Control Room Cue System Control

Where we discuss new analog design ideas for Pro Audio and modern spins on vintage ones.
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johnbailey
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Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2013 12:47 pm

Control Room Cue System Control

Post by johnbailey »

Hi All,

I'm new here and first time posting...

I run a busy tracking room up here in Toronto, and I'm in the process of designing and building a new Control Room Cue System, and the first ingredient I need to work on is the control panel that will drop into the console. I've done a basic signal flow and control diagram, and I know how I want it to work, and I'm capable of building a prototype myself on a pad-per-hole board, but I do need some advice on a couple of general design building block ideas, and obviously the proper implementation of the audio circuits, and component choices. I'm happy to open source this thing and have it take shape on the board here, if that's appropriate..!.. I'm trying to work on this stuff in the minutes between sessions, and obviously, the music industry isn't exactly flowing with cash these days, but if there are elements that are above and beyond what is reasonable on here, I would obviously dig in for that. I certainly don't want to abuse the hard-earned knowledge and wisdom available here!

So here's the basic description:

There are two parts to this system.

#1 is a control panel that drops into the centre section of my Avid D-Control console, in the place where the Surround Panner (that I NEVER use) currently lives. This panel has switches and controls for 8 cue feeds, talkback controls, talkback mic. The only audio in this panel is the preamp for the built-in talkback mic, and it's level control. The rest of the switches and controls are switch closures and pots for VCA control.

#2 is the audio guts of the system. Located in the amp rack, a one-space chassis with a main board that controls all of the audio. Here, 8 stereo inputs (16 channels) arrive via DB25 connectors as cue mixes, are de-balanced, and VCA's control the volume of each feed, and have the talkback audio added, dimming, and muting. The control panel connects via a control cable and the switch controls at the console end. The 8 stereo feeds are then fed to output connectors via output drivers.

I've been planning on doing this with a bi-polar +/-24V supply for audio, with maybe Burr-Brown OPA-2604's and the PMI SSM-2402 or the like... I'm sure there's some great high-end op amps available these days, and I'm obviously wide open to suggestions!

I've started on an AutoCad drawing of the layout of the switches and pots for the control panel.. Is it OK if I post a screenshot of the control panel layout?

Anyhow, as I said earlier, I'm happy to do this project on the board here, if appropriate, and I have no interest in starting an boutique audio division to manufacture and support these things (somebody else is welcome to do that...) This type of system is desperately needed as the in-between control system for many, many small and large tracking rooms where the consoles just aren't capable of creating 8 stereo cue feeds (much easier to do in a workstation) and all the necessary talkback and comm functions... Most of the off-the-shelf products available that tackle the centre-section-in-a-box task are usually limited to 2 or 3 cue feeds, as is the Xmon system...

Cheers, and sorry for the long initial post!!
JB

http://thedriveshed.com
http://johnbeetlebailey.com
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mediatechnology
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Re: Control Room Cue System Control

Post by mediatechnology »

I've started on an AutoCad drawing of the layout of the switches and pots for the control panel.. Is it OK if I post a screenshot of the control panel layout?
Thanks for joining us John!

Please do post the panel and any signal flow drawings.
Lemme know if you have any problems with attachments.
If you have web hosting or use photobucket you can link to them too.
I try to keep mine below 1000 pixels or so to prevent them from appearing in a frame or being cropped.

Wayne
johnbailey
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Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2013 12:47 pm

Re: Control Room Cue System Control

Post by johnbailey »

OK, sounds good! I'll give it a shot!

Again, please understand that I am in NO way a designer, so these are rudimentary free-hand 'napkin drawings' that serve only to convey the intended functions...

One more thing to explain. The 'Preview' function essentially allows the engineer to listen to each cue mix and make adjustments accordingly. The second phase of this system is intended to include a 16x16 VCA crosspoint mixer (an Intelix M-series), but in it's first iteration, the DIP headers on the main I/O board would be connected directly from A to B.

I'll go ahead and upload some of these sketches..!..
Cheers,
JB
johnbailey
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Re: Control Room Cue System Control

Post by johnbailey »

This is the Remote panel sketch. One oversight here is the TB to Studio button...
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Remote Panel.jpg
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johnbailey
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Re: Control Room Cue System Control

Post by johnbailey »

This is the idea for the Remote Panel PCB (mounted below on standoffs)
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johnbailey
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Re: Control Room Cue System Control

Post by johnbailey »

This is the idea for the IO board... Again, in it's first iteration, the DIP headers would be connected directly A to B. In the second phase, the connectors can be brought to the back of the chassis, and routed to and from the Matrix Mixer. In this mode, rather than mixing 8 specific cues in the control room, the engineer would instead prepare 8 separate band stems for the musicians (and be able to preview and sum them together) that would be individually matrix mixed.
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mediatechnology
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Re: Control Room Cue System Control

Post by mediatechnology »

Would you want to add a Talkback provision to allow a Slate function?
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