Mixing Console Automation - Total Recall - Ultimation

Home History Great Consoles Famous Companies Build Your Own

Home

History

Great Consoles

Famous Companies

Build Your Own

Mixing console automation Designers of high end mixing consoles have been working on ways to automate mixes since the early 1970s, when it became clear that the ever growing number of tracks made it more and more complicated to mix large projects. In some studios several engineers shared the mix work when working on big and important project, but it was obvious that this could be no viable solution. VCA automation A first, simple way to automate mixes is called VCA automation . A VCA is a " Voltage Controlled Amplifier ", something similar to a transistor if you want. Originally the sound signal went directly through the fader , which is in fact a resistor. Moving the fader would increase or lower the volume of the sound. On a VCA mixing console however, the fader is now controling a VCA, and it's the VCA that's altering the volume of the sound. A first advantage is that the VCA is pure electronic, while the fader is a mechanical device. VCA volume control sounds a bit different than fader control, as a VCA is an active element while the fader is a passive element (resistor). Some mixing consoles offering VCA automation also allow to switch from fader to VCA control and vice versa. The big advantage of the VCA solution is that the fader signal can additionally be routed to a very simple A/D converter, and thus the fader position can be recorded by the mixing console computer . During playback the computer uses a simple D/A converter to send a signal directly to the VCA. And that's already a fully working mixing console automation ! The entire VCA stuff is also quite simple, you only have to store fader position changes (no data is stored when the fader isn't moved), a task that could be easily handled by affordable 8-bit computer systems in the 1970s (an 8 bit data word already allows for 256 different fader positions). Moving faders / NECAM / Ultimation The first mixing console offering moving faders called NECAM was developed in the mid 1970s by Neve. Moving faders are based on VCA automation, additionally the fader position can be changed by the mixing console computer using small motors attached to the faders. Moving faders were very expensive to build in the 1970s, the became a high end optional feature in the 1980 while they were already present as standard feature on some 1990s desks. Solid State Logic called their moving faders "Ultimation" . Today they can now even be found on low end gear. Total Recall Faders are the most important element in the mix . The next step would be to remember all positions of all faders, knobs and switches on a mixing console , so that it would become easy to switch between different projects without having to write down all positions of all elements. This feature is now widely known as " Total Recall ". This is the term coined by Solid State Logic , although many engineers now use the term for any kind of desk. Total Recall means that you can "save" all current positions of everything on the desk, but this is no "live recording" and the mixing console is not capable to move knobs for example. If you "recall" a setting, then the mixing console computer will display the correct positions of everything and tell you which knobs or buttons are in an incorrect positon. You will then have to change the settings manually , although this does a lot faster than you may think. Implementing a Total Recall feature many a lot of electronics to be added to a desk. The position of simple switches may still be easy, but each knob will have to feature a separate resistor and an A/D converter. You also shouldn't forget that there are lots of knobs and switches on each channel. Total Recall on an analogue mixing console is a very expensive feature, although it's not very CPU intensive for the mixing console computer as there's no live recording of the settings. You may also want to read our page about the Solid State Logic G series Computer !