These pages give access to the mixer bus configuration, Input stereo configuration, network settings, audio settings and User Profiles.

Config

Mixer Config

Use this page to reconfigure the architecture of the 64 Mix busses available.

1. Bus configuration – Touch a box and use the screen rotary to set the number of mono / stereo Groups, RackExtra FX sends, Aux sends and Matrix outputs. You can choose any combination, but mono busses can only be added / removed in pairs.
   • The 8 Stereo RackUltra FX send busses are always available, in addition to the 64 configurable busses, on dLive systems fitted with the RackUltra FX card. They do not require adding in the Mixer Config.
2. PAFL – Touch and use the screen rotary to set the number of stereo PAFL busses. Set to 1 for a typical standalone system. Extra PAFL busses can be useful when multiple operators are sharing the same dLive system. For example, an engineer mixing FoH on the Surface, and a second engineer mixing Monitors on a laptop or additional Surface.
3. Main – Select one of 5 modes of Main mix:

• None - No Main mix, for example dedicated monitor mixing with a large number of Aux mixes.
• LR - Standard stereo Main mix.
• LR+Msum - A stereo Main mix with additional output which is the mono sum of the pre-fade, pre-processed LR mix. For example to feed a mono delay speaker or zone.
• LR+M - A 3-way main mix with independent stereo LR and mono M busses. Channels can be separately assigned to any combination of LR and M. Typical application for M is main centre speaker, mono PA or bus-fed sub bass.
• LCR – A 3-way main mix with LCR panning. Each channel can be panned from left, through centre to right. At mid pan, full signal is fed to M and none to L and R. Stereo channels feed the LR mix only.
• LCR+ - A 3-way LCR main mix with two controls to position the sound. Pan balances between L and R, and Divergence blends the signal between C and LR.
• 5.1 Surround – Multichannel 5.1 output. Each channel can be set to LR, LCR or LCR+ panning with regards to the front triplet. When in this mode, an on-screen surround panning widget is displayed in the Routing screen.

4. Displays the number of busses and RackExtra FX sends remaining and warns if you exceed the maximum.
5. Main Fader Strips – The Main LR mix can be presented on the Surface as a single, Combined fader strip or as two Individual fader strips. When ganged, all processing for LR including delays is linked. A Balance control is provided to adjust the relative Left and Right level. The option will also affect the Main surround channels sL and sR.

Press Apply to confirm the changes. All current settings other than the bus configuration will stay in place.

🛈 Mix Config reassigns the bus architecture and resets mix parameters. These changes if needed should be done before, not during a show.

IP Stereo Config

Displays the current mono/stereo configuration of the 128 Input channels. Stereo channels are highlighted in green. Touch the buttons to change the configuration and press Apply to confirm. Stereo channels use a single fader strip and all their processing controls are linked.

🛈 This is intended for permanently configuring channels as stereo inputs, for example music players. Use the Ganging screen for on-the-fly linking of stereo sources while mixing live.

Name & Colour

Use this page to change or reset the name and colour of a range of channels. Name and colour for individual channels can be edited from the Processing Screen.

1. Channel Selection - Set the channel Type from the drop-down menu. Touch Select All or set the Start and End to select a range of channels.
2. Name – Press Reset to restore the default channel names to the selected range. Touch the name box to edit the name when a single channel is selected.
3. Colour – Touch a colour to change or press Reset to restore the default channel colours to the selected range.

Network

Use this page to configure the IP Address and Unit Name to identify the MixRack on the network.

1. IP Settings – To set a static IP Address, touch the IP Address box and type in the address. Make sure the Subnet Mask and Gateway are valid, and all devices on the network including Wi-Fi routers, access points or laptops have unique but compatible addresses.

   The default MixRack IP Address is 192.168.1.70 with Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0 and Gateway 192.168.1.254. You can restore these defaults by touching the Reset button.

   Enable DHCP to allocate an IP Address to the MixRack by a network DHCP server, for example a Wi-Fi router.

   🛈 Only use DHCP when a DHCP server is connected to the MixRack. If DHCP is enabled and the MixRack is powered up while no server is present, it can take longer than usual for the system to boot.

2. Unit Name – A name with up to 16 characters can be set to identify the MixRack on the network. The default is ‘dLive Mix Rack’.
3. Connections – Displays the number of active network connections to the MixRack. The Surface and touchscreens count as one connection each.

