Wheatstone M-2 Quick Start Manual

M-2 diGital

Multiband dual Voice Processor

TECHNICAL MANUAL

600 Industrial Drive, New Bern, North Carolina, USA 28562

ORSIS

Ultra-HigH resolUtion Processing

M-2 Digital Multiband Dual Voice Processor Technical Manual - 1st Edition

©2009 Wheatstone Corporation

M-2 / October 2009

600 Industrial Drive
New Bern, North Carolina 28562
tel [phone] / fax [phone]

Attention!

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Compliance
Notice:
Radio Frequency Notice

NOTE: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the

limits for a Class A digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC rules. These
limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful inter­ference when the equipment is operated in a commercial environment. This
equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if
not installed and used in accordance with the instruction manual, may cause
harmful interference to radio communications. Operation of this equipment
in a residential area is likely to cause harmful interference in which case the
user will be required to correct the interference at his own expense.

This is a Class A product. In a domestic environment,
this product may cause radio interference, in which case,
the user may be required to take appropriate measures.

This equipment must be installed and wired properly in order to assure

compliance with FCC regulations.

Caution!

Wheatstone could void the user's authority to operate this equipment.

Any modications not expressly approved in writing by

M-2 / Oct 2009

Read Me!

ORSIS

Ultra-HigH resolUtion Processing

M-2 Digital

Multiband Dual Voice Processor

Quick Start Guide

Please inspect the contents of the shipping package to ensure that the following items

are present:

- Wheatstone M-2 Unit - Qty 1

- M-2 Technical Manual and Software CD - Qty 1

- AC Power Cord - Qty 1

- Quick Start Guide - Qty 1

Install and Connect the M-2

1. Install the M-2 in the equipment rack using at least two rack screws. If only two

screws are used they must be installed in the bottom holes of the rack ears to pre­vent undue stress on the front panel and possible bending.

2. Connect the microphone to the XLR female microphone input on the rear panel.

3. Connect either line level analog out or AES digital out XLR connector to your
desired signal path.

4. When using the M-2 GUI software connect rear panel Ethernet RJ--45 jack as ap­propriate for your intended use:

a) a direct connection to PC uses crossover CAT5 cable;

b) a connection to your LAN requires a straight through CAT5 cable

between the M-2 and the Ethernet switch or HUB.

5. Connect the AC power cord to the M-2 rear panel connector and then plug it into
AC power. The M-2 unit will power up.

M-2 / Oct 2009

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Installing GUI Software

The M-2 must be controlled using the included Microsoft Windows-based PC GUI
software. To install the software insert the M-2 software CD into a Windows XP/2000
computer’s CD drive and follow the steps below to install the software. If the software
installation does not automatically start when the CD is inserted into the drive, you can
start the installation manually by:

- Clicking Start

- Then click Run

- Then click Browse

- Browse the “My Computer” device tree to locate the CDROM device and
then double click it.

- When the contents of the CDROM drive appear in the window, locate the

autorun.inf or M2GUISETUP_X_X_X.EXE le on the CDROM and double

click it.

- Follow the on screen instructions to complete the GUI installation.

Configuring the M-2 IP Address

*

Once the GUI has been installed on the host PC it’s time to congure it and the M-2

so that they can communicate with each other. This requires conguration for both the

M-2 and the remote GUI so that they agree on the networking parameters.

PLEASE NOTE: As shipped from the factory, the M-2 is pre-programmed

with an IP address of 192.168.1.192, a subnet of 255.255.255.0, and a gateway of

192.168.1.1. If these settings will work in your application, you DO NOT need to
change the M-2’s IP address. Proceed to following section, Conguring the GUI.

Before starting the conguration procedure, please

locate and carefully make a note of the M-2’s 12-digit
MAC Address which is located on a label either on the
top cover or the rear panel.

Note that if the MAC address is not entered care­fully and correctly in the following steps, the M-2’s IP
address will not be changed!

Start the M-2 GUI software. Then right click on the
control area of the GUI and select Hardware/Assign IP
Address. The window on the right will appear:

*

The M-2 does not support DHCP (Dynamic Host Congura­tion Protocol) and therefore it requires a static TCP/IP address on
the Network it is connected to. Its presence on the network will not

interfere with DHCP addressing of other network connected devices
as long as the IP address that is congured for the M-2 does not
conict with the address of any other device on the network. Please
consult your friendly IT manager if necessary.

M-2 / Oct 2009

M-2 / Aug 2013

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Next, carefully enter your M-2’s MAC address in the MAC Address eld. The MAC

address must be carefully entered because the GUI will “send” the IP address informa­tion to the device that owns the MAC address that was entered in this step. If the MAC
address is incorrect, the M-2 will never “hear” it.

Next, enter a pet name for your M-2, like AirStudio1, etc.

Then, enter the IP address that you wish the M-2 to have, noting that this address

must be unique if the M-2 will be communicating over your network.

Next enter the desired Subnet Mask and Gate-

way IP addresses.

Once this is done, click the “Start” button at

the bottom of the IP address conguration box.

A message similar to the one on the right should
appear:

Click OK. Remove power to the M-2 for a

few seconds and then reapply it.

As the M-2 is booting up, the “Requests” number in the IP Assignment window
should increment to something other than zero (please see the bottom of the image on
the right). When this occurs the M-2 has received and acknowledged its new IP address
and is now ready for use on your network. Click the X in the upper right corner of the
IP Assignment window to dismiss the dialog.

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Configuring the GUI

Now that the M-2 has its own TCP/IP identity, we must congure the GUI so that it

can talk to the M-2. This is done by adding “devices” to the list of M-2’s that the GUI
knows about. To do this, locate and click on the “Devices” button located along the right
side of the GUI.

Location of “Devices” button

When this is done, the following window will pop up:

Next, click the “Add” button and a new

dialog box will appear. This is how new de-

vices are added or the conguration of existing
devices modied.

First, enter the same pet name that you used when you assigned the IP address to the M-2.
The above dialog shows us adding a new device called “WNYC_News_2_M2_07.”

Then enter the IP address that you congured the M-2 for in the previous steps. Note that

it is always best to completely delete any existing data in the IP Address box and then enter
the complete address from scratch.

M-2 / Oct 2009

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After this is done you may click “OK” on the Edit Device box. Then, in the Devices

Dialog box highlight (single left click) the
M-2 device that you just added (shown
highlighted in the image on the left) and
click on “Select.”

This step tells the GUI specically which

M-2 you want to connect to.

Next, click on the Online/Ofine button just to the left of the Status indicator, unless

the button’s green indicator is already lit.

Status Display

Online/Ofine Button

In the Status window you may see the message “Trying” as the GUI is handshaking
with the M-2. Once the handshake is complete and communication protocols are locked
in the Status message should revert to “Online.” The device’s name will show up in the
Devices display.

If for some reason the GUI cannot connect with the M-2, the “Trying” status message
will remain and will occasionally blink as the GUI retries the establishment of a connec-

tion. Under these circumstances the conguration of the GUI and M-2 should be carefully

examined to ensure that the destination TCP/IP address is consistent between the two.

Once these steps are complete you are now ready to use the M-2 from anywhere in
the world through its advanced Graphical User Interface.

M-2 / Oct 2009

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CONTENTS

M-2 Digital

Multiband Dual Voice

Processor Technical Manual

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 - General Information

Introduction ....................................................................................1-2

Pre-Installation Notes ....................................................................1-3

Rear Panel Connections ...............................................................1-4

Microphone Inputs .....................................................................................................1-4

Outputs .......................................................................................................................1-5

Remote Control Ports .................................................................................................1-5

Optional GP-4S Mic Control Panel..........................................................................1-6

Remote ON, OFF, Cough .........................................................................................1-6

On and Off Tallies ....................................................................................................1-6

General Purpose Interface..........................................................................................1-7

Ethernet Interface .......................................................................................................1-8

XLR Inputs Pinout Drawing ........................................................................................1-9

XLR/RJ-45 Outputs Pinout Drawing .........................................................................1-10

RJ-45 Control/Ethernet & DB-9 GPI Pinout Drawing ................................................1-11

Chapter 2 - M-2 Operating Guide

Remote Interfacing with The Vorsis M-2 GUI .............................. 2-3

Architecture of the GUI .................................................................2-4

Connecting the M-2 and the GUI .................................................. 2-4

With LAN (Local Area Network) ..................................................................................2-4

Without LAN (Local Area Network) .............................................................................2-5

Host PC Requirements ...............................................................................................2-5

Using the GUI ................................................................................. 2-5

Dynamic Display Region ............................................................................................2-6

Frequency-Domain Graph .....................................................................................2-6

Bargraph Metering.................................................................................................2-7

Signal Path Selection ............................................................................................2-7

Control Area Region ...................................................................................................2-8

Input Calibration & Sweepable Filter Set...............................................................2-9

Microphone Preamp Gain .................................................................................2-9

Microphone Phase ............................................................................................2-9

Phase Scrambler ...............................................................................................2-9

Phantom Power ................................................................................................2-10

M-2 / Oct 2009

page Contents – 1

CONTENTS

Filters ................................................................................................................2-11

High Pass Filter ............................................................................................2-11

Notch Filter ...................................................................................................2-12

Low Pass Filter .............................................................................................2-12

Downward Expander ............................................................................................2-13

Threshold ..........................................................................................................2-14

Open .................................................................................................................2-14

Ratio .................................................................................................................2-14

Wait ..................................................................................................................2-14

Depth ................................................................................................................2-15

Close ................................................................................................................2-15

De-Esser ..............................................................................................................2-16

Threshold ..........................................................................................................2-17

Frequency .........................................................................................................2-17

Attack ...............................................................................................................2-17

Bandwidth ........................................................................................................2-17

Release .............................................................................................................2-18

Enable ...............................................................................................................2-18

Compressor ..........................................................................................................2-19

Drive .................................................................................................................2-20

Low X-Over and High X-Over ...........................................................................2-20

Wideband .....................................................................................................2-20

Two-Band ..................................................................................................... 2-21

Three-Band ...................................................................................................2-21

Threshold ..........................................................................................................2-21

Attack ...............................................................................................................2-21

Release .............................................................................................................2-22

Ratio .................................................................................................................2-23

Lows, Mids, and Highs Trim ............................................................................. 2-23

Output ..............................................................................................................2-23

Swap ................................................................................................................2-23

Enable ...............................................................................................................2-23

