Drawmer MX60-Pro User Manual

DRAWMER

MX60

FRONT END ONE

OPERATORS MANUAL

CONTENTS

SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS page 2

INSTALLATION page 3

INTRODUCTION page 4

• Audio Connections page 6

• Power Connection page 8

CONTROL DESCRIPTIONS page 9

OPERATION page 13

IF A FAULT DEVELOPS page 16

CONTACTING DRAWMER page 16

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION page 17

BLOCK DIAGRAM page 18

SESSION RECALL page 19

1

COPYRIGHT

This manual is copyrighted © 2011 by Drawmer Electronics, Ltd. W ith all rights
reserved. Under copyright laws, this manual may not be duplicated in whole
or in part without the written consent of Drawmer.

ONE YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY

Drawmer Electronics Ltd., warrants the Drawmer MX60 Front End One to
conform substantially to the specifications of this manual for a period of one
year from the original date of purchase when used in accordance with the
specifications detailed in this manual. In the case of a valid warranty claim,
your sole and exclusive remedy and Drawmer’s entire liability under any
theory of liability will be to, at Drawmer’s discretion, repair or replace the
product without charge, or, if not possible, to refund the purchase price to
you. This warranty is not transferable. It applies only to the original
purchaser of the product.

For warranty service please call your local Drawmer dealer. Alternatively
call Drawmer Electronics Ltd. at [phone]. Then ship the
defective product, with transportation and insurance charges pre-paid, to
Drawmer Electronics Ltd., Coleman Street, Parkgate, Rotherham, S62 6EL
UK. Write the RA number in large letters in a prominent position on the
shipping box. Enclose your name, address, telephone number, copy of the
original sales invoice and a detailed description of the problem. Drawmer
will not accept responsibility for loss or damage during transit.

This warranty is void if the product has been damaged by misuse,
modification or unauthorised repair.

THIS WARRANTY IS IN LIEU OF ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER ORAL
OR WRITTEN, EXPRESSED, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY. DRAWMER
MAKES NO OTHER WARRANTY EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON­INFRINGEMENT. PURCHASER’S SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY
UNDER THIS WARRANTY SHALL BE REPAIR OR REPLACEMENT AS
SPECIFIED HEREIN.

IN NO EVENT WILL DRAWMER ELECTRONICS LTD. BE LIABLE FOR
ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES RESULTING FROM ANY DEFECT IN THE PRODUCT,
INCLUDING LOST PROFITS, DAMAGE TO PROPERTY, AND, TO THE
EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, DAMAGE FOR PERSONAL INJURY, EVEN
IF DRAWMER HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGES.

Some states and specific countries do not allow the exclusion of implied
warranties or limitations on how long an implied warranty may last, so the
above limitations may not apply to you. This warranty gives you specific
legal rights. You may have additional rights that vary from state to state,
and country to country.

In the interests of product development, Drawmer reserve the right to
modify or improve specifications of this product at any time, without prior
notice.

2

DRAWMER MX60

Front End One

SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS

CAU T IO N - M AINS FU SE

TO REDUCE THE RISK OF FIRE REPLACE THE MAINS FUSE ONLY W ITH

THE SAME TYPE, WHICH MUST BE A CLASS 3, 230 VOLT, TIME DELAY

TYPE, RATED AT 63mA WHERE THE MAINS INPUT VOLTAGE SW ITCH IS

SET TO 230 VOLTS AC. AND 125mA W HERE THE MAINS INPUT VOLTAGE

IS 115 VOLTS AC.

ALL FUSES MUST COMPLY WITH IEC 127-2.

THE FUSE BODY SIZE IS 20mm x 5mm.

CAU TION - M A INS CA BLE

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CHANGE OR TAMPER WITH THE SUPPLIED MAINS

CABLE.

CAU TION - SE RVICING

DO NOT PERFORM ANY SERVICING. REFER ALL SERVICING TO

QUALIFIED SERVICE PERSONNEL.

WA R NING

TO REDUCE THE RISK OF FIRE OR ELECTRIC SHOCK DO NOT EXPOSE

THIS EQUIPMENT TO RAIN OR MOISTURE.

INSTALLATION

The MX60 is designed for standard 19" rack mounting and occupies 1U of rack
space. Avoid mounting the unit directly above power amplifiers or power
supplies that radiate significant amounts of heat. Always connect the mains
earth to the unit. Use fibre or plastic washers to prevent the front panel
becoming marked by the mounting bolts.

3

INTRODUCTION

The MX60 is a high quality mic/line preamplifier with integral gate, de-esser,
compressor, parametric equaliser and peak limiter. It also features Drawmer's
proprietary multi-band tube-sound circuitry which provides independently
adjustable saturation in three separate audio bands. This may be used either to
create subtle warming or high frequency enhancing effects, or it may be applied
more strongly to create very obvious effects. The MX60 is suitable for both live
sound and studio applications. All buttons other than the de-esser Male/Female
switch have status LEDs.

