Table of Contents KNOW YOUR MAXX ........................................................................................................................................................... 5 FRONT PANEL .................................................................................................................................................................................5 LEFT SIDE.........................................................................................................................
Link Input ......................................................................................................................................................................... 30 TRANSMITTER SETUP ....................................................................................................................................................... 31 TRANSMITTER ENABLE.........................................................................................................................................
TC Output ............................................................................................................................................................................44 Increment UBits ...................................................................................................................................................................44 UB Date Style ...................................................................................................................................
PRODUCT SUPPORT ......................................................................................................................................................... 61 MAXX SPECIFICATIONS .................................................................................................................................................... 62 ZAXCOM WARRANTY POLICY AND LIMITATIONS .............................................................................................................
Know Your Maxx Front Panel 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 1. 2. Wireless Camera Link Antenna -SMA TC / REC Key • A single short press once opens the Visual Time Code Slate. • Additional presses accesses the Time Code menus. • Press and hold for one second, puts the Maxx into Record. • When in setup menu press it to access the analog input 1 setup menu. 3. Record LED Indicates Maxx is in Record mode.
11. HEADPHONE Knob / BACK Knob • Press it to back out of a menu to the previous menu. • Turn it to adjust headphone volume. • Press and hold will enter user inputted data. 12. Star key • From the any Home page, it advances to the next Home page. • In the Bus Routing matrix and Card Mix matrix if pressed it you will add phase reverse to your cross point options. • In the Fader Assign matrix if pressed it will add trim to your cross point options.
Left Side 1 5 2 1. 3 4 Battery Door The Silver knob rotates clockwise to lock the battery compartment door. Inside, you will find space for the battery carrier with six AA batteries. NOTE: It is possible to insert the battery carrier incorrectly. Even if you insert with the contacts reversed it will do NO harm to the unit because there is reversed current protection. It just won’t turn on. WARNING: Use ONLY NiMH rechargeable or Lithium batteries.
Right Side 1 2 3 4 5 6 1. Headphone (1/4” stereo jack) 2. External Power connector (Hirose- HR10A-7P-4P) 10 to 18 VDC {1/2 A @ 12 VDC} 3. Tape / Mono Out (TA-5M) Outputs both the Tape and Mono Out busses. The tape and mono out are both balanced mono sources. The audio that is fed to these busses are controlled from the Mono / Tape bus matrix. 4. Output Bus 1/2 (TA-5M) This is an isolated copy of the XLR bus outputs. Levels are independently adjustable. 5.
Rear 1 1. 2.
Zaxcom Maxx Meters Explained Home Screen / Meters There are several selectable Home meter screens from which to choose. You can toggle through the different pages by pressing the Star key. The color of the left half of the meter indicates the source type being metered: • Light blue for an analog input • Darker blue for an AES input • Green for an output bus • Purple for a recorded track The track name is indicated within the meter itself to aid in channel identification.
Zaxcom Maxx Meters Explained Output Buses Input signal from XLR Inputs Input Meter Screen Output Busses Digital Inputs with Virtual Faders AutoTrim Digital Input Virtual Fader Screen Only on Maxx with AES Option 11 TM Meter
MAIN MENU Meta Data / Playback Home Screen Explained Transport Status Timecode Headphone Selection Card information field Battery Indicator Peak Hold Indicator Limiter reduction indicators ENG Panning shortcut Matrix Input Meter Trim Level Indicator Save Indicator Transport Status Displays the current mode RECORD, PLAY or STOP. Timecode Displays the current time code. The time code setup menu will determine if this will display the time code generator or the time code from the card playback.
MAIN MENU Meta Data / Playback Main Menu To access the Main Menu press the MENU knob. Scroll for additional menu items NOTE: If you are in the Virtual Fader Screen or the ENG Screen and have the Virtual Fader enabled you have to press and hold the MENU knob for 1 second to enter the Main Menu. Meta Data This menu displays and allows you to adjust the Meta Data.
