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D950 Digital Mixing System
D950 Session Configuration Tool
Operating Instructions
Version V1.0
Order No. 10.27.4410
D950 Digital Mixing System
CONTENTS
1 IMPORTANT .................................................................................................................................................................4
1.1 ATTENTION ................................................................................................................................................................4
1.2 AGREEMENT ON SOFTWARE LICENCE TERMS AND CONDITIONS.....................................................................................4
1.2.1 Programmes covered by the Agreement...............................................................................................................5
1.2.1.1 Licence Programmes of STUDER................................................................................................................................... 5
1.2.1.2 Programmes of Third Parties .......................................................................................................................................... 5
1.2.2 Right of Use ........................................................................................................................................................5
1.2.2.1 Principle ........................................................................................................................................................................ 5
1.2.2.2 Customised Configurations and Reverse Engineering ..................................................................................................... 6
1.2.2.3 Copying the Licence Material......................................................................................................................................... 6
1.2.2.4 Disclosure of Licence Material ....................................................................................................................................... 6
1.2.2.5 Assignability .................................................................................................................................................................. 6
1.2.3 Rights to Licence Material ..................................................................................................................................7
1.2.4 Royalties .............................................................................................................................................................7
1.2.5 Warranty, Disclaimer and Liability .....................................................................................................................7
1.2.5.1 Warranty and Disclaimer regarding the functionality of the Licence Material.................................................................. 7
1.2.5.2 Remedy of defects .......................................................................................................................................................... 8
1.2.5.3 Warranty and Disclaimer regarding the Proprietary Rights.............................................................................................. 8
1.2.5.4 Liability ......................................................................................................................................................................... 9
1.2.6 Miscellaneous .....................................................................................................................................................9
1.2.7 Applicable Law and Jurisdiction .........................................................................................................................9
2 INSTALLATION..........................................................................................................................................................10
2.1 WHERE TO INSTALL? .................................................................................................................................................10
2.2 HOW TO INSTALL ......................................................................................................................................................10
2.2.1 Installing from a compressed file.......................................................................................................................10
2.2.2 Installing from a removable medium .................................................................................................................11
2.2.3 Check the installation .......................................................................................................................................11
3 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................................15
3.1 FEATURES & BENEFITS .............................................................................................................................................15
3.2 THE CONCEPT OF A VIRTUAL MIXING CONSOLE (VMC)..............................................................................................17
3.3 THE PRACTICAL SIDE .................................................................................................................................................18
3.3.1 Data compatibility ............................................................................................................................................20
4 THE FAST LANE - TRY IT!.......................................................................................................................................21
4.1 DO YOUR OWN - USE EXISTING OR START FROM SCRATCH? ........................................................................................21
4.1.1 Use an existing VMC.........................................................................................................................................21
4.1.2 Start from Scratch .............................................................................................................................................21
4.2 GENERATE THE D950 CONFIGURATION FILES.............................................................................................................22
4.2.1 Does my D950 have enough power?..................................................................................................................26
4.3 GENERATE THE CORE FILE .........................................................................................................................................28
4.4 TRANSFER THE FILES TO THE CONSOLE ......................................................................................................................30
5 DETAILED TUTORIAL..............................................................................................................................................31
5.1 SET YOUR OWN WORKSPACE .....................................................................................................................................31
5.2 THE CHANNEL/BUS PAGE ..........................................................................................................................................32
5.2.1 Add / Edit channels ...........................................................................................................................................33
5.2.2 V1.0 Function Library.......................................................................................................................................35
