Chapter 3: About The Control Centre; Overview Of The Control Centre - Midas PRO SERIES Owner's Manual

Chapter 3: About The Control Centre

This chapter introduces you to the control centre and provides a brief hardware
description.

Overview of the control centre

The control centre has a combined control surface and GUI that provide an array of
easy-to-use controls for the precise manipulation of audio.
The control centre is of modular construction and is built on a robust Midas steel frame
chassis similar to those used for established Midas analogue products. The frame
houses three full size bays with a smaller one on the right. All of the bays are
controlled from a single processor and, collectively, provide the primary mixing needs
of the engineer.
All associated power supplies, computer motherboards, memory, graphics cards etc.
are housed within the control centre, which also contains a digital audio router box that
supports local FOH (insert) I/O connectors on the rear panel. Substantial forced
air-cooling is provided by a bulkhead and large (but slow moving) internal fans. These
produce very low noise, suitable for seated areas theatres and concert sound.
Typical control centre
Externally, the control centre has three main areas: control surface, GUI and rear
panel. The control surface is populated with instantly recognisable controls that are
logically distributed in major sections. The GUI, which comprises two screens at the top
of the centre bays, enhances operation by providing visual representations of the
control surface and also gives you extra functionality. The rear panel provides all of the
control centre and network connectivity, and houses the mains power sockets and
isolator switch.
Being of modular design, the overall form and shape of the control centre is similar to
Midas' flagship XL8. The control surface is split into bays, each one containing a flat
fader tray and shallow raked control area. The centre bays also have a third area that
houses a steep-raked display screen.
Multiple hardware fault types are tolerated by the control centre without loss of audio
control due to the dual redundancy and N+1 methods incorporated in the system. This
is further helped by the modular nature of the bays and GUI independence. Either of
PRO Series Live Audio Systems
Owner's Manual
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