADX-32B ADAT Lightpipe connection MIDI connection Cat.
3.2. Remote gain control with mixer on stage Preamp Preamp Remote RemoteGain GainController Controller RGC-24A-M RGC-24A-M Preamp Preamp Preamp/DAC Preamp/DAC Mix Mixconsole console(e.g. (e.g.
4. IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTES Never connect any other equipment (RS232 etc.) to the D-SUB outputs! The equipment and/or the Remote Gain Controller may get DAMAGED! Microphone preamplifiers contain parts operating at mains voltage.
5.4. Reset/power cycle behavior All settings, including active/passive mode and gain values, are stored in an internal EEPROM which retains its contents even when power is disconnected. On power up, all settings are restored to their last values.
6. PREAMP MODIFICATION (ALL PREAMPS) 6.1. Overview The mod is basically the same for all preamp types. Differences are only in respect to the coupler connection points and the mounting of the D-Sub connector. In this chapter is described only what is common to all preamps. For detailed instructions about your particular preamp model see the corresponding section. 6.2.
7. COUPLER INSTALLATION Picture 3: Pinout of Silonex NSL-32SR2 7.1. Choose your D-Sub connector installation method Depending on how much time you are willing to spend, you can choose between two methods of how to establish the D-Sub connection out of your preamp. 7.2. Method 1: D-Sub cable hanging out of preamp (quickest way) 1. 2. 3. 4. Cut off the female jack from the supplied D-Sub cables Drill a hole anywhere in the rear of your preamp, large enough for the cable, and feed it through.
7.3. Method 2: D-Sub jack mounted (more work- shown in ADA8000 pictures) 1. Locate the potentiometer terminal solder points on the front PCB 2. Cut the coupler wires “Ra” and “Rb” to about 20mm length and solder them to the potentiometer terminals. 3. Use the enameled copper wire to connect the anode (“A” terminals) of all couplers together. To remove the insulation and wet them with solder, heat the wire with the solder iron for about 20 seconds at 400°C.
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Picture 7: Disconnect the 9 cables to the front panel from the main PCB Picture 8: Solder points for couplers Picture 9: Closeup Picture 10: Coupler orientation 15
Picture 11: Coupler wiring Picture 12: Front panel (complete) Picture 13: D-Sub cutout Picture 14: Drill markings Picture 15: Installed D-Sub Picture 16: Interior 16
Picture 17: Isolation tape on shielding Picture 18: Complete assembly Picture 19: Finished! 17
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Picture 25: Modded front panel Picture 26: Finished! 19
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11. ART TUBEOPTO 8 Picture 30: Solder points (Ch1 not shown) 12. MACKIE ONYX 800R No pictures yet – if you have one, please take a picture and send it to us! 13.
14. MIDI INTERFACE 14.1.
14.4. Operation from Behringer BCR2000/BCF2000 MIDI Controller These hardware MIDI controllers are a very straightforward way to control the gains. Especially the BCR2000 variant is recommended, because it features 24 distinct rotary knobs which can be mapped to control four RGC24A-Ms (96 channels total). It supports also full scene recall and can be combined with any mix console. A preset file (.SYX) for the BCR2000 can be downloaded from our web page at http://appsys.ch/downloads/rgc-bcr2000-template 14.
Picture 32: Setup of Ch2 Picture 33: Setup of Ch3 14.6. Testing and Troubleshooting To test if your MIDI controller is configured correctly for the RGC: Observe the yellow “ACTIVE” LED while adjusting gain. If a MIDI command to the RGC was recognized, the LED goes dark for a moment to show the command's acceptance.
Use the supplied green LED to test if the controller is actually working. Insert the longer wire (anode) into contact #1 from D-SUB connector on the RGC, and the shorter wire into any of contacts #2 to #9. The LED should change brightness when gain values change (dark at value 0, fully lit at value 127). Hint: The pins numbers are printed on the D-SUB jack (very small).
15. ADVANCED TOPICS 15.1. List of advanced settings To allow interfacing with almost every MIDI controller, whether in software or hardware, the RGC-24A-M allows fine-grain control of its behavior via “GLOBAL PARAMETERS”: The MIDI channel to which the RGC responds can be set to any value (0 ...15) The MIDI controller numbers on which the gain controls live can be altered to any value (0...127) The number of MIDI controllers on each channel can be adjusted.
15.2. Changing advanced settings This is done according to the “General MIDI” (GM1) standard, using the message “GLOBAL PARAMETER CONTROL”.
The original gain potentiometer is used in “rheostat” (2-pin) configuration; this is the case with standard 3-pin potentiometers if the wiper is connected to one of the other terminals. The original gain potentiometer has a nominal value between 5k or 50k. Larger values are possible, but require other type of optocouplers. Please contact us with your requirements. The minimum resistance with the supplied NSL-32SR2 couplers is about 40 Ohms.
16. SPECIFICATIONS Parameter Value Optocoupler outputs 0...25mA precision current sink, common anode Pinout: 1: Common anode 2: Cathode CH2 3: Cathode CH4 4: Cathode CH6 5: Cathode CH8 6: Cathode CH1 7: Cathode CH3 8: Cathode CH5 9: Cathode CH7 Standard control characteristics Curve #1: 5..10k neg. log Curve #2: 25..50k neg. log Curve #3: unused Curve #4: Digital switching via reed relays There are lots of other possibilities (dual potentiometers , other curves and couplers etc.).
17. APPENDIX 17.1. Warranty We offer a full two (2) year warranty from the date of purchase. Within this period, we repair or exchange your device free of charge in case of any defect.* If you experience any problems, please contact us first. We try hard to solve your problem as soon as possible even after the warranty period.
