CDC seven
Digital Mixing Console
User Manual
Hardware
Cadac Holdings Ltd.
One New Street
Luton
Bedfordshire
LU1 5DX
United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 (0)1582 404202
Fax: +44 (0)1582 412799
Email:
General information: info@cadac-sound.com
Service enquiries: service@cadac-sound.com
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Important Safety Information
CAUTION: These servicing instructions are for use by qualied personnel
only. To reduce the risk of electric shock, do not perform any servicing
other than that contained in the User Manual unless you are qualied to do
so. Refer all servicing to qualied service personnel.
1. Read these instructions.
2. Keep these instructions.
3. Heed all warnings.
4. Follow all instructions.
5. Do not use this apparatus near water. Do not expose this apparatus to dripping
or splashing and ensure that no objects lled with liquids, such as vases, are
placed on this apparatus.
6. Clean only with a dry cloth.
7. Do not block any of the ventilation openings. Install in accordance with the
manufacturer’s instructions.
8. Do not install near any heat sources such as radiators, heat registers, stoves,
or other apparatus that produce heat.
9. Only use attachments/accessories specied by the manufacturer.
10. Refer all servicing to qualied service personnel. Servicing is required when
the apparatus has been damaged in any way, such as the power-supply cord or
plug is damaged, liquid has been spilled or objects have fallen into the apparatus,
the apparatus has been exposed to rain or moisture, does not operate normally,
or has been dropped.
11. To completely disconnect mains power from this apparatus, the power supply
cord must be unplugged.
For US and CANADA only:
Do not defeat the safety purpose of the grounding-type plug. A grounding-type
plug has two blades and a third grounding prong. The wide blade or the third
prong is provided for your safety. When the provided plug does not t into your
outlet, consult an electrician for replacement of the obsolete outlet.
The lightning ash with arrowhead symbol, within an equilateral triangle is
intended to alert the user to the presence of an uninsulated “dangerous voltage”
within the product’s enclosure that may be of sufcient magnitude to constitute a
risk of electric shock to persons.
The exclamation point within an equilateral triangle is intended to alert the user to
the presence of important operating and maintenance (servicing) instructions in
the literature accompanying the appliance.
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General Precautions
• Do not place heavy objects on the control surface, expose it to sharp objects
or handle the console in any way that may cause damage, e.g., rough
handling and/or excessive vibration.
• Do not subject the equipment to dirt, dust, heat or vibration during operation
or storage. Never expose the console to rain or moisture in any form. Should
the console become wet, turn it off and disconnect it from the mains without
further delay. The console should be given sufcient time to dry out before
recommencing operation.
• When cleaning the console, never use chemicals, abrasive substances or
solvents.
• The console control panel should be cleaned using a soft brush and a dry
lint-free cloth. For persistent marks, use a soft cloth and isopropyl alcohol.
Switches and potentiometers do NOT require cleaning or lubrication.
• Keep these instructions for future reference. Follow all warnings in this
manual and those printed on the console.
• The console must be connected following the guidance in this manual. Never
connect power amplier outputs directly to the console. Connectors and
plugs must never be used for any other purpose than that for which they are
intended.
• The console mains input must always be connected to correctly rated mains
power as referred to in this manual. The mains input must, at all times, be
connected to the local mains power supply using the supplied power cord.
In cases where the supplied plug does not t, a qualied electrician must be
consulted.
• The power cord must be routed in such a way that the risks of accidentally
stepping on it, stretching it or it being pinched are minimized.
• WARNING ! THIS EQUIPMENT MUST BE EARTHED !
• Ventilation slots must never be covered or obstructed in any way, otherwise
airow required for safe operation may be restricted. Where the console is to
be operated in its ight-case, then this must be located in such a way that it
allows for proper ventilation.
• Refer servicing to qualied technical personnel only.
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Conformities
Declaration of Conformity
The Directives covered by this declaration: 2004/108/EC
The Products Covered by this Declaration: CDC seven audio mixing consoles
The Basis on which Conformity is being Declared: The products identied above
comply with the requirements of the above EU Directive(s) by meeting the
following standards:
BS EN 55103-1:2009 Product family standard for: audio, video, audio-
visual and entertainment lighting control apparatus for professional use.