5.2.3 Add/ Edit Busses ...............................................................................................................................................36
5.2.4 Special Configuration functions: MultiDesk and Stems .....................................................................................38
5.2.4.1 The Concept of MultiDesk Control Groups................................................................................................................... 38
5.2.4.2 The Concept of Stems .................................................................................................................................................. 40
5.3 THE INTERFACE PAGE ...............................................................................................................................................42
5.4 THE CORE PAGE .......................................................................................................................................................45
5.5 THE SHARED FUNCTION PAGE ...................................................................................................................................46
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D950 Digital Mixing System
5.6 THE SESSION CONFIGURATION TOOL MENU ...............................................................................................................46
5.6.1 The File Menu...................................................................................................................................................47
5.6.2 The Edit Menu ..................................................................................................................................................47
5.6.3 The View Menu .................................................................................................................................................47
5.6.4 The Insert Menu ................................................................................................................................................48
5.6.5 The Generate Menu...........................................................................................................................................49
5.6.6 The Options Menu.............................................................................................................................................51
5.6.7 The Window Menu.............................................................................................................................................51
6 MAINTENANCE..........................................................................................................................................................52
6.1 MANAGING THE FILES - WHICH FILE IS WHERE?.........................................................................................................52
6.2 THE D950CFGTOOL.INI FILE .....................................................................................................................................53
6.2.1 Related entries in the D950system.ini................................................................................................................53
6.2.2 Example of an VMC Overview File ...................................................................................................................54
6.2.3 Example of an VMC Distribution Info File ........................................................................................................55
6.2.4 Troubleshooting ................................................................................................................................................57
6.2.4.1 Errors during Generate Process / in Log File .................................................................................................................57
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D950 Digital Mixing System
1 IMPORTANT
The D950 Digital Mixing System may be easily reconfigured using
the optional Session Configuration Tool. Whereas the ability for
reconfiguration is a great feature of the D950, it is important for an
operator to fully understand the Session Configuration Tool and it's
functions. There is no safeguard functionality to prevent someone
from configuring a console without e.g. the summing busses - in
this case, the console may not function properly upon loading of
such a configuration. Please consult the separate D950 Operating
Instructions for more details on the D950 Digital Mixing System.
The D950 Session Configuration Tool is an option to the D950
Digital Mixing System. The functions, features and the appearance
of the D950 Session Configuration Tool may be changed by
adding or modifying the software. For this reason the operation of
the Tool and it's parts as described in this manual may be slightly
different from your version.
Information contained in this manual has been carefully checked
and is believed to be correct and complete. But, as we all know,
everybody makes mistakes, and we are not immune either. If you
detect a mistake, please write or send an e-mail to the addresses
printed on the cover. We will be thankful for your feedback. No
responsibility is taken by us for any inaccuracies, errors or
omissions nor is any liability assumed for any loss or damage
resulting either directly or indirectly from use of the information
contained in the manual and any accompanying documentation.
1.1 Attention
USE OF THE SOFTWARE IS SUBJECT TO THE STUDER
PROFESSIONAL AUDIO SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT
SET FORTH BELOW. USING THE SOFTWARE INDICATES
YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT. IF YOU
DO NOT ACCEPT THESE LICENSE TERMS, YOU ARE NOT
AUTHORIZED TO USE THIS SOFTWARE.
1.2 Agreement on Software Licence Terms and Conditions
Software
Under the condition and within the scope of the following Terms
and Conditions STUDER Audio Professional AG (hereinafter
,,STUDER") grants the right to use programmes developed by
STUDER as well as those of third parties which have been
installed by STUDER on or within its products. References to the
licence programmes shall be references to the newest release of a
licence programme installed at the Customer's site.
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1.2.1 Programmes covered by the Agreement
1.2.1.1 Licence Programmes of STUDER
The following Terms and Conditions grant the right to use all
system programmes of STUDER, all user programmes which carry
the brand ,,STUDER" and are part of the D950 Digital Mixing
System and/or its options at the time of its delivery to the
Customer as well as the installation software on the original data
disk and the accompanying documentation (,,Licence Material"). In
this Agreement the word ,,Programmes" shall have the meaning of
programmes and data written in machine code.
1.2.1.2 Programmes of Third Parties
Programmes of third parties are all programmes which constitute
part of the D950 and/or its options at the time of delivery to the
Customer but have not been developed by STUDER. The
following conditions are applicable to programmes of third parties:
The right to use Microsoft Windows NT is governed by the Licence
Agreement attached hereto (if applicable), which is an integral part
of this Agreement. The Customer shall sign any and all Licence
Agreements for all further programmes of third parties installed on
the D950 by STUDER with the third parties. The Customer shall be
deemed to have received all Licence Agreements upon delivery of
the D950 and/or its options.
