M350 DUAL ENGINE PROCESSOR USER’S MANUAL
IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS The lightning flash with an arrowhead symbol within an equilateral triangle is intended to alert the user to the presence of uninsulated “dangerous voltage” within the product’s enclosure that may be of sufficient magnitude to constitute a risk of electric shock to persons. The exclamation point within an equilateral triangle is intended to alert the user to the presence of important operating and maintenance (servicing) instructions in the literature accompanying the product.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS EMC / EMI This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to part 15 of the FCC rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in residential installations. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications.
TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION APPENDIX Table of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Front Panel Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Rear Panel Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Signal Flow Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Typical M350 Setups . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 MIDI Implementation Chart . . . . . . . .30 MIDI Continuous Controllers . . . . . . .31 Reset Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 MIDI Bulk Dump . . . . .
QUICK START – IF YOU JUST CAN’T WAIT If you just can’t wait to hear the great effects waiting for you in your new M350 Dual Effects processor, follow the few steps in this quick setup guide: • Unpack the M350 and check for possible damages that could have been caused by transport. • Read the safety instructions. • Take a few minutes to register online via: www.tcelectronic.com or send in the registration card.
INTRODUCTION Congratulations on the purchase of your M350 Dual Effects Processor from TC Electronic M350 is an extremely user-friendly dual engine rack processor which is equally suited for live and studio applications. It combines 15 quality reverbs with 15 multi-purpose effects including Delay, Modulation, De-Ess and compression. M350 features a front panel user interface, which is optimized for easy and speedy operation in a live performance situation.
FRONT PANEL OVERVIEW INPUT knob Adjusts the input level. 1/L and 2/R LEDS 3 color LEDs indicating input level on left and right inputs. Green: -40dB Yellow: -6dB Red: -1dB MIX knob Adjusts the mix between the wet and the dry signal. 100% “wet” is achieved at fully clockwise position. EFFECTS BALANCE knob Adjusts the balance between the Effects engine and the Reverb engine. Maximum effect from both engines is achieved at 12 o’clock position. DIGI IN button and LED LED Off Digital input is set to off.
FRONT PANEL OVERVIEW REVERB Type selector Selects between 15 different reverb types or sets the Reverb engine to “Off”. PRE DELAY knob Controls the relative pre delay of the selected Reverb. DECAY knob Controls the relative decay of the selected reverb. COLOR knob Controls the relative color of the selected reverb. LOAD/HOLD TO STORE key This key has two functions: • Press once to load the preset selected via the CURSOR UP/DOWN keys. • Press and hold to store the current preset.
REAR PANEL Routing Switch Balanced Jack Analog Inputs Balanced Jack Analog Outputs Digital S/PDIF Input/ Output ROUTING switch Switches between Dual Input and Serial routing modes. Dual Input mode: Switch is in, and the green LED on the front panel is on. Serial mode: Switch is out, and the green LED on the front panel is off. You can learn much more about these routing options on page 23. See also the suggested setups at pages 10-15. Analog input Analog input on 1/4 inch connectors.
SIGNAL FLOW MIDI Cable DIN CONNECTOR 5POLE – MALE 180 degrees DIN CONNECTOR 5POLE – MALE 180 degrees max.
TYPICAL SETUPS Connecting and Setting up the M350 Setting up the M350 is very easy. It is, however, important to connect and setup the M350 correctly according to your application. Setting up basically means: connecting, selecting one of the two routing options via the switch on the rear panel and finally setting the MIX control on the front panel. Find the setup you are about to create or similar on the following two pages – and follow the instructions.
TYPICAL SETUPS Setup Serial Setup This setup utilizes the M350 as a delayeffects processor connected in serial to a reverb. It is ideal when you wish to add reverb to a signal already processed by one of the delay-effects. The illustrated setup is a typical live instrument setup. • On the rear panel, select Serial routing by leaving the switch in “out” position. • Connect a line signal directly from your instrument or from a DI-box to the M350’s inputs (use the left input for mono signals).
TYPICAL SETUPS Setup “Parallel Setup” (analog input only) This setup utilizes the M350 as a dual processor on a mono signal with a common stereo output. Routing Schematic • On the rear panel, select Dual Input routing mode by leaving the ROUTING switch in the “in” position. • Connect AUX1 (or any) to left input. Make NO connections to right input. The left input signal is automatically fed to the right input internally in the M350.