The MX60 may be used in balanced systems at +4dBu operating levels using the
XLR or balanced TRS jack output connectors, or unbalanced at !10dBu using the
separate TS jack output. Inputs are provided for balanced low impedance
microphones with switchable 48V phantom power, balanced line at +4dBu on a
TRS jack or unbalanced line at !10dBu via an unbalanced TS jack. A further
Instrument input is provided on the front panel for use with sources that require
a high impedance input stage, for example, electric guitars and basses. Included
only in this section are 20dB and Bright switches. An insert point is provided
directly after the preamp section, followed by phase reverse and high pass filter
switches. A four-section LED meter registers the output level of the preamp
stage.

The human voice is structurally complex and has a wide dynamic range, which
is why the MX60 includes a high performance dynamics section comprising a
gate, a de-esser and a compressor section. The gate is designed to be easy to
set up and silences signals that drop below a minimum level set by the user. Fast
and slow release options are included to accommodate all types of material.

The high quality VCA compressor is based on that of the MX30 and reduces the
dynamic range of the signal by reducing the gain of loud signals that exceed a
threshold set by the user. Both the attack and release times are programme
adaptive leaving the user with only ratio, threshold and make-up gain to adjust.
Though simple to set up, the gate section is based on that of the Drawmer
DL241/MX30 and, like the compressor, it is programme adaptive so that the time
constants are automatically optimised for the material being processed.

Problems can arise when sibilant (S and T) sounds are over-emphasised by a
particular singer as they only occur on specific sounds, making it impossible to
address them effectively by using a fixed equaliser setting. In some situations,
the sibilant sounds may overload some part of the audio chain resulting in an
unpleasant distortion. The solution is to use a de-esser, but the Drawmer
approach to de-essing is rather more sophisticated than most and the de-esser
in the MX60 works on the same principle as that in the MX50 dedicated de-esser
where the de-esser automatically and continuously readjusts its own threshold
level.

4

A conventional de-esser can be set up by introducing equalisation into the
side-chain of a compressor and adjusting the equaliser so that the signal is
boosted in the area of the spectrum where sibilant sounds occur, forcing the
compressor to react more to high frequency sibilant sounds than to general
speech frequencies. This is less than ideal because the whole signal drops in
level whenever a sibilant sound occurs, which can result in the vocal taking on an
unnatural lisping characteristic. The MX60 de-esser is almost completely
automatic requiring the user only to select a male or female setting and to adjust
the amount of de-essing taking place. Only that part of the spectrum containing
sibilant sounds is subjected to gain reduction so that the lisping effect of simpler
de-essers is avoided.

Equalisation is provided after compression so that tonal changes can be made
without affecting the compressor action. The MX60 has a powerful three-band
equaliser that features shelving high and low sections in conjunction with a fully
parametric mid-range section.

The Tubesound section, is based around low noise solid-state circuitry designed
to emulate the overdrive characteristics of vacuum tubes. Here the signal is split
into three frequency bands and each band is provided with a variable drive
control. Increasing the drive level increases both the level and harmonic content
of the relevant band, and at low drive settings, it's possible to emulate the
characteristics of a tube microphone, to add HF enhancement or to warm up the
lower octaves. Higher settings may be used to create more obvious distortion
effects on voices or instruments.

At the end of the signal path is a fixed threshold limiter which comes prior to the
output level control (Master Fader). The limiter has a fixed preset threshold of
+20dBu and the Master fader scales the signal level down to the required level.
A hard limit LED indicates the onset of limiting. The soft limit LED indicates a
level 6dB below the main limiter, where progressive rounding of signal peaks
occurs prior to the onset of hard limiting.

5

AUDIO CONNECTIONS

Input and Output connections are provided for use at +4dBu via balanced
XLRs for Mic. Line is either at +4dBu via a Balanced jack or at !10dBu via
unbalanced jacks. It is permissible to use both +4dBu and !10dBu outputs
simultaneously. If unbalanced operation at +4dBu is required, simply connect
the unused terminal to Ground inside the balanced jack socket. This applies to
both inputs and outputs. The wiring convention for XLR being: pin 1 Ground,
pin 2 Hot and pin 3 Cold. For use with unbalanced systems, the Cold pin 3
must be grounded at both input and output XLRs. For jack operation refer to
diagram.

Interference: If the unit is to be used where it maybe exposed to high

levels of disturbance such as found close to a TV or radio
transmitter, we suggest that the unit be operated using the
XLR connectors. The screens of the signal cables should
be connected to the chassis connection on the XLR
connector as opposed to connecting to pin1. The MX60
fully conforms to the EMC standards.

Ground Loops: If ground loop problems are encountered, never disconnect

the mains earth, but instead, try disconnecting the signal
screen on one end of each of the cables connecting the
outputs of the MX60 to the patchbay. If such measures are
necessary, balanced operation is recommended.

Level Conversion:

It is possible to apply signals to both the +4dBu and
!10dBu Line inputs simultaneously. Also both the !10dB
and +4dB output sockets can be used simultaneously. This
allows level conversion to occur.

One useful example of this connection option would be if
the unit was used to process a keyboard - commonly these
have an output level of !10dB, and are terminated with jack
sockets. It is feasible using the MX60s dual output
capability to use the ! 10dB jack input to feed from the
keyboard and the !10dB output onwards to the amplifier,
and the +4dB balanced XLR connector for a direct feed to
the mixing console. This removes the need for any DI box
or cable splitter. In this example, ground loop
considerations may be required.

6