Parametric Equalizer ............................................................................................2-24

Swap ................................................................................................................2-25

Enable EQ .........................................................................................................2-25

Final Limiter / Output Levels ...............................................................................2-26

Threshold ..........................................................................................................2-26

Attack ...............................................................................................................2-26

Release .............................................................................................................2-27

Output Level .....................................................................................................2-27

System ................................................................................................................2-28

Passwords ........................................................................................................2-28

Sample Rate .....................................................................................................2-29

GUI Mode .........................................................................................................2-29

Side Bar Region ........................................................................................................2-30

Managing Presets .................................................................................................2-30

Preset Button .......................................................................................................2-30

Library Button .......................................................................................................2-31

File Menu ..........................................................................................................2-31

Edit Menu .........................................................................................................2-32

View Menu ........................................................................................................2-33

Devices Button .....................................................................................................2-35

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CONTENTS

Title Bar Region .........................................................................................................2-37

Status ...................................................................................................................2-37

Devices .................................................................................................................2-37

Network Notes ..........................................................................................................2-37

Accessing Menu Options ..........................................................................................2-38

File Menu Items ....................................................................................................2-38

Hardware Menu Items ..........................................................................................2-38

Software Updates .........................................................................2-39

Appendix

Parameters, Units and Ranges .....................................................A-2

M-2 / Oct 2009

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GENERAL INFORMATION

General Information

Chapter Contents

Introduction ....................................................................................1-2

Pre-Installation Notes ....................................................................1-3

Rear Panel Connections ...............................................................1-4

Microphone Inputs .....................................................................................................1-4

Outputs .......................................................................................................................1-5

Remote Control Ports .................................................................................................1-5

Optional GP-4S Mic Control Panel..........................................................................1-6

Remote ON, OFF, Cough .........................................................................................1-6

On and Off Tallies ....................................................................................................1-6

General Purpose Interface..........................................................................................1-7

Ethernet Interface .......................................................................................................1-8

XLR Inputs Pinout Drawing ........................................................................................1-9

XLR/RJ-45 Outputs Pinout Drawing .........................................................................1-10

RJ-45 Control/Ethernet & DB-9 GPI Pinout Drawing ................................................1-11

M-2 / Oct 2009

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GENERAL INFORMATION

General Information

Introduction

The Wheatstone M-2 Digital Dual Voice Processor is a uniquely exible and easy­to-use multiband voice processor designed for professional audio applications. It offers
user presets, security, networkability, an all digital and fanless DSP-based framework,
and easy to set up parameters. The unit occupies one 19” wide rack space (height 1 3/4”),
and is 12” deep (not including connectors).

All adjustments of the M-2’s sound are controlled from the remote GUI, enabling
remote control of all parameters. The use of presets allows voice talent to have their own
sound simply at the press of a button. In fact, from one GUI it is possible to control an
entire facility equipped with M-2’s, making multiple Microphone Processor management
easy and straightforward.

The M-2’s hardware includes two channels equipped with very high quality, low-noise
microphone preampliers, four bands of parametric EQ, and Vorsis-designed processing
tools such as de-essers, compressors, and expanders. The unit comes loaded with factory
designed presets, and thanks to the exibility of the software-based GUI designing your
own sound is quite easy.

The electrical specications of the M-2’s microphone preamplier approach the theo­retically perfect. Noise within the audio band nudges the theoretical minimum, limited
only by the thermal (Johnson) noise of the precision resistors
is ruler at beyond the extremes of human hearing, and unwanted signal distortions such
as THD, IMD, and TIM are vanishingly low.

Static waveform delity is virtually perfect, affected only by the input high pass and
low pass lters, the phase scrambler when it is in circuit, and any equalization being used.

XLR and CAT5 connectors, which are located on the rear of chassis, make installa­tion very simple.

*

used. Frequency response

*

Thermal noise is intrinsic to all resistors and is not a sign of poor design or manufacture, al‑

though certain types of resistors may have excess noise.

M-2 / Oct 2009

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GENERAL INFORMATION

Pre-Installation Notes

• The M-2 should be mounted in a well grounded equipment rack using at least
two, and preferably four, rack screws. When only two screws are utilized they
must be installed in the two bottom holes in the M-2 front panel rack ears in
order to prevent undue twisting and distortion of the front panel.

• If the M-2 is installed in a rack containing heat generating equipment, particu­larly when it is installed above such equipment, one rack unit (1 3/4”) blank or
ventilated rack panels should be installed above and below the M-2 in order to
aid natural convection cooling.

• The M-2 should be connected to a source of clean AC power. If local power has
a history of being unstable, it is wise to incorporate an Uninterruptible Power
Source (UPS) in the AC power feed to the M-2

• In facilities with a history of damage or surges from lightning or other sources,
it is wise to incorporate a good quality AC line surge suppressor in the M-2
power feed

*

.

• Audio connections to the microphone inputs should be balanced and made with
a high quality shielded microphone grade cable. The cable shield should be
terminated at both ends of the cable to the XLR connector’s Pin #1. We do not
recommend the use of unbalanced connections at the M-2 inputs.

• As far as signal input polarity is concerned, the XLR Pin #2 is “hot” and the
M-2 does not invert the phase of the audio unless the Invert option has been
selected. (The exception to the above statement is when the Phase Scrambler
is used, which will result in frequency dependent phase shift which causes the
output signal’s phase to be inverted relative to the input signal at certain audio
frequencies.)

*

.

*

As with all computer or microcomputer based digital equipment the M‑2 requires clean
and surge‑free AC power for proper operation. Otherwise unpredictable and hard to identify
issues may arise with its operation and, in the extreme case, even equipment damage or cor‑
ruption of data.

M-2 / Oct 2009

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GENERAL INFORMATION

Rear Panel Connections

All audio input and output, control, Ethernet, and power supply connections are made
via various connectors conveniently mounted on the M-2’s rear panel. Six XLR con­nectors are provided: two microphone inputs, two analog and two digital outputs. Five
RJ-45 connectors are also provided; two duplicate the signals appearing at the Channel
One and Channel Two AES output XLR connectors. The others serve as interfaces for
the control and Ethernet connections. The DB-9 connector provides eight GPI inputs
for the most used presets. The pinout drawings on pages 1 -9 through 1-11 summarize
all wiring connections.

Microphone Inputs

Phantom Power

Analog Audio Output

Digital Audio Output

Control Connectors

GPI Connector

Ehernet Connector

Filtered AC Power Input

Microphone Inputs

The M-2 possesses TWO microphone level inputs (-50dBu nominal) fed from the
female XLR connector to the internal microphone preampliers. The microphone pream­plier has digitally controlled gain, up to a maximum of 70dB, and displays remarkably
high performance and sonic accuracy. Phantom power is available.

Pin 1 XLR 1 SH – MIC 1 IN SH
Pin 2 XLR 1 HI – MIC 1 IN HI
Pin 3 XLR 1 LO – MIC 1 IN LO

Pin 1 XLR 2 SH – MIC 2 IN SH
Pin 2 XLR 2 HI – MIC 2 IN HI
Pin 3 XLR 2 LO – MIC 2 IN LO

M-2 / Oct 2009

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GENERAL INFORMATION

Outputs

The M-2’s two processing channels’ output signals are available as individual analog
line level (+4dBu, balanced) signals on the two male XLR ANALOG OUT connectors
as well as in digital AES format on the male XLR AES OUT connectors, paralled by
two RJ-45 AES OUT connectors for CAT5 connection.

Channel One/Two Analog Outputs—XLR-M

Pin 1 XLR 1 SH – LINE 1 OUT SH
Pin 2 XLR 1 HI – LINE 1 OUT HI
Pin 3 XLR 1 LO – LINE 1 OUT LO

Pin 1 XLR 2 SH – LINE 2 OUT SH
Pin 2 XLR 2 HI – LINE 2 OUT HI
Pin 3 XLR 2 LO – LINE 2 OUT LO

Channel One/Two AES Outputs—XLR-M &RJ-45

XLR-M

Pin 1 XLR 1 SH – AES 1 OUT SH
Pin 2 XLR 1 HI – AES 1 OUT HI
Pin 3 XLR 1 LO – AES 1 OUT LO

Pin 1 XLR 2 SH – AES 2 OUT SH
Pin 2 XLR 2 HI – AES 2 OUT HI
Pin 3 XLR 2 LO – AES 2 OUT LO

RJ-45

Pin 1 RJ-45#1 – AES 1 OUT HI
Pin 2 RJ-45#1 – AES 1 OUT LO

Pin 1 RJ-45#2 – AES 2 OUT HI
Pin 2 RJ-45#2 – AES 2 OUT LO

Remote Control Ports

The M-2’s “CONTROL” RJ-45 connectors may be used with the (optional) Wheat­stone GP-4S Mic Control Panel, or may be wired to a custom interface if desired.
Functions available to each signal processing channel of the M-2 include remote on
and off, cough, and tally.

Control—RJ-45

Pin 1 – DIGITAL GROUND
Pin 2 – COUGH ENABLED (momentary)
Pin 3 – N/C
Pin 4 – OFF TALLY (open collector)
Pin 5 – ON TALLY (open collector)
Pin 6 – REMOTE OFF (momentary)
Pin 7 – REMOTE ON (momentary)
Pin 8 – +5V DIGITAL POWER

M-2 / Oct 2009

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GENERAL INFORMATION

Optional GP-4S Mic Control Panel

The optional GP-4S panels connect to the M-2 using a standard straight
through CAT5 Ethernet cable of any reasonable length. This panel has “ON,”
“OFF,” and “COUGH” switches for remote control
of the microphone inputs. The “TB” (talkback) but­ton is designed to interact with Wheatstone audio
consoles and has no function in the M-2. The “ON”
and “OFF” buttons are LED illuminated. These
panels can be mounted directly into a furniture
surface or a turret if desired.

To Turn Microphones ON & OFF from a Remote Location

REMOTE ON — When taken low (connected to Digital Ground) activates the
ON TALLY and simultaneously unmutes the M-2 audio output for that channel. You
must provide a momentary closure between Remote On (Pin 7) and Digital Ground
(Pin 1) to latch the microphone audio ON. A user-supplied momentary contact switch
or the optional GP-4S panel is required.

REMOTE OFF — When taken low (connected to Digital Ground) activates the
OFF TALLY and simultaneously mutes the M-2 audio output for that channel. You
must provide a momentary closure between Remote Off (Pin 6) and Digital Ground
(Pin 1) to latch the microphone audio OFF. A user-supplied momentary contact switch
or the optional GP-4S panel is required.