Studer shall accept no responsibility or liability for, and gives no
warranties (express or implied) as to the programmes of third
parties. The Customer waives any and all claims versus STUDER
for any consequential damages, which might occur due to defects
of these programmes.
1.2.2 Right of Use
1.2.2.1 Principle
STUDER grants the Customer the non-exclusive right to use the
Licence Material in one copy on the D950 and/or its options as laid
down by the Sales Agreement concluded between the parties and
all Terms and Conditions which shall be deemed to form and be
read and construed as part of the Sales Agreement. This right is
assignable according to para. 1.2.2.5 hereinafter.
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D950 Digital Mixing System
1.2.2.2 Customised Configurations and Reverse Engineering
The Customer is not entitled to alter or develop further the Licence
Material except within the expressly permitted configuration
possibilities given by the Session Configuration Tool installed on
the D950 or elsewhere. All altered programmes, including but not
limited to the products altered within the permitted configuration
possibilities, are covered by this Licence Agreement.
Reverse engineering is only permitted with the express consent of
STUDER. The consent of STUDER can be obtained but is not
limited to the case in which the interface-software can not be
provided by STUDER. In any case STUDER has to be informed
immediately upon complete or partial reverse engineering.
1.2.2.3 Copying the Licence Material
The Customer is entitled to make copies of all or parts of the
Licence Material as is necessary for the use according to this
Agreement, namely to make safety copies. The Customer shall
apply the copyright of STUDER found on the Licence Material onto
all copies made by him. Records shall be kept by the Customer
regarding the amount of copies made and their place of keeping.
The responsibility for the original programme and all copies made
lies with the Customer. STUDER is entitled to check these records
on first request. Copies not needed any more have to be
destroyed immediately.
1.2.2.4 Disclosure of Licence Material
The Licence Material is a business secret of STUDER. The
Customer shall not hand out or in any way give access to parts or
the complete Licence Material to third parties nor to publish any
part of the Licence Material without prior written consent of
STUDER. The Customer shall protect the Licence Material and
any copies made according to para. 1.2.2.3 aforementioned by
appropriate defence measures against unauthorised access. This
obligation of non-disclosure is a perpetual obligation.
Third parties are entitled to have access to the Licence Material if
they use the Licence Material at the Customer in compliance with
this Agreement.
Under no circumstance are third parties entitled to have access to
the installation software on the original data disc. The Customer
shall safeguard the original data disc accordingly.
1.2.2.5 Assignability
The rights granted to the Customer according to this Licence
Agreement shall only be assignable to a third party together with
the transfer of the D950 and/or its options and after the prior
written consent of STUDER.
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D950 Digital Mixing System
1.2.3 Rights to Licence Material
With the exception of the right of use granted by this Licence
Agreement all proprietary rights to the Licence Material, especially
the ownership and the intellectual property rights (such as but not
limited to patents and copyright) remain with STUDER even if
alterations, customised changes or amendments have been made
to the Licence Material.
Studer's proprietary rights are acknowledged by the Customer.
The Customer shall undertake no infringements and make no
claims of any patent, registered design, copyright, trade mark or
trade name, or other intellectual property right.
1.2.4 Royalties
The Customer shall pay STUDER a non refundable lump sum as
royalty for the rights granted under para. 1.2.2, which is owed
together with the purchase price of the D950 and/or its options
according to the Sales Agreement or the confirmation of the order
respectively.
1.2.5 Warranty, Disclaimer and Liability
1.2.5.1 Warranty and Disclaimer regarding the functionality of the Licence Material
Except as stated in para. 1.2.1.2 STUDER hereby represents and
warrants the functionality of the Licence Material according to the
specifications agreed upon between the parties. The functions of
the programmes covered by this Agreement were thoroughly
checked at the time of the acceptance test. The Customer shall be
deemed to have satisfied himself as to the compliance of the
programmes with the specifications agreed upon as stated in the
protocol of the acceptance test.