MAIN MENU Recording Setup Record Card / Mirror Menu This menu controls your primary recording and mirroring functions. Mirror Mode • OFF: Maxx will not mirror any files. • ON: Maxx will only start to mirror once the unit stop recording. • CONTINUOUS: When Maxx is recording, the audio is copied to the mirror folder as is written to the primary folder. Depending on the track count, the mirror card may lag behind a bit. Not to worry, after you go into Stop mode, the mirror card will catch up.
MAIN MENU Recording Setup / Primary Folder Primary Compact Flash Folder Menu This menu manages the primary recording Compact Flash card. Choose Primary Folder Chooses which folder is used for recording audio. Green checkmark indicates which folder the audio will be recorded to. All recorded files are directed to individual folders. Folders can be created to help separate and organize files - for example a folder can be created for a specific date.
MAIN MENU Recording Setup / Primary Folder Format Card This menu allows you to format the CF card. This process will take about 2 minutes to complete. ISO Attenuation NeverClip™ inputs allow large signals to travel through the digital mixing engine using 32 bit floating point numbers. Once these large signals are recorded into a 24-bit WAV (or MARF) file, the advantage of floating point math is lost and these signals can clip if you don’t use a card limiter.
MAIN MENU Recording Setup / Primary Folder ISO Attenuation Enable This menu allows you to choose which record tracks you choose to attenuate. Edit Current Folder To edit the folder name 1. Scroll down to the Edit Current Folder Name. 2. Press the MENU knob to highlight the folder name and to access the Enter Text menu.
MAIN MENU Recording Setup / Mirror Enables Mirror Enables This menu controls which of the tracks are copied on to Maxx’s Mirror file. Maxx without the ISO record option will only display two mirror tracks. SHORTCUT: It is not necessary to remove record enable cross points from the Mirror Matrix. If a Primary card track is not assigned, it will NOT be recorded and not written to the Mirror file. This allows you to leave all of the Mirror tracks enabled.
MAIN MENU Recording Setup / Mirror Folder Mirror Settings Menu This menu controls the copying of the Primary (MARF) audio to the Mirror CF folder. The mirror audio is recorded as FAT32 files and is fully compatible with all Mac and PC platforms and is generally used as a deliverable format to Post. Mirror Mode • OFF: Maxx will not mirror any files. • ON: Maxx will only start to mirror once the unit stop recording.
MAIN MENU Recording Setup / Mirror Folder File Type This menu sets the type of file Maxx will mirror. • BWAV MONO • BWAV POLY A BWAV MONO file is 1 file per track. So if you record 1 track only, 1 file will represent that "take" from the time you press record to the time you press stop. If you were to record 2 tracks for that same take, the Maxx will produce 2 files, one representing track 1 and the other representing track 2.
MAIN MENU Record Routing Record Routing This menu controls what is routed to each record track. Shows Card Tracks 1 and 2 will Record Output Busses 1 and 2 All Analog and Digital inputs can be routed as either Pre or Post Fader In the record routing page you select and highlight which card track you want to record on then you can choose what source you what to assign and record on that channel. You can choose between all 6 analog inputs, or the 2 output busses.
MAIN MENU Fader Assign Fader Assign Matrix This matrix controls which inputs are assigned to the four hardware faders. Input Hardware Fader Number Maxx is a digital mixer, so no actual audio is going through the fader controls allowing for complete flexibility for the hardware faders. Any one of the analog inputs 1-5, digital inputs 1-4 (available on Maxx with AES option), or analog trim can be assigned to any of the 4 hardware faders.
MAIN MENU Memory Menu Memory Menu Memory Store Positions Memory Recall Positions Store / Recall Scroll for additional menu items From this page, you can save and recall three full setups for different scenarios. All user set parameters are saved and can be recalled as needed. NOTE: If you do a factory restore, all of the saved memories will be erased. Clear Fader Assigns This menu clears all of the current fader assign settings.