COUGH — When taken low (connected to Digital Ground) temporarily mutes
the microphone for the selected M-2 channel. You must provide a momentary clo­sure between Cough (Pin 2) and Digital Ground (Pin 1) to temporarily mute the
microphone. This is a non-latching mode so the microphone will unmute as soon
as the switch is released. A user-supplied momentary contact switch or the optional
GP-4S panel is required.

On and Off Tallies

ON TALLY — A continuous closure (via open collector) exist between On Tally
(Pin 5) and Digital Ground (Pin 1) whenever the microphone audio is unmuted. This
allows the microphone ON function to also control an on-air light or other “micro­phone on” indicator at a remote location.

OFF TALLY — A continuous closure (via open collector) exists between
Off Tally (Pin 4) and Digital Ground (Pin 1) whenever the microphone audio is
muted. This allows the microphone OFF function to also control a “microphone off”
indicator at a remote location.

The ON and OFF tallies can be used to control externally powered tally lights
or other functions requiring a continuous closure to function. External tally lights
(such as LEDs) can be powered from the tally output by connecting the external
LED anode to +5V Digital (Pin 8)

*

and the external LED cathode to the On Tally

port (Pin 5) or Off Tally port (Pin 4).

*

An appropriate current limiting resistor must be used so that current drawn from Pin 8

does not exceed 15 milliamps.

M-2 / Oct 2009

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GENERAL INFORMATION

General Purpose Interface

The General Purpose Input (GPI) control port on the M-2 works a bit differently
than in other Wheatstone processors. In the M-2 the eight GPI inputs operate as follows:

- GPI ports 1 through 4 are hard coded to select presets for M-2 Channel One.

- GPI ports 5 through 8 are hard coded to select presets for Channel Two.

The eight separate General Purpose Inputs share a common return. The rear panel
connector is a female DB-9 connector with the following pin assignments. Note that all
pins are isolated from M-2 internal circuitry!

GPI—DB-9

Pin 1 – GPI COM (-)
Pin 6 – GPI 1 IN (+)
Pin 2 – GPI 2 IN (+)

Pin 7 – GPI 3 IN (+)
Pin 3 – GPI 4 IN (+)
Pin 8 – GPI 5 IN (+)

Pin 4 – GPI 6 IN (+)
Pin 9 – GPI 7 IN (+)
Pin 5 – GPI 8 IN (+)

The GPI input circuits are optoisolated by devices having an input/output isolation
of 1,500VAC. These inputs are expected to work very well in high RF environments
and will not cause ground loop issues when connected to external equipment.

Each of the GPI inputs is current limited by a 475 ohm resistance located inside
the GPI control circuitry. The LED device inside the optoisolators is rated at a maximum
forward current of 50mA and a normal operating current of 5mA.

Before connecting external circuitry to the GPI inputs you should rst ascertain whether
it will be necessary to utilize additional outboard series resistance in your application!

The following table will serve as a convenient reference to determine if an external
resistance is required in your application and if so, what value that resistance should be.
Note that in all applications up to and including 48VDC a one-half watt resistor power
rating is sufcient.

Applied Voltage to GPI External Resistance

3.3 VDC None

5.0 VDC 330 Ohms

6.0 VDC 470 Ohms

7.5 VDC 820 Ohms

10 VDC 1.3 kOhms

12 VDC 1.8 kOhms

15 VDC 2.4 kOhms

24 VDC 3.9 kOhms

30 VDC 5.1 kOhms

48 VDC 9.1 kOhms

M-2 / Oct 2009

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GENERAL INFORMATION

Ethernet Interface

The rear panel RJ-45 connector that is assigned to the Ethernet communication
function uses a standard 10/100BaseT interface. It employs both UDP and TCP/
IP protocols to communicate with the remote GUI software running on a host PC
and utilizes common ports to communicate with the M-2.

Ethernet—RJ-45

Pin 1 – TXD +
Pin 2 – TXD ­Pin 3 – RXD +
Pin 4 – N/C
Pin 5 – N/C
Pin 6 – RXD ­Pin 7 – N/C
Pin 8 – N/C

When using the M-2 with a nearby computer and when no local area network
is available, you must use a standard Ethernet crossover cable to interconnect the
computer and the M-2.

When using the M-2 with a remotely connected computer or when it is intercon­nected to the remote computer via a LAN you must use a standard straight through
Ethernet cable.

Please see the drawing below for the wiring for both straight through and
crossover cables.

In each case the color code for the GUI PC end of the cable is as follows:

1 – White w/Orange tracer

2 – Solid Orange

3 – White w/Green tracer

4 – Solid Blue

5 – White w/Blue tracer

6 – Solid Green

7 – White w/Brown tracer

8 – Solid Brown

M-2 / Oct 2009

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GENERAL INFORMATION

F

X

X

Mic In - XLR-

LR 1-F

LR 2-F

2

3

1

2

3

1

PIN 1 XLR 1 SH - MIC 1 IN SH

PIN 2 XLR 1 HI - MIC 1 IN HI

PIN 3 XLR 1 LO - MIC 1 IN LO

PIN 1 XLR 2 SH - MIC 2 IN SH

PIN 2 XLR 2 HI - MIC 2 IN HI

PIN 3 XLR 2 LO - MIC 2 IN LO

M-2 / Oct 2009

page 1 – 9

GENERAL INFORMATION

Analog Out - XLR-M

XLR1-M

XLR1-M

XLR2-M

1

3

2

1

3

2

1

3

2

PIN 1 XLR 1 SH - LINE 1 OUT SH

PIN 2 XLR 1 HI - LINE 1 OUT HI

PIN 3 XLR 1 LO - LINE 1 OUT LO

PIN 1 XLR 2 SH - LINE 2 OUT SH

PIN 2 XLR 2 HI - LINE 2 OUT HI

PIN 3 XLR 2 LO - LINE 2 OUT LO

AES Out - XLR-M & RJ-45

PIN 1 XLR1 SH - AES 1 OUT SH

PIN 2 XLR1 HI - AES 1 OUT HI

PIN 3 XLR1 LO - AES 1 OUT LO

RJ-45 #1

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

AES 1 OUT HI
AES 1 OUT LO

N/C

N/C
N/C

N/C

N/C
N/C

XLR2-M

M-2 / Oct 2009

1

1

3

2

PIN 1 XLR2 SH - AES 2 OUT SH

PIN 2 XLR2 HI - AES 2 OUT HI

PIN 3 XLR2 LO - AES 2 OUT LO

RJ-45 #2

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

AES 2 OUT HI

AES 2 OUT LO

N/C

N/C
N/C

N/C

N/C
N/C

page 1 – 10

GENERAL INFORMATION

Control - RJ-45

MIC 1

RJ-45 #1

Ethernet - RJ-45

ETH

RJ-45

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

DIGITAL GROUND
COUGH ENABLED

N/C
OFF TALLY
ON TALLY

REMOTE OFF
REMOTE ON
+5V DIGITAL

MIC 2

RJ-45 #2

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

DIGITAL GROUND
COUGH ENABLED

N/C
OFF TALLY
ON TALLY

REMOTE OFF
REMOTE ON
+5V DIGITAL

GPI - DB-9

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

TXD +
TXD -

RXD +
N/C
N/C

RXD ­N/C
N/C

GPI 7 IN (+)

GPI 5 IN (+)

GPI 3 IN (+)

GPI 1 IN (+)

GPI 8 IN (+)

GPI 6 IN (+)

GPI 4 IN (+)
GPI 2 IN (+)

GPI COM (-)

M-2 / Oct 2009

page 1 – 11

M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

M-2 Operating Guide

Chapter Contents

Remote Interfacing with The M-2 GUI .......................................... 2-3

Architecture of the GUI .................................................................2-4

Connecting the M-2 and the GUI .................................................. 2-4

With LAN (Local Area Network) ..................................................................................2-4

Without LAN (Local Area Network) .............................................................................2-5

Host PC Requirements ...............................................................................................2-5

Using the GUI ................................................................................. 2-5

Dynamic Display Region ............................................................................................2-6

Frequency-Domain Graph .....................................................................................2-6

Bargraph Metering.................................................................................................2-7

Signal Path Selection ............................................................................................2-7

Control Area Region ...................................................................................................2-8

Input Calibration & Sweepable Filter Set...............................................................2-9

Microphone Preamp Gain .................................................................................2-9

Microphone Phase ............................................................................................2-9

Phase Scrambler ...............................................................................................2-9

Phantom Power ................................................................................................2-10

Filters ................................................................................................................2-11

High Pass Filter ............................................................................................2-11

Notch Filter ...................................................................................................2-12

Low Pass Filter .............................................................................................2-12

Downward Expander ............................................................................................2-13

Threshold ..........................................................................................................2-14

Open .................................................................................................................2-14

Ratio .................................................................................................................2-14

Wait ..................................................................................................................2-14

Depth ................................................................................................................2-15

Close ................................................................................................................2-15

De-Esser ..............................................................................................................2-16

Threshold ..........................................................................................................2-17

Frequency .........................................................................................................2-17

Attack ...............................................................................................................2-17

Bandwidth ........................................................................................................2-17

Release .............................................................................................................2-18

M-2 / Oct 2009

page 2 – 1

M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

Enable ...............................................................................................................2-18

Compressor ..........................................................................................................2-19

Drive .................................................................................................................2-20

Low X-Over and High X-Over ...........................................................................2-20

Wideband .....................................................................................................2-20

Two-Band ..................................................................................................... 2-21

Three-Band ...................................................................................................2-21

Threshold ..........................................................................................................2-21

Attack ...............................................................................................................2-21

Release .............................................................................................................2-22

Ratio .................................................................................................................2-23

Lows, Mids, and Highs Trim ............................................................................. 2-23

Output ..............................................................................................................2-23

Swap ................................................................................................................2-23

Enable ...............................................................................................................2-23

Parametric Equalizer ............................................................................................2-24

Swap ................................................................................................................2-25

Enable EQ .........................................................................................................2-25

Final Limiter / Output Levels ...............................................................................2-26

Threshold ..........................................................................................................2-26

Attack ...............................................................................................................2-26

Release .............................................................................................................2-27

Output Level .....................................................................................................2-27

System ................................................................................................................2-28

Passwords ........................................................................................................2-28

Sample Rate .....................................................................................................2-29

GUI Mode .........................................................................................................2-29

Side Bar Region ........................................................................................................2-30

Managing Presets .................................................................................................2-30

Preset Button .......................................................................................................2-30

Library Button .......................................................................................................2-31

File Menu ..........................................................................................................2-31

Edit Menu .........................................................................................................2-32

View Menu ........................................................................................................2-33

Devices Button .....................................................................................................2-35

Title Bar Region .........................................................................................................2-37

Status ...................................................................................................................2-37

Devices .................................................................................................................2-37

Network Notes ..........................................................................................................2-37

Accessing Menu Options ..........................................................................................2-38

File Menu Items ....................................................................................................2-38

Hardware Menu Items ..........................................................................................2-38

Software Updates .........................................................................2-39

M-2 / Oct 2009

page 2 – 2

M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

M-2 Operating Guide

Remote Interfacing with the M-2 GUI

A PC application program to control one or many M‑2s is supplied with the
product. It is a Windows
very carefully designed to be intuitive and straightforward in use. The GUI has three
different user levels, levels of complexity if you will, designed to accommodate us‑
ers at all skill levels.