STUDER shall take no liability for any malfunctions of the
programmes due to circumstances it is not responsible for, as for
example but not limited to any change in the use or the operating
conditions by the Customer, alterations to the Licence Material
undertaken by the Customer or third parties, disturbances caused
by machines and programmes not delivered by STUDER as well
as user mistakes of the Customer or third parties.
STUDER shall take on no further responsibility or liability for the
Licence Material. The Customer carries the full responsibility for
the use of the Licence Material as well as for the results achieved.
STUDER expressly does not warrant that the Licence Material can
be used without interruption and free of any mistakes in all
combinations and under all conditions the Customer wishes.
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D950 Digital Mixing System
1.2.5.2 Remedy of defects
STUDER shall undertake, at no cost to the Customer, to remedy
defects of the valid, unaltered version of the Licence Material for
the period of three months, beginning with the delivery of the D950
Mixing System and/or its options to the Customer, or, should the
acceptance test take place at the Customer, upon termination of
the acceptance test, unless otherwise agreed. The obligation of
STUDER to remedy expires after the above-mentioned period of
three months, in any case however, at latest nine months after
delivery of the mixing console to the Customer. This right of the
Customer to remedy is subject to the correct documentation of the
defects by the Customer and the ability of STUDER to reproduce
the defects.
STUDER can choose whether the defect shall be remedied by the
installation of a correction code / corrected version of the Licence
Material or the description of a solution to evade the defect without
any amendment to the functionality. If the use of the Licence
Material is not restricted due to the defect, such defect has to only
be remedied in the next programme version.
1.2.5.3 Warranty and Disclaimer regarding the Proprietary Rights
STUDER herewith declares that it has either developed the
Licence Material itself and has therefore procured the
corresponding proprietary rights or has been granted the rights to
use and distribute the Licence Material.
In the event that the Customer is charged with infringement of third
parties' alleged proprietary rights resulting from the use of the
Licence Material, then STUDER shall assume all costs of the
proceedings as well as the costs and damages resulting from a
court order in the maximum amount of the royalty paid by the
Customer for the component causing the infringement, provided
however that the Customer immediately informs STUDER about
the dispute and authorises STUDER in writing to conduct the
proceedings, including the right to settle the dispute.
Should the Licence Material infringe the proprietary rights of third
parties according to a court decision or Studer's free discretion,
STUDER is entitled to make alterations at its own cost to remedy
the infringement or to purchase the necessary rights from the third
party. Should this remedy not be successful and should the
infringement be established by a final court decision STUDER
would pay damages for the loss of the right of use in the amount
of the royalties paid by the Customer for the component causing
the infringement reduced by the usual depreciation for the time of
use.
STUDER is released from the aforementioned obligations if the
infringement is due to an alteration made to the Licence Material
by the Customer, to the use of the Licence Material combined with
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own products or those of third parties or to the use of the Licence
Material for other uses than those meant for. The Customer
expressly waives all and any further claims versus STUDER.
1.2.5.4 Liability
STUDER shall only take on liability for damages which occur to the
Customer due to defects of the Licence Material or failure to
comply with the Agreement, if they result from unlawful intent or
gross negligence on the part of STUDER. All further liability,
especially liability for simple negligence, concerning the use of the
Licence Material and the achieved results is expressly excluded by
STUDER. Furthermore STUDER shall not be made liable for any
damages which arise through acts of an employee of STUDER.
The Customer expressly waives all such claims.
STUDER shall not be liable for failure to comply with the
Agreement if the performance of the obligations is impossible due
to circumstances which STUDER can not influence. No damage
claims can be made versus employees of STUDER.
1.2.6 Miscellaneous
This Agreement is integral part of the Sales Agreement for the
D950 mixing console and/or the written confirmation of order and
enters into force upon signature of the Sales Agreement by the
Customer. The Sales Agreement can be substituted by a
confirmation of order making explicit reference to and enclosing
these Terms and Conditions.
