Ambient ACN-LS Operation Guide

experience quality.

Lockit Timecode

LockitSlate

ACN-LS

Rev. 6.00

ACN-LS experience quality.

Rev. 6.00

www.ambient.de/en

1

Table of contents page

1. Powering 2

2. Unit Description 3

3. Connectors 4

4. Physical Specifications 4

5. Attaching the Handle 5

6. Accessories and Spares 6

7. Menu Description 7
Main Menu 9
Mode Menu 9
FPS Menu 11
TC Menu 12
Sync Menu 14
Slate Menu 15
ACN Menu 16
SYS Menu 17

8. LED Blink Codes 19

9. ACN 21

10. Firmware Update 23

11. Application Notes 24

ACN-LS

Rev. 6.00

©2019, Ambient Recording GmbH

2

CLEANING THE SLATE BOARD:

The ACN-LS is shipped with a slate board equipped with a back printed sticker which
can easily be replaced if needed.

Dry markers can be simply wiped off dry, to remove permanent marker use alcohol or
appropriate solvents. The material of the stickers is resistant to all usual solvents, also
those containing keytones.

1. Powering

The ACN-LS can be powered by:

- 4 Mignon (AA) cells with 1.2V to 1.5V nominal voltage.

- 6 to 18 Volts DC via pin 4 of Lemo socket.

- 5 Volts DC via the USB socket.

To switch on or off press and hold the configuration switch for 4 seconds. On turning off hold and press
again when prompted.

Telemetry profiles are available for Alkaline and Lithium primary cells and NiMH rechargeable. Select
the correct battery type in Sys/Config menu for reliable low voltage warning LED blink and status
indicated in the upper right corner of the OLED.

Important: Batteries loaded under spring pressure! To avoid risk of injury through batteries being rapidly
ejected keep contact hinge firmly pressed when opening slider and softly release. Obey correct polarity as
shown on label. Push down battery hinge and close slider.

Applying external voltage from either Lemo or USB will bypass the power switch and turn on the unit
with “EXT” overriding the battery status symbol on the OLED screen. You may also keep the batteries in
the unit to seamlessly switch over and keep the generator running on power loss. External power has
always priority over battery, so unit will automatically switch over to external and no battery will be
drained. However, there is no charging function for rechargeable batteries. If the unit was powered
from external you will be prompted to disconnect power to switch off.

Note: The slate has an internal supercap to back up the timecode on a battery hot swap. During
regular operation the capacitor will slowly charge but already a short period of use should give
you enough backup time for a swift hot swap. Do not switch off, just open the battery
compartment, replace the cells, and close. Running off supercap the LED will be turned off to
extend back up time. After the fresh cells have been loaded and the battery slider closed, the unit
will continue to work without further interaction.

ACN-LS experience quality.

Rev. 6.00

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2. Unit Description

① Battery compartment slider push down to access batteries
② Configuration switch (↓push in, ↔ for toggle left/right)
③ IR transceiver, special use
④ OLED display
⑤ Signal LEDs
⑥ USB connector Mini type “B OTG” (virtual COM or generic MIDI interface, depending on configuration)
⑦ TC/Tune port: timecode I/O, ext. DC in, and tune. “Red” socket, connect cables with ext. power supply here.
⑧ ACN antenna (always leave supplied antenna attached)
⑨ Mounting holes for handle

③ ② ④ ⑤
⑥

⑧

⑦

① ②

⑨

ACN-LS

Rev. 6.00

©2019, Ambient Recording GmbH

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3. Connectors

“ANT”: SMA-F (only replace with genuine manufacturer equipment parts ANT-2.4-SMA-M 90)

“USB”: Mini type “B OTG”, firmware update or MIDI timecode, depending on

mode/configuration

“Lemo”: Lemo series 0B 5-pin (matching connector FGG/JGG.0B.305.CLADxx)

pin 1: GND

pin 2: LTC IN

pin 3: ASCII

pin 4: DC-IN 6 to 18 Volts / Reference out

pin 5: LTC OUT

4. Physical Specifications

Dimensions Display Module: (L / W / H): 210 x 63 x 28 mm

Dimension of slate board is as a „legal“ pad.