• The ECI or “Expert Control Interface” makes every M-2 control available. It is

intended as a wide open window to the M‑2’s many features and settings ‑ no
controls are hidden from the user.

• The SSI or “Standard Simplied Interface” has been designed for users with

basic familiarity with audio processors but who don’t need to know all the nu‑
ances of what happens under the hood in order to tune up the M‑2 to get the
desired sound.

• The TCI or “Talent Control Interface” is designed to be installed on an air studio

PC where the on‑air talent can use it to select the microphone processing preset
that should be in use for their show.

®

Graphical User Interface (GUI) program, which has been

The TCI hides all controls associated with creating and changing the sound of the

M-2. This user interface only allows the selecting of presets and the conguration of

the M‑2 device to connect to.

M-2 / Oct 2009

page 2 – 3

M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

The GUI is supplied as a self‑installing program which may be executed from any

directory on the computer. Upon installation, and unless another installation path is

selected, the GUI will install itself under “Program Files\Vorsis\M2” and a “M-2” icon

will appear on the desktop. Double‑clicking on this icon will start the GUI program.

The software is compatible with all recent releases of Microsoft Windows

®

including Windows 2000, Windows XP Home and Professional, Vista, and
Windows 7 operating systems.

The GUI is designed to operate a virtually unlimited number of M‑2 microphone

processors. Each M-2 unit is associated with its own static TCP/IP address as is the

controlling PC. Remember that in most networks the address xxx.xxx.xxx.255 is a

reserved broadcast address and should never be used for conguring network devices.

Since all the M-2’s to be operated by a single GUI must be congured with

TCP/IP addresses within the same subnet, the number of devices “reachable” by the

GUI is limited by the subnetting scheme used.

It is possible to remotely operate any number of M‑2 processors if the network,

the M-2’s, and the GUI PC’s are all congured appropriately according to accepted

networking standards.

It is also possible to operate the M‑2 via a variety of available wireless protocols

and hardware. Given the current state of ux of wireless technology we will leave it

up to the ingenuity of the end user to design and implement the best way to operate
the M‑2 wirelessly in their particular environment.

To congure the M-2 network connection a basic familiarity with Windows naviga‑
tion techniques is assumed. If terms such as “left-click,” “right-click,” “double-click,”
and “drag-and-drop” seem alien, operating the M-2 GUI could be problematic.

Architecture of the GUI

The M‑2 GUI allows you to control and view how the M‑2 is reacting to the audio
passing through it, and do it in real time. It also allows you to make changes to the

processing while viewing the signicance any change is having on the audio.

Connecting the M-2 and the GUI

With LAN (Local Area Network)

The M‑2 and a Windows® PC running the M‑2’s GUI program can be connected

over a standard Ethernet Local Area Network (LAN).

Once the M-2 is installed, powered-up, and veried to be operating normally, a
CAT5 cable connected to a 100baseT LAN should be inserted into the appropriate
socket on the rear panel. Likewise, the GUI should be installed on the desired PC that
has been veried to be working correctly with the LAN.

M-2 / Oct 2009

page 2 – 4

M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

Without LAN (Local Area Network)

It is also possible to work without a LAN by connecting the M-2 and the PC
Ethernet ports together using a standard Ethernet crossover cable.

Host PC Requirements

Constraints for the host PC are not extraordinary – it should preferably be at

least 1GHz in speed and the screen resolution at least 1024 x 768 pixels. The LAN

should be 100baseT (100MHz) capable. Any recent Windows operating system is

quite sufcient.

Using the GUI

The GUI screen may be maneuvered around the computer’s screen by left‑click‑

ing-and-dragging the GUI near the “Vorsis” logo at the upper left of the application
screen. In true “Windows” fashion, the GUI may be minimized (taken off the screen)

and closed by way of the familiar controls at the extreme top right.

Description of the features and functions of the GUI will follow different discrete
regions of the screen. It will begin with the most eye‑catching region containing the

Dynamic Displays. The Control Area will be covered next, followed by the Side Bar
buttons, and winding up with the Title Bar and Menus.

AREA

CONTROL

TITLE BAR

SIDE BAR

M-2 / Oct 2009

DYNAMIC DISPLAYS

page 2 – 5

M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

Dynamic Display Region

Frequency-Domain Graph

Visually, the most interesting and useful element on the main screen, and dominating
the lower half of both the ECI and SSI versions of the GUI, is a large graphical display

logarithmically depicting the standard audio frequency range of 20Hz – 20 kHz. The verti‑
cal axis scale may be altered by clicking and dragging the scale up or down. The overall

displayed vertical range remains at 30dB, with gradations every 3dB.

Along the bottom of the large graphical area is a row of four small checkboxes for
enabling different views within that display area. When selected or deselected a yellow
checkmark appears and disappears respectively.

Show Audio — When selected (and O-Scope/FFT is unchecked), an FFT (Fast Fourier

Transform) of the audio is displayed in real time showing audio frequency spectra versus
time.

O-Scope (oscilloscope)/FFT — When “O-Scope/FFT” and “Show Audio” are simulta‑
neously selected, the display substitutes a real time amplitude versus time display instead

of the FFT which shows frequency versus time.

Show Filters — When enabled the end user can view how the parametric equalizer,

sweepable lter set, and de-esser’s frequency responses are being affected by the lters

operating in those processing stages.

Show Gain Reduction — When selected, displays the amount of gain control in dB

occurring in the compressor, expander, or de‑esser.

Displayed Signal Selection — Directly underneath the small checkboxes are two large
buttons labeled INPUT and OUTPUT.

When INPUT is selected, the graphical display shows audio presented at the input to
the selected channel of the M‑2. When OUTPUT is selected the graphical display shows
the audio after the M‑2 has processed it. The mode that has been selected is indicated by a

small green “on” light in the selected button.

M-2 / Oct 2009

page 2 – 6

M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

Bargraph Metering

To the left of the graphical display area are ve vertical bargraphs, each having a 30dB
vertical display range, except for IN, which has a 60dB range. From left to right they are:

• IN - Displays the channel 1/channel 2 input signal level.

• EXP - Displays the amount gain control occurring within the Expander algorithm.

• DES ‑ Displays the amount of de‑essing when it is occuring.

• LIM - Displays the amount of limiter gain control occurring within the nal limiter

when it is engaged.

• OUT - Displays the channel 1/channel 2 audio output amplitude in dBu.

The level meters are dual-indicating peak-over-average, with peaks riding as a lone “dot”
over a solid bar-graphed average. An “Over” indication is at the top (but slightly distanced

from) the input level bargraphs.

Signal Path Selection

Above the bargraph meters are tabs labeled Channel 1 and Channel 2, that select which

of the two signal channels within the M-2 is being operated upon / displayed.

M-2 / Oct 2009

page 2 – 7

M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

Control Area Region

When the GUI software

is in its ECI or SSI modes

the large area above the
graph and meters host the
controls available at those
user levels (note that no
controls are available when
the GUI is in its TCI mode).

To operate the controls
either place the cursor
above the desired control
and use the mouse’s scroll

wheel to “increase” or
“decrease” the control’s

position; or left click on the control, and slide the mouse to move the control ‑ up or
right increases the control’s indicated position, down or left decreases it. The behavior

of the controls can be made ner by holding down the keyboard’s control key (“Ctrl”)

while adjusting, or coarser using shift.

When the GUI software is in its ECI or SSI modes there is a row of buttons across

the upper portion of the GUI corresponding to the various processing sections and in

the signal ow order. A small indicator at the left end of each button indicates if signal
processing within that block is active. Left-clicking a button opens a panel of controls

for that portion of the signal‑processing.

Input Cal. — Displays the controls for the microphone input gains, phase scram‑
blers, phase inversion controls, and phantom power. Gains access to the controls for

the High Pass, Low Pass, and Notch Filters.

Expander — Gains access to the controls associated with the Downward Expander,
noting that the ECI mode has some controls that the SSI mode does not have.

De-esser — Gains access to the controls for the de-esser stage. Like the Expander,
the ECI mode has some controls that the SSI mode does not have.

Compressor — Displays the controls for the multiband voice processing section.

Like the Parametric EQ and Expander the ECI mode has some controls that the SSI

mode does not have.

Parametric EQ — Displays the controls for the four‑band fully parametric equal‑

izer. Note again that the ECI mode has some controls that the SSI mode does not have.

Output — This screen hosts the controls for engaging and using the nal Peak
Limiter as well as the Output level controls.

System — Gains access to settings for security, user level selection, I/O-Settings-

follow‑Presets mode, and output sample rate.

M-2 / Oct 2009

page 2 – 8

M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

INPUT CALIBRATION & SWEEPABLE FILTER SET

M-2 Input Callibration & Sweepable Filter Set Screen

(Note that the M-2’s two microphone preampliers and associated controls are

accessed using the Channel 1 and Channel 2 tabs shown on the lower left side of
the GUI.)

Microphone Preamp Gain

Each of the two M-2 microphone preampliers is equipped with a gain control

capable of being adjusted to accommodate virtually any microphone and acousti‑

cal environment. The gain controls each have a gain range of 80dB, allowing the
preamplier gain to be adjusted from -10dB (10dB loss) to +70dB in 1dB steps.