Should there be any discrepancies between the Sales Agreement /
confirmation of order, this Agreement and the offer, then the
wording of the Sales Agreement / confirmation of order precedes
that of this Agreement, which again precedes the offer.
The parties are obliged to assign all rights and obligations resulting
from this Agreement to their subsequent successors, transferees
and assigns.
1.2.7 Applicable Law and Jurisdiction
This Agreement shall be governed by and interpreted and
construed in accordance with the substantive domestic laws of
Switzerland.
Exclusive Jurisdiction is Zurich.
If you have any questions regarding this Agreement or if you wish
to request any information from Studer Professional Audio, please
contact the firm in writing.
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D950 Digital Mixing System
2 INSTALLATION
Note A good level of understanding the PC-basics is assumed for this
installation. You may need to copy files between various media
and create subdirectories. You will be required to edit a simple .ini
file to adjust the environment of your PC. Please have an
instruction manual for the Windows version you are using at your
disposal if necessary.
Environment The D950 Session Configuration Tool will run under Microsoft
Windows 95 or higher, or Windows NT 4.0 environments.
Minimum Requirements The D950 Session Configuration Tool requires the following
minimum environment to run properly:
n Windows 95 or Windows NT
n Pentium processor, min. 200MHz recommended
n 32 (preferably 64) MB of RAM
n Display resolution 1024x768
2.1 Where to install?
The D950 Session Configuration Tool may be installed on:
n the D950 Control PC
n any other PC, provided that above requirements are met
We recommend installation on a PC different than the D950
Control PC. The programme requires a lot of processor power
when it compiles. Whilst it will run without any problem in a
multitasking environment with multiple programmes running at the
same time, it's performance may be considerably slowed down
under such circumstances. If speed is essential, we recommend
running the D950 Session Configuration Tool alone on a PC.
In some cases, the D950 Digital Mixing System may be delivered
with the D950 Session Configuration Tool already installed.
Delivery of the software will usually be on a data medium (usually
a 100MB ZIP disk) containing all the necessary files for installation
of the D950 Session Configuration Tool in compressed or non-
compressed form.
2.2 How to install
2.2.1 Installing from a compressed file
If you have obtained the D950 Session Configuration Tool in
compressed form (usually via e-mail), then you will start by copying
the file (usually called D950cfg.EXE) into the target directory and
then running the self-extracting file. This will decompress the
original files and create the necessary directories for you.
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You need to extract the original files into a root directory of a drive
(C, D, E, ...) on your PC. Please make sure that the ,,:\ADI_DSP"
directory has been placed directly under the root of your selected
drive as indicated above, otherwise the Configuration Tool may not
work properly.
You may now erase the files:
n D950install
n i.bat
n make.bat
if you wish. They would have only been needed if you had
installed from a removable medium.
Now please proceed with the instructions found in chapter ,,Check
the installation".
2.2.2 Installing from a removable medium
To install the complete D950 Session Configuration Tool from a
removable medium (usually a 100MB ZIP disk), please proceed as
follows.
On the removable disk drive, start the programme ,,D950install".
This will start a DOS batch file requesting you to select a drive
letter on your target PC to install to.
We recommend to select the ,,C" drive. You may select a different
drive than ,,C" (D, E, ...) if you wish. Please proceed by typing:
make c
followed by Enter. This will copy all necessary files to the selected
drive.
Note The directory C:\D950SYSTEMDB will already exist if you are
installing on to a D950 Control PC. In this case, please use the ,,C"
drive for your installation.
2.2.3 Check the installation
Check the results Please use the Windows Explorer to check the results of your work
now. The following (or similar) file structure should now be found
on your target PC (assuming ,,C" was selected as the target drive):
C:\D950cfg \tmpFiles\ (subdirectory) contains temporary files
\Ar111297.ach DSP Processor Element architecture file
\CoreFunc150798.lib DSP source code library
\D950CfgTool.exe the Session Configuration programme
\Mn150498.exe executable used for the core files
\Rt070798.a DSP RTOS (operating system library)
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D950 Digital Mixing System
The above file names may be different, or have different date
stamps in your case! This is normal.
