D5T: Designed to put versatile, creative control in the hands of theatre sound designers

Intuitive Interface

The first impression is of a blend of the familiar – three input groups of long-throw faders with a row of large illuminated buttons above them, three rows of rotary controls and input trim controls at the top – and the less familiar, in the shape of four large, full colour backlit LCD TFT touchscreens.

The 41-fader worksurface is set out into three input sections, providing up to 128 channels with full dynamics processing or 96 channels with onboard effects, and a 32 x 32 output matrix complete with delay, six bands of parametric EQ and a compressor on each output. The master section screen controls the master and matrix sections, automation and console set-up pages. As an extra cost option, your D5T worksurface can be supplied with a centre master section. An Offline Editor is supplied as standard.

The D5T provides both built-in and external video screen monitoring. Each of the surface touchscreens has an equivalent dedicated VGA video output on the back of the console, allowing you to view a duplicate of each surface screen on an external colour monitor.

There’s also a dedicated VGA output allowing you to connect an external ‘total console overview’ monitor, giving you a ‘big picture’ of the console at a glance. You can connect any type of VGA monitor (standard, LCD or plasma) and the output provides up to 1280 x 1024 resolution. Using the Layout page, each operator can decide what information is displayed on this screen, according to the demands of the project being worked on. The overview screen has the ability to display matrix outputs and all buss outputs for auxiliaries, groups and the main buss. Again, these show full metering, insert switching, mute and solo, and dynamic fader positions. You can also view the fader positions and muting status of VCA-style fader groups when these are in use. All channel strips can be displayed in full on the overview screen, showing peak LED, full channel metering, insert point switching, gain reduction, gate movement, muting and solo settings, and dynamic, real-time fader movement.

All four touchscreens are pressure sensitive, protecting functions from accidental change by the sweat on a hand or a careless brush with a finger: you must press slightly to select a control or change a setting. This type of tactile feedback is consistent throughout the desk, and contributes to the feeling of security and predictability in mixing with it. Each screen shows the settings of eight input channels simultaneously, and provides interactive control over all functions per fader via a combination of LCD buttons and ‘real’ controls, while an input channel overview can be displayed on the master screen.
Each screen has an adjacent bank of rotary encoder controls, to allow instant, real-time adjustment of all equaliser and dynamics settings with an accompanying frequency curve display. It’s all simple, direct and instantly displayed.

All three groups of channel faders have a row of illuminated, digitally labelled, fader bank buttons alongside them, allowing each fader group to be switched between six fader banks at a single touch, the faders moving precisely to their memorised positions as you change banks. Labelling, in fact, is plentiful throughout: with the touch screen keyboard or the full-size slide-out QWERTY keyboard you can quickly assign names to the LCD scribble strip, screens, busses and fader banks. The LCD multi-function buttons display a tick mark to confirm ‘ON’ status, and can show channel name only in a larger font.
Metering is comprehensive, while the 30-segment LED meter overbridge displays input level, gain reduction, gate activity, insert send level and direct output level. It also carries a console illumination strip of white LEDs which, in common with the touchscreens and scribble strips, can be dimmed down in steps when working in a light sensitive environment.

Input Section

The first three screen sections are, by default, input channels, with six fader bank switches allowing blocks of eight input channels or group outputs (if so configured) to be assigned to the worksurface. Each input channel has its own analogue input gain and digital trim with Gain Tracking switch and presets for the whole channel, along with phase reverse, phantom power, six-band EQ and a delay function which allows you to add 240ms of delay to any or all of the channels.

Each channel has four bands of fully parametric 20Hz-20kHz EQ, while the upper and lower bands can be switched between different curve types and shelving characteristics. On top of that are dedicated high and low pass filters, and a preset library which allows you to save an unlimited number of EQ presets for instant recall.

The dynamics section for each input channel is called up with another press on the screen, displaying all the settings for the compressor / limiter and gate, and a powerful sidechain equaliser which allows frequency-conscious dynamics. The same press assigns that channel to the group of dedicated dynamics rotary controllers alongside the screen. The sidechain EQ can also be allocated to the compressor, providing a wide range of uses including highly effective de-essing. The section is accompanied by a dedicated user preset library.

