The fader strips provide dedicated mixing controls for the channels assigned to the current bank/layer. 

All faders and rotary controls are touch-sensitive, and are clearly labelled by the panel's displays. Any fader strip can control any type of channel and supports six banks, each with two layers. This allows you to control inputs and masters from any fader position, and handle lots of signals from very few physical faders.

Controls Overview

Each channel fader strip is divided into the areas described below.

Within each channel bay, there are two possible variants: either single or dual fader. The variants are identical apart from the Free Controls/Second Fader (3).

The main fader strips (in the centre section) are identical to the channel fader strips, except that they do not have any upper controls (1, 2 or 3).

1. Input Gain

2. A/B Switching

3. Free Controls or Second Fader

4. SEL (Fader Select)

5. Fader User Buttons

6. User Label

7. Input Meter & Status Indicators

8. Channel Mute

9. Layer Flip

10. Fader

11. AFL & PFL

Single-fader

Dual-fader

Operation

The main points of operation are:

  • The user label (6) identifies the channel. If there is signal present at the channel input, then this is shown on the input meter (7).
  • The upper rotary control (1) always adjusts source gain.
  • The remaining rotary controls (3) are assignable Free Controls. These can be assigned or paged to any channel parameter: EQ, Compressor, Aux sends, etc.
  • Press SEL (4) to select the channel. For example, to adjust its parameters centrally or perform an access/assign operation.
  • The fader user buttons (5) are programmable and can trigger channel operations: e.g. Conference on/off, Talkback, Snapshot Isolate, EQ on/off, etc.
  • Press AFL or PFL (11) to monitor a channel in isolation.

The rest of this topic describes the controls in more detail.

1. Input Gain

The upper rotary control always adjusts source gain (either mic/line or INMIX gain depending on the source type). The amount of GAIN is shown at the bottom of the Channel Display.

2. A/B Input Switching

The A and B buttons can be used on input channels to switch between a main and backup source. For each channel, the sources must be connected to the A and B inputs using the Signal List display. If nothing has been assigned to an input, then the corresponding button cannot be selected.

Note that each channel supports a third (C) input. This can be switched from the input section on the Central GUI's Main Display or programmed onto a user button.

3a. Free Controls

On a single-fader panel, every fader strip includes four assignable Free Controls (FCs). These provide local (de-central) control of channel parameters. 

Each Free Control includes a touch-sensitive rotary control, push-button and display, and can be assigned to any channel parameter: EQ gain, Compressor threshold, Aux send level, etc.

The controls are color-coded, making it easy to distinguish between the parameter types: EQ (blue), dynamics (magenta), aux sends (green), etc.

The display shows the Free Control function (e.g. AUX 1) and its current value (e.g. 0.00 dB). The push-button function depends on the assigned parameter (e.g. aux on/off). The rotary controls operate in the same way as all other rotary controls on the console:

  • Turn for fine adjustment OR push down and turn for coarse adjustment*.
  • Tap down twice in quick succession to reset the parameter value.

*The fine/course tuning behaviour can be reversed, globally, using the "Console → Potentiometer → Invert Pot Fine/Course Tuning" option (in the System Settings display).

The default parameter assignments can vary from channel to channel. For example, to access aux send levels on music playback channels and compressor threshold and ratio on mic inputs. At any time, you can temporarily override the default assignments by recalling an FC PRESET (from the centre section). These change the function of the Free Controls globally, to access say aux sends 1, 2, 3, etc. across the console. When you deselect an FC PRESET, the controls return to their default assignments.

Note that, if a channel bay is isolated, then parameters can be expanded across all of the Free Controls within the bay. This mode is described later in mc²96 - Isolated Bays.

3b. Second Fader

If the channel bay is fitted with the dual-fader panel, then the four Free Controls are replaced by a second (upper) short-scale fader. The upper fader always controls the alternate layer. Press FLIP (beside the lower fader) to reverse the assignments.

The upper fader and its user buttons are labelled by the mini TFT displays. The upper fader comes with four user buttons, a fader strip SEL button, MUTE plus AFL and PFL monitoring. These operate in an identical manner to the first (lower) fader described below.

If you need to adjust other channel parameters, then press a fader SEL button and use the parameter control areas in the Central Control Section.