Part 1 – Emission.
BS EN 55103-2:2009 Product family standard for: audio, video, audio-
visual and entertainment lighting control apparatus for professional use.
Part 2 – Immunity.
BS EN 61000-3 -2:2008 Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Part 3.
Limits. Section 2. Limits for harmonic current emissions (equipment input
current ≤16 A per phase).
BS EN 61000-3 -3:2006 + A2:2009 Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC)
Part 3. Limits. Section 3. Limitation of voltage uctuations and icker in low
voltage supply systems for equipment with rated current ≤16 A.
BS EN 60065:2002 + A1:2006 Audio, Video and similar electronic apparatus.
Safety requirements.
BS EN 61000-4-2:2009 Electrostatic discharge immunity test.
BS EN 61000-4-6:2009 Immunity to conducted disturbances.
BS EN 61000-4-11:2004 Immunity to voltage dips, short interruptions and
voltage variations.
Attention!
The attention of the specier, purchaser, installer, or user is drawn to
special measures and limitations to use which must be observed when
these products are taken into service to maintain compliance with the
above directives. Details of these special measures and limitations to use
are available on request, and are also contained in this User Manual.
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Contents
Important Safety Information 3
General Precautions 4
Conformities 5
Declaration of Conformity 5
Introduction 8
Overview 9
Shipping details 9
System capability 12
Data protocol: MegaCOMMS 13
CDC seven – Main Features 14
Hardware components 15
Control surface 15
Top view 15
Rear view 22
Channel Section 22
Master Section 24
Power supplies 25
Front panel 25
Remote Stageboxes 26
Connecting the hardware 28
Power supplies – control surface 28
Power supplies – remote stageboxes 28
Data communications: MegaCOMMS 28
Word Clock In 30
Word Clock Out 30
Remote stagebox – audio connections 30
Connector details 31
Surface and Local I/O – audio connections 32
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Principles of Operation 34
Switching the CDC seven on 34
Switching the CDC seven off 34
Main screens – touch operation 35
Layers and metering 35
Using the encoders 38
Channel blocks 39
Control Screen menus 40
System functions 41
Waves SoundGrid® interface 41
USB ports 41
Ethernet Ports 41
Video ports (HDMI) 41
GPIO ports 42
MIDI I/O 42
Lamp 43
Updating system software 43
System expansion 43
Adding a second Stagebox 43
Adding Redundant Power Supplies 43
Appendix 44
Technical Specications 44
Dimensions and weights 45
CDC seven control surface 46
Connecting the CDC seven to unbalanced sources and destinations 47
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Introduction
Thank you for purchasing this Cadac CDC seven digital audio mixing console.
From its founding in 1968, Cadac’s products have become the benchmark for
sound reinforcement consoles. The CDC seven is one of Cadac’s range of live
performance digital production consoles and uses the same innovative user
interface developed for the acclaimed CDC six console. It makes most of the
features of our world-famous, large-scale theatre and touring analogue desks
available in a compact, xed-architecture, fully-digital system, using a “high-
agility” user interface based a on wide-format touch screen. Professional sound
engineers used to working on either traditional analogue consoles, or other digital
consoles will nd the transition to the CDC seven’s operational system quick and
easy. However, the attention to detail, high quality audio circuitry and reliability
on which the reputation of the Cadac brand is built remains at the core of the
CDC seven’s design philosophy.
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Overview
The CDC seven system comprises three physical components: control surface,
control surface power supply, and remote MegaCOMMS I/O device(s). The control
surface provides further (local) analogue and digital inputs and outputs; back-up
(redundant) power supplies for the control surface and/or remote stagebox(es)
are available as a standard option.
Shipping details
As well as the control surface and remote I/O device(s) specied at the time of
ordering, the CDC seven is shipped with the following additional items:
• One or two* PSUs for the control surface
• One or two* powerCON TRUE 1 cables
• One or two* PSU-to-control surface cables
• Dust cover for control surface
• Gooseneck console lamp
• User manual – hardware
* A second (redundant) PSU may be ordered if required.