Under the screens are three rows of assignable rotary controls, which are designed to give you the option of having the controls you use most often closest to you as physical controls. Functions can be assigned to them as you wish, including auxiliary sends, pans and dynamics controls. Access is available to any of the 72 busses, each of which can be assigned as either auxiliary busses or group busses. Auxiliaries can also be assigned to faders, allowing a visual feedback of aux levels by channel at the master fader section. The console is capable of stereo, LCRS and 5.1 mixing, and three 5.1 joystick panners provide instant sound image control. Assignment can be made either by touching the screen or scrolling to the buss required. Touching the aux on-screen brings up an expanded view of all auxiliary sends, and routing buttons show stereo or surround designations clearly. Input routing displays a warning if the signal is already in use, and disabled routing buttons distinguish between used and unavailable routes. The analogue output routing includes a -10dB switch.

The lower rotary control (nearest the fader) can be assigned to a dedicated channel function per input bank, by holding down the Assign button and touching the function you want to lock it to on the touchscreen. The same applies to the assignable button below this rotary, which can be assigned to its own, independent, function.

Two more features simplify multiple operations. A button alongside the screen allows you to apply changes to all channels displayed on that screen. You can, for example, view all aux routings by holding All and touching Aux Routing. Another function of All is to route input channels sequentially: by holding All and routing the first input channel, the console automatically routes the other seven inputs in that input bank to the next seven channels in sequence – a very fast method of routing a complete block of inputs to the console surface. A symbol on the group feed button on each input channel indicates mono, stereo or surround busses. The input channel delay also has an on/off switch.

Below these three rows is a row of large, backlit liquid crystal buttons, one at the top of each physical fader. The buttons feed back an immense amount of information about what that individual fader is doing, using a combination of text and backlight colours which change automatically according to the button’s status. The button displays channel number, mono or stereo status, whether the button is currently acting as a solo, fader to aux, safe switch, fader gang, and a fader level readout accurate to 0.1dB, which appears the instant a fader is touched. The LCD multi-function buttons display a tick mark to confirm ‘ON’ status, increases in brightness to indicate fader open in VCA mode, and can be selected to show channel name only in a larger font.

Alongside the button is the LCD assign button, displaying the liquid crystal button’s various functions – Solo, Safe (which removes the channel from a cue and turns the button red as an alert), Aux Send to Master Faders, Fader Ganging, Name Only and Revert To Solo. The Gang function allows similar channels to be locked together in a gang so that level, EQ and dynamics settings can be applied to all of them simultaneously, confirmed by a coloured line in the touchscreen. If, for example, multiple channels require the same high pass filter settings, it’s simple to gang the channels and make a single EQ adjustment and then ungang them again. Multiple gangs can be built within each input section and an individual channel can be temporarily dropped out of the gang for individual adjustment by pressing the Solo button. Fader assign and solo assign are further ways of assigning the channels to the hardware controls.

Master Section

The master section, as well as the customary output groups and master fader, provides powerful control of the console’s overall setup via a series of pages instantly selectable on the fourth touchscreen. Also controlled here are the powerful 32 x 32 output matrix and the console’s Cue system.
SYSTEM PAGE: The first page, System, provides real-time diagnostics which constantly monitor the system, the MADI line, software versions, power supply levels, internal temperature, etc.

SESSION PAGE: This page stores, recalls and sets up individual sessions. As well as the standard default files, it includes features such as Load Preset Library for recalling user presets of EQ and dynamics settings, which can also be merged when, for example, two engineers are using the desk in the same session or show.

LAYOUT PAGE: The Layout page allows you to bring all the correct channels straight to the console’s physical faders. On this page, too, are the extensive labelling facilities, enabling you to type in alphanumeric labelling on screen or the full-size slide-out QWERTY keyboard for the LCD scribble strip, screens, busses and fader banks. Channel settings may be copied or moved here from one to another, and a channel’s settings can be copied to multiple channels using the Duplicate feature.

OUTPUT PAGE: The on-screen scroller provides fast access to group, master output and auxiliary output routings, and a touch on the screen displays current routing settings. Each output has a brick-wall master limiter, variable threshold and variable release time, along with routing to allow the buss to be routed to as many of the outputs - analogue or digital - as desired. There’s also an output buss insert point for an external processor. Auxiliary outputs are handled in exactly the same way with an additional pre/post fade switch.

