CTP Systems DBbox2 Manuel utilisateur

dBbox2

the manual

version 3 firmware

Introduction - version 3 firmware

The dBbox2 is an evolution of our original dBbox designed primarily for use by sound

and audio installation engineers. The unit is fitted with a powerful digital signal

processor and separate microcontroller providing huge flexibility for future firmware

updates. The unit allows monitoring, metering and generation of both stereo

analogue and AES/EBU audio from a pocket sized unit. The dBbox2 includes a simple

five button menu interface to make any test as simple as possible. With the dBbox2

you can listen to and meter AES/EBU at many sample rates, analogue line and

microphone level signals with or without phantom power. The unit can analyse

sample rate, bits, status word and errors. It can send tone at various levels and

frequencies, send microphone input to analogue line or AES/EBU output at 48kHz or

96kHz, test phantom power, test MIDI transmit and receive, read and generate

linear timecode, generate up to 80mS of delay and more.

Some general information

The battery symbol on the top right of the display shows if you have enough battery

power for the current function. A solid block is a full battery. The dBbox2 has an

intelligent battery management system that switches off all electronics not in use for

a particular test. Different functions use varying amounts of power, generating

phantom from a 9 volt battery uses a lot of power and should be avoided for

extended periods unless on external power.

When on external power (via the mini USB connector) the battery symbol will

change to USB.

Press < and > together to toggle the LCD display backlight on and off.

Inserting a jack into the ¼ inch or 3.5mm headphone socket will cut the internal

loudspeaker.

Meter scale may be selected to either PPM or VU for analogue inputs and PPM,VU,

-18dBFS or -20dBFS for digital inputs.

At any point in the menu system pressing Vol- and Vol+ together will return you to

the main top menu.

When the volume is adjusted a ‘slider’ display will appear with visual indication of

the current volume setting.

Using the menu system

Any menu item without > next to it is a selection. Just highlight the required line and

press ‘select’ to jump to the function.

Any menu item with a > next to it allows a selection of various parameters or

choices. Simply scroll up or down until your selection is highlighted, then press the >

key, the highlighted area will move across to the right. Press the up or down keys to

scroll through your choices, all changes are instant. To return to the main menu just

press either < or ‘select’.

For example: to listen to a phantom powered microphone on the internal

loudspeaker:

Switch on the dBbox2, you are now on the top menu. Use the up/down keys to

highlight ‘Input”. Press the > key to move the highlighter to the right of ‘Input’. Press

the up/down keys to scroll through the possibilities:

Analogue

AES BNC

AES XLR

SPDIF BNC

Off

When ‘Analogue’ is highlighted press either the < key or press “Select”. The highlight

will now move back to ‘Input’. Press select. You are now in the analogue input menu.

Press the down key to highlight “Gain”. Press the > key and the 0dB gain setting will

be highlighted. Use the up/down keys to adjust the gain setting (+70dB to -10dB in

1dB steps) . The setting will move just by 1dB then speed up if the button is held

down. Now press either < or “Select”.

Scroll down to “Phantom” and press the > key. Press either up or down to switch

phantom on. If you have plugged a phantom mic in and put in enough gain the mic

will be heard through the speaker and will be metering on the display.

To switch off the mic amp press “select” or the < key and scroll up to exit, then press

”select”. you will be returned to the top menu. Alternatively just press the Vol+ and

Vol- keys together.

The menu system really is easier to use than it is to describe.

Audio Inputs

Access to the various facilities will be described as for example:

Input> Analogue Gain > Where analogue input is selected and we are

dealing with the gain settings.

Analogue Inputs, metering and monitoring

On the analogue input page it is possible to listen to and meter mono or stereo

analogue signals using PPM or VU metering (as selected in Setup) with a stereo

phase meter and, for testing microphones, to apply phantom power.

Input> Analogue Gain > Gain range -10 to +70dB

Input> Analogue Phantom > Phantom power (both inputs) on or off

AES/SPDIF Inputs, metering and monitoring and analyzing

All digital inputs are essentially the same apart from the connector in use, voltage

levels and impedance. They all use the same display page so will all be described

together. Input metering may be 18dBFS, 20dBFS, PPM or VU and includes a stereo

phase meter. The unit will auto switch sample rates in the range 32kHz to 96kHz.

Input> AES BNC

Input> AES XLR

Input> SPDIF BNC

The examples will use AES BNC.

Input> AES BNC Listen > Select to listen to left, right or both

Audio channels.

