eela audio D4 D4 Broadcast mixing desk OPERATING MANUAL EA Broadcast / Eela Audio, Het Riet 8 A, 5431NM Cuijk, The Netherlands http://www.eela-audio.com e-mail: sales@eela-audio.
Thank you for the purchase of this D4 digital mixing desk. First read this manual carefully before starting to use the apparatus. Please keep this manual so you can refer to it at a later stage. Functions and / or layout of the touch screen of the D4 can vary due to different software versions. More information is available on http://www.eela.nl/D4TI GENERAL REMARKS: The D4 is designed in a way that most of the functionality is self-explaining and easy to understand by the experienced radio studio operator.
Eela Audio D4 table top digital mixing console: Quick start manual All digital "universal" broadcast mixing console with 32 + 4 inputs, 16 input faders and 2 touch screen color displays and a total of 16 outputs. This is sufficient for most modern radio applications: APPLICATIONS: The Eela Audio D4 is designed for use in modern radio and television broadcast applications for On-Air and or production studios.
CONNECTOR PANEL: All connections to and from the mixing desk are concentrated on the back. The main analogue and digital audio connections are balanced on XLR-type connectors. The connections for monitoring and AUX 6 – 10 are stereo, unbalanced on 6,3 mm jack.
SYSTEM OVERVIEW CONTROL SURFACE 16 Channel input faders each with 4 pushbuttons with LED and OLED display: Selecting the top grey button opens the channel window in the touch screen display. The red LED in the left top corner of the button will lit indicating the channel control and information is displayed in the main screen. The TB button is only active for TalkBack if an output aux is coupled to this channel.
Meterbridge controls: Pfl speaker and volume control on the left hand side Meter display on the right. Main control screen in the middle: 3 Rotary / selectors for use in conjunction with the touch screen. The function of these rotaries will dynamically change. The momentary function is displayed in a colored box on the right hand side of the screen. The color and icon in this box changes with the function.
SYSTEM The ‘system’ button in the main screen will open the system settings menu: To change touch the number in the box, this will turn into yellow background, next to the bottom rotary a yellow field appears. Turn the rotary to change the input and confirm this by pushing the rotary switch. Note that the other two rotaries will stay active for monitor and headphones volume control.
MONITOR Both Control room loudspeaker, headphone and studio icons hide a source selector. You can select the source for the monitor speakers and the headphones by touching the icons and the source selector will open. A selected source is immediately executed. The name of the source is displayed underneath the icon.
SYSTEM Master auxiliary settings menu sets the AUX for ‘Pre’ or ‘Post’ fader. If a Studio monitor check box is active the Studio monitor DIM function is applied to this AUX upon opening a “Studio Microphone” fader. ‘GPI’ and GPO’ Here you can also set the type and shape of the GPIO’s: pulse (edge) or continuously, inverted or not…. You can step trough the pages for the settings of the GPI and GPO 1 to 24 on the D25 connectors on the back and for 25 onwards on an EA963 extender unit.
MAIN SCREEN ‘outputs’ This is the master volume settings screen for all the available outputs. Selecting the OUTPUT LEVELS button in the main screen opens an overview of all output levels. This is an important tool to keep track of all the signals going out. Just select a bar, this will turn red, adjust the volume with the rotary and push it to confirm. The volume is adjusted in real time.
‘preset’ You can store / recall up to 16 presets. ALL SETTINGS ARE SAVED INCLUDING ALL PARAMETERS FOR EACH INPUT SEPARATLY! Please note: Changes made in the settings will be lost at power off unless saved in a preset! With check boxes you can indicate how the unit will behave at power-up. You can choose one of the presets to load at start-up or the last loaded preset. In the SYSTEM / GPIO menu you can assign a GPI to load up to 2 presets with external contact closures.
Without logging in you can use the mixing console for normal operation: You can recall presets, Select inputs to faders, Make channels the operational adjustments e.q., compressor limiter, gain and aux levels, Change the output levels, Use the monitor facilities and operate the timer. ‘timer’ The main display is used as a Program timer On the bottom left you will find an indication which fader is used as the event triggering. Tapping this clock in the main window gives you access to the setting.
UNIVERSAL CONTACTS These button control GPIO contacts that can be used to switch an on-air matrix and the signal for traffic announcement but due to the universal character of the system these can be used for any other purpose a switch is needed and / or a signal has to be displayed. The main screen has 2 extra buttons coupled to a GPO and a GPI. These can be used for signaling and as standard switches or operated in a ‘handshake’ mode.
METERS Tapping on one of the meter bars will open a meter select screen in the main display. It allows for selecting the meter source. The current selection is displayed in the label on the left hand side of each meter pair. Currently only active PPM characteristics.
CHANNEL SETTINGS: Input select: Each input fader has a “select”, “TalkBack”, “pfl” and “start” button above the fader. Briefly pushing the grey “select” button opens the main ‘settings for input’ window in the display: Touching one of the bars (gain, balance/pan or e.q. etc.) changes the color of The bars in the block, the function of the rotary’s change and you can make the necessary adaptions. You can see the momentary function in the labels next to the rotary. Changes are executed in real time.