MATRIX PAGE: The comprehensively-equipped 32 x 32 output matrix allows any channel, buss or physical input to be routed into the matrix, and then routed out to any of the physical outputs. Each group output provides six bands of fully parametric EQ (the upper and lower bands can be switched between shelving EQ and filters), dynamics and delay. The touchscreen gives you control over all the group sends via a dedicated rotary control and a switch. The output matrix faders can also be assigned to the master section faders. Once again, a preset library allows you to save an unlimited number of matrix presets for instant recall.

CONTROL GROUPS PAGE: Here you have the option of either VCA-style fader control in which the individual faders remain in position when the VCA group fader is moved, or digital-style in which all the moving faders physically follow the group fader. The choice of working method is yours; their functionality is identical.

There are 24 control groups; these can be moving fader or VCA style and can be assigned to inputs, ouputs or both. Making a channel part of a group simply requires selecting Touch and then touching all the faders required for the control group. Further touches add or remove each fader from the group. Channels/busses can be assigned to multiple control groups, which also appear on screen.

The Cue Composer Show programming software provides a fast and straightforward editing system for pre-programming D5T cues, master assignments and MIDI programme changes.

The auxiliary master outputs are assigned here to the physical faders on the two master fader banks. The two master banks provide 16 master faders which can be assigned as group outputs, auxiliary outputs and control group masters.

A Fader Flip function allows you to swap the two banks of eight faders, and there is the ability to build your own master banks, with the option to include control groups, input channels and so on by using the dedicated LCD assign button.

Also here is Solo Assigns ‘Aux to faders’ or ‘Aux to Rotaries’. Thus, when an aux master is soloed that aux send is assigned to the faders - a function that is duplicated on the master touchscreen.

Matrix Processing

The D5T's matrix processing features add extra power for theatre sound mixing.The 32 x 32 output matrix packs a wealth of dedicated features to provide maximum versatility on every group output, eliminating the need for racks full of processing hardware, saving considerable space and cost.

Each group output provides six bands of parametric EQ, with the upper and lower bands switching between high and low pass filters, a fully featured compressor/limiter and digital delay of up to 240 milliseconds. For setup purposes, pre-equaliser outputs can be routed out of the desk in blocks of 16 for use by measurement and equalisation systems that require pre- and post-equaliser feeds. The touchscreen provides control over all the group sends via a dedicated rotary control and a switch. The output matrix faders can also be assigned to the master section faders.

When matrix processing mode is selected, the touch screen’s background colour changes to alert the engineer to this status.

Effects Card

The D5T incorporates a powerful and versatile digital effects card. The card effectively replaces a rack full of external effects processing units with a fully integrated suite of high quality multi effects.

The D5T effects card features its own powerful, dedicated DSP engine which allows up to six digital effects per channel to be run simultaneously without any load on the console’s central DSP engine. The effects processor has the capacity to support the simultaneous use of every effect on every channel without loss of performance or audio quality.

The first effect offers a range of dedicated reverb algorithms of exceptional quality, subtlety and depth. The next three provide flanging, phasing, double tracking, vocoder and digital delays. Effects five and six provide extra digital dynamics, compression and equalisation for up to 7.1 surround sound outputs.

All routing, patching, effects parameter adjustments and user memory store and recall functions are performed on the touchscreens. All effects and their settings can be stored as part of the console’s user presets and sessions, and can be saved on the USB key for instant recall on another DiGiCo D5T.

I/O Options

A comprehensive range of I/O options allows you to tailor your D5T system precisely to the needs of an individual production. The options allow for connection with a variety of external digital recording, outside broadcast and analogue or digital input signal formats, as well as interfacing with a wide range of installed cabling systems and MIDI.

The desk’s expanded MIDI specification provides two full bandwidth MIDI ports for a total of 32 MIDI channels. External MIDI devices can be triggered from the D5T or vice versa via MIDI programme changes or continuous controller data.

The D5T also provides 16 digital GPOs and 16 GPIs as standard. The GPOs can be used for fader starts, mute light off starts, machine starts, red light ons etc.