XL8 Control Centre:
don’t change the way you think.

As can be expected from the design team at Midas, the XL8 has been painstakingly designed to address the way in which sound engineers approach the task of mixing. The control centre can be operated from scratch quickly and easily – even by engineers new to digital control surfaces.

XL8 has been designed so the engineer does not have to think in terms of numbers, pages or layers. Users navigate the system and identify channels by colours and groupings, which they themselves create. This method allows an individualised approach to mixing, rather than working within hardware-dictated numerical limitations. This reassuringly familiar way of working is central to the XL8 and ensures that engineers do not have to change their way of thinking to feel comfortable with the new system.

Each of the five bays of the console is a discrete hardware module, which is independent of its neighbour and incorporates its own power supply, surface processor, GUI processor and screen. The only common connection is via a single Ethernet link to the network.

The standard 5-bay control surface comprises a total of five of the following three modules:
• 3 x Input module
• 1 x Mix module
• 1 x Output module.

In addition to placing engineers in a familiar comfort zone, which allows them to get on with the job of making great audio without worrying about the rigours of new technology, the XL8 also comes complete with a range of features unique in the world of live mixing.

• Dedicated motor faders on outputs
• Paged controls do not change function (e.g. a gain knob is always a gain knob - never a frequency knob!)
• Silky smooth, high accuracy rotary controls
• Dedicated discrete hardware remote control for onboard Graphic EQs with the Klark Teknik Rapide
• Modular control surface with multiple input areas - easily accommodates multiple operators
• Two routers in the control centre in addition to the two DL461 Audio System Signal Routers
• Daylight visible DVI TFT display screens
• Three way KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) remote control of any 'Mac' or 'PC' from the control centre
• White LED lighting of the control centre surface
• 63 discrete 20-segment LED meters
• Discrete LED meters for dynamics and direct outs
• "All the meters all the time" master status screen
• Simple, visible hardware routing to master outputs