Cadac CDC FIVE Installation guide

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Cadac Digital Live Sound Mixing Console
Hardware Overview

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Table of Contents
Important Safety Information 5
For US and CANADA Only 5
General Precautions 6
Declaration of Conformity 7
Introduction 8
Overview 9
Control Surface 9
Shipping Details 10
Remote MegaCOMMS I/O Devices 11
Console System Overview 13
Waves®14
MegaCOMMS: Data Protocol 16
Console Features 17
Console Hardware Overview: Surface 19
Control Surface: Part 1 19
Control Surface: Part 2 26
Console Hardware Overview: Rear Panel 33
Rear Panel Connectors 33
Connecting the Hardware 36
MegaCOMMS 36
Word Clock In 38
Word Clock Out 38
Optional Power Supply 39
Remote Stagebox Connections 40
Audio Connections 40
Routing 41
Connector Details 42
Surface and Local I/O: Audio Connections 43

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Other Control Surface Audio I/O 45
Headphones 45
Waves® SoundGrid®interface 45
Principles of Operation 46
Switching the CDC five ON 46
Switching the CDC five OFF 47
Touch Operation 48
EXIT 49
GO TO or “Layers” 50
Channel Meters 53
Channel Blocks 55
Using the Encoders 56
BUS Sends 58
Keyboard 59
User Layers 60
Effects 61
GEQ 63
Control Screen Menus 65
System Functions 70
Waves®SoundGrid®Interface 70
CDC five Local I/O Mapping and Waves®70
USB Ports 72
Ethernet Ports 72
MIDI I/O 72
Lamp 72
Updating Software 73
CDC five Console Software Upgrade Procedure 73
Appendix 74
Technical Specifications 74
Dimensions 76
Weight 76

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Important Safety Information
CAUTION: These servicing instructions are for use by qualified personnel only. To reduce the risk of
electric shock, do not perform any servicing other than that contained in the User Manual unless you
are qualified to do so. Refer all servicing to qualified service personnel.
1. Read these instructions.
2. Keep these instructions.
3. Heed all warnings.
4. Follow all instructions.
5. Do not use this apparatus near water. Do not expose this apparatus to dripping or splashing
and ensure that no objects filled with liquids, such as vases, are placed on this apparatus.
6. Clean only with a dry cloth.
7. Do not block any of the ventilation openings. Install in accordance with the manufacturer’s
instructions.
8. Do not install near any heat sources such as radiators, heat registers, stoves, or other
apparatus that produce heat.
9. Only use attachments/accessories specified by the manufacturer.
10. Refer all servicing to qualified service personnel. Servicing is required when the apparatus has
been damaged in any way, such as the power-supply cord or plug is damaged, liquid has been
spilled or objects have fallen into the apparatus, the apparatus has been exposed to rain or
moisture, does not operate normally, or has been dropped.
11. To completely disconnect mains power from this apparatus, the power supply cord must be
unplugged.
For US and CANADA Only
Do not defeat the safety purpose of the grounding-type plug. A grounding-type plug has two blades and
a third grounding prong. The wide blade or the third prong is provided for your safety. When the
provided plug does not fit into your outlet, consult an electrician for replacement of the obsolete outlet.
The lightning flash with arrowhead symbol, within an equilateral triangle is intended to alert
the user to the presence of an uninsulated “dangerous voltage” within the product’s enclosure
that may be of sufficient magnitude to constitute a risk of electric shock to persons.
The exclamation point within an equilateral triangle is intended to alert the user to the
presence of important operating and maintenance (servicing) instructions in the literature
accompanying the appliance.

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General Precautions
•Do not place heavy objects on the control surface, expose it to sharp objects or handle the
console in any way that may cause damage, e.g., rough handling and /or excessive vibration.
•Do not subject the equipment to dirt, dust, heat or vibration during operation or storage. Never
expose the console to rain or moisture in any form. Should the console become wet, turn it off
and disconnect it from the mains without further delay. The console should be given sufficient
time to dry out before recommencing operation.
•When cleaning the console, never use chemicals, abrasive substances or solvents.
•The console control panel should be cleaned using a soft brush and a dry lint-free cloth. For
persistent marks, use a soft cloth and isopropyl alcohol. Switches and potentiometers do NOT
require cleaning or lubrication.
•Keep these instructions for future reference. Follow all warnings in this manual and those
printed on the console.
•The console must be connected following the guidance in this manual. Never connect power
amplifier outputs directly to the console. Connectors and plugs must never be used for any
other purpose than that for which they are intended.
•The console mains input must always be connected to correctly rated mains power as referred
to in this manual. The mains input must, at all times, be connected to the local mains power
supply using the supplied power cord. In cases where the supplied plug does not fit, a qualified
electrician must be consulted.
•The power cord must be routed in such a way that the risks of accidentally stepping on it,
stretching it or it being pinched are minimized.
•WARNING! THIS EQUIPMENT MUST BE EARTHED!
•Ventilation slots must never be covered or obstructed in any way, otherwise airflow required for
safe operation may be restricted. Where the console is to be operated in its flight-case, then
this must be located in such a way that it allows for proper ventilation.
•Refer servicing to qualified technical personnel only.