Microphone Phase

The electrical phase of each microphone channel may be reversed simply by
clicking on the Microphone Phase checkbox. When the selected M‑2 input is in

phase with the output the checkbox displays a plus sign (“+”). If the signal phase
from input to output has been inverted the box will display a minus sign (“-“).

Phase Scrambler

Each channel of the M-2 is equipped with a fourth order all-pass network which

is designed to rearrange the microphone signal’s phase‑verses‑time alignment of its
harmonics relative to its fundamentals. This results in positive and negative signal
peaks being more equal.

Once the positive‑to‑negative energy distribution is corrected voice signals are
easier to process by later processing, with the end result being an increase in voice
loudness.

The waveform below is typical of many human voices. Notice how the amount of

signal inside the peaks both above and below the center line is unequal? This means

M-2 / Oct 2009

page 2 – 9

M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

that the voice is asymmetrical and can benet from the use of phase scrambling

(or de‑correlation, as it’s sometimes called).

Asymmetrical Voice Waveform

Below is the same voice after processing by the phase scrambler. Notice how

the amount of energy inside the peaks above and below the center line is more

equal? This is what the phase scrambler does… it just “rearranges” energy…

Symmetrical Voice Waveform

It is important to understand that neither the frequency content nor RMS en‑
ergy of the voice waveform are altered by the phase scrambler, nor does it add
any form of nonlinear distortion. It only rearranges the phase relationships of the
signal’s harmonics to its fundamental frequencies.

Phantom Power

The M‑2 may supply phantom power to microphones that require it. To enable
phantom power, two steps may be required.

1. The M‑2 is shipped from the factory with internal jumper J3 set to open.
When this two pin header is open it prevents phantom power from being
applied to the channel 1 or channel 2 microphone input connectors, even
if the logic switch in the input screen of the GUI has been set to enable
phantom power. This jumper provides a protection mechanism for those
installations where only dynamic microphones are used, thereby preventing
potential microphone damage if for some reason the phantom power enable
checkboxes in the GUI are checked.

2. In the Channel 1 and Channel 2 views of the GUI’s Input screen is a phan‑
tom power enable checkbox. When selected (and when the above mentioned
jumper is also in place inside the M‑2) phantom power will be provided to
the microphone connected to the selected channel.

M-2 / Oct 2009

page 2 – 10

M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

Filters

The M‑2 is equipped with an effective set of specialized

and “sweepable” audio lters that can be used to condition

the audio signal prior to further processing. The controls

available in the ECI and SSI GUI’s appear as follows.

When the controls have been set for a particular response
the combined effect of the three controls appears as shaded
curves in the lower graphical area. An example is shown

below. Note that Show Filters must be checked to see the
lter response.

Filter Set - Display of Overall Combined Response

The M-2’s lter set is useful for removing low level hums, hiss, and other ob‑
jectionable noises as well as for creating certain special effects.

High Pass Filter

The High Pass Filter in the M-2 is used to remove

undesired, wideband low frequency sounds such as
rumble and other noises from the incoming audio.

Essentially, a high pass lter removes frequencies

below a certain frequency setting without affecting
frequencies above that setting.

The graphic at left demonstrates what happens to the

audio energy that is below the setting of the Frequency

(cutoff) control.

M-2 / Oct 2009

page 2 – 11

M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

Notch Filter

The Notch Filter in the M-2 is used to remove a “nar‑

row” band of frequencies without affecting audio above

and below that frequency.

Essentially, a notch lter is used to remove a single

undesired signal such as a hum, tone, or other fairly nar‑
row signal.

Notch lters are also commonly called Band Reject
lters because the name serves to describe exactly what
the lter does - it rejects a band of frequencies.

Low Pass Filter

The Low Pass Filter in the M-2 is used to remove

undesired, wideband high frequency sounds such as hiss
from the incoming audio.

Essentially, a high pass lter removes frequencies

above a certain frequency setting without affecting fre‑
quencies below that setting.

The graphic on the right demonstrates what happens to

the audio energy that is above the setting of the Frequency

(cutoff) control.

Sweepable Filter Set Example:

Suppose it is desired to make a full bandwidth audio signal sound like it was trans‑
mitted over a telephone. To do this one might set the High Pass Filter to a setting of
about 300 Hz and then set the Low Pass Filter to about 3 kHz. These settings would

remove frequencies below 300 Hz and above 3 kHz, which is a lot like what happens
on a common telephone circuit!

When the ECI or SSI GUI is being used all controls just explained are present in

the Input Calibration screen.

M-2 / Oct 2009

page 2 – 12

M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

DOWNWARD EXPANDER

Downward Expanders operate a lot like a compressor turned upside down. What this

means is that unlike a compressor, whose purpose is
usually to make softer sounds louder and louder sounds
softer, an expander is used to make loud sounds louder
and softer sounds softer. In fact an expander can even
be adjusted so that when the audio signal falls below
a certain threshold level, it is turned down to the point
of being completely off if desired.

The graphic on the right shows how the audio out‑
put signal level increases faster than the input level is
rising once audio level has achieved and exceeded the

Expander threshold.

The Expander controls available to the user depend

on the GUI mode. The two screens below demonstrate
this difference.

M-2 / Oct 2009

ECI Mode Expander Screen

SSI Mode Expander Screen

page 2 – 13

M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

Threshold

Thresh (or Threshold) adjusts the audio level at which expansion begins. Said

another way, as the audio level into the expander is increasing, nothing happens to
the rate of change of the audio level increasing at the output of the expander until the
threshold is reached. Once that happens, the audio level at the output of the expander
will begin to increase at a rate that is faster than the increase at the expander input.

Open

Once the Expander threshold is reached it begins to take action to increase the

audio level towards the normal unity gain (expanders do not add gain!). How fast it

does this once the threshold is achieved is controlled by the control labeled “Open.”

Think of the Open control as telling the expander how fast to go from an audio
reduced mode to an audio level normal mode.

Faster Open times make sure the expander reacts as soon as an audio signal above
threshold is present. Set too fast and it might open the expander on clicks and pops.
Set too slow and it might clip the rst syllable from a spoken word.

Ratio

The expander’s Ratio control adjusts how aggressively it restores the level to

normal. Lower ratios such as 1:1 don’t do anything. Higher ratios such as 1:6 would

be considered aggressive and might make the operation of the expander audible (or
too audible).

Note that the calibration of the ratio control, such as 1:2, is backwards from that

used with compressors. That’s because, as we explained before, the operation of

an expander is like a compressor turned upside down. So rather than a compressor
allowing a 1dB increase of output level for every 4dB of input level increase (4:1)
the expander does the opposite - it allows (for the same settings) a 4dB increase in
output level for every 1dB increase in input level.

Note: The Ratio control is absent from the GUI when it is in its SSI mode!

Wait

Once the audio level falls back below the expander threshold the expander must
take steps to reduce the audio level according to the Ratio setting as explained above.

However, inaudible operation of an expander usually requires that it wait briey
before starting to decrease the audio gain. This is so that the normal “trailing off”

of speech, such as what happens between sentences or between thoughts, isn’t un‑
naturally chopped off. The wait control then tells the expander how long to hold
the gain normal before starting to reduce it.

If the Wait is set too short the expander might chop off the ends of syllables. Set

too long and it might leave the expander open and expose noises between pauses
in speech that are undesired.

Note: The Wait control is absent from the GUI when it is in its SSI mode!

M-2 / Oct 2009

page 2 – 14

M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

Depth

The Expander’s Depth control sets how deeply the gain is reduced when the audio

is below the expander’s threshold. It can be set so that no audible difference is heard
when the expander is above and below threshold all the way to where the audio is
completely turned off when the expander is below threshold.

Depending on the application the control is usually set somewhere between -6dB
and -16dB with 12dB being a very good tradeoff.

If the Depth control is set too aggressively the expander action may become
highly irritating, especially if the speaker is talking in an environment with a high
background noise level.

Close

Once the audio level falls and the expander’s logic decides that it’s time to reduce
the gain, it needs to know how fast you’d like it to do that. The Close control sets that

timing. Faster settings are of course more aggressive and may be audible while slower

settings might leave too much background audio audible for too long.

All of the controls in the expander section are highly subjective as to personal
taste, microphone type, the characteristics of the human speaker, and of course the
acoustical environment.

M-2 / Oct 2009

page 2 – 15

M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

DE-ESSER

One of the most important and useful tools in a voice processor is an algorithm to

manage the “esses” in voice, especially when they are excessive. Essentially a de-esser

operates like a dynamic equalizer that automatically restricts the output level within a
chosen frequency range depending on the signal level.

The basic idea is to dynamically reduce the sometimes too‑prominent and objection‑

able sibilant “hissy” noises in speech, particularly when poorly recorded or due to poor
microphone technique. There are ve operating controls involved in the operation of the
de-esser when the GUI is in its ECI mode; three controls are present in the SSI mode.

ECI Mode De-Esser Screen

SSI Mode De-Esser Screen

The only difference between the ECI and SSI modes is the De-esser Frequency and
Bandwidth controls which are present on the ECI mode screen and absent on the SSI.
The SSI mode’s Frequency and Bandwidth values rely on settings recalled from our
Factory presets - settings that were empirically determined through thousands of hours

of collective tuning listening by audio experts.

M-2 / Oct 2009

page 2 – 16

M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

Threshold

Threshold is the signal level within the de‑esser’s selected bandwidth (as set by the

FREQ control) at which the de-esser constrains the output level within the de-esser’s

bandwidth. In other words, a signal within the de‑esser’s frequency band will not be
allowed to exceed this threshold level. The threshold is adjustable over the range of

-60dB to -10dB, and controls the amplitude where the de-esser begins to take effect.

Frequency

Adjusts the frequency where the de‑esser is most sensitive. With few exceptions,
most human speech sibilant artifacts fall between 4kHz and 6kHz, although we’ve al‑
lowed the control to be adjustable over the entire 20Hz to 20kHz audio bandwidth so
that it may also be used for special effects.

The GUI Frequency control is reected in the Dynamic Display screen as shown
below at the default frequency of 5kHz:

Amount of

De-Essing

Bandwidth of

De-Essing

De-Esser Frequency Display

Attack

Attack, or “attack time,” is the control that determines how fast the de-esser reduces
the gain during the chasing of a sibilant sound in voice. Faster attack times, at least in

many applications, are usually less audible than slower ones, which may under certain

circumstances “punch holes” in the audio - an obvious reduction in output level for a

time longer than was necessary to actually process the event that was being controlled.