MAIN MENU Memory Menu Factory Reset This menu resets all the parameters back to factory default. WARNING: If a factory reset is run, all of your user setting will be lost and have to be re-input. Though a factory restore will not erase Note and Track presets. To do a full restore - including Note and Track names hold the stop key on boot up. Store / Recall using the Compact Flash Card Maxx also has the option to save settings to (and restore settings from) the mirror Compact Flash card.
MAIN MENU About Maxx About Maxx Menu This menu gives you information about your Maxx Software Version Indicates current CPU Usage.
MAIN MENU Mode Menu Mode Menu This menu sets up Maxx’s engineering parameters. Scroll for additional menu items Sample Rate This is where the sample rate that Maxx will record file at is selected. Maxx can record with sample-rates of: 44100, 47952, 48000, 48048, 88200, 96000, 192000 Selected Sample Rate When recording files at a high sample rate of 88200, 96000 or 192000 there are some limitations to Maxx’s recording parameters. • • • • • • Maxx will record up to 4 analog iso inputs pre-fader only.
MAIN MENU Mode Menu Prerecord This allows you to have Maxx buffer the audio in a prerecord buffer. You can choose to buffer up to 5 seconds of audio. From the point the Maxx is powered up, it is always processing data, and any sound coming in from any input is always being processed. When pre-record time is enabled, the signal is held in a buffer until you press the REC key. At that time, all stored audio in the buffer is included the current take with the correct time code.
MAIN MENU Mode Menu Transport Keys SHIFTED If the TC, BUS or SETUP key is pressed, the items associated with those keys will open. To go into Record, Playback or Stop, it is necessary to SHIFT those keys. You will need to press the MENU knob to “SHIFT” while simultaneously pressing the REC, PLAY or STOP key to go into that mode. NOTE: It is still possible to directly access the REC, PLAY and STOP functions by pressing the appropriate key for 1 second. This is the most popular choice for most users.
MAIN MENU Mode Menu VFader Mode This lets you choose to control the fader only or alternate between fader and trim for the inputs that you chose to be active in the VFADER CYCLE. When the virtual fader is active the bottom meter on the ENG screen will display what you will be controlling – either fader only or fader and trim for an input channel.
MAIN MENU Mode Menu Meter Peak Hold This sets the duration that the peak indicator is held in the meters. The range is 400MS – 8000MS with a step value of 200 MS. Time that the peak hold indicator will remain on the meter. Punch-In Punch-In gives the user the ability to start a new segment while recording. • ALLOWED - Pressing and holding the REC key while recording will create a new file. • DISABLED - You cannot create a new file while recording.
MAIN MENU Transmitter Setup Menu Transmitter Setup - only available with the Camera Link transmitter option Transmitter Enable This turns ON / OFF the UHF camera link transmitter. Transmitter Frequency This sets the transmit frequency of the UHF camera link transmitter. Transmitter Mode This sets the transmit mode of the UHF camera link transmitter. • MONO - Maxx will transmit one output bus. • STEREO -Maxx will transmit both output busses. Transmitter Power This sets the transmitter power level.
MAIN MENU AutoMix Setup Menu Auto-Mixer When Auto-Mixer is on, and a speaker starts to talk, Maxx will automatically open that microphone and add that microphone to the mix. Then when a speaker stops talking that microphone will be attenuated “closed” and essentially be removed from the mix. Removing unused microphones will result in a lower noise floor giving you a cleaner, better sounding mix without having to manually ride the faders.
MAIN MENU AutoMix Setup Menu Attenuation Sets how much each microphone is attenuated when it is closed. • Attenuation can be set between -10dB and -80dB NOTE: When a microphone is closed the level of that input is actually attenuated rather than muted. The level of attenuation is adjustable by the Attenuation setting. In some noisy environments it may be more palatable to hear some / most of the ambient mic noise all the time rather than hear the noise mute and then re-appear when someone talks.
MAIN MENU ENG Setup / Advanced Setup ENG Setup This menu sets up Maxx’s engineering parameters. Scroll for additional menu items Scroll for additional menu items Compressor Enable This matrix lets you set which card tracks, output busses, and if the tape out or mono out will have their compressor / limiters enabled. Assigns which Card tracks will be limited.
