Midas PRO X Quick Start Manual page 6

10 PRO X
Overview
Introduction
Welcome to the PRO X Live Audio System. The PRO X is a user-friendly, state-of-
the-art, high performance digital console specifi cally designed for live use.
The control centre, which forms an integral part of its Live Audio System,
was conceived by MIDAS to off er audio professionals high-performance audio
equipment, designed to provide no-compromise sonic quality with a feature
set that off ers all essential facilities and functions. It represents the very best
of British design and engineering combined with contemporary, effi cient
manufacturing methods, and will give you many years of reliable service.
So, to obtain the best results with a minimum of eff ort, please read this
Quick Start Guide and, fi nally, enjoy your MIDAS PRO X Live Audio System!
About This Guide
This is the Quick Start Guide for the PRO X Live Audio System. Its purpose is to
quickly familiarise the user with the control centre, show how to set up the
system and then show how to carry out some basic operations on the control
centre in order to produce some audio. This guide is structured such that it may
also provide a useful introductory guide for training purposes.
This document is aimed at professionals, such as front of house (FOH)
and monitor (MON) engineers, who will be using this equipment in a live
performance environment. It is assumed that the reader has prior experience of
using professional audio equipment and has, most likely, undergone training on
this system.
This guide has been designed specifi cally so that mix engineers and
system technicians can go straight to the areas applicable to them, that is,
Operation and Connecting And Setting Up The System. The rest of the
guide is intended for general readership.
For full details of the PRO X Live Audio System, refer to the PRO X Live
Audio System Owner's Manual, which can be found on our website at
midasconsoles.com.
NOTE: The content of this guide does not supersede any information
supplied with any other item of this PRO Series Live Audio System.
PRO X Host Software Version
Our team of software engineers is constantly working to ensure that you get the
most from the PRO X Live Audio System host software, so please ensure that you
have the latest version installed on your PRO X by visiting the downloads page on
midasconsoles.com
Warranty & Registration
MIDAS has total confi dence in the quality and reliability of this product. To back
this up, this product comes with the standard MIDAS three year warranty.
Please take the time to register your product by completing and returning the
registration card or by registering on our website at midasconsoles.com.
Service & Support
The PRO Series Live Audio Systems are very hi-tech pieces of equipment.
We provide superb levels of support and service to give users confi dence in
MIDAS digital products.
The PRO X Live Audio System
Introducing The PRO X
With their exemplary audio performance and road-proven rugged and reliable
construction, the MIDAS PRO Series has become the gold standard in concert
touring and installed live sound. Employing technologies developed from the
class-leading and visionary fl agship MIDAS XL8 console, and off ering the same
outstanding sample-synchronised and phase-coherent audio performance,
interpolated control functions and intuitive navigation, the PRO3, PRO6 and
PRO9 Live Audio Systems have become the industry's go-to choice for live sound
reinforcement consoles.
Now the PRO Series family moves up a gear with the PRO X Live Audio System
and the industry-changing NEUTRON Audio System Engine. Featuring 168
simultaneous input channels and 99 time-aligned and phase-coherent buses
with no trade-off s in channel or bus counts.
True and consistent 96 kHz sampling frequency and 40 bit fl oating point
processing provide exemplary quality audio processing, and the oversampled
and interpolated digital signal processing algorithms, combined with the
fully interpolated and touch sensitive user controls, result in the smooth
continuous response and immediacy of working on an analogue console.
Parameter adjustment becomes fast and easy, the continuous phase shift of a
swept frequency control is heard without the quantisation eff ects of the discrete
steps found in other digital consoles.
The PRO X features the rugged and road-proven KLARK TEKNIK HyperMAC and
SuperMAC (AES50-compliant) networking technologies with their ultra-low and
deterministic latencies and robust error correction.
Its powerful audio networking off ers up to 288 inputs and 294 outputs at the
96 kHz sample frequency. For enhanced reliability, both the PRO X Live Audio
System and the NEUTRON Audio System Engine feature a HyperMAC router
with 192 bidirectional channels over dual-redundant copper or optical fi bre
snake connections.
The PRO X Live Audio System features dual 15" full colour daylight-viewable
TFT displays for use in all environments, both inside and outdoors.
The 10 VCA (variable control association) and eight POPulation groups,
combined with the advanced navigation off ered by the output-centric centre
section, allows the simultaneous display of 24 mono or stereo mix buses.
All of this provides an unparalleled mix experience.
Overview
The PRO X is a very powerful and fl exible audio processing system that provides
a complete solution for any audio mixing and signal distribution application in a
live sound environment. Operation of the control surface is intuitive, unique and
easy. Its layout is based on familiar analogue lines to retain that 'analogue' feel.
To manage the numerous channels, the control centre utilises VCA/POP groups
and colours, and additionally there are various navigational controls that aid
quick channel/bus access and selection. A daylight-viewable GUI at the top of the
control surface assists operation and provides extra functionality.
