Mackie DFX 12, DFX 6, DFX, DFX Series Hook-up Manual
MACKIE
HOOK-UP
GUIDE
DFX
SERIES
OUR [IN]FAMOUS PRODUCT
HOOKUPS IN BYTE-SIZED MORSELS
Copyright © 2002 Mackie Designs Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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.
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).
Standard mono/unbalanced phone
plug used for most mixer connections.
Insert “Y” Cable
TS Plug (mono)
TRS Plug (stereo)
Standard stereo/balanced phone plug used for
balanced connections on 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
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.
Balanced XLR
Standard XLR microphone connector to be used
with mic-level.
RCA/Phono Plug
Tape deck connections
on most Mackie mixers.
Insert Points
Direct out with no signal interruption to master.
Insert only to first “click.”
Direct out with signal interruption to master.
Insert all the way in to the second “click.”
(TIP = SEND to effects
RING = RETURN from effects)
For use as an effects loop.
TS Plug (mono)
TS Plug (mono)
TRS Plug (stereo)
SET IT UP, AND GO!
A VISUAL
GUIDE
COMMON
PRO AUDIO PLUGS AND CONNECTORS
KNOW YOUR
PLUGS
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).
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.
OUT
COMPRESSOR
MIXER INSERT
IN
A
B
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