CHANNEL SETTINGS The brown telephone icon is only present when the channel is set up as a Telco channel (hybrid). With this button you can open the “Telco” window to switch the external hybrid on/off hook and dial a number. The unit has a built-in DTMF generator. (No internal hybrid!) A normal hybrid is transparent for these DTMF tones. ‘config’ Pressing the ‘config’ button opens the configuration menu for this channel.
CHANNEL SETTINGS ‘Hybrid’ In case you connect a telephone hybrid to this input. ‘Config’ Can be ‘stereo’, ‘swapped L+R’, Left to mono, Right to mono, mono to both. Although displayed this is not active in MIC mode as a microphone is always mono so settings here will have no effect. ‘Line’ a line input without any special influence on the logic of the desk. This setting is independent from the selected input type. You can program a line or digital input to “behave” as a microphone input.
CHANNEL SETTINGS ‘GPI’ and ‘GPO’ General Purpose Inputs and Outputs are opto isolated contact closures. On the mixing desks itself are 24 input contacts and 24 output contacts available on 3 D25 connectors. With the EA963 expansion unit you can add 16 inputs and 16 outputs extra as well as 4 solid state relays to drive mains voltage warning lamps. The type and shape of the I/O’s can be set in the main systems menu.
CHANNEL SETTINGS The “EDIT” button opens a text window to change the name of the selected input. This name you will also see in the OLED channel display. Text editor The text editor is used to change channel names. The length of a channel name can be up to 10 characters.
Cleanfeeds, N-1, foldback, outside source return, cough signal: There is a lot of confusion mainly about the names of the same kind of signals so let’s take a closer look: CLEANFEED or N-1 or OUTSIDE SOURCE: Basically this is the (mono) signal that goes back to a caller into a telephone hybrid. The signal consists of a mix of all signals in a program MINUS the signal that comes FROM the hybrid INTO the channel of the mixing desk.
STUDIO MONITOR FOLDBACK: The AUX output configuration screen in the main menu. The signal that is fed to the loudspeakers in the studio room. This signal can be adapted depending on your way of working. In some radio studio’s (or TV) people don’t use headphones. With an AUX you can make a mix of all post fade signals EXCEPT the studio microphones. The signal can be loud if no microphones are in use and dimmed upon opening of one of the studio microphones. The amount of dimming can be adjusted in the D4.
Setup examples: Setting up a CONTROL ROOM MICROPHONE: Connect the control room microphone to one of the MIC inputs. Briefly pushing the grey “select” button that opens the channel settings window in the display. Push the blue “config” button on the touch screen that will open the settings window: Select the input microphone, and briefly touch the “Input type” box, the background will turn yellow, with the rotary select “CR micr” and push the rotary button to confirm the selection.
Setting up a STUDIO MICROPHONE with TB facility: Connect the studio microphone to one of the MIC inputs. Briefly pushing the grey “select” button that opens the channel settings window in the display. Push the blue “config” button on the touch screen that will open the settings window: Select the input being microphone, and briefly touch the “Type” box, this will turn yellow and with the rotary select “Studio micr” and push the rotary button to confirm the selection.
Setting up a HYBRID INTERFACE: Connect the hybrid to one of the line inputs in this case we will use input channel 15 left. In most cases a telephone hybrid is mono so connect its output to the left input and set the ‘config:’ to mono L For this example we are using AUX6 as return to the hybrid so connect the AUX6 output to the input of the hybrid with both L and R connected. In this example we will be using GPI 14 for “ring detect” and GPO 15 for “hybrid ON” . Connect the hybrid accordingly.
In “Input select” mode of this channel a brown box with a telephone is visible. Touching this icon will open the telephone screen to put the hybrid on and off hook and to dial a telephone number. Dialing is done with and internal DTM tone generator and most hybrids are transparent for these tones. You can connect several hybrids this way each using another AUX for the return signal. Make sure the AUX volume of the corresponding input is closed and all others open.
GPIO schematic overview: Pin no. Description GPI_1 1 14 GPO_1 GPI_2 2 15 GPO_2 GPI_3 3 16 GPO_3 GPI_4 4 17 GPO_4 GPI_5 5 18 GPO_5 GPI_6 6 19 GPO_6 GPI_7 7 20 GPO_7 GPI_8 8 21 GPO_8 NC 9 22 NC 10 23 +5V NC 11 24 GND NC 12 25 13 +5V GND NC 25 pin D-type connector pin layout for each of the 3 D25 connectors.
General: Power Supply: Wide range mains input, 100 .. 240 V AC, 47/63 Hz, Operating environment temperature 0o to + 40o C. Optional units: GB34 GPIO breakout PCB with 1 meter data cable for 8 GPI’s and 8 GPO’s EA924 19" 1U Quad input balancing unit, 4 x 2 high quality balanced input amplifiers, unbalanced out. EA815 Electronic telephone hybrid, single or dual 19” version available. EA816 GSM stationary telephone hybrid. EA915 DSP digital POTS telephone hybrid.