TYPICAL SETUPS Setup Guitar Setups This setup utilizes the M350 as a delay-effects processor connected in serial to a reverb. It is ideal when you wish to add reverb to a signal already processed by one of the delay-effects. This is a typical guitar setup. • On the rear panel, select SERIAL routing by leaving the switch in the “out” position. • Connect your guitar to the preamp’s input. • Connect the preamp's output to the M350's left input. • Connect the M350’s left output to the input on your amp.
TYPICAL SETUPS Digital Setup - M350 as Insert This setup is ideal if you are using the M350 as a digital insert effect on your hard disk recording system. This setup requires that you are using an I/O card with S/PDIF In/Out. • Select Serial Routing by leaving the ROUTING switch on the rear panel in “out” position. • Connect the M350’s S/PDIF digital out to the digital input on your soundcard. • Connect the digital out on your soundcard to the digital in on the M350.
TYPICAL SETUPS Digital Setup - M350 as A to D converter The analog to digital converters in the M350 are superior to most converters used on soundcards in the affordable price range. You can therefore most likely benefit from using the M350 as an A to D converter when doing hard disk recordings. Feed the M350 with an analog input e.g. from you mixer or instrument line signal, and you are feeding a high quality digital signal from the S/PDIF out to your digital recording system.
OPERATING – INPUT/OUTPUT SECTION INPUT GAIN This knob controls the input level for both the analog and digital input options. For optimal performance of the M350, a well-adjusted input level is essential. LED Off Digital input is set to “off”. The M350 processes only the signal present on the analog inputs. This is done at an internal sample rate of 44.1kHz.
OPERATING – INPUT/OUTPUT SECTION MIX RATIO Sets the mix between dry and wet signal. The Mix parameter operates differently depending on the selected routing: In “Dual S/R” routing, “MIX” controls the overall wet/dry mix of both the Delay/Effects and the Reverb section. In “Serial” routing, “MIX” functionality in the “Effects” section depends on the selected effect: The Compressor and De-Esser effects have a fixed mix setting of 100% in Serial routing.
THE DELAY-EFFECTS ENGINE Delay / Effects Engine Effect Selector With the EFFECT selector you select between one of the following effects and Off. • • • • • • • • Dynamic Delay Studio Delay Triplets Delay Soft Delay Ping Pong Delay SlapBack Delay Smooth Phaser Vintage Phaser • • • • • • • Tremolo Instrument Flanger Lush Chorus Smooth Chorus De-Esser Hard Comp Comp -12dB, -6dB, -3dB Gain Reduction LEDs These LEDs indicate the applied gain reduction in the compression and de-ess algorithms.
THE DELAY-EFFECTS ENGINE TIMING knob – De-Ess and Compression: For the De-Ess algorithm the TIMING knob controls the Amount parameter. For the Compressor algorithm the TIMING knob controls the Drive parameter. The higher you set the TIMING knob, the harder the Compressor is hit. Or you could say that the threshold is lowered and make-up gain is applied at the same time as level compensation. TIMING knob – Chorus, Flanger, Phaser and Tremolo: Increases/decreases the tempo.
THE REVERB ENGINE Reverb Engine Reverb Selector Select between the following Reverb types or “Off”. • • • • • • • • TC Classic Hall Cathedral Vocal Reverb Live Vocal Hall Acoustic Drum Ambience Drum Room Ambience • • • • • • • Living Room Nearfield Damped Room Silver Plate Gold Plate Spring Vintage Live Stage To hear the carefully designed default settings for each of the Reverb types set PRE DELAY, DECAY and COLOR knobs in “12 o’clock” position (neutral).
STORE – RECALL & THE DISPLAY Edited knobs LEDs Preset Modes Display The M350 holds two significantly different modes. To toggle between these modes, press the PRESET ON/OFF key. Edited knobs LEDs (relevant only in “Preset On” mode) These LEDs refer to the 10 front panel controls. See illustration above. They indicate when the front controls do not match the current settings of the active preset. “Preset On” mode In this mode it is possible to load any of the previously stored presets.
MISCELLANEOUS Factory Presets The M350 holds no conventional factory presets. When all the controllers are in 12 o’clock position, the M350 is “in neutral”, meaning that all parameters are set as suggested by TC Electronic. Combining the 16 positions of both the DELAY/EFFECTS and the REVERB selector, you actually have access to 256 "factory" presets. MIDI CH. Via an external MIDI device it is possible to recall presets and control the M350’s parameters.
ROUTINGS It is essential that you have selected the correct routing according to your setup: Serial Routing With this routing, the two engines are used as a chain of two effects where the signal first passes the Delay/Effects engine and thereafter the Reverb engine. This is the routing to select when you want to add reverb to a signal after the signal has been processed by the Delay/Effects engine.