User Profiles

Up to 10 User Profiles including an Administrator can be set to restrict operator access and protect selected functions.

1. Users – The Admin user has access to all functions and can set permissions and allocate passwords if required for the other users. The password, if one is set, is required when the User logs in, changes User or locks / unlocks the dLive Surface. Icons in the list indicate if a password is set and if the User is active.

   Touch a User to edit its profile. Touch Active to enable this User in the Home / User Login screen.

2. Settings – Touch the User Name box to enter a name up to 16 characters. Touch the Password box to set or change a password up to 16 characters. Touch the Comment box to enter an additional note.

Touch the User Scene drop-down to select a Scene to recall automatically when the User logs in. This will overwrite current settings. A User Scene can ensure that the mixer is restored to a known starting point for the User.

🛈 The User Scene only recalls when the User is changed. It does not recall when the same User logs in or the system is powered up without changing User.

Press Set Permissions to open the Permissions window (see below).

🛈 User Profiles are stored in the dLive MixRack. They are not stored in Show memories.

🛈 dLive MixPad sessions will follow the User Permissions of the User logged in on the iPad.

User permissions – Each User can have their own set of Permissions applied. Use the tabs across the top of the window to view and set different groups of permissions. Select an item in the list and toggle the Enabled/Disabled button as required. The window on the right provides a description of the functions included in the currently selected item. Use the Enable All / Disable All buttons to quickly toggle all items in the currently open tab. Touch Apply to accept the changes.

RF Devices

Use this screen to monitor and configure up to 45 connected receivers.

🛈 Firmware 1.70 and higher supports Shure ULX-D, QLX-D and Axient Digital devices.

🛈 Firmware 1.90 and higher supports Sennheiser 2000, 2050 and 300, 500 (G3/G4) devices.

🛈 Firmware 2.1 and higher supports Shure SLX-D devices.

1. External RF Device Channels – Information on node and device name, receiver channel, socket association and Online/Offline status. Touch to select a device.
2. Add Sennheiser Device – Press to add a Sennheiser receiver to the RF devices list, and type the IP address of the receiver.
3. Associate with Socket – Associate the selected RF device channel with a MixRack, Surface, DX, DT or I/O Port socket. This step is required for RF Info to appear in the Preamp section of Input channels.

4. Enable / Disable Detection – When no devices are connected it is recommended to Disable Detection to minimise network traffic. This can be done for Shure and Sennheiser independently.

   A MixRack power-cycle is required when disabling Shure detection.

5. Clear Offline Devices removes offline RF receivers from the RF Devices list. Unassign All Offline removes all socket associations for offline RF Devices. Unassign All removes all socket associations for both online and offline RF Devices.

Audio

I/O Port

These tabs display information on the fitted card in I/O Port 1, 2 and 3, and give access to any relevant option.

See Appendix D for module specific information.

🛈 Note that clock, redundancy and other options for the Dante, Waves and EtherSound cards are accessed by the Audinate, Waves Audio or Auvitran software respectively. Access to these settings is not provided by the dLive interface.

Audio Sync

Use the Audio Sync page to set the audio clock options for the system.

1. Audio Clock Source – Select the clock source for the dLive system. Set to Internal (96kHz) to use the internal audio clock, this is the default setting. Set to an I/O Port to sync from an audio networking card, or MixRack / Surface BNC Wordclock In to sync from a 96kHz Wordclock provided at the BNC input of the MixRack or Surface.

   When linking two or multiple systems together using audio networking cards, the ‘Sync Source’ system (typically the one that has control over the preamps) is set to Internal and all other systems are set to sync from the relevant I/O Port.

   Only sync from 96kHz sources or, if an M-DL-ADAPT ‘letter-box’ adapter is fitted, from a 48kHz audio networking card fitted in the adapter.

   When using a dLive C Class MixRack, an option is displayed in this page to set the BNC connector as either a Wordclock input or output.

2. Audio Sync Jitter Tolerance – gigaACE is designed as a point to point protocol. Enabling High jitter tolerance allows use of gigaACE in a VLAN or trunk with specific switch manufacturers / models and switch configurations.

   Please note this might introduce jitter and negatively affect audio performance. Refer to our online Knowledgebase for more information.