Bandwidth

The Bandwidth control adjusts how much of the high frequency spectrum either side
of the “Frequency” setting is affected when the de-esser is in operation. Smaller octave

settings have less effect on adjoining spectrum and larger octave settings affect more.

The nal bandwidth setting is subjective - smaller octave settings are less audible than
larger ones. The nal setting must be arrived at through a short period of experimentation.

M-2 / Oct 2009

page 2 – 17

M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

Release

Release, or “release time,” is the control that determines how fast the de-esser
returns the gain to normal after chasing a sibilant sound in voice. Faster release times
are usually less audible than slower ones, and the nal setting is subjective and must

be arrived at through a short period of experimentation.

Enable

When the Enable checkbox in the upper right corner of the

De-Esser screen has a yellow checkmark, the de-esser is in the

signal path. Use this checkbox to toggle the de‑esser in and out

of the signal ow.

M-2 / Oct 2009

page 2 – 18

M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

COMPRESSOR

The compressor section in the M‑2 is a descendant of the multiband compressors de‑
signed for the high‑end Wheatstone processors, and is able to operate in a wideband, two,
or three band architecture. The graphics below show the compressor screens available

when the M-2 is in either its ECI or SSI modes.

ECI Mode Multiband Compressor Screen

SSI Mode Multiband Compressor Screen

The compressors are “envelope dynamics modiers” that compress the dynamic range

of voice signals, making soft sounds louder and loud sounds softer. With proper adjust‑
ment a compressor can create a consistent output level from a talent’s voice and can do

it subtly - or - it can do it with a lot of “energy” if that is the sound desired. Basically the

compressors allow the overall volume or spectral balance (or both) of the sound to be tai‑
lored exactly to taste when the input level varies as the talent speaks.

The M-2 compressors are special feed forward architectures utilizing Vorsis-designed
program-related dynamics control algorithms. There are only ve main operating controls
for each band (one control each in the SSI mode), plus an Enable switch and the Drive and
Crossover (X-Over) Frequency controls, making compressor operation easy and intuitive.

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The MULTIBAND COMPRESSOR screen of the GUI contains the following
controls:

Drive

The Drive control adjusts how aggressively the compressors will work on the
audio fed to the multiband compressor section. Higher Drive settings increase the
amount of processing while lower settings reduce it.

Low X-Over and High X-Over

These are the controls that set what frequencies will be processed by each of the
M‑2’s three bands.

The way the crossover adjustments work is this:

Frequencies below the Low X-Over setting are processed

by the “low” band, frequencies above the High X-Over are

processed by the high band, and frequencies not processed by

either the Low or High bands are processed by the Mid band.

We’ve made the X‑Over adjustments adjustable over a

very wide range - so much so that the Low Band can be set

as low as 20Hz and the high band as high as 20kHz.

Below is an example of using three-band compression

to make the low vocal frequencies below 250Hz be sepa‑
rated from the midrange energy while also allowing vocal
frequencies above 4kHz to have their energy raised. This
setting would create a warm sounding low end and an airy

high end, especially for male vocals. Female vocals on the

other hand would benet most by moving the Low crossover up to about 400Hz and

lowering the High crossover down to about 2kHz.

Three Band Compression

250Hz and 4kHz Crossover Frequencies

Here are some examples of how this exibility might be used to create a Wide‑
band, Two-Band, and Three-Band Compressor section.

Wideband

Suppose the Low Crossover and the High Crossover has been set to 20Hz and

20kHz respectively. Adjusted this way the M‑2’s compressor becomes a wideband
compressor because all of the audio energy higher than 20Hz and lower than 20kHz

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M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

(all meaningful audio energy within the “human audible” spectrum) is contained

within and processed by the M‑2’s Mid band compressor!

Two-Band

Suppose now the Low Crossover is set to 200Hz and the High crossover remains
set at 20kHz. Now the M-2’s compressor is a two band compressor with a crossover
at 200Hz! The Low band now handles audio energy up to 200Hz and the Mid band

is handling the remainder of the energy between 200Hz to 20kHz.

Three-Band

Now let’s set the Low Crossover to 200Hz and the High Crossover to 1.5kHz. With

these adjustments the M‑2’s compressor is now a full three bands with crossovers

at 200Hz and 1.5kHz! The Low band is handling energy up to 200Hz, the Mid band
from 200Hz to 1.5kHz and the High band from 1.5kHz upward. No other microphone
processor has such exibility!

Why is so much exibility needed in a microphone processor? Simply because

sometimes a little more processing power in the form of automatic equalization is
required. Or, perhaps a special effect is required that simply cannot be achieved

with broadband compression. Static equalization can’t fulll this need either, but

multiband compression can!

Threshold

This is the compressor’s Threshold control which determines at what level the

compressors begin to affect the output signal. Said another way, until the input level

has increased enough to reach the compressor’s threshold setting the output remains
unchanged. Once the threshold is reached the output level is reduced as the input
continues to rise; how much this occurs is a function of the Ratio (discussed later).

Attack

This control determines how quickly the compressor responds to a signal once it
has exceeded the Threshold. The control is adjustable between 0.2 milliseconds and

1 second and is typically adjusted to personal preference. Faster attack times catch
signal peaks more quickly but may make the sound “mushy” by removing transient

detail.

Operation at faster attack times, such as below approximately 10 milliseconds,
causes the compressor to operate more like a peak limiter than an average respond‑
ing compressor. Conversely, slower attack times allow more peaks to escape un‑
controlled, which makes the sound more relaxed. The caveat is that slower attack
times can allow peaks to escape that have the potential to cause headroom problems
further downstream.

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Release

The Release time deter‑
mines how fast the compressor
returns the gain back to normal
after pushing it down while
chasing an audio peak. Refer
to the image on the right to see
how the gain behaves during
the release time phase.

Faster release times in‑
crease the average audio en‑
ergy but can make the resulting

sound “busy” if too fast. Slower

release times make the sound
more natural and relaxed, but
lower the average sound level. Release times in the M‑2’s compressors are adjustable
between 33.0 milliseconds and 1 second.

Compressor Release Time Operating Hint

While the compressor’s Attack time and Ratio are typically adjusted to provide
moderate peak level protection for equipment following the M‑2, the setting of the
Release time control is largely an artistic decision. Please allow us to offer three of the
most common caveats of operating a compressor with extremely fast release times.

• Very fast release times can increase the amount of intermodulation distortion, or
IM. This is because when the compressor release time is set fast enough to “fol‑
low” every cycle of a low frequency signal, the lower amplitude, higher frequency
signals “go along for the ride.” This results in modulation of the high frequencies
by the low frequencies, or what’s known as “intermodulation.”*

• Very fast releases times can exaggerate reverb, whether articially created by
electronic or electromechanical means, or due to the natural early sound reec‑

tions from the hard surfaces of the room where the microphone and voice talent
are located.

• Very fast release times can accentuate the speaker’s breath sounds or other un‑
wanted background sounds that would (should!) otherwise be inaudible.

* The sound of intermodulation distortion ranges from a subtle “thickening” of the

sound, to downright muddy or even “gurgling” at the extreme.

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Ratio

The compression Ratio setting controls the steepness of gain reduction once the

audio level has increased enough to reach the Threshold. A ratio of 1 (or 1:1) results in

no compression at all, and at the other

extreme a ratio of 20 (or 20:1) makes

it operate more like a limiter. The ac‑
companying graphic illustrates this.

In the latter case, once the thresh‑

old is achieved the output level of the

compressor will only increase 1dB
when the input level increases 20dB.

The ratio control, while adjusted to
taste, will typically be set somewhere

between 2:1 and 6:1 for most voices.
Special effects may be achieved using

radically different settings.

Lows, Mids, and Highs Trim

After the microphone audio has been processed by the multiband compressor it
is necessary to mix the bands back together again in the proper proportions ‑ this is
what the Trim controls do.

At the output of each compressor band is an adjustable level control that allows
the user to tailor how the bands are mixed back together after compression has been
applied. When the Trim controls are set to the same settings the mix from all three
bands is equal. This will allow a at overall frequency response if the Threshold con‑
trols for all three bands are also set at the same settings. The Trim controls can also

apply EQ effects.

Output

After the three band outputs have been mixed back together using the Trim controls
the Output control sets the overall output level of the compressor section.

Swap

At the top of the Compressor and Parametric EQ control screens is a button labeled
“SWAP.” See the discussion of this button in the PARAMETRIC EQUALIZER sec‑

tion of the manual (page 2‑25).

Enable

When the Enable checkbox in the upper right corner of the

MULTIBAND COMPRESSOR section has a yellow checkmark,

the compressor is in the audio path. When this checkbox is not

checked, the compressor is not in the signal path. The Enable

checkbox toggles this function.

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PARAMETRIC EQUALIZER

The adjustment screens for the parametric equalizer as seen in the ECI and SSI

control modes are shown below.

ECI Mode Parametric EQ Screen

SSI Mode Parametric EQ Screen

The graphic on the
right shows how equal‑
izer settings are depicted
in the Dynamic Display
region of the GUI. The
shaded areas show the
response of each equal‑
izer section as well as
the overall combined
response when more
than one equalizer sec‑
tion overlaps.

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Swap

At the top of the Compressor and Parametric EQ control screens is a button labeled
“SWAP.”

This button’s purpose is to allow the user
to interchange the Compressor and Equal‑
izer sections. In one mode the compressor
is prior to the equalizer and in the other the
compressor is after it. Which position of the

Swap mode is used depends on the sound

that the user is trying to achieve.

Placing equalization prior to compression

“preloads” the compressor with whatever equalization curve has been set by the equal‑
izer’s controls. For instance, if boost were applied in the equalizer at a certain range of

frequencies then the compressor will work harder on that band of frequencies.

Likewise, if the equalization is placed after the compressor then whatever curve the

equalizer is set for will be added to whatever frequency response slope is being created
in the compressor by the settings of its Threshold, Ratio and Trim controls.

Each setting of the SWAP control creates a different sound and the user is encour‑
aged to experiment with its setting to see what effect it can create based on the equalizer
and compressor settings being used.

Enable EQ

When this checkbox has a yellow checkmark the equal‑
izer section is switched in. When it is not checked the
equalizer section is not in the signal path. The checkbox
has a toggle action behavior ‑ checking it changes the

state of the EQ IN function.