MAIN MENU ENG Setup / Advanced Setup Input Compressor Parameters This menu lets you set the parameters for the Input Compressors. The Input Compressor settings are global, meaning that the settings adjusted here will the same for all Input Channels. Output Compressor Parameters This menu lets you set parameters for the Output Compressors. The Output Compressor settings are global, meaning that the settings adjusted here will the same for all Output Busses.
MAIN MENU ENG Setup / Advanced Setup Headphone Names This menu allows you to customize the headphone monitor names that appear in the home screens. Once you click on a HP number, you will be taken to the Enter Text page (p.44) Track Names This menu allows for the naming of record tracks. The track names are displayed within the card meters and are contained in the files metadata so post can easily identify the source of a recorded track.
MAIN MENU ENG Setup / Advanced Setup Note Presets This menu allows for the creating a preset list of notes. There are 20 note presets available. The existing notes can edited and new notes names can be created. The notes can be up to 22 characters long. Input Levels This menu allows you to adjust the audio input levels for the slate, camera returns and on Maxx with the AES option the digital inputs.
MAIN MENU ENG Setup / Advanced Setup Output Levels This menu allows you to adjust the output audio levels. XLR & AUX (TA5) Output Bus Levels Each of the XLR and Aux Outs can be independently adjusted to one of the following output levels: • 0dBu – line level • -10dBu – tape / consumer level • -35dBu – mic level Mono & Tape Output Bus Levels Independently adjusts the output level for Mono and Tape Outs, and each are continuously adjustable in 1 dB steps from –12dBu to 21dBu.
MAIN MENU ENG Setup / Advanced Setup LCD Screen Brightness Adjusts the brightness of Maxx’s LCD Screen. The LCD screen brightness adjusts from 0 to 11. LED Brightness Adjusts the brightness of Maxx’s LEDs. This is a global setting meaning that all LED lights will be set to the same brightness. The LED brightness adjusts from 0 to 30. Tone Frequency Adjusts the frequency of the Tone. The range is 20 to 20,000 Hz. Tone Level Adjusts the output level of tone. The range is -90 to 0dB.
MAIN MENU ENG Setup / Advanced Setup Advanced Setup Menu Prevent Empty Pan When set to ON, you remove the blank option while in ENG or AutoPan pan mode, leaving only the L, C, R option. Display Speed button This should be set to FAST. Currently the display is updated every frame. If you are using a lot of effects and cross points and/or are running at 192 kHz and find that the user interface is getting hard to use. The SLOW setting will slow down the refresh rate.
MAIN MENU ENG Setup / Advanced Setup Slate Always On • Normal - This is the typical setting that would be used. With this setting pressing and holding the slate key will activate the slate mic. • Forced - When you activate the slate mic this setting locks the slate mic in the on position. Note a power cycle will deactivate the slate mic and the default this mode back to normal.
MAXX OPERATIONS Timecode Pressing the Timecode Key Timecode Slate Pressing the TC key once brings you to, an inverted visual timecode slate. Pressing the MENU knob will freeze the display and cause a 1-frame long beep tone in the audio on any bus that is selected for tone output. This is used to provide sync for the camera to match picture and sound. Timecode Jam Pressing TC a second time brings you here. This menu displays Maxx’s TC reader.
MAXX OPERATIONS Timecode Enter Timecode Manually Entering Timecode 1. 2. 3. 4. Press the MENU knob to highlight the TC. Rotate the MENU knob to select the desired entry position. Press the keys to enter a numeric value. Once you enter the last digit, the TC is entered immediately and jammed NOTE: If you don’t enter the entire eight digits, press the MENU knob to force the jam. Manually Entering User-bit 1. Each character position can take a hex number (0 – 9, A – F). 2.
MAXX OPERATIONS Timecode Timecode Setup TC Mode • • • • • FREE-RUN – Time code runs continuously. REC-RUN – Time code will start to run when Maxx begin to record. CJAM – Time code and user-bits are continuously updated from a connected external source. CJAM TC – Time code only is continuously updated from a connected source. CJAM UB – User-bits only is continuously updated from a connected source. TC Frame Rate This sets Maxx’s time code frame-rate. Maxx supports all standard SMPTE frame-rates: 23.