3. BNC Wordclock Out – Select the sample rate for the Wordclock output provided at the Surface and MixRack. This can be set to Off, 44.1kHz, 48kHz or 96kHz (internal).

Source Select

The Source Select page allows the configuration of up to 20 Source Selectors, each with up to 20 sources, that can be controlled via IP Remote Controllers.

Sources configured in a Source Selector are mutually exclusive on the output Mix. This can be used for example for selection of background music in a room, with automatic crossfades when switching sources.

🛈 Note that any Input or Group routed to the selected output Mix but not selected as a member will not be affected by the Source Selector. This allows for a priority mic, paging, announcement or alarm system to be always routed to the output Mix regardless of the active source in the Source Selector.

1. Sources: Inputs / Mixes – Use the vertical tabs to switch between inputs and mix busses (Grp, Aux. Mains) Drag and drop inputs and/or groups into the lower pane to add them to a Source Select group.

2. Source selector members – This area shows the members of the currently selected Source Select group along with the current level. Each group can contain up to 20 sources which can be any combination of inputs and groups.

   Once a source has been added to the group, touch the source to specify the name, colour and on-level for the source. The name and colour specified for a source here is independent from the name and colour used for the source elsewhere in the system so you can give “friendly” labels to the sources for the operators.

3. Source Selector – Touch to select a Source Select group. Up to 20 Source Select groups can configured.
4. Output – Touch to select a stereo or mono Aux or Matrix that is used as the output for the source select group.

AMM

The Automatic Mic Mixer (AMM) provides automatic level control of multiple microphones for spoken word applications such as conferences and discussion panels involving several participants each with their own mic around a table. This improves intelligibility and can reduce the risk of feedback by reducing the levels of mics which are not being spoken into. Once set, the AMM needs little or no change at all whilst still allowing the engineer to maintain absolute control of the mix.

🛈 The AMM is intended for speech applications, not music.

Main Screen - NOM Mode

ON - When switched to 'ON' the AMM takes automatic control using its own gain element just after each fader.

Chair - You can set a channel as 'Chair' to give it higher priority over the other channels, for example to let a chairman override another speaker. The Chair mic sensitivity and the amount that other channels are automatically ducked when the Chair is open can be set.

Best Mic - This option ensures a single participant activates the one microphone receiving the strongest signal. This can prevent crosstalk, phasing and ambience issues caused by multiple microphones triggering for the same voice. The Chair mic is not part of the Best Mic On calculation.

🛈 We recommend you only select Best Mic On if all microphones involved are the same type and have similar positioning and gain.

Solo - Each input has a solo option which opens the selected channel and turns all others down. This is not additive. Only one channel can be soloed at a time.

Main Screen - D-Classic Mode

Unlike NOM mode which uses gating and fixed gain attenuation, D-Classic uses a 'constant gain sharing' algorithm to dynamically adjust the gain for each mic proportional to its input level. Louder signals will receive more gain in the mix.

Priority Level - For each channel you can set a priority 'level' which will offset the amount of gain going into the mix calculation and therefore give a higher or lower artificial gain to that channel. This is a variable slider with a range from -15dB (low priority) through 0dB (no offset) in the middle to +15dB (high priority) at the top.

ON - When switched to 'ON' the AMM takes automatic control using its own gain element just after each fader.

🛈 D-Classic does not provide Best Mic On, Solo, Chair or other setup functions.

Input Assign

The Input Assign window is used to specify the number of AMMs and the members of each AMM.

1. Inputs – Drag and drop inputs from this area into the desired AMM. All 128 inputs can be accessed, in blocks of 32, via the tabs above the input strips. Turn on Block Select and touch the first and last item you wish to assign to drag a range of channels into the lower window.
2. AMM(s) – Here you can view the members of each active AMM. To remove an input from an AMM, drag and drop the item to the upper pane. A Clear button is provided to quickly remove all inputs from an AMM.
3. Number of AMMs – Choose between 1, 2 and 4 AMM zones:

• 1 AMM = Maximum 64 members
• 2 AMM = Maximum 32 members per AMM

• 4 AMM = Maximum 16 members per AMM

  When working with multiple AMMs in NOM mode, each AMM has its own Chair, Best Mic and Solo options.