Control Surface:
The control surface is divided in four operational areas:
• two Channel Sections, each based around a 23.5”, 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels)
touchscreen display with two sets of rotary encoders mounted below and to
the right of the screen;
• the Master Section, to the right of the Channel Section, with the CDC seven’s
6.5” Control screen, fast access keypad, automation and other ancillary
controls;
• the Channel Fader Bay, below the Channel Section, with 16 touch-
sensitive,100 mm motorised faders, OLED channel displays, stereo LED
bargraph meters and other controls;
• the Master Fader Bay, below the Master Section, with four motorised faders,
OLED displays and a set of user-assignable keys.
All connections to the surface (apart from headphones and three USB ports) are
on the rear panel of the control surface: these include PSU inputs, MegaCOMMS
ports (see following page), local analogue and digital audio I/O, network ports,
further USB ports, etc.
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Remote MegaCOMMS I/O Devices:
Various versions of remote MegaCOMMS I/O devices are available:
• CDC MC Router – up to 3,072 channels of MegaCOMMS routing, including
gain compensation
• CDC MC MADI – 64 bidirectional channels of MADI I/O, including SRC
• CDC MC Dante – 64 bidirectional channels of Dante I/O, including SRC
• CDC MC AES3 – 18 x AES3 inputs, 18 x AES3 outputs (36 bidirectional
audio channels)
• CDC MC Optical – up to 512 audio channels via optical bre; 2 km drive
capability
• CDC I/O 6448 – 64 mic/line inputs and 48 balanced line outputs
• CDC I/O 3216 – 32 mic/line inputs and 16 balanced line outputs
CDC MC Router
CDC MC MADI
CDC MC DANTE
CDC MC AES
CDC MC Optical
CDC I/O 3216
CDC I/O 6448
Either one or two MegaCOMMS remote I/O devices can be connected directly to
the console: more may be connected by using the CDC MC Router.
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In addition to the I/O provided by the CDC MegaCOMMS remote I/O devices, the
control surface is provided with eight analogue mic/line inputs, eight analogue
line outputs (all balanced), four balanced AES/EBU inputs and four balanced
AES/EBU outputs. The routing of this local I/O may be congured via the CDC
seven’s software.
DESIGNED AND ENGINEERED IN ENGLAND
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RESET
NETWORK
USB
VIDEO
PSU 2 PSU 1
Assembled in China
GPIO OUT
GPIO IN
LAMP
IN IN IN IN
1 234
OUTOUT OUTOUT
AES
WORDCLOCK
IN
MIDI
IN
THRUOUT
STATUS STATUS STATUS STATUS STATUS STATUS STATUS STATUS
OUT
WORDCLOCK
IN IN
BAOUTOUT
MegaCOMMS
TX
TX
RX
RX
48V 48V 48V 48V 48V 48V 48V 48V
12345678
OUTPUTS
INPUTS
MUTE MUTE MUTE MUTE MUTE MUTE MUTE MUTE
Local I/O
System capability
The control surface contains all the system DSP, and apart from the local
analogue I/O, all audio signal paths and processing are in the digital domain. The
stageboxes contain Cadac’s high quality analogue microphone preampliers with
their gain and other parameters being remotely controlled, together with 96 kHz,
24-bit A-to-D and D-to-A conversion.
The CDC seven employs the now-familiar concept of “layering” to reduce the
size of the control surface, with 32 motorised faders able to control a maximum
console conguration of 96 input channels mixing into 48 assignable mix busses,
plus left, centre and right master busses, and two monitor busses for PFL and
AFL. The touchscreen-based control screens have been designed to present
as familiar a layout as possible to operators, using virtual control panels with
large, colour-coded buttons and displays. The rotary encoders at the edges of the
screen are used to make all parameter adjustments (levels, EQ parameters etc.)
An important feature of the CDC seven is that there is very little distinction
between input channels and output channels in terms of features and facilities.
The 48 mix busses are freely assignable as groups, auxiliary sends, matrix sends
or FX sends: all of these have fundamentally the same facilities as the input
channels, and are displayed and controlled in the same way.