MAXX OPERATIONS Timecode Set Date This sets Maxx’s internal calendar. Timecode Routing This menu sets the function of the BNC timecode connector. • OUTPUT - Maxx will output timecode on the BNC connector. • INPUT - Maxx will receive timecode on the BNC connector.
MAXX OPERATIONS Bus Routing Pressing the Bus Key Output Bus Assign Busses This matrix assigns your Analog and Digital inputs to your output buses. The output busses can be assigned either pre or post fade audio. Analog Inputs Tone Slate Digital Inputs appear only on Maxx with AES option. The top line of the three pages indicates the following sources: • Analog Inputs 1-6 • T - Tone • S - Slate • D - Digital Inputs - only available when AES option is enabled.
MAXX OPERATIONS Bus Routing Tape/Mono Out Matrix This matrix sets what audio is routed to the Tape and Mono out connector. Any of the inputs, including digital inputs, or output busses can be routed indecently to the tape and or the mono out. Maxx without AES option Maxx with AES option Card Track Tone Enable This matrix assigns TONE to the record tracks. Card Track Slate Enables This matrix assigns the SLATE to the record tracks.
MAXX OPERATIONS Input Setup Pressing the Setup key Analog Input Setup Pressing the Setup key will take you to the analog Setup menu where you can adjust the parameters of the 4 analog inputs.
MAXX OPERATIONS Pre Fader Listen Headphone Setup Left Ear Right Ear Check the Enable box to include this monitor configuration while cycling through the HP Setting up your Headphone There are 10 individual Headphone matrices available to store a monitor configuration consisting of any combination of the following: • Card tracks (CARD) • Output Buses (OUT) • Camera Returns (RETURN) To set up your headphone selects: 1.
MAXX OPERATIONS Pre Fader Listen Pre Fader Listen Listening to Inputs Pressing the PFL keys puts Maxx into Pre Fader Listen mode. The PFL will follow the fader assignment. Once one of the PFL keys is pressed, the name in the Headphone Monitor field is replaced with PFL alternating with the selected channel number(s) that you are monitoring. To change the feed press the channel number PFL keys you want to listen to. If you press and hold a second key that channel is added to the PFL.
MAXX OPERATIONS Tone Setup Setting Up and Engaging Tone Assigning Tone to Output Busses To assign tone to an output bus, press the Bus key and go to the OUTPUT BUS ASSGN matrix to select which output bus will receive tone. Shows that Output Busses 1, 2 will output Tone when Tone is engaged.
MAXX OPERATIONS Entering Text Enter Text This menu allows alphanumeric data entry for all parameters that require data input. • To enter a character, turn the MENU knob until the character is highlighted and then press the MENU knob to select it. • Rotate the MENU knob will cause the highlight to move right and left (this will also wrap around to the next line). • Press and rotate the MENU knob will cause the highlight to move up and down.
MAXX OPERATIONS False Start False Start Pressing the STOP key a second time after can mark a Take as a False Start or just delete it. After you press STOP, if you press and hold the STOP key for 1 second, the False Start page will be displayed. Pressing Menu will mark the file.
MAXX OPERATIONS ENG / EFP Bag Operations ENG /EFP Bag Operation This Mode was created to aid in mixing and recording when in a “run and gun” situation. This mode makes panning and mixing all inputs easily accessible right from the ENG Home screen. Left / Right Output - Busses 1 and 2 “Pan” Routing Matrix (shown with AES option) Trim Meter Shown In the ENG Home page: • Routing matrix where you can “pan” analog inputs 1-6 and 4 AES input (with AES option installed).
MAXX OPERATIONS ENG / EFP Bag Operations AutoPan AutoPan eliminates the need for a separate hardware pan key for each input. AutoPan can be enabled in the Mode menu. When it is enabled and a fader is “touched”, two things come into play: • The blue LED next to the fader illuminates to indicate that channel is active for AutoPan. • The Power key then functions as the pan for that channel.