C:\ADI_DSP\21K\Bin \asm21k.exe Sharc assembler file
\go32.exe Sharc assembler file
\ld21k.exe Sharc assembler file
\lib21k.exe Sharc assembler file
C:\ADI_DSP\21K\Etc \a21000.exe Sharc assembler file
\cpp.exe Sharc assembler file
Please make sure that the ,,:\ADI_DSP" directory has been placed
directly under the root of your selected drive as indicated above,
otherwise the Configuration Tool may not work properly.
C:\D950SYSTEMDB \Example\ (subdirectory) contains an example D950 Configuration
\MyConfig1\ (subdirectory) any previously existing Configurations
...
The next step will be to create a Shortcut and then to set several
options within the system.
Create a Shortcut Usually the fastest way to use a programme is to create a so-
called Shortcut on the Windows Desktop. To create a Shortcut for
the D950 Session Configuration Tool, please click on the file
,,d950CfgTool.exe" in the Windows Explorer, then use the right
mouse button and drag the file to the desktop. Now you are ready
to run the Configuration Tool for the first time.
Start the Programme Double-click on the shortcut. There will probably be an error
message ,,Unable to open file: xxxx". This is because the .ini file
options have not yet been set. Quit the message and the D950
Session Configuration Tool screen will appear.
Set the options Click on the menu item ,,Options" and then on ,,Directories/Files".
The following setup screen will appear:
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Here the names of directories and appropriate files that you've just
copied have to be entered. The above graphic shows factory
default files and paths. Since those may vary for every installation
and software version, you will now need to update this entries by
using appropriate file names and paths as installed on your
system. The Browse button can be used to select the appropriate
file, except for the following two entries:
n Temp Files Path
n Config Path,
for which the appropriate paths must be entered by hand and
must be followed by a backslash (\) sign.
Using the example of our installation, you would need to adapt the
entries as follows:
Core Function Library File Name C:\D950cfg\CoreFunc150798.lib (file form CoreFuncDDMMYY.lib)
Rtos Library C:\D950cfg\Rt070798.a (file form RtDDMMYY.a)
PE Architecture File C:\D950cfg\Ar111297.ach (file form ArDDMMYY.ach)
MemNet Task of PE1 C:\D950cfg\Mn150498.exe (file form RtDDMMYY.a)
MemNet Task of PE2 C:\D950cfg\Mn150498.exe (file form RtDDMMYY.a)
Temp Files Path C:\D950cfg\tmpFiles\
Log File Name C:\D950cfg\tmpFiles\LogFile.txt
Config Path C:\D950SYSTEMDB\
The above file names may be different, or have different date
stamps in your case! This is normal.
Now please click ,,OK" to finish the preparations and to store the
edited ,,D950CfgTool.ini" file automatically. This will create the
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D950 Digital Mixing System
C:\Windows\D950CfgTool.ini file. To learn more about the use of
the .ini file, please refer to the chapter ,,Maintenance".
Test the Installation Now that you have installed all files and set the basic options, you
can proceed to test the whole installation. For this, you will load the
included example configuration and run the compilation (known as
the ,,Generate process") to generate a DSP core file. This is how
you will proceed:
Use the menu item ,,File" and click on ,,Open". A windows dialogue
screen will appear and should point to the selected config path (in
our example C:\D950SYSTEMDB). Select the folder ,,Example"
and you will see the file ,,Example.VMC". Open the file.
Disregard the appearance of the screen for now, you will be able
to set your workspace later on. Select the menu item ,,Generate"
and then ,,All". This will start the process of generating the DSP
and control software that is needed to run a new Session
Configuration on your D950. Various messages will be displayed
and after a while, a message similar to the following one should
appear:
After the message ,,Build All finished successfully !!" appears, click
on ,,OK" to finish the successful installation and test procedure.