Weight Display Module: 0.404 Kg (no batteries)

Power consumption: 70 to 600 mA (6 Volts)

ACN-LS experience quality.

Rev. 6.00

www.ambient.de/en

5

5. Attaching the Handle

Set the small lever into „up“ position.

With the lever pointing upwards

insert the fittings of handle into the holes

push upwards until the lower rim

is flush with the slate module.

Flip back the lever to secure the handle in place.

Use the kick stand at the back of the handle to place the slate standing.

ACN-LS

Rev. 6.00

©2019, Ambient Recording GmbH

6

6. Accessories and Spares

ACN-LCP

Clap sticks POM with rhomb sticker

ACN-LCW

Clap sticks maple wood with inlaid rhombs

LS-SFSD

Slate board sticker, back printed, matte

LS-SFSDG

Slate board sticker, back printed, glossy

ACN-LSB

Soft case

ANT-2.4-SMA-M

Antenna straight

ANT-2.4-SMA-M90

Antenna right angle

ACN-LS experience quality.

Rev. 6.00

www.ambient.de/en

7

7. Menu Description

The graphical interface of the Lockit Menu combines ease of use with maximum flexibility for
experienced users and mostly consistent through all devices. Consecutive, interactive menus ease fail
safe configuration, guiding the user step by step through initial configuration.

Each menu pane with submenus features a “Home” symbol which will be preselected, allowing the user
to quickly move up one level when pressing the wheel erratically or just checking the settings.

Adjustments are available in 2 complexity levels which can be set from the System setting Menu.

“Standard” is reduced to settings that have proven practical for the vast majority of productions. We
highly recommend leaving it sitting here unless you run in apparent limitations to your required
configuration.

“Extended” discloses additional, complex configuration options to suffice even the most avid TC and
Sync Supervisor.

Depending on the devices capability this includes PAL, NTSC SD, and 720P sync formats, sync output for
3D rigs, PPF, and applying an offset to the TC output for compensation of frame processing delay.
Clearly, these are options not required for most applications and there will be hardly reason to unleash
this level.

Note: Settings are persistent through a level change which allows you to start off with guided
default depth and tweak in “Extended” if required.

“Lock” select this after applying desired settings will prevent from accidentally making changes to the
preconfiguration. To unlock, keep the wheel held left for 3 seconds until the notification that the menu
has been unlocked again.

Note: Due to the power logic on ACN-TL, ACN-LS, and ACN-ML, this message will also pop up
when shutting down these units with the required long press to the configuration wheel. It is
however not necessary to unlock the menu to power down. Just keep the button pressed for 3
seconds and the unit will shut down as desired.

Description below will use these conventions:

Underlined: marks a (sub) menu, pressing the navigation wheel will open the next lower level, which
may contain submenus or parameters.

“Quoted Italic”: marks a parameter setting. This is the lowest level of a menu. Depending on the
available options these will be listed visible or can be scrolled (separated by “/” in the explanation
below). Active values will be highlighted. To change use the navigation wheel to select and press to

ACN-LS

Rev. 6.00

©2019, Ambient Recording GmbH

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apply, to keep current settings just press. Both will automatically jump up one menu level with “Home”
selected. So, intentionally or accidentally, you will always quickly find your way back home.

Default settings are marked Bold in the menu bar. These values are restored after performing a
Sys/Reset.

(E): Only available when “Extended” is selected in Sys/Menu.

Some menus, parameters, or settings will also be exclusive to different devices and marked accordingly

L: Lockit ACL204, TL: TinyLockit ACN-TL, LS: LockitSlate ACN-LS, ML: MasterLockit(Plus) ACN-ML(P)