Zaxcom Maxx User Manual Recording Media Media Recommendations Compact Flash Cards Currently there aren’t any cards that we are aware of that don’t work with Maxx. Though we recommend SanDisk and Transcend cards, it is not necessary to use cards with “double write speed” features. Any cards, 4 – 64 GB, should be fine. Also 133X cards are fine - a faster card will not make Maxx write any faster - the only advantage of a faster card is faster downloads.
Zaxcom Maxx User’s Manual Syncing to a Denecke Slate Syncing Maxx to a Denecke Slate The LTC stream out of Maxx has a “jitter” in the TC signal at 29.97 fps and 23.976 fps. This can result in the Denecke TS-C or the TS-3 slates identifying the wrong code, if you set the slate to “Auto Set” (position 5). In addition, if you use “Auto Set” you will experience a TC drift. You don’t need to replace your slates. The Denecke Slate and Maxx can sync perfectly. When setting the slate to receive timecode at 29.
Zaxcom Maxx User’s Manual Connector Pin Assignments Connector Pin Assignments Audio Input / Output Connectors (XLR-3) XLR - 3 PIN 1 PIN 2 PIN 3 Signal GROUND SIGNAL + SIGNAL - Tape / Mono Out - Uses a Switchcraft TA5-F These outputs are assigned in the Bus routing Menu PIN 1 PIN 2 PIN 3 PIN 4 PIN 5 Tape / Mono Out of Maxx GROUND MONO SIGNAL + MONO SIGNAL TAPE SIGNAL + TAPE SIGNAL - Return / Audio Inputs 5 and 6 - Uses a Switchcraft TA5-F The return can be wired to receive 2 mono returns from 2 came
Zaxcom Maxx User’s Manual Connector Pin Assignments Headphone 1/4 Headphone SIGNAL LEFT SIGNAL RIGHT GROUND TIP RING SLEEVE AES Digital Input / Output Connectors (DB-15) Maxx uses a mini DB-15 (AKA: DE-15) connector for the AES Digital input and output connectors.
Zaxcom Maxx User’s Manual Updating Firmware Updating Firmware Each Maxx is shipped with the latest firmware version installed. When newer firmware becomes available, it can be downloaded from the Zaxcom website: http://www.zaxcom.com/software-updates Newer version of Beta software may be found on the Zaxcom Forums: http://www.zaxcom.com/forum Upgrading the Firmware 1. Using a PC or Mac format a compact flash card then download the new software and copy it to the card. 2.
Zaxcom Maxx User’s Manual Product Support Product Support Register your Maxx with Zaxcom: Download the latest Firmware from: Download the latest User Manuals from: Submit Technical Questions at: Submit information for Repair Services at: Join the Zaxcom Forum at: http://www.zaxcom.com/product-registration http://www.zaxcom.com/software-updates http://www.zaxcom.com/instruction-manuals http://www.zaxcom.com/submit-a-technical-question http://www.zaxcom.com/repairs http://www.zaxcom.
Maxx Specifications Analog In Analog inputs: 4 Mic/line-level with 48V phantom power and 2 Line level / camera returns Connector: 4 x XLR-3F (2 with .25” jack) Mic level input range: -56 to -26 dBu Line level input range: -10 to +8 dB Distortion: 0.0015% ADC bit-depth: 24 bits Dual ADC input dynamic range: 137 dB with NeverClip™ Clipping level: +28 dBu Frequency response: 28* Hz to 22 kHz (48 kHz sampling-rate) THD + noise: 0.0015% .
Zaxcom Warranty Policy and Limitations No limited warranty is provided by Zaxcom unless your Zaxcom Maxx (“Product”) was purchased from an authorized distributer or authorized reseller. Distributers may sell Products to resellers who then sell Products to end users. Please see below for warranty information or obtaining service. No warranty service is provided unless the product is returned to Zaxcom Inc. or a Zaxcom dealer in the region where the Product was first shipped by Zaxcom.