Input> AES BNC Errors This lists any errors that may occur on the

Digital signal. Checks are made on:

CRC Q subcode

CRC channel status

Unlock

Data validity

Biphase encoding

Parity

With no signal input some of these errors may still show as “OK’ as there is no signal

to analyse or compare.

Input> AES BNC Errors type> loop or sticky

When set to “Loop” any errors

are continuously monitored so a brief error may not be noticed. When set to

“sticky” an error once set will be continuously displayed even if the signal has

recovered from the error.

Input> AES BNC Ch.Status Shows the channel status of the

AES signal. Possible readings are:

Sample rate Sample rate is calculated directly from the incoming clock.

Possible displayed values are 32kHz, 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 64kHz,

88.2kHz, 96kHz, 176.4kHz and 192kHz. Any other sample rates

will be displayed as ‘???’.

Audio bits Possible readable values 16 bit, 20 bit, 24 bit.

Emphasis On or off.

Generation Original or Copy

Format Possible data types PCM, IEC61937, DTS_LD, DTS_CD.

Only while reading channel status some sample rates may sound distorted through

the loudspeaker or headphones as it’s necessary to switch off some synchronising

functions to efficiently calculate the sample rate.

Input> AES BNC Stat.word

This displays the first five (and most important) bytes of the AES status word in

binary format.

Audio Outputs

All available output signals are the same for analogue, AES and SPDIF signals so will

be described together. Analogue signals go up to 12dBu and digital signals up to

0dBFS.

Output> Analogue

Output> AES BNC

Output> AES XLR

Output> SPDIF BNC

Audio Output Menu

Tone Access the tone menus

Int.Mic Output the built in mic.

Noise Gen. Output pink or white noise

Frame Rate> This item will only show if digital output is

selected. Set to 48kHz or 96kHz as required.

These examples will use AES BNC.

Output> AES BNC Tone Type> Various types of tone output are

available:

Steady Continuous tone both channels.

GLITS Graham’s Line Ident Tone System. Used extensively for

Stereo line identification by the BBC amongst others.

EBU Cyclic break on the left channel, steady on the right.

Sweep Tone rising in frequency from 20Hz to 20kHz. Press Vol- or

Vol+ to start the sweep.

Left Left channel only

Right Right channel only

Output> AES BNC Tone Level> Sets the output level of the tone from

-60dB to +12dB in 1dB steps. Settings

will be retained in memory.

Output> AES BNC Tone Frequency> Sets the frequency of the tone in third

octave steps from 50Hz to 20kHz.

Output> AES BNC Tone OP listen> Switch to ‘on’ to enable the internal

speaker and volume control for

confidence monitoring.

Output> AES BNC Int.mic Enables the user to speak to

analogue or digital outputs using

the built in microphone.

Output> AES BNC Int.mic Gain> Sets the internal mic gain

or effectively the level on the

outputs.Available settings +12dB,

+6dB, 0dB, -6dB, -12dB

Output> AES BNC Int.mic Limiter> Sets the threshold of the

limiter on the outputs.

Possible settings +12dB, +6dB,

0dB, -6dB, -12dB

Output> AES BNC Int.mic Output> Select to left, right or both

outputs.

Output> AES BNC Noise Gen.

Generates pink or white noise with a frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz

Output> AES BNC Noise Generator Type> Set output of the noise

Generator to Pink or

White noise.

Output> AES BNC Noise Generator Level> Set output level of the

noise generator from -

60dB to +12dB in 1dB

steps. Setting will be

retained in memory.

Output> AES BNC Noise Generator Output> Select to left, right or

Both outputs.

Output> AES BNC Noise Generator OP listen> Switch to ‘on’ to enable

the internal speaker and

volume control for

confidence monitoring.

Phantom power measurement

Phantom

Connect your phantom mic cable to Ana Out L. Phantom power will be measured on

both live and neutral (XLR pins 2 and 3) with a tolerance of +- 1 volt.

Four Wire Box

4 Wire Box

This feature is analogue only.

The dBbox2 will act as a four wire box using the internal microphone and speaker or

headphones. Listen to incoming audio and adjust the volume using Vol- and Vol+.

Up. If the speaker is in use it will cut on talk to prevent feedback, the headphones

will not.

Press the down arrow to speak on the internal mic. The microphone passes through

a limiter, the threshold of this limiter is set by

Output> Analogue Int.mic Limiter>

Signal conversion

In/Out/FX

This page allows conversion of audio signals with the addition of a limiter, gain

adjustment and equalization. Note that only 48kHz AES signals may be used in this

menu.

