Specifications

Midas Digital Audio Systems
VCA and POPulation Groups
With the advent of digital technology consoles channel counts and processing features
have grown to a point where it is just not practical to have all controls physically available
at the same time. Additionally the logistical advantages of smaller control surfaces are
attractive. Midas’ unique approach to solving this problem is to mirror the natural work
ow used by sound engineers and to provide control and supporting feedback of system
status at all levels, from the highest overview to the nest detail. This encourages the
development of a mental picture, or “Mind Map”, of the whole system even though at
times focus may be on one or two specic functions.
For example: as a default channel faders are not layered but scrolled; so the console faders
act as a window onto the available channels in the system and allow you to think of them
as a simple linear progression, like on an analogue console or a channel list, rather then
having to remember which layer things are on. Unlike analogue consoles in this way the
console comes to you rather then the other way around. But this is only the beginning.
At the heart of any Midas control centre are the VCA faders that provide primary mix
control of multiple channels (typically grouped into musical clusters by sound engineers).
A unique innovation in this established mixing approach is the ability to access all the
channel faders belonging to any of the VCA groups at the press of a switch: again the
channels come to you rather than having to go looking for them. VCA groups can be
Solo’d and Muted.
If you think of the VCA faders as if they were each containers for all the channels they
control then nding channels becomes a natural and easy task. This method is further
expanded through the provision of user customised POP (POPulation) groups each of
which can contain any combination of channels that you want to accesses instantly at the
press of a switch. Rather like a VCA without a fader.
This work ow approach is applied to every area of the control surface ensuring ease of
use and appropriately fast access to all controls.
To help further improve the “Mind Map” live sound engineers have typically used colour
when navigating mixing consoles by applying dierent coloured adhesive tape and
swapping coloured fader knobs to help make console navigation faster and more intuitive.
Midas have taken this established principle of channel recognition and applied it to VCA
and POPulation groups with assignable colour-coding and digital write on buttons.
The Midas commitment to innovation was recognised in 2009 with Alex Cooper, Midas
R&D Director, receiving the prestigious Gottelier Award, only the third person to be so
honoured. This award recognises the product developers who have made a signicant and
sustained contribution to the development of equipment and tools that have enabled
entertainment technology practitioners to push the boundaries of event production,
presentation and installation.
Selecting a VCA or POP group will bring all of the members of that group to the
designated area of the control surface, populating from the VCA area outwards. If the
group has more members than visible channels, the group can be viewed by scrolling the
input bay.