  Settings in the Setup screen, including AMM mode, are applied to all active AMM zones.

4. AMM Input metering-point select – Select the metering point for Inputs assigned to the AMM:

• Post Preamp
• Post Gate/PEQ
• Post Compressor (Pre AMM)
• Post Delay (Post AMM)

5. AMM Input to PAFL source select – Select the PAFL source point for Inputs assigned to the AMM:

• Post Preamp
• Post Ins A Ret
• Post PEQ (Pre AMM)
• Post Delay (Post AMM)

Setup: NOM

Side Chain Filter - Set High Pass and Low Pass filters to cut off frequencies below and above the normal speech range that may cause false triggering of the mics.

Off Attenuation - Set the amount of shutoff for closed mics (from -10dB to -90dB).

On Hold Time - Set the amount of time an open mic is held open once the trigger is removed (from 1 to 5 seconds). The Chair mic is not affected by Hold Time.

NOM Attenuation - Set the amount of attenuation applied per doubling of open mics (from 3 to 6dB).

Chair Sensitivity - Set the sensitivity of signal required to trigger a Chair mic open and therefore duck the other mics (from 1 to 10 = least to most sensitive).

Chair Duck Level - Set the amount of attenuation applied to other mics when a Chair mic is open (from -3 to -40dB).

Setup: D-Classic

Side Chain Filter - Set High Pass and Low Pass filters to cut off frequencies below and above the normal speech range that may cause false triggering of the mics.

Talkback

Use this screen to assign and configure Talkback.

Groups

Use this page to choose Talkback destinations and assign them to the twelve Talkback Groups.

1. Use the Select tab to activate Talkback Groups. Enable Additive Mode to allow multiple Talkback Groups to be activated at one time.

   Use the Assign tab to select a Talkback Group, assign destinations and edit the Talkback Group name and colour. Available destinations include Aux, Mtx, Grp and Main mixes. A destination can be selected in more than one Talkback Group and multiple destinations can be selected within a Talkback Group.

   SoftKeys on the Surface, Director and IP Controllers can configured to select a Talkback Group with either momentary or latching action.

   Pressing the physical Talkback Assign button on the Surface, or the virtual Talkback Assign button in Director, will also open this screen.

2. Mixes – Whilst in the Assign tab, with a Talkback Group selected, touch a Mix button to assign Talkback to that destination.

Settings

Use this page to choose the Talkback source and set its options.

1. General – The default Talk switch operation is momentary (press and hold while talking). Turn on Enable Latching for latching operation (press to turn on, press again to turn off).

   Enable Dim PAFL on Talkback attenuates the PAFL signal while talking to prevent feedback from the engineer’s monitor into the Talkback microphone.

2. Talkback Source Select – Use the drop-down menu and Socket box to select the Talkback source from any system input. Press Apply to confirm.
3. Talkback Source Preamp – Set the source Gain, Trim, Pad and phantom power. You can also make the source Safe from Scene recall.
4. HPF – High Pass Filter frequency and In/Out switch.

Mute Groups

dLive provides 8 Mute Groups in addition to the 24 DCA Groups. This page lets you assign channels and mixes to Mute Groups and control Mute masters. You can assign one or more SoftKeys to control the Mute Groups using the Surface / Control / SoftKeys menu.

1. Select the Mute Group using the tabs at the top of the page.
2. These tabs let you navigate all available Input channels, FX Returns and Mixes.
3. Touch the on/off buttons to toggle the channel assignments to the Mute Group.
4. Touch Mute to mute the Mute Group. Touch PAFL to listen to the contribution of the channels assigned to the Mute Group in the Monitor system. Touch SoftKey Setup to open the Surface / Control / SoftKeys menu should you wish to assign the Mute Group to a SoftKey.

🛈 A channel that is muted by either a DCA Mute or Mute Group can be temporarily
unmuted by holding Reset and pressing the Mute button for the Channel.

The temporary unmute can be released manually by holding Reset and pressing the Mute button for the Channel again, or automatically when any DCA Mute or Mute Group the channel is a member of is next Muted.
 

SigGen

The Signal Generator provides a test signal to help you align and test components of a sound system.

1. Assign – Touch a Mix button to assign the SigGen to that destination. Multiple destinations can be assigned simultaneously.