In/Out/FX Input> Available inputs Analogue, AES BNC, AES

XLR and SPDIF.

In/Out/FX Output> Available outputs Analogue, AES BNC, AES

XLR and SPDIF

In/Out/FX Gain> Gain range will be +70dB to -10dB when on

analogue input (to allow for microphone

levels) and +12dB to -10dB when on digital

inputs.

In/Out/FX Phantm> Phantom power on/off. This item may only

be changed in on analogue input, else it will

Be forced to off.

In/Out/FX Limit> Switches the limiter on or off.

In/Out/FX Lim Th> Adjusts the limiter threshold.

Possible settings +12dB, +6dB,

0dB, -6dB, -12dB.

In/Out/FX HF> High frequency equalization. Range

-12dB to +12dB in 1 dB steps.

In/Out/FX Mid> Middle frequency equalization. Range

-12dB to +12dB in 1 dB steps. Centered around

1kHz.

In/Out/FX Low> Low frequency equalization. Range

-12dB to +12dB in 1 dB steps.

MIDI

The MIDI menu is broken down into two selections, MIDI analyse and MIDI notes.

MIDI Analyse

This is used to analyse incoming MIDI data and will display the MIDI channel number

(where applicable) , the MIDI message and the associated data.

The mode or type is shown as a text description (ie. ‘system common’) and as data in

blocked characters. MIDI signals may be passed through the unit so MIDI may be in

use while being analysed.

MIDI Analyse Format> Selects MIDI data to be displayed in

hexadecimal or decimal.

MIDI Analyse Clear> Clears the screen

MIDI Analyse Oneshot> When the cursor is put over ‘oneshot’ the word

will change to ‘Waiting’. When the next MIDI

message is received it will displayed on the

screen and all following messages will be

ignored. This is useful for analysing a single

message when many messages may be passing

through. Press ‘select’ to clear the screen and

wait for the next message.

MIDI Notes

The MIDI notes page incorporates a MIDI transmitter and a MIDI receiver, they may

be used at the same time.

MIDI Notes Channel> Selects the MIDI channel to transmit

the note on. Range 1-16.

MIDI Notes Note> Selects the MIDI note number to be

transmitted. Range 0-127.

MIDI Notes Veloc.> Selects the velocity of the transmitted MIDI

note. Range 0-127.

MIDI Notes Send On Highlight this and press select to transmit

your MIDI note with ‘note on’ information.

MIDI Notes Send Off Highlight this and press select to transmit

your MIDI note with ‘note off’ information.

MIDI Notes Clr RX This will clear all data from the MIDI RX

Display ready for the next received data.

The MIDI RX area will display MIDI channel, note number and velocity of the last

received MIDI data. It is also displayed at the bottom of the page in hexadecimal for

analysis purposes.

Table des matières

Autres manuels CTP Systems Équipement de test

CTP Systems

CTP Systems dBbox3 Manuel utilisateur

Manuels Équipement de test populaires d'autres marques

SMART

SMART KANAAD SBT XTREME 3G Series Manuel utilisateur

Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies BERT Serial Manuel utilisateur

Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies N3280A Manuel utilisateur

Vernier

Vernier Go Direct Voltage Manuel utilisateur

Lifeloc

Lifeloc R.A.D.A.R. Manuel utilisateur

Fluke

Fluke T5-600 Instructions d'utilisation et d'installation

Mercury

Mercury TSL01 Manuel utilisateur

MAHA

MAHA MBT Series Manuel utilisateur

Fuji Electric

Fuji Electric P-61 Manuel utilisateur

ETC

ETC SealerAtor Manuel utilisateur

Skyfine

Skyfine ETHYWAY V2 Manuel utilisateur

Appion

Appion G5 Twin Manuel utilisateur

PCB Piezotronics

PCB Piezotronics 8159-0112A Manuel utilisateur

BW Technologies

BW Technologies MicroDock II Manuel utilisateur

Sun Nuclear

Sun Nuclear 1027 Manuel utilisateur

Biomark

Biomark HPR LITE READER Manuel utilisateur

Hioki

Hioki 3169-20 Manuel utilisateur

Ashcroft

Ashcroft ATE-100 Manuel utilisateur

CTP Systems dBbox2 Manuel utilisateur

Manuels Équipement de test populaires d'autres marques