DELAY-EFFECTS This manual section explains the function of the front panel controls as well as the algorithm parameters in the Delay-effects section. Delay – Controls TIMING knob Both the TIMING and the TAP key are used to specify the desired tempo of the repeats. A tempo is tapped on the TAP key and you multiply this tempo using the TIMING knob. The range of the TIMING knob is 0.5 to 2. See example below. FEEDBACK knob The FEEDBACK knob sets the number of delay repeats.
DELAY-EFFECTS Studio Delay The Studio Delay algorithm will give you a clear reproduction of the material fed to the M350. To soften the Delay (as it is commonly done in studio productions), the Studio Delay uses a subtle yet significant HiCut at a relatively high crossover frequency. Triplets Delay Tap the tempo in 1/4 notes and the delay repeats will play in 1/4 note triplets according to the tapped tempo.
DELAY-EFFECTS Parameters associated with Compression Threshold As soon at the input signal is above the set threshold point, the output level of the compressor will be reduced according to the specified ratio. Ratio Specifies how aggressive the gain reduction of the signal should be. With a ratio setting of e.g. 4:1, for every 4dB that the signal is above the threshold point, only 1dB is passed to the output. Attack Specifies how fast the gain reduction specified by the ratio parameter should be applied.
DELAY-EFFECTS Phaser Hard Tremolo/Soft Phaser – Controls Tremolo – Controls TIMING knob In the Phaser algorithm, the TIMING knob sets the speed of the Phaser. TIMING knob In the Tremolo algorithm, the TIMING knob sets the speed of the tremolo. FEEDBACK/DEPTH knob In the Phaser algorithm, the FEEDBACK/DEPTH knob sets the depth of the phasing effect. FEEDBACK/DEPTH knob In the Tremolo algorithm, the FEEDBACK/DEPTH knob sets the depth of the tremolo effect.
REVERBS The M350 holds the following Reverb types: • • • • • • • TC Classic Hall Cathedral Vocal Reverb Live Vocal Hall Acoustic Drum Ambience Drum Room • • • • • • • • Ambience Living Room Nearfield Damped Room Silver Plate Gold Plate Spring Vintage Live Stage Each of these reverb types has been created and fine-tuned by the highly experienced staff at TC Electronic and utilizes the vast experience in producing high quality Reverbs accumulated over the past years.
REVERBS Drum – Ambience This reverb was especially designed to emulate the recording rooms typically used for drums. The Drum Ambience is a 80’s style ambient room with only very short reflections. The Drum Ambience emulates the reflections in a medium sized drum room with a high ceiling – giving longer but natural sounding reflections compared to the Drum Room. Drum Room The Drum Room reverb will flavor your drums and percussive source material with great elegance.
APPENDIX – MIDI IMPLEMENTATION CHART DUAL ENGINE PROCESSOR M350 – APRIL 2006 Function Basic Channel Transmitted 1 1-16 Recognized 1 OMNI-1-16 X X Pitch Bend Control Change X X X X X X X O X X X X X X X O Prog Change O O SysEx Common O X X O X X X O X X X X X X X X X X Mode Default Changed Default Messages Altered Note Number Velocity After Touch True Voice Note ON Note OFF Key’s Channel Song Pos Song Sel Tune System real time Clock Aux Messages O:YES X:NO 30 Commands Local ON/OFF A
APPENDIX – MIDI CC & RESET & BULK DUMP You can control the parameters listed below by sending MIDI Control Changes from an external MIDI device. Parameter Control Change number: In Level Mix Effect Bal. Digi. In Bypass 12 13 14 15 81 Delay Type Delay/Effects. Off Timing Tap Feedback 50 82 16 80 17 Rev. Type Rev. Off PreDelay Decay Color 51 83 18 19 20 MIDI Bulk Dump By performing a MIDI bulk dump, you can dump all presets to an external MIDI device (e.g. a sequencer) for backup purposes.
APPENDIX – Digital Input and Output Connector: Formats: Sample Rates: Processing Delay: Frequency Response DIO: Analog Inputs Connectors: Impedance, Bal / Unbal: Max. / Min. Input Level @ 0 dBFS: Sensitivity Range @ 12 dB headroom: A to D Conversion: A to D Delay: Dynamic Range: THD: Frequency Response: Crosstalk: Analog Outputs Connectors: Impedance Bal / Unbal: Max.