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FINAL LIMITER / OUTPUT LEVELS

The output screen contains the controls for the nal limiter stage and the nal out‑
put level control. It also contains the nal limiter’s “Limiter Enable” checkbox that
controls whether or not any limiting work is being accomplished by the nal limiter.
It is not necessary to utilize the nal limiter unless specic limitations are to be placed

on the maximum peak amplitude at the M‑2’s outputs.

Final Limiter/Output Levels Screen

The descriptions for the nal limiter’s controls are as follows, remembering that
each channel of the M-2 has its own nal limiter settings! Access to each signal chain

is by using the Channel 1 and Channel 2 tabs.

Threshold

This control determines at what level the limiter begins to affect the peak output
signal. Said another way, until the input level has increased enough to reach the lim‑
iter’s threshold the output is unchanged. Once the threshold is reached the output level
is constrained to the setting of the Threshold control ‑ no further output level increase
is permitted.

Attack

This control determines how quickly the limiter responds to an audio peak once it
has exceeded the Threshold. The control is adjustable between 0.2 milliseconds and

100 milliseconds and is adjusted to personal preference. Faster attack times catch sig‑
nal peaks more quickly but may make the sound “mushy” and lacking transient detail.

Operation at attack times below approximately 10 milliseconds is usually desired
when there is a need to tightly constrain the peak output level. Conversely, slower at‑
tack times allow more peaks to escape uncontrolled, making the sound more relaxed.
The caveat is that slower attack times can allow peaks to escape that have the potential
to cause problems further downstream.

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Release

Release determines how fast the limiter returns the gain back to normal after pushing

it down after chasing an audio peak. Faster release times increase the average audio
energy but might sound “busy” if too fast. Slower release times make the sound more

natural and relaxed, but lower the average sound level.

Output Level

This control adjusts the maximum output level of the selected M‑2 processing
channel. A separate level control is available for each processing channel by using
the Channel 1 and Channel 2 tabs.

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SYSTEM

The M-2’s System screen contains a check box labeled “Input and Output Level Cali‑
brations Are Recalled with Preset Takes” - this is an important concept to understand!

System Screen

M-2 presets ALWAYS store ALL of the settings being used, even the input and out‑
put level calibrations present at the time the preset was saved. By un-checking this box

input and output settings stored within a preset will be ignored when presets are recalled.

On the other hand, if this box is checked, then presets will recall all of the settings
and therefore will (likely) change the input and output level calibrations to whatever
was present when the preset being recalled was last saved.

NOTE: It is unlikely that our Factory presets will have the perfect input and output
settings for your application. Therefore if you like a particular factory preset and wish
to use it often then you should resave it under a new name after the input and output

level settings have been nalized for your application. This will ensure that even if the

checkbox is inadvertently selected the input and output levels won’t surprise you when
your preset is recalled.

Passwords

Functional only when the GUI is online with

the M‑2, this button is used to access the Passwords
security menu for the setting of passwords to restrict
the level of user access to certain functions and

controls of the M-2. Clicking “Passwords” brings
up the Login Password dialog box. To change the

password you must enter the old password, then
enter the new password, and then enter the new
password a second time to verify. If you don’t want
the M‑2 to be password protected, leave both the

New Password and Verify Password boxes blank.
Check the “Remember This Password” box only if

are sure no unauthorized person will use your computer.

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Sample Rate

The M-2’s AES3 digital outputs can be congured to operate

at either 44.1kHz or 48kHz sample rates and the controls used for

conguring the M-2’s digital outputs are found in the System screen.

These controls adjust the sample rates for both the Channel 1 and
Channel 2 ‑ the rates cannot be set independently.

GUI Mode

As we have mentioned previously there are three

“user levels” available for the M-2 that the end user
can choose from:

• ECI, or Expert Control Interface;

• SSI, or Standard Simplied Interface;

• TCI, or Talent Control Interface.

The ECI provides all controls - nothing is hidden.
The SSI interface provides basic controls more easily

understood by less advanced users. The TCI provides
an interface for air talent so they can change presets
but not make any processing adjustments.

Please see Application Note AN2009-02 (on the Wheatstone Processing web
site under “Resources” tab) for how the security properties of the M-1 and M-2

product’s TCI Interface can be tightly restricted in order to prevent certain kinds of
changes by curious air talent.

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Side Bar Region

To the right of the control area is a vertical row of four buttons. We
will begin by discussing presets and their management, which involves

three of the buttons. We’ll defer a deeper discussion of the “Devices”

button to the very end of this manual section, after presets have been
thoroughly covered.

Managing Presets

Let’s begin with a simple denition:

A preset is a snapshot of all the settings of the M‑2. It is desirable
in many situations to have a library, or collection, of presets so that we
can accommodate different audio processing needs at different times. As
your library of presets grows, preset management (i.e., having presets

arranged so that you can nd the one you need as quickly as possible)

is a major concern.

Several tools are implemented within the M-2 GUI to make your

preset managing life easier. We will navigate the discussion of the sidebar buttons,
dialog boxes, and preset management philosophy in a way that will, hopefully, help
you to get the most out of your M‑2 presets.

The M-2 comes with a variety of Factory Presets which are very good starting points

for a wide variety of applications. They are quite useful for demonstrating the extreme

exibility of the M-2 Digital Multiband Dual Voice Processor’s features. There is one
thing can’t be said often enough: If you dial up some settings that you like, SAVE the

settings as a preset before you ever load in another preset or twiddle more dials!!

A Note About Recalling Presets for Each M-2 Channel

The M-2 can store up to 80 presets in its onboard ash memory. The storing of

presets is not limited to doing so on a per‑channel basis. In other words, presets

are “channel agnostic” and can be recalled to either channel of the M-2 simply

by selecting a preset while the GUI view properties are set to either Channel 1

or Channel 2. To select the same preset for both channels, simply select the same

preset twice ‑ once while in Channel 1 view mode and then once again while in

the Channel 2 view mode.

Preset Button

The most basic operation you can do with a preset is to load it
so that the M‑2 will operate according to the settings of that preset.

Left-click the “Preset” button to start and the “Take Preset” box

appears showing the folders that the GUI knows to contain presets.

Opening and browsing a folder displays the presets and/or sub-

folders, sorted by name.

Double‑clicking on a preset brings it immediately into use on
the M‑2.

For your convenience the “Take Preset” box stays open until

it is deliberately closed, allowing different presets to be selected
in quick succession. This is a very direct and convenient means of
quickly comparing the sound of various presets. To close the form,
click the “X” in the upper right corner of the form.

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M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

IMPORTANT! Always remember to save your present settings as a preset name
before invoking other presets from the list or your settings will be lost… forever!

There is another level of preset management that we will discuss in more detail later,
and that is the preset package. A preset package is simply a collection of presets (or even
one preset!). When the GUI is used to create, or build, a package, what happens is that

the data from a number of individual preset les are combined into a single compressed
le having an extension of .pkg. This allows you to transfer a group of presets from one
M-2 to another as a single le, rather than as a set of les.

Library Button

The brunt of the preset man‑
agement tasks are performed from

the Preset Library form that comes
up when you press the “Library”
button in the Side Bar. The form

shows preset folders in the upper

pane and individual preset les in

the lower pane.

A menu has various items
depending on what you have
highlighted in the upper or lower

pane. From this dialog box you

can take, save, rename, move, or
delete presets, and you can also
export and import preset pack‑
ages. When you are done with this
form, click the “X” in the upper

right corner to close it. You will

need to close this form before you
can adjust any GUI controls.

It is important to remember
that the dialog window is split
logically down the middle ‑ the
left side shows what is on the actual M‑2 hardware while the right side shows what is
available on the local PC hosting the GUI.

The following menus and sub‑menus appear when the dialog box is used as described.

File Menu

The File menu contents depend on whether you have a folder or preset highlighted.
The following choices are possible if a folder is highlighted:

Save - This selection brings up the “Save as Preset
in Favorites” dialog box, allowing you to save a new
preset within the folder you have highlighted. Enter the

name for the new preset, then click the OK button. Click
Cancel if you change your mind before you’re done.

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M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

New Folder... - This selection brings up the “New
Folder” dialog box, allowing you to create a new sub­folder within the folder you have highlighted. Enter the

name for the new folder and then click the OK button.
Click Cancel if you change your mind before you’re
done.

Install Preset Package... - This selection brings up the “Install Preset Package”
dialog, which is a standard Windows Open dialog box. The dialog looks for les of
type “Preset Packages (*.pkg)” and starts its search within the M-2 install directory.

A package thus imported appears in the Presets dialog box as a new package folder under

favorites, having the same name as the .pkg le but without the extension.

The package folder appears as a folder but has a light red coloring within the icon
to distinguish it from a standard folder icon. It is possible, but not necessarily recom‑
mended, to install the same package twice (or a second package with the same name

as the rst). The second import will have the same name as the rst with the addition
of the text “(2).”

Build Preset Package... - This selection brings up the “Build Preset Package” dia‑
log, a standard Windows Save dialog box, allowing you to save all of the presets in the
highlighted folder, as well as any sub-folders and their enclosed presets, as a le of type
“Preset Packages (*.pkg).” The default le name, which you can change, is the name

of the highlighted folder with the extension .pkg added to it, and the default location to

save the le to, which you can also change, is the M-2’s install directory.

The following choices are possible if a preset is highlighted:

Save - Brings up the previously discussed “Save as Preset in Favorites” dialog box.

Take - This selection takes the preset, just like double-clicking a le name in the

“Take Preset” window.

Edit Menu

The Edit menu contents also depend on whether you have a folder or preset high‑
lighted. The following choices are possible if a folder is highlighted:

Paste ‑ This selection pastes the clipboard contents (one or more presets) into the
highlighted folder.

Remember! There is no overwrite warning! If the target folder already contains a
preset of the same name as one being copied, the one from the clipboard will overwrite
the one currently in the target folder.

Delete - This selection deletes the highlighted folder after rst asking if you are

sure this is what you want to do. This menu item is grayed out if you have the top level

Favorites folder highlighted; you can’t delete this folder.

Rename... - This selection brings up the “Rename

Favorite Folder” dialog box, allowing you to rename
the folder. Enter the new name for the folder, then click

the OK button. Click Cancel if you change your mind
before you’re done. This menu item is grayed out if the
highlighted folder is really a preset package. It is also
grayed out if you have the top level Favorites folder
highlighted; you can’t rename this folder.

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M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

The following choices are possible if a preset is highlighted (please note that use
of the Shift or Ctrl keys allows you to select multiple preset les for the following

operations):

Copy ‑ This selection copies the highlighted preset(s) to the clipboard.

