Mackie DFX User Manual

MACKIE

HOOK-UP

GUIDE

DFX

SERIES

OUR [IN]FAMOUS PRODUCT

HOOKUPS IN BYTE-SIZED MORSELS

PRINTING NOTE: These pages were built 21cm wide (8.26in) by 27.94cm (11in) tall to accommodate the printers of both our North American users and our users around the globe. This PDF will print at 100% on both “Letter” sized and “A4” sized paper (with room in the left margin for hole punching).

Hello and welcome to one of many downloadable web editi o n s of M a c ki e’s P rod u ct Hook-Up Guide . S i nce 1992, we’ v e been i n c l u d i n g these helpful “con n ection m a p s ” i n ou r In Your Face product gui des, a n d w e ’ v e been u rged to contin u e doing so beca u se th ey’re so gosh-darn ed h e l pful. Now , we ’ve split our h ook -up s i n to p roduct

famlie s, a nd made them ava i l a b l e to you ov e r th i s new-fangled “Internet” thingy that everyone is talking a bo ut th ese d a ys.

There will be documents that cover hoo ki n g up our co m p a ct VLZ

PRO Series, Analog 8•Bus Series conso l es, CFX Series effects mixers, DFX Series com pa ct effects mixers, the D8B dig ital consol e , th e HD R24/96 hard di s k r ecorder, PP M Series powered m ixe rs, th e FR Se ri es a m p l iﬁ ers, SR Series front-of-house mixe rs, a n d ou r A ctive loudspeakers.

Inside you’ll ﬁ nd lots of useful information — most likely your questions will be answered here. W e re a l i ze that there’s n o possible way to cover every single question or a pp l i cati o n i n so few pages beca u se n ew wa ys t o us e M a c ki e pr od u cts are invent ed ev ery day . You ma y c o m e u p with some ideas on how to do what you want by looking at the va ri o u s d i a grams we ’ ve i n c l u d ed h er e .

Keep in mind that a good half of the battle in hooking u p our products is havin g th e p ro pe r connection s. C h eck th e ca b l es ’n’ p l u gs th a t you alrea dy h a ve with th e d iagra m s on th e n ext page. W e kn ow it m a y loo k bori n g , but o n e of these drawi n gs c o u l d sa ve yo u r l ife . Well, ma ybe not your life , b ut pr o ba b ly a lo t of wee pi n g and sorrow. And do n’t forget to ch ec k o ut the t ec h tips/FAQs document also available for download on the web at www.mackie.com/techsupport

If you don’t ﬁ nd the answe rs you’re a fter, then why not give ou r mighty Tec h S u p port ga n g a call? These fol ks have t on s of experi en c e i n th e real world, a n d they’v e g o t lots of equ i pm e nt a nd mixers at the i r bec k a n d ca l l . They’re achi n g t o share th ei r kn owl ed g e with yo u. (An d ca l l i n g th e m would be a very humanitarian th i n g to d o — th ey’re located in the dank sub-basement of our building and they ra re ly get visitors. Your ca l l j u st m ay be the one that keeps thei r s p i rits al ive .)

Call Mackie Tech Support toll-free (in the U.S.) at 800-2 5 8-6883 (Monda y th r ou gh Frida y, 7 AM to 5 PM P a c iﬁ c Time) with any Macki e pr od u ctquestion you can c o n jure. Put th em through the wringer ! We encour a ge it.

Incide ntal ly, the Mac ki e P r od u ct Hook-Up Gu i d e (Web Edition s) w er e p ut to g e the r fr om within the conﬁ nes of the Macki e Di gital Mosh Pit — l ocat ed on the second ﬂ oor near the Are a Of Refuge — by the well-meaning, super-preening Mackie Macintosh Department. We used Adobe InDesign

, Illustrator®, Photos ho p®, and Acroba t® on a number of s u ped-up big d a d dy M a cs.

Oh yeah: Copyrig ht © 2 00 2 M a c ki e Des i gns Inc.

All Rights Reserved. The following a r e tr a de m a r ks or reg i ste red tr a demarks of Macki e Des i g n s I n c.: “MACKIE.”, the “Running Man” ﬁ gure, VLZ, XDR, D8B, HUI, C FX Series, FR Series, a nd H R Seri es.

A VISUAL

GUIDE

COMMON

PRO AUDIO PLUGS AND CONNECTORS

KNOW YOUR

PLUGS

SET IT UP, AND GO!

TS Plug (mono)

Standard mono/unbalanced phone plug used for most mixer connections.

TRS Plug (stereo)

Standard stereo/balanced phone plug used for balanced connections on Mackie mixers.

Insert “Y” Cable

Balanced XLR

Standard XLR microphone connector to be used with mic-level.

RCA/Phono Plug

Tape deck connections on most Mackie mixers.

The “Y” Cable is used for connecting serial effects devices, such as graphic equalizers or compressors, to a Mackie mixer’s Channel or Bus insert jacks. On one end is a standard Tip-Ring-Sleeve “stereo” plug. Its tip and ring are wired to separate mono Tip-Sleeve plugs. Note that the RING of the TRS plug (A) is actually wired to the TIP of one of the mono TS plugs (B). If you insert a TS (mono) 1/4" plug only partially (to the first click) into an insert jack, the plug will not activate the jack switch and will not break the insert connection in the circuit (thereby allowing the channel signal to continue on its merry way through

Insert Points

TS Plug (mono)

Direct out with no signal interruption to master. Insert only to first “click.”

TS Plug (mono)

Direct out with signal interruption to master. Insert all the way in to the second “click.”

TRS Plug (stereo)

For use as an effects loop.

(TIP = SEND to effects RING = RETURN from effects)

the mixer). See (C) in “Insert Points” below.

Partial insertion allows you to tap out of the channel or bus circuit at that point in the circuit without interrupting normal operation.

If you push the 1/4" TS plug in to t he second click, you will open the jack switc h and c reate a direct out, whic h doe s interrupt the sign al in th at c h annel or bu s c ircuit. See (D) in “Insert Points” above. Note: Do not over lo ad or short -circuit the signal you ar e tapping f r om t he mi x er. That will affect the internal sig n al of the mixer.

Attention !

You may notice these effects unit hookups (Figure A) throughout this applications guide. These hookups utilize the Insert "Y" Cable (explained on the facing page).

MIXER INSERT

Figure B is a closeup of Figure A. The two colors represent the input and output traveling the length of the "Y" cable. The dotted line represents the two signals travelling alongside one another.

COMPRESSOR

OUT

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