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3 INTRODUCTION
3.1 Features & Benefits
The D950 DSP concept The concept of the D950 allows to use multiple DSP processors in
a fully scaleable and configurable way. It is possible to specify the
power of the DSP core in fine steps in order to fulfil the exact need
of an application. It can be said that the D950 has a scaleable
DSP resource pool of computational power, which can be used in
many different combinations.
Session Configuration So the concept of a ,,Session Configuration" was born, which
allows to create many completely different mixers that can run on
the same existing hardware. The operator is now able to choose
the ideal mixer for the task he or she wants to work on.
For this, the Session Configurations can be loaded and the D950
console restarted in a matter of seconds. Each Session
Configuration can contain a different console configuration based
on the available DSP power. In the ever-changing studio
environment, it is now possible to have a new mixer every day:
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3
Live Broadcast configuration Multitrack Recording configuration Mixdown configuration
48 Mono Input Channels with 48 Inline Channels with 96 Mono Input Channels
- EQ - EQ in monitor path with
- Delay - Comp/Lim/Exp/Gate in input path - EQ
- Delay - Delay
24 Stereo Input Channels with - Comp/Lim/Exp/Gate
- EQ 4 Stereo Input Channels with - IPL
- EQ - Surround PAN
4 Stereo Input Channels
with
- EQ
0 Routing busses 48 Routing busses 8 Routing busses
8 Groups with 0 Groups 16 Groups
- EQ
2 Master Outputs with 4 Master Outputs 8 Master Outputs
- Output Limiter
- EQ
8 Mono Auxiliaries 4 Mono Auxiliaries 12 Mono Auxiliaries
2 Stereo Auxiliaries 4 Stereo Auxiliaries 4 Stereo Auxiliaries
12 Clean feed busses 0 Clean feed busses 0 Clean feed busses
Channel types All channels within the DSP core can be configured as Mono
channels or Stereo channels. The number of channels for any
channel type is defined through the Session Configuration.
Moreover, any channel type can be fitted with the available
function blocks from the processing library. So EQ, delay or
Dynamics can be fitted to Input Channels, but also to Group
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D950 Digital Mixing System
Channels, Master Channels or Auxiliaries in any number and
combination. Any combination of Auxiliary, Clean-feed, Multitrack
Routing, audio Subgroup and Master Busses can be configured in
the system.
DSP boards The D950 system can contain 4 board types.
n PE - DSP board with 6 DSP processors
n PEAES - DSP board with 6 DSP processors, 8 AES/EBU inputs
(2 of which with SFC) and 8 AES/EBU outputs
n MADI I/O board with 2 MADI inputs and 2 MADI outputs
n MEMNET board for communication and control
The system must contain one communication and control board
called the MEMNET board.
The total number of boards in any combination can be 21 at the
maximum.
System size & numbers The size and power of the system is defined by the number of
DSP processors and I/O boards installed. The total DSP power
can be compared to a bucket of water (Installed DSP Capacity).
The contents of the big bucket can be distributed to 4 smaller
buckets (channels with fader + EQ). Alternatively, the same
contents can be distributed to only 2 buckets which are larger
(channels with fader+EQ+Dyn+Delay+3D-PAN...).
FADER FADER FADER FADER
EQ DYN INS EQ
Channels Channels Channels Channels
DSP
FADER, EQ, FADER, EQ,
Installed DSP Capacity DYN, DELAY DYN, DELAY
3D-PAN, 3D-PAN,
48 TRACK, ... 48 TRACK, ...
Channels Channels
So, the number of available channels depends on two things:
n total installed capacity (1 - 20 DSP boards)
n load required by each of the channels types and their quantity
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To complicate matters slightly, the total number of channels also
depends on the number of summing busses and the number of
physical I/O interfaces. To illustrate this, we can look at 3 different
ways to use the same installed DSP power.
Input & Output Interfaces
max
The DSP Capacity takes care
800 of the I/O's and the Console Channels...