   

   Signal can be routed to one or both sides of a stereo Mix by touching the left or right side of the stereo Mix button.

   The signal routes through the Mix processing, therefore will be affected by the Mix EQ and compressor.

   1. The SigGen is disabled while Talkback is active.

2. Settings – The SigGen Level can be set from fully off to full scale +18dB. Touch the Mute button to turn off.

   There are 4 types of signal available:

• Sine - A pure tone. Set the frequency using the Frequency box. This can be swept across the full audio spectrum from 20Hz to 20kHz.
• White Noise - A signal containing all audio frequencies with equal energy per Hz.
• Pink Noise - A signal containing all audio frequencies with equal energy per octave, a logarithmic curve and typically used for testing speakers and room response.
• Band Pass Noise - Band filtered pink noise centred around the frequency set using the Frequency control.

Controllers

Device Manager

Up to 8 GPIO modules and 16 IP remote controllers per device type are configurable, each with its own assignments and functions.

🛈 Refer to the Remote Controller Getting Started Guide for information on the device hardware and connection.

Adding Remote Controllers to the MixRack / Controllers / Device Manager configures an independent set of controls that can be used with or without Surface connection, for applications such as personal monitoring, room control etc.

Add a device to the Surface / Controllers / Device Manager instead to assign Sel and Mix keys to the IP device and use the remote controller as an extension of the dLive Surface i.e. the channel and Mix selection is shared across the Surface and IP device.

1. Select the device tab using the tabs on top, and select one of the 16 locations in the list. The list shows the unit name of assigned devices.

   The link icon will display green when the physical device is connected to the network and synchronised. It will display red when the device is not present or synchronising after being added.

   The key and fader / rotary assignments for each device are stored in the dLive Scenes. They are not stored on the physical device. These settings belong to the device location in the list, for example you can assign functions and parameters to a location prior to adding a device, or you can remove a device without affecting the functions and parameters of its location.

2. Add Device – touch to assign a physical IP controller to the selected location in the list.

   Remove Device – touch to unassign an IP controller from the selected location.

3. Unit Name – touch to edit the name of the selected device.

   Network – touch to edit the IP address, subnet, and DHCP setting for the selected device. The default settings are:

• IP6: IP 192.168.1.72 Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0 Gateway 192.168.1.254 DHCP off
• IP8: IP 192.168.1.73 Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0 Gateway 192.168.1.254 DHCP off

🛈 To avoid network conflicts, make sure all connected IP controllers are assigned a unique name and IP address.

Quick Setup

Quick Setup lets you quickly assign one or multiple channels to the IP controller strips, automatically mapping the keys and faders / rotaries to a set of default functions and parameters.

⚙ Before you start, hold down Setup and touch anywhere in this screen to edit the default settings for Quick Setup. These settings determine the function of the strips at the moment of assigning to the IP device. They don’t affect strips which are already assigned.

1. Drag and drop channels into the desired position in the lower window. Use the tabs on the left to view different types of channels available, and the tabs on top to navigate to higher / lower number channels.

   Turn on Block Select and touch the first and last item you wish to assign to drag a range of channels.

2. Drag channels out of the box to unassign.
3. Set the active Number of Layers from the dropdown menu and select the Layer you want to assign channels to. Up to 6 SoftKeys on the IP Controller will be automatically assigned to the Layer selection.

Advanced

Advanced allows one-by-one assignment of keys and faders / rotaries.

1. Touch a strip header to expand the view and display the assigned functions or parameters for the strip.
2. Touch a control to assign a function or parameter. Note that the screen will display two rows of rotary controls for the IP6. The lower row is the main function, the upper row is the secondary (push ‘n turn) function. When assigning a level control to a fader or rotary there is the choice of Audio Taper or user definable range.

When Audio Taper is enabled, the fader/encoder will use the same audio curve as the Surface faders. If Audio Taper is disabled, a level range can be specified using the Range Min and Range Max boxes. If the Min = -inf option is enabled then the minimum level of the fader/encoder will be off (-inf) regardless of the range settings.

3. Select the Layer you want to edit.

Simulator

Use this screen to simulate the operation of the selected device.

Touch a key on the screen to control the assigned function. Touch a fader / rotary control and use the Surface screen rotary encoder to control the assigned parameter.