Dangerous D-Box for Dummies: [Archive]

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Broken_English

19 Sep 2009, 13:30

I’m having difficulty grasping the a few functions with the D-Box. Basically, I’ll just list my issues, and hopefully, someone will jump in and provide some insight.

• Special verses Normal modes (what makes the Special Mode special) and when to use them.
• After holding down the buttons and entering in Set-up mode… I press buttons, to try to understand functions, but usually spazz out and keep experimenting. At the end, I’m not sure what mode I’m in. Is there a panic button to get back to the Factory Reset?
• When using the D-Box for Outboard Processing, does anyone have any tips for setting up Mixing Templates (for example Spdif as MAIN Outs, Outs 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 for summing, dedicated outputs for Send and Return).
• Calibrating the D-Box (as a reference point are the SUM and Volume know usually positioned at 12 O’clock)
• When printing the SUM output, do you usually adjust the Sum output or should I adjust the Gain on my A/D converter (Mytek).
• Finally, I know, I’m supposed to monitor the inputs, which I assume are routed to the DAW/Spdif outs.

I understand a few of these questions are a little elementary; I just need a little clarification for peace of mind.

I currently have my Outboard gear ½ Normalled to my Inputs (via patchbay), and Patch my Outputs of my interface to the D-Box. The SUM outputs are them patched to my Mytek for printing.

My question is… let’s say my 2 Buss Comp is ½ Normalled to Inputs 7/8 of my interface, and I am Summing the Output of my DAW, which is currently using outputs 7/8… Once I patch the SUM Output to my 2 Buss and into my Mytek won’t I run into problems?

I guess you can see where my confusion lies. Once again any advice is greatly appreciated.

Jay

BT_

19 Sep 2009, 21:24

English..maybe I can help...

I have never heard of "special mode" so I can be of no help there..

when you are in setup mode just hit the sum button and all will be well..

as far as the sum mixer it is three stereo pairs and 7-8 are mono with pan..think of it as a 8x2 mixer with pan on 7-8.....your 2 bus comp should be on the 2 bus,not 7-8...take the sum output into a 2 bus comp out of that into your ad back to daw....as far as gain staging the sum output that is a call you make "in the situation"the sum output all the way right is unity,so you make the call how hard you want to hit the bus comp etc....

make a stereo track in the daw come from the bus comp into that track,the backside or output of that track,if possible should go to the D-Box digital in i.e..Daw..this way you can monitor what you are printing..

Hope this helps

Peace
b
t

BT_

19 Sep 2009, 21:34

also I would probably 1/2 normal your outputs to the D-Box sum inputs..this creates an insert point...then you can patch whatever you want where you want..

b
t

SoundEng1

19 Sep 2009, 22:25

Very Nice BT!

Mixwell

20 Sep 2009, 01:01

Special verses Normal modes (what makes the Special Mode special) and when to use them.

Let me take a stab at this one

In Special Mode

You can MIX - all the Stereo and SUM Inputs together, to the monitor path.

The DAW IN or CD IN [one at a time]

Analog Stereo IN

SUM IN

All can feed the monitors at the same time.

In Normal Mode

Each Stereo Input is defeated when another is selected.

Broken_English

20 Sep 2009, 08:22

BT/Miwxell

I appreciate the clarification... make sense.

KHilbert

03 Oct 2009, 00:10

I've been interested in this unit but I'm still confused by what I feel should be common sense, specifically with the summing and sum output.

From my interface I would output 3 stereo pairs (drums, guitars, etc.) panned however I want within the stereo field plus 2 mono tracks (bass, lead vocals, etc.) which I could pan using the d-box if so desired. Is this correct? I just want to make sure that I'd do all the panning while setting up the submixes.

If I come out of the sum output then into a compressor or EQ into my AD then a stereo track in PTs. Then I use the digital ins on the d-box won't there be a bit of latency going through AD then DA? Not that it'd be super important seeing as it would just be set this way in order to print the 2 buss, just curious.

Thanks! Cool new forum.

Mixwell

03 Oct 2009, 11:04

From my interface I would output 3 stereo pairs (drums, guitars, etc.) panned however I want within the stereo field plus 2 mono tracks (bass, lead vocals, etc.) which I could pan using the d-box if so desired. Is this correct? I just want to make sure that I'd do all the panning while setting up the submixes.

Channels 7/8 of the SUM are the only pan able inputs. 1-6 are mono, so you can create three stereo sub mixes in you DAW, like you said, and then any panning inside these stereo sub-groups needs to happen with the DAW.

If I come out of the sum output then into a compressor or EQ into my AD then a stereo track in PTs. Then I use the digital ins on the d-box won't there be a bit of latency going through AD then DA? Not that it'd be super important seeing as it would just be set this way in order to print the 2 buss, just curious.

There is always latency, expect in heaven.

The latency doesn't matter in this application, because you are monitoring the stereo mix as a whole, though the Dangerous DAC, and its not really the same as trying to monitor a vocal or instrument against a stereo track coming from the DAW. You're not trying to hear anything in real time, against audio coming from the computer. As long as the mix gets back the DAC, you're good.

KHilbert

03 Oct 2009, 11:14

Awesome. That's what I thought but just wanted to make sure I had it right. Thanks.

Waterboy

04 Jul 2010, 14:40

DBox won't power on!
.
It was working last night. But not today!!!!
I have everything plugged into my Monster Pro 3500 "Power Center"
Last night when I was done working, I turned the Monster off.
That's what I do. Saving the planet one watt at a time 'n' all.
Today I power everything up - but the DBox doesn't want to play.
I read in the manual you should connect power to the DBox first, or else you run the risk of "arc'ing" or something.
Is that what happened?