All 3 Configurations use the same DSP Capacity
400
96 mono input channels,
16 output channels,
900 I/O's
200
128 mono input channels,
24 output channels, 48 Tracks,
350 I/O's
256 mono input channels,
100 24 output channels,
150 I/O's
max
0 100 200
Console DSP Channels
(Inputs, Groups, AUX-es, Masters ...)
The D950 Session Configuration Tool will tell you exactly how
many DSP and I/O boards you will need in order to run a certain
configuration defined by the number and type of channels, the
number of summing busses and the number of physical I/O
interfaces. As a consequence, there is no finite maximum number
of channels on the D950 - the maximum can be anywhere
between 100 and 300 channels!
3.2 The concept of a Virtual Mixing Console (VMC)
The D950 Digital Mixing System bases its operation on the
concept of a Virtual Mixing Console (VMC). The VMC is a software
structure that runs on the D950's control PC and consists of two
parts:
n console configuration (structure)
n current audio settings of the console (data)
Structure The VMC describes all the parameters of a certain console
configuration such as the number of input channels, the number of
multitrack busses, whether there is EQ on each channel, etc.
Data Moreover, the VMC is a real-time data container that keeps the
actual settings of a console, such as ,,input channel 13 EQ gain =
+12dB", ,,master 4 fader = -10dB", etc. The VMC will only keep
data for the channels and console parts that are defined in the
structure part of the VMC. Active controls on the console such as
the faders, rotary encoders, pushbuttons and the GC
keyboard/trackerball control, but also the Snapshot system and the
AutoTouch Automation system can write data to the VMC. Other
console parts such as lamps, displays and the GC screen can read
data from the VMC and display them. It can generally be said, that
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D950 Digital Mixing System
almost all settings and conditions of the D950 console are a part of
the VMC.
Make and edit a Configuration The D950 Session Configuration Tool can be used to make a new
configuration, or to edit an existing one. This is the first part of the
process of preparing a VMC for the D950 console. That part is
done off-line, even if the Configuration Tool is running on the
D950's Control PC. The result of this part is a:
n ,,meta" VMC file - the definition of the console structure
n a DSP core file - software that tells the DSP core what to do
Use a Configuration When we operate the D950 console, we speak of ,,loading a
configuration". This means loading the ,,meta" VMC file to the
memory of the D950's Control PC. This process will remove the
current file from the D950 memory and load a different one. The
D950 Control software will then, based on information contained in
the new files, run a VMC that corresponds to the information from
the ,,meta" VMC file. It will also remove the current DSP core file,
replacing it with a new one, thus activating a new VMC. Now the
D950 is ready to work with the new Session Configuration.
There can only be one VMC that is active on the D950 console at
any one time, but there can be multiple VMCs configured and
stored for later use. For more information on loading a
configuration and using the D950, please consult the D950
Operators Instructions.
3.3 The practical side
The purpose of the D950 Session Configuration Tool is to allow
creating and modifying ,,meta" VMC files and generating the DSP
files from the information contained in the ,,meta" VMC file. We call
this process ,,making a Session Configuration". There are always
two files that are the result of making a Session Configuration:
n the ,,meta" VMC file called MyConfig1.vmc
n the DSP core file called MyConfig1.cor
The name ,,MyConfig1" stands for any name selected by the user.
The endings ,,.vmc" and ,,.cor" are obligatory and are automatically
created by the Tool and do not have to be typed.
It is good practice to keep all Session Configurations in the same
Windows folder, because both the D950 Session Configuration
Tool and the D950 System software can be set to search in this
folder automatically. The Configuration Tool will automatically
create a subdirectory (folder) with the same name as the Session
Configuration, so the folder structure my look similar to this:
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Each of the subdirectory folders will contain the two files with the
corresponding names when the Configuration process is finished.
In the above example, the whole file structure is as follows:
C:\D950SYSTEMDB \Example\Example.VMC
\Example\Example.cor
\MyConfig1\MyConfig1.VMC
\MyConfig1\MyConfig1.cor
\MyConfig2\MyConfig2.VMC
\MyConfig2\MyConfig2.cor
\Small\Small.VMC
\Small\Small.cor
Both the D950 Sessio