Technique & Troubleshooting - Alto CYCLONE User Manual

CYCLONE TECHNIQUE & TROUBLESHOOTING
This section of the owner's manual gives you some basic information about the technique how to get the best perfor-
mances from your Cyclone. Of course there are several tricks and tips. The last part of this chapter is about trouble-
shooting.
You should use the channel input gain to obtain the best operating level for the console. If the gain level is too low
the best signal to noise ratio won't be achieved. If the gain level is high you may risk to overload the channel causing
distortion. Clearly, the GAIN should be positioned between these two points, to gain an optimal signal to noise ratio
without overloading the channel. The ideal level for input channels is when the CLIP preamp LED just flashes on
musical peaks.
TIP
The presence in stereo channels of discrete input GAIN for mono input and stereo input allows the sound engineer
to use two different signals on the same input, for example the entertainer MIC and a stereo keyboard. So when
he has to use the MIC level he can choose MIC GAIN, but he can promptly change to stereo input line with right
GAIN setting, just pressing the INPUT SELECT key.
Headroom is the amount of spare 'swing' available to the system. If 6dB headroom was desired at all times, a
maximum level of+15dBis required to retain the headroom. The consoles Busses (Sub-groups, Aux sends and
Left/Right Master) are the points where all channel signals are summed together. In normal operation, it's unlikely
that all channels will receive the peak signal at the same time, so typically when 48 channels are summed together
a gain of around 6 to 9dB will be seen. It is important to leave some headroom in the summing amplifiers so that
they do not overload, should the sum exceed the maximum level.
TIP
To prevent overload, during sound check the GAIN should be set to a point that even the highest output from the
microphone will turn on the CLIP preamp LED just during peak signals. In this way you should prevent any un-
pleasant surprise during the show!
As explained before the insert point is a break in signal path that can be used for dynamic processing and/or fx
processing of a single input channel, sub-group, Aux send or Main Mix channel. Now we'll deeply investigate how
to obtain the best results from this section.
Generally during a show the sound engineer has to work with high dynamic signals (i.e. a vocalist performance)
so it's better to reduce the dynamic range of the signal. In this way there won't be louder peaks (avoiding channel
input overloading) or too low musical nuances (avoiding the channel noise floor to overcome these signals).
Limiters and Compressors are widely used for this application. The means by which they achieve this won't be
discussed here but these devices are used to automatically reduce the level of loud signals and also raise the gain
to 'make up' the level as desired. The channel gain can now be set with adequate headroom to accommodate both
loud and quiet signals and the compressor can reduce the dynamic range and 'make up' any reduction in level.
By inserting such a device into the channel's insert point you have the ability to remove the guess work from setting
your system gain.
GAIN settings
Headroom
INSERT
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