I went ahead and unplugged everything from the DBox. Waited a few minutes.
Then tried to power it up again ... but nothing.

Any thoughts?
Thanks

Mixwell

04 Jul 2010, 15:38

Mo Facta

21 Aug 2010, 03:24

• Special verses Normal modes (what makes the Special Mode special) and when to use them.

Special mode is the ability to set the device (via the setup option) to monitor all inputs simultaneously. This is good when you're monitoring back, say, through the DAW input, while still having a sub-mix (for instance) patched through the analog inputs. Same goes for if you also need to hear the summing bus or an attached CD player.

• After holding down the buttons and entering in Set-up mode… I press buttons, to try to understand functions, but usually spazz out and keep experimenting. At the end, I’m not sure what mode I’m in. Is there a panic button to get back to the Factory Reset?

The mode is determined by what lights are illuminated (SUM, ANALOG, etc) while the unit is in setup mode. Obviously, you're in setup mode once you've depressed both the MONO and ALT SPKR buttons simultaneously, thus causing them to alternately flash red. Once the lights are flashing, you have a two options:

Pressing the SUM button, thus illuminating it, will allow you to monitor all imputs simultaneously. This is special monitoring mode.
Pressing the ANALOG button adds 11 or so dB's of gain to the analog input for monitoring sources that utilize the -10dB reference level (consumer ref level).

• When using the D-Box for Outboard Processing, does anyone have any tips for setting up Mixing Templates (for example Spdif as MAIN Outs, Outs 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 for summing, dedicated outputs for Send and Return).

What I do is I create four stereo output busses and route them accordingly to their corresponding D Box summing inputs in succession, i.e. Stereo 1 (L/R) -> Sum input 1/2, etc. The stereo sum output from the D Box is then routed to two available inputs on my A/D. I then create a stereo return track in my DAW and route the aforementioned stereo input to the input of the track. The output of this track is then routed to an available output bus which returns to the DAW input of the D Box. It is worth mentioning that turning on solo defeat (or solo safe) on your mix return track and it's corresponding output bus is important if you want to be able to solo individual tracks while mixing.

• Calibrating the D-Box (as a reference point are the SUM and Volume know usually positioned at 12 O’clock)

The D Box does not come with any calibration parameters. However, to answer your question in parenthesis, in my case, I found that the SUM knob is pretty much at unity when at 3/4 of the way round, say, at 2 o'clock. I usually leave my volume knob at halfway. If you leave it there your gain staging internally will most likely evolve to it's optimum.

• When printing the SUM output, do you usually adjust the Sum output or should I adjust the Gain on my A/D converter (Mytek).

Keep all your digital gains conservative and adjust your mix gain at the D Box. That way you can keep the same digital resolution.

• Finally, I know, I’m supposed to monitor the inputs, which I assume are routed to the DAW/Spdif outs.

Yes, as before, your mix return should be monitored through a seperate output bus routed to the DAW input of your D Box via AES/EBU or S/PDIF.

I currently have my Outboard gear ½ Normalled to my Inputs (via patchbay), and Patch my Outputs of my interface to the D-Box. The SUM outputs are them patched to my Mytek for printing.

That sounds like a reasonable setup. What I've found is that monitoring the SUM section directly from the D Box sounds a lot different than monitoring back through your A/D internally within your DAW (IOW, through your mix return track). In fact, if you A/B the DAW section (mix return) vs. the SUM section, you'll most likely hear a vast improvement in quality. I did. I have seeked answers as to why but have found no acceptable answers other than other people experiencing the same thing. My opinion is therefore to always monitor your summed mix through a mix return track and route it out to the DAW input of the D Box.

My question is… let’s say my 2 Buss Comp is ½ Normalled to Inputs 7/8 of my interface, and I am Summing the Output of my DAW, which is currently using outputs 7/8… Once I patch the SUM Output to my 2 Buss and into my Mytek won’t I run into problems?

If I get you correctly, your mix bus is 7/8 and what you're basically doing is inserting a master bus compressor between the D Box and your interface. That's fine as long as you don't now try to monitor your mix back through 7/8 again. That is why you need at least 1 stereo input and 5 stereo output busses (4 to the SUM inputs and 1 for mix return) to fully exploit the features of the D Box. So, I would look at the Mytek as your dedicated summing converters and use an available S/PDIF or AES/EBU line to monitor back the mix return via the DAW input on the D Box.

Hope that helps.

Cheers :)

DeyBwah

05 Nov 2010, 19:22

This might be a question for Dangerous, but I'll pose it here first as I just stumbled into this thread.

My summing inputs 7-8's panning knobs feel a little 'off'. What I mean is.. center, or.. not sure how to describe this exactly, but that little indent which is supposed to signify center, is actually not centered but slightly off center, on both knobs. For those who already own the D-Box, do your indents line up perfectly at 12 o'clock? Mine are both a little bit shy of 12 o'clock.. it's more like 12:30.. Should I be aligning to the indent or visually 12 o'clock?

void1985

17 Mar 2011, 18:09

Mo Facta

19 Mar 2011, 04:12

very nice read!
i'm about to purchase a d-box myself, so all the info is very welcome!

the video I found to be extremely helpful was:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVgnGmP2rGY
lVgnGmP2rGY

also, since I use a digi003.

Ah, Fabulous Fab. I met him and Vance Powell a couple of years ago at a workshop. Really entertaining and informative guy. Thanks for the vid!

Cheers :)