Technology Spotlight

TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT

Gamble DCX
Digitally Controlled Analog Console

by Mark Frink

One weekend this summer I drove up to Jim Gamble's secret mountain laboratory and visited the Elevation Club in Tahoe City, where a DCX console is installed. My mission? To find out if mixing with a mouse is just as easy as the old-fashioned way.

Elevation boasts a view of the south shore of Lake Tahoe, and owners Joscylen and Steve Sacks have installed an equally classy sound system: four ex-Grateful Dead Meyer Sound UM-1 wedges, with MSL-2s for mains, plus Bag End ELF subwoofers. DCX project manager Blake Beeman doubles as the house engineer, and, over the next two nights, I mixed Five Fingers of Funk and San Diego's Greyboy All-stars on the DCX.

The DCX is a digitally controlled analog console. Cortek's VACS software puts graphic representations of all of the console's controls on a computer screen, and these are then manipulated with a mouse. I first listened to a DCX board mix of the Tony Furtado band, recorded the night before on the club's Otari CD recorder. The low end coming from the Meyer HD-1s in Jim Gamble's living room was incredible, and the open, full sound compared to that of a high-end recording console--what you'd expect from a Gamble.

Apart from the name, however, the DCX has little in common with its predecessors. The DCX's input modules mount vertically in a card cage, with a patchbay above and power supplies below. The DCX comes in three sizes. The largest, the 60-input Event, occupies a double-wide rack and offers eight stereo subs, eight stereo matrix outputs and 16 stereo auxiliary buses. Each input channel has two mic and two line inputs, plus two independent cue systems, a setup that allows you to line check a complete second set of inputs while another engineer is mixing. Each input module has jacks for mic and line inputs, pre- and post-EQ insert, gate and compressor sidechain, gate key and direct out. Only the back of the rack is reminiscent of an EX analog console, with RAM Latch multicore connectors and rows of XLRs.

The DCX's two-part software runs under Windows NT. An onboard Pentium computer runs the server software that communicates with each card in the mixer. In multiple DCX setups, the mixer may be controlled from any of up to eight computers over Ethernet. An administrator controlling a central server can override individual operators.

The DCX Event has more than 12,000 controls (compared to the 3,900 found on an EX56), which allows for the inclusion of full-featured gates and compressors on every channel. The absence of physical pots, faders and switches means that the usual shortcomings of mechanical devices--vulnerability to dirt and wear-and-tear, for example--are eliminated. The software-based controls are accurate, and response is precise and smooth.

MIXING WITH A MOUSE

Though Gamble had assured me that I'd be pleasantly surprised, I harbored serious reservations about the practicality of live computer-based mixing. But I found that, though it's only possible to see a portion of the entire console's control surface on even a large CRT monitor, the scrolling is quick and using the mouse to mix is intuitive and fun. Without once referring to a manual, I was mixing the entire band by the second night.

When confronted with a large mixing board, most mixers go through the same familiar motions, tracing a finger over to the input strip and then up to the intended control. On the DCX, one executes the same moves, but with different hand-eye coordination, because the cursor on a computer monitor represents your finger. But with the mouse, you can get to the end of the console with a flick of the wrist. The operator's line-of-sight moves, but not the ears.

Other mixing devices are possible. I brought a Kensington trackball, but some might prefer touchpads (or light sabers). Some very interesting future control and display options were discussed.

Up to eight copies of the client software may be run on multiple computers simultaneously, allowing for mixing by several operators and a division of mixing chores. Access to the controls from these additional workstations can be limited to a subset appropriate to their tasks. For example, an extra station might be dedicated to drums, while others could be used for instruments, vocals and effects. Operators may also customize their console views or windows to suit each individual's style. For example, the "money fader" can be placed onscreen right next to its EQ controls and FX sends. Also, with 16 stereo auxiliaries, it is easy to imagine a DCX shared by both an FOH and a monitor engineer, each using their own workstation.

There's more. With the use of a wireless LAN, it's possible to mix from any seat in the house. The second night at Elevation, I used a P150 laptop to mix from the end of the bar, and also from out on the patio (you can't smoke in a club in California). Imagine being able to mix from the tenth row with only a couple of seat kills. Theatrical producers will note that the seats saved by not putting a traditional console in the audience might even pay for the DCX over the long run.

Oh, yes. The David Andrews test was inadvertently performed the first night when the club was packed and a patron stepped on a cable coming from the distro, unplugging the rack. The console's modules maintained their state, despite the loss of AC, and the server only took a few moments to re-boot.

Grouping is easy, snapshots can be stored, and mixes can be automated. Because the mixer is configurable offline, changes can be made on the airplane to the first show or in the bus lounge, while the DCX rides on a semi. After familiarizing myself with the system over a couple of shows, I began to see that there are endless advantages. The exciting thing about this console is that the possibilities have barely been scratched. Look for it at AES.

Ramtech Industries: 800/817-2683; fax 352/466-0906. AudioMation Inc.: 702/656-0874; fax 702/656-1595. Secret Mountain Lab: 530/583-0138; fax 530/583-0138; Web site: www.gambleboards.com.