OT:Presonus Central Station Users? Question...

[Ken P]

owners of the central station - can you tell me if your talkback mic signal that travels out the cue mix L-R is in tandem with the stereo mix? hope this question makes sense...

i currently have a samson c-control along with a 4 channel headphon dist amp. i feed 4 individual mixes to the headphones via 4 aux sends from PT, and i use the talkback from the samson c-control to feed all 4 mixes via the main in on the 4 channel headphone amp and the balance between aux and main on each headphone channel, so it should be that the individual headphones all hear what they are supposed to - more drums in #1, less drums in #2, etc - along with me talking to them across all 4 mixes. but recently i reallized the c-control is not only sending my talkback to all 4 headphones but the stereo mix as well, so now there are no longer individual mixes in the headphones, but an entire mix as well as individual mixes. to avoid this, i have to turn down the main mix gain and turn it up every time i want to talk, which defeats the purpose of the talkback switch to begin with... it is such a pain. all i want is a talkback mic that i can control an feed to all 4 headphones, WITHOUT a stereo mix going with it. is this possible with the central station? i need some sort of "central station" for my monitors and such, but it's frustrating if i can't use the built in talk back do do what i want it to and i need to have a customized talkback box... anyone have any input?

[Severe]

Hey Ken,

I just hooked up my Central Station the other night but havent gotten to it all yet.
I can tell you, via the manual, that the unit is equipped with seperate cue and main signal paths. "The cue includes the talkback signal and is intended for sending the signal to the artist via an external headphone amp or the two onboard headphone amps. The main signal in intended for the control room and does not include the talkback signal."

Regarding the CS vrs. the C-Control...I had a C-Control for the last several months (it performed its job well) and it was suggested, by someone I have a lot of respect for, that I should look into the CS. At first listen I noticed a big difference between the two units. The CS definitely has a noticeably clearer sound and better depth of field. Youll notice the improvement right away. The remote works fine as well. Let me know how it goes.


Manual

[Ken P]

thanks for the info! i know the c-control can't be all that at a 99$$ price tag, so i am glad to hear the CS is a step up. i especially like the fact that it has higher quality i/o and signal handling, as well as digital in's. and the remote option can't be beat either! i just wanted to make sure before i make the purchase that the one thing i want out of the unit more than anything will work... at that price, i'd hate to buy it and still need an extra unit to get what i want out of it...

so that is perfect, if what you say is true, (i assume so, since that is what the manual says, right?) then i will be in business!!! that is awesome too that it sends the talkback across the built in headphones for tracking in the control room. this CS appears to be a truly top notch unit.

[EGS]

I love my CS. The talkback works great. Not sure about your multiple headphone mixes, though. The CS cue mix will be all one mix.

[Ken P]

i guess to clarify, headphones would be a unit i have that has 4 headphone amps with a direct "aux input" on ea, i.e. aux 1,2,3,4 in pt get's set to those directly for individual headphones mixes, BUT there is a balance knob on each hph amp to balance between the aux and a single main input for all 4 - this is where i plug my talkback, so all 4 hph amps have their own mix plus my talkback simultaniously. hope that makes sense...

what i am trying to determin is that the talkback that comes out of the cue L-R on the rear of the CS is talkback only, no main mix, aux source, ect. looking at the unit, it appears that you can switch on main mix or an aux source to travel out the cue L'R, but if not it is strictly talkback only? i need to look at the manual to determin this when i get a chance, but there is no substitution for someone's input from personal experience with the unit

[EGS]

When you push talkback, the CS lowers the level of the selected cue mix signal. But if you feed no signal into the CS cue mix input, then it WOULD be talkback only!

[Ken P]

so if i read you right, as long as the buttons for the cue mix are not depressed, than it is in fact talkback only out of the cue mix L-R? sorry i am beating this to death, but that darn samson i have carries the mix with the talkback no matter what, which is purly stupid!

[EGS]

Well, on the CS you MUST depress an input signal button, i.e. it dosen't let you leave all buttons out. Just don't feed in any signal into, say, the TRS1 inputs, select TRS1 as you cue mix source, then in fact when you hit talkback, ONLY the talkback signal will come out of the CS cue outputs because the TRS1 signal is nothing! (My personal opinion, by the way, is that multiple cue mixes are more trouble than they're worth. I use really good closed back headphones, the AKG 171S's, and give everybody the same finely adjusted mix. The closed back headphones are important so that each person's own instrument is NOT heard acoustically, just through the cans. Sometimes there is a compromise to the requested mix levels, but I find it's a better musical vibe having everyone "on the same page" regarding their cue mix. Just my opinion.) Get the CS!!!

[Ken P]

gotcha... thant settle it, i am on it! this is exactly what i need, PLUS a better over all unit than what i have now. thanks for the info!

ya know, i did that originally with my cue mixes and had too many issues with people wanting to hear something and none of something else, the other person the oposite, it never fails! so in my situation the comfort levels were never right until i switched to what i am doing now. once i switched, it has worked like a charm for quite a long time. i used to just route talkback as another mic channel but i can't see waisting a perfictly good mic pre on my voice, so i keep those free for more inportant things, and the c-control was bought purely for the talkback - which i have come to discover is CRAP for what i am doing. so on the cues, i guess it all depends on what type of people you work with, some are more fragile artists than others, but what it comes down to is if the musicians i record are not comfortable, it ends up being more "fix it in the mix" than what it is worth. for all these folks i work with, the best way to put it is: if i don't give them all their own baby rattles, i end up changing ALL their dirty diapers in the end