4. SEL (Fader Select)

The fader SEL button can be used to select a channel, otherwise known as placing a channel "in access". Once selected, you can adjust the channel's parameters centrally (from the Central Control Section or Main Display), or perform an access/assign operation such as moving the channel to a different fader strip.

On a VCA or bus master, you can press and hold the SEL button to activate Reveal In Place. The slave channels appear beside the master so that you can quickly adjust their parameters.

5. Fader User Buttons

The four fader user buttons can perform "channel-related" custom functions such as mix minus control (CORD and CONF), snapshot isolate (SNAP ISO) and talkback (TALK).

Four pages of functions are available, switched from the centre section's FADER USER BUTTON panel. The functions are clearly labelled by the display.

All user buttons are programmed from the Custom Functions display and are stored at a system level. This means that any changes will affect all users.

6. User Label

The fader strip label display shows either a text label or image to identify the channel. The centre section's LABEL buttons determine which "label" is in view. 

With IMAGE off, there are three possible options:

  • CHANNEL NAME = the system name of the channel (e.g. INP 1). This is system-defined and cannot be edited.
  • USER LABEL = the user label given to the channel (e.g. Guest).
  • INHERIT SOURCE = the user label given to the source connected to the channel (e.g. Mic 1).

How to edit the user labels is described in mc²96 - User Labels.

Below the name or label is the channel level (in dB).

Optionally, the channel level can be replaced by a sub label. For example, to view the channel name AND user label, or the user label AND inherited source. To use this mode:

  1. Turn on the "Console → Surface TFT → Label View" option (in the System Settings display).
  2. Use the centre section's LABEL buttons to choose the main label (as described above).
  3. The main and sub labels update accordingly.

With IMAGE on, the text label is replaced by a thumbnail image (if one is assigned). To use this mode:

  1. Prepare the images by assigning a thumbnail to the channel (or its input signal) from the Signal List display.
  2. Turn on IMAGE (from the centre section's LABEL buttons).
  3. Choose either USER LABEL (or INHERIT SOURCE) to show the image assigned in step 1.
  4. If an image is assigned, then this replaces the text label. Touch the fader to enlarge the image; it fills the display.
  5. If there is no thumbnail assignment for the channel (or source), then the text label is displayed.

The background color of the display can also be used to quickly identify the channel.

By default, the following colors are applied: white = input channels; green = aux masters; yellow = groups; red = sums; blue = VCA masters.
The colors can be edited from the Channel Config display if you wish to customize the setup.

7. Input Meter & Status Indicators

The fader strip label display includes a signal present meter. The pickup point is always at the channel input. This allows you to check that signal is present before opening a fader.

Below the label and meter are several channel status indicators. When lit, the indicators show the following information:

  • LNK = processing modules within the channel are linked as part of a link group
  • AUT = automation is enabled (for the fader).
  • C/L = either the compressor or limiter is active; G/E = either the gate or expander is active.
  • SUR = the channel is surround; or STE = the channel is stereo.
  • ABV or BLW = when using timecode automation, these indicators show that the level stored in the play pass is above or below the current fader level. 

8. Channel Mute

Press the MUTE button to mute the channel.

The mute position can be set globally for all channels to either after fader or after the input mixer. In addition, you can disable the MUTE button operation, globally, to prevent accidental operation during a live show. Both options are defined in the System Settings display: select "Global → Status" and then look for the "Channel Mute" and "Mute" options.

9. Layer FLIP

Press FLIP to switch the fader strip from Layer 1 to 2, or vice versa. Note that layers can also be switched locally within the bay or globally from the centre section.

10. Fader

By default, the fader adjusts the channel level from -∞ to +15dB. 

The faders can be switched, globally, from the FADER CONTROL panel (to adjust a different level parameter such as an aux send or the direct out).

All faders are motorised and touch-sensitive. The fader motors can be turned off (for non-moving VCA slaves). There is also a notch that can be set to any position, and an overpress function that is triggered when you pull back on the fader (e.g. for a fader start or backstop PFL). These options are defined in the System Settings display (under "Fader/Joystick → Fader").

11. AFL & PFL

Press AFL to listen to the post-fade channel signal. Press PFL to listen to the pre-fade channel signal. The listen buses can be switched to different monitor outputs using the Control Room Monitor (CRM) options on the Central GUI side panel.