Paste ‑ This selection pastes the preset(s) in the clipboard to the same folder as the

highlighted preset le is in.

Remember! There is no overwrite warning! If the target folder already contains
a preset of the same name as one being copied, the one from the clipboard will
overwrite the one currently in the target folder.

Delete - This selection deletes the highlighted preset(s) after rst asking if you are

sure this is what you want to do. There is no Undo function for preset deletes.

Rename... - This selection brings up the “Rename
Favorite File” dialog box, allowing you to rename the
preset le. Enter the new name for the folder, then click the

OK button. Click Cancel if you change your mind before

you’re done. If you have multiple preset les selected,
the “Rename Favorite File” dialog box appears multiple
times in sequence, allowing you to rename each le you
have selected. If you try to rename a le to the same name as
an already existing le you get an error message as shown.

Sort Up ‑ Moves the highlighted preset(s) up in the list.

Sort Down ‑ Moves the highlighted preset(s) down in

the list.

View Menu

The View menu is only available when you have a preset le highlighted. The fol‑
lowing choices are possible:

Settings... - This selection brings up the “Preset View” form (shown on the next

page), which displays a list of all the settings and their values for that particular preset

in two re-sizable columns:

Setting presents the name of the control, such as “Input Mic Gain,” while Value
indicates the value that control is set to in the preset, such as “-4.0 dB.” Click the “X”

in the upper right corner of the form to close it.

If you have multiple preset les selected the “Preset View” form appears multiple

times in succession, allowing you to view the settings of each preset in turn. Upon
clicking the “X” to close the form for one preset the form reappears for the next preset,
and so on until all presets have been viewed.

Diff... - This selection brings up the “Preset Difference” form (shown on the next
page), which displays three re-sizable columns:

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Setting… ‑ The names of all the controls available in the M‑2’s dual processing
chains.

Ch (for Channel)… ‑ Indicates which processing channel a particular control has
a value set for.

Current… ‑ Displays the current setting of the named control.

Favorite… ‑ Presents the value that the control was set in the M‑2 hardware before

the control was changed to the new setting reected in Current (above).

A “Print” button at the bottom of the form allows you to produce a printout of the
differences as displayed.

On a color printer any line
that has a difference between
what is stored in the preset that
was last loaded and the current
control settings will show up in
red.

There is an “X” in the upper

right corner of the form which can be used to close the dialog. If you have multiple

preset les selected the “Preset Difference” form appears multiple times in succession,

allowing you to view the difference information for each preset in turn. Upon clicking
the “X” to close the form for one preset, the form reappears for the next preset, and
so on until differences have been viewed for all presets.

Print.. ‑ This selection brings up a standard Windows Print dialog box, allowing

you to print the settings for the selected preset to any Windows-dened printer.

Devices Button

The devices button allows access to the communica‑

tion conguration settings for the M-2. By clicking the
“Add…” button, new M-2 devices can be congured

for communication with the GUI. The

following “Edit Device” dialog will
appear:

Under “Device Info” you can enter

the pet name of the M‑2 processor that
you are conguring. Then, in the IP Ad‑
dress box, enter the IP address that the
M‑2 should be using on your particular
network. After this is done you may

click “OK” on the Edit Device box.

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M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

Then, in the Devices Dialog box highlight
(single left click) the M‑2 device that you just
added (shown highlighted in the image on the

left) and click on “Select.”

This step tells the GUI specically which

M‑2 you want to connect to.

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M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

Title Bar Region

Along the top edge of the M-2 GUI screen (in line with the “M2 Dual Voice
Processor” product label to the left, and the Windows About, Minimize, and Exit
icons to the right) are “Status” and “Devices” indicators. The M-2 GUI is capable
of controlling multiple M-2 units (“Devices”). Whether a connection is made (“Sta‑
tus”) or not, the device presently under command is indicated in the “Devices” box.
Double-clicking the “Devices” button on the left will gain access to device manage‑

ment screens.

Status

This indicates: “Online,” meaning the GUI is in communication with and directly
reects an M-2; “Ofine,” meaning the GUI and M-2 are disconnected and not
communicating; or “Trying,” meaning the GUI is attempting to nd the M-2 on the
LAN and connect to it. An adjacent button toggles between “Online” and “Ofine.”

Devices

The name assigned to the M‑2 to which the

GUI is either currently congured to connect to

or is currently connected to (or with which it is
attempting to connect) shows in this window.

Double‑clicking on the name area brings up

the “Devices” dialog box. A list of M-2 devices
that have been congured by the GUI are shown

here. Highlighting the desired M‑2’s name and

then hitting the “Select” button tells the GUI

which M‑2 it is to connect.

In the event no M‑2’s are listed or one is

adding an additional device, “Add” brings up a

small dialog box which asks for the new M‑2’s
unit name and assigned IP address.

Network Notes

• The M-2 utilizes static TCP/IP addressing and does not use DHCP (Dynamic
Host Conguration Protocol); therefore it must be assigned its own IP address.
Please consult your local network administrator if the M-2 network congura‑

tion poses any unusual challenges.

• The M-2 utilizes both TCP and UDP protocols while communicating with the

remote GUI. Therefore the interconnecting network and its hardware (routers,

switches, etc.) must be able to pass Ethernet packet trafc to/from the M-2 on
TCP port 55898 and UDP ports 60000 through 60010.

M-2 / Oct 2009

page 2 – 37

M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

Accessing Menu Options

Right clicking anywhere on the controls area of the main M‑2 GUI will open a pop up
menu tree with access to File, Hardware, and Presets choices. These choices lead to sub‑
menus and dialog boxes that may also be accessed by clicking on other dedicated buttons
on the main M‑2 control panel. As with many Windows programs, there are multiple ways
to access menu trees ‑ go ahead and explore!

File Menu Items

The File menu tree may be accessed by right clicking anywhere on the controls area of

the main M-2 GUI. Sub-menu choices include:

About... ‑ brings up the GUI program’s About splash screen. Click anywhere on the
splash screen to dismiss this screen.

Center Window ‑ centers the GUI window on your display.

Select GUI Mode... - brings up the “Select GUI Mode” form discussed earlier.

Exit ‑ closes the GUI program. Any connected device will continue to operate.

Hardware Menu Items

The Hardware menu tree may be accessed by right clicking anywhere on the controls
area of the main M‑2 GUI. Please note that many of these functions require you to be con‑

nected (Online) to an M-2. Sub-menu choices include:

Devices... - opens the “Devices” dialog box. Allows the creation, editing, selection, and

deleting of M‑2 processors connected to your system.

On-Line Mode... - toggles between ONLINE and OFFLINE modes.

Login Password... ‑ opens the Passwords dialog box for editing login passwords.

Version... ‑ displays the current software versions running on your M‑2.

Update - opens the “Choose a le to download” dialog box. Only les of type *.vbn are

visible. See the later section on software updates.

Assign IP Address... ‑ opens a dialog box that allows the user to change the IP address
parameters of the M‑2. Please see the Read Me! at the beginning of this manual for com‑

plete details on changing the M-2’s network conguration settings to match those of your

local area network.

M-2 / Oct 2009

page 2 – 38

M-2 OPERATING GUIDE

Software Updates

At Wheatstone we are always improving our products and future versions of the M‑2’s
internal software may be released to implement new features or correct known problems.

The Software Update menu choice opens a dialog box and prompts the user to select
a le to be uploaded to the M-2. Upon completion, you will be asked to restart the M-2
(cycle power). Note that due to the M-2 specic content of the update le and its heavy
encryption only veried updates provided by our factory will be accepted by the M-2

during an update process!

M-2 / Oct 2009

page 2 – 39

APPENDIX

Appendix

Contents

Parameters, Units and Ranges .....................................................A-2

M-2 / Oct 2009

page A – 1

APPENDIX

Parameters, Units and Ranges.

Approximately following the M-2’s signal path, these are the values and ranges
appropriate to each processing channel.

System Level

Headroom: 20dB

Nominal Operating Level: -20dBFS

LED Input/Output Level Meter

Input

Type: Very Low Noise Electronic Differential

Input Impedance: > 2kohms at 1kHz

Optimum Source Impedance: 200 ohms

Phantom Power

Maximum Gain: 70dB

Minimum Gain: -10dB

Gain Adjust Increments: 1dB

Equivalent Input Noise: º-128dBu

Frequency Response: + / - 0.2dB

THD+N: <0.03%20Hz - 20kHz@-50dBu input

SMPTE DIM: 0.00007%

Filters

a. High-Pass Filter

Filter Class: 24dB/oct. Butterworth

Frequency: 20Hz – 1kHz

Defaults: Off

b. Low-Pass Filter

Filter Class: 24dB/oct. Butterworth

Frequency: 1kHz – 20kHz

Defaults: Off

c. Notch Filter

Filter Class: 24dB/oct. Butterworth

Frequency: 20Hz – 20kHz

Defaults: Off

M-2 / Oct 2009

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APPENDIX

Equalization

Four identical, independent bands of parametric equalization:

Frequency: 20Hz – 20kHz

Bandwidth: 0.2 – 3 octaves

Lift / Cut: + / - 14dB

Defaults: All off

Phase Scrambler

Filter Class: 4th order all pass

Phase Delay: 0 to 720 degrees, frequency dependent

De-Esser

Type: Recursive-style true (not broadband) De-Esser

Threshold: -10 to -60dBfs

Release: 50mS – 500mS

De-Ess Frequency: 20Hz – 20kHz

Defaults: Off

Expander

Type: Downward Expander

Threshold: -60 – 0dBfs

Close: 50mS – 3Sec.

Depth: 0 – 40dB

Defaults: Off

Compressor

Threshold: -70 to -30dBfs

Attack: 0.2mS – 1S

Release: 33mS - 1Sec.

Ratio (soft-knee): 1:1 – 1:20

Control

All parameters accessible via an intuitive MS Windows® compatible graphical user
interface via Ethernet interface. Three levels of user access are available: Expert, Simpli-

ed, and Talent.

M-2 / Oct 2009

page A – 3

APPENDIX

Please contact Wheatstone technical support for assistance or futher information
regarding the M-2 product.

Wheatstone Corporation

600 Industrial Drive

New Bern, North Carolina, USA 28562

252-638-7000, fax [phone]

“[email protected]”

M-2 / Oct 2009

page A – 4