The CDC seven control surface includes a Waves® SoundGrid® interface. Three
ports of the interface’s integral Ethernet hub are available on the rear panel;
any of these may be used to connect the CDC seven to a computer, allowing
multitrack recording and playback. The mixer may also be connected to a Waves
MultiGrid server running Waves plug-in signal processing, with the control panels
for the plug-ins presented on the CDC seven’s main screens. Alternatively, one
or two HDMI-capable external screens may be tted to the surface using the rear
VESA mounts, to display the Waves functionality independently.
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Data protocol: MegaCOMMS
Communication between the remote MegaCOMMS I/O devices and the control
surface is via a proprietary Cadac high speed protocol called MegaCOMMS,
using high-speed 75 ohm coaxial cable terminated in BNC connectors.
Two interconnection paths are provided, A and B, each of which requires a
transmit and receive cable. The maximum capacity of each path is 128 audio
channels in each direction.
The maximum recommended cable run between any two system components
(i.e., surface to I/O device, or between I/O devices) is 150 m (492 ft).
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CDC seven – Main Features
• Up to 96 simultaneous channels in the mix
• 48 mix busses, freely assignable as groups, aux sends or matrix sends, plus
LCR main busses
• Busses may also be allocated as sends to internal FX processors with
matching stereo returns
• Up to 192 simultaneous inputs and up to 192 simultaneous outputs
• 8 local analogue and 4 local AES3 inputs
• 8 local analogue and 4 local AES3 outputs
• Waves interface card providing 64ch. multitrack recording, or for connection
to a Waves MultiGrid server to access the full range of Waves plug-in
processing
• Unrestricted allocation of physical I/O to input channels and group/aux/matrix
outputs
• 16 VCA groups
• Eight user assignable buttons, with OLED displays (e.g., Mute group masters)
• Input channels may be linked or paired for stereo operation
• 100 mm motorised faders with OLED displays of current assignments
• All output types – groups, auxes or matrixes - may be mono or linked for
stereo operation
• Channel sends to outputs may be pre-EQ, pre-fade or post-fade (switchable
pre or post VCA)
• Default display of all primary channel parameters
• Two physical inputs per input channel
• 4-band fully-parametric EQ on all inputs and outputs
• Classic Cadac analogue EQ emulation
• Variable-frequency hi and lo-pass lters on all inputs and outputs
• 1/3-octave graphic equaliser available on all outputs
• Compressor/limiter with sidechain lter, plus gate on all input channels
• Compressor/limiter with sidechain lter on all outputs
• Adjustable delay on all inputs and outputs
• 16 stereo FX processors – each may be inserted or congured as send-
return loops
• Each FX processor provides reverb, delay and modulation, in any series/
parallel combination
• Switchable inserts on all channels
• Switchable LR and LCR panning
• Channel copy and swap functions
• Full Monitor, PFL and Talkback facilities
• 2 x 23.5” 16:9 touchscreen displays
• Scene automation with fast keypad access
• 96 kHz, 24-bit Delta-Sigma A/D and D/A converters
• Low-noise, wide dynamic-range analogue mic pre-amps with remote gain
control
• All channel functions immediately accessible by single touch
• Stereo bargraph meters, integrated in fader bays
• 9 control surface layers - 4 inputs, 3 outputs, VCAs, GEQ
• Gooseneck console lamp
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Hardware components
Control surface
Top view
Channel Section and Channel Fader Bay:
FADER FOLLOW
OUTPUTS
INPUT LAYERS
OUTPUT LAYERS
CAD
B
EF
BUS ABUS B
BUS CVCA
GEQ
FAD.
FOL.
GEQ
FOL.
NPUT L
YERS
OUTPUT
L
A
YERS
C
US ABUS B
US
C
VC
A
7
1
2
2
3
4
5
6
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
1515 16
1. Main Screen – a 23.5”, 16:9 high-denition touchscreen. The default
display shows a block of 16 consecutively numbered channels; alternative
sets of channels may be displayed by using the LAYER [12] buttons
or by “swiping” the screen horizontally. Touching any area in a channel
strip opens a virtual panel with controls for parameter adjustment and
enhanced displays. Switch functions are actioned by touching the virtual
“button”, rotary controls are mapped to the encoders adjacent to the
screen.
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