The live audio system is tolerant of many types of hardware or software failure.
To achieve this the system employs dual redundancy, where a key component has
an identical redundant spare that is ready to take over should it fail. Other failure
scenarios are managed by the N+1 principle, where redundant components form
an acceptable fraction of the system.
The KLARK TEKNIK DN9696 Recorder can be used with the live audio system for
live multi-track recording and 'virtual' sound check.
Applications
The PRO Series are the work horse mid- to high-end MIDAS Digital Console
Systems, akin to the industry standard Heritage 3000. Although the PRO Series
are designed for the traditional touring live sound environment, they are
also ideal for medium-sized theatres, small houses of worship installations,
and broadcast. So, being a truly multi-functional console in the MIDAS tradition,
the PRO Series are suitable for many applications, such as:
• • Live sound touring MON or FOH duties
• • Live sound small theatre MON or FOH duties
• • Live sound house of worship MON or FOH duties
• • Live sound broadcast mixer with basic 5.1 surround capabilities
and monitoring.
PRO X - The Next Generation
PRO Series Console
If you are already familiar with the PRO Series consoles, then you are already
well on your way to mastering the PRO X. With a few exceptions outlined here,
the functionality of the PRO X is almost identical to its PRO Series predecessors.
Because of its improved functionailty and increased processing power it was
necessary to make the following changes to the well-established format:
NEUTRON
The powerhouse at the centre of the PRO X system is the new NEUTRON Audio
System Engine. NEUTRON is the result of a three-year research and development
programme that has seen MIDAS engineers push beyond the envelope with their
expertise and knowledge.
Its cutting-edge, latest generation DSPs and high-performance FPGA,
couple with MIMD (Multiple Instruction, Multiple Data) architecture delivers
more than 100 gigafl ops of real-time audio processing performance. This means
that NEUTRON has the potential to provide more than 800 audio paths.
Your system remains absolutely future proof. It delivers impeccable MIDAS sonic
performance and functionality.
But it's not just about raw, number-crunching power and high channel counts,
NEUTRON is also about fi nesse. Adding I/O boxes with the best converters
and custom processing algorithms that draw upon over 40 years of listening
experience at the top of the industry, NEUTRON takes the audio quality of those
channels to another level.
All MIDAS digital console systems have a comprehensive and automatic latency
management system and NEUTRON is no exception. This system manages all
internal routing and processing latency and also includes compensation for
external analogue inserts. All audio samples are synchronised before summing,
resulting in absolute phase coherency at the outputs and completely avoiding
the 'comb fi ltering' eff ects of less carefully designed systems that result in
specifi c frequencies cancelling out completely.
Channel Count
With 168 inputs, 96 buses and three master channels, on the PRO X what you see
is what you get. There's no 'smoke and mirror' DSP sharing, the PRO X provides a
full input channel count and full bus count at 96 kHz at any time.
Quick Start Guide
Mix Bay Output Fast Zone
The PRO X control surface features an entirely new output section that makes
handling the potentially huge number of buses a breeze. A page of 24 of the
possible 96 bus masters is displayed across three rows of eight, each position
easily identifi ed by the same kind of select switch as the channel bay.
The digital write-on name and RGB backlight colour means 'can't miss' selection.
Pressing 'to faders' on any row drops the master fader for those buses onto the
mix bay.
All of the buses can be scrolled through, in pages of 24, and when an output is
added to a POP group, it will unfold to the dedicated output section, making it
even easier to organise your workfl ow.
Channel & Bus Navigation Zone
At the heart of MIDAS console navigation are the VCA and POPulation groups,
which provide primary access to multiple channels (typically grouped into related
clusters by mix engineers). To access all the channels belonging to any of the VCA
or POP groups, merely press the select switch and those channels unfold to the
control surface.
If you think of the VCA faders as if they were each containers for all the channels
they control then fi nding channels becomes a natural and easy task. This method
is further expanded through the provision of user customised POP (POPulation)
groups, which can contain any combination of channels that you want to access
instantly, at the press of a switch.
Additional Eff ects
The PROX can simultaneously process up to 24 simultaneous internal
multi-channel eff ects and NEUTRON's 40 bit fl oating-point audio processing
hosts a wide choice of virtual FX devices, which range from dual-mono delay
units, stereo modulation and many diverse reverb FX, multiband compression,
dynamic EQ and multichannel dual-function dynamics processing.
All FX processors are custom-designed to function within the MIDAS automatic
latency compensation system. This ensures a phase-coherent sample- accurate
mix regardless of whether the FX devices are used as channel inserts or as a
send-and-return.
Delay FX can be individually confi gured to synchronise to the PRO X's Global
Tap-Tempo hardware button, making on-the-fl y changes to tempo-based
eff ect parameters child's play. Up to 36 1/3 octave KLARK TEKNIK DN370 Graphic
Equalisers (GEQs) are provided, which can be patched into any output.
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