The Routing Matrix - Manley MicMAID Owner's Manual

4x4 matrix switcher

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Table Of Contents

Table of Contents

On the MicMAID, any of the 4 microphones can be connected to any of the 4 mic preamps. When the

MicMaid is powered up for the  rst time, there are no routes between any mics and preamps.

To get started, select a microphone by pressing the assigned A, B, C or D button at the top of the rout-

ing matrix. For this example, let’'s say Microphone A. Now, select one of the 4 mic preamps on the right vertical

side of the matrix - let’'s use PRE 1. Now, MIC A is hardwired to the input of PRE 1, and the output of PRE 1 is

hardwired to the DIRECT 1 output on the back of the MicMAID - you can treat that output as the output of the

mic preamp, as it simply mirrors it.

You can move on and select PRE 2, 3, and 4 in succession, and you’'ll be able to hear MIC A through

all four preamps. Likewise, selecting each mic in turn will let you hear each mic through any and all preamps.

Simple, right?

Now, let’'s say you  nd a match you really like (“"MIC B sounds particularly lovely running through PRE

4!”"). The LOCK button displays and controls the lock status of the currently selected microphone and preamp.

Press this LOCK button, and you can toggle the lock status of the currently selected microphone and preamp.

The LOCK button  ashes if an attempt is made to change a locked route (e.g. trying to use a mic with a preamp

that has already been locked to another microphone). To learn how to save your locked routings as “"snapshots”",

see The Monitor Section below.

Phantom power to any of the four mic inputs can be supplied by the MicMAID. Hold the phantom button

below the corresponding Microphone button (which will start  ashing), and press that Microphone button to turn

phantom on. Repeat to turn it off. Phantom power should never be turned on in a connected preamp. If the

MicMAID detects phantom power from a connected preamp, the display will  ash ‘'bP’' (bad phantom) and the

offending PRE button will blink until the external phantom power is removed. If a mic was routed to the offend-

ing pre, it will be muted and the route will be disconnected. The pre button for that channel will also be disabled.

After the offending phantom power is removed, the display will continue to  ash ‘'bP’' for a few seconds while

the circuit is stabilizing, and you will then need to manually re-assign the route.

The monitor section uses the output of the currently selected preamp as its input. The GAIN TRIM knob

can be used to trim the monitor section’'s gain by ±19.5 dB in 0.5 dB steps for each of the 16 microphone/mic

preamp combinations.

In addition to these trims, you can also save up to ten “"snapshot”" memories of routing schemes you’'ve

set up via the instructions above. Snapshots remember the state of all gain trims and button controlled settings

(most importantly, the routing matrix) except the phantom power settings. (These are not saved because improper

application of phantom power could potentially damage some microphones). The  rst snapshot, number 0, is

read-only: loading snapshot 0 returns the MicMAID to ‘'factory default’' - no routes, no gain trims, no locks.

Pressing the rotary encoder knob activates the snapshot menu. While in the snapshot menu, think of

pressing the rotary encoder knob as pressing “"Enter”" on a computer. When the menu  rst appears, all button and

matrix leds turn off and the display shows

If no action is taken the menu will time out without any effect. Whenever stacked dashes

ing Enter will exit the menu immediately without effect and without having to wait for the timeout.