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Declaration of Conformity
We, SCC Audio Limited, of 1 New Street, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU1 5DX declare under our sole responsibility that
the CADAC CDC five digital audio mixing console, as detailed below complies with the provisions of the following
European Directives and is eligible to bear the CE mark:
Product Type Number
Product Description
Serial number
Cadac CDC five
Digital Audio Mixer
0000000000
Object of the declaration:
The object of the declaration described above is in conformity with the relevant Union harmonisation
legislation:
EMC Directive: 2014/30/EU
Low Voltage Directive: 2014/35/EU
The following harmonised standards and technical specifications have been applied:
Electrical Safety (LVD): EN60950-1:2006 + A2:2013
Electromagnetic Compatibility: EN55032:2015
EN55013:2013+A1:2016
EN61000-3-2:2019 EN61000-3-3:2013
EN61000-4-2:2009 EN61000-4-6:2013
EN61000-6-3:2007+A1:2011 EN61000-6-2:2005
EN55024:2010+A12015
Signed for on behalf of:
Name of Authorised Signatory
Selina Wang
Signature of Authorised Signatory
Position of Authorised Signatory
FD SCC Audio Ltd
Date
01 December 2019
Date when first CE marked
01 March 2018
Place where signed
Luton, UK
The Cadac CDC five is a live sound audio mixing console
with 48 input channels and 24 assignable busses.
Based on an evolution of Cadac’s ‘high agility’
operating system, the compact CDC five features a
single, 23.5” 16:9 touch screen with encoders to the
right and bottom the screen along with 16, 100mm
motorised faders.

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Introduction
Thank you for purchasing this Cadac CDC five digital audio mixing console.
From its founding in 1968, Cadac’s products have become the benchmark for audio mixing consoles.
The CDC five is one of Cadac’s range of live performance digital production consoles using Cadac’s
innovative and acclaimed user interface.
It makes most of the features developed over a 50-year period of innovation within large-scale theatre
and touring analogue desks and puts them within a compact, fixed-architecture digital system, using a
“high-agility” user interface-based a on wide-format touch screen. Professional sound engineers familiar
with other digital consoles will find the transition to the CDC five’s operational system quick and
intuitive.
Cadac’s attention to detail and high-quality audio circuitry remains at the core of the CDC five’s design
philosophy.

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Overview
The CDC five can be used as a stand-alone unit and also as part of a larger system comprising of
multiple units: control surface and remote MegaCOMMS I/O device(s). The control surface provides
local analogue and digital inputs and outputs, which can be expanded via a number of remote
stagebox(es) options. An external back-up (redundant) power supplies can also be specified.
Control Surface
The control surface is divided in five operational areas:
1. Graphical User Interface based around a 23.5”, 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) touchscreen display
with rotary encoders mounted below and to the right of the screen
2. Channel Fader Bay with 16 x 100 mm motorised faders, OLED channel displays, stereo LED
bar graph meters and other controls
3. User Assignable buttons with OLED displays
4. System Menu, a drop-down window providing access to the console’s set-up functions
5. Quick Access Buttons to functions including GEQ, VCA and Fader Follow
3
3
1
2
4
5

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All connections to the surface (apart from headphones and three USB ports) are on the rear panel of
the control surface: these include PSU connectors, MegaCOMMS ports, local analogue and digital
audio I/O, Waves®SoundGrid®card, MIDI, Word Clock In and Out, USB and Network ports.
1. Local I/O - digital and AES3
2. Waves®SoundGrid®card
3. MegaCOMMS ports
4. MIDI, Word Clock In, Network and USB
5. PSU connectors
For further detailed explanation of the control surface please see sections: Console Hardware
Overview: Surface and Console Hardware Overview: Rear
Shipping Details
As well as the control surface and remote I/O device(s) specified at the time of ordering, the CDC five is
shipped in a carboard box with the following additional items:
•Dust cover for control surface
•Gooseneck console lamp
•IEC power cable
5
3
2
1
4

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Remote MegaCOMMS I/O Devices
Various versions of remote MegaCOMMS I/O devices are available:
•CDC MC Router –up to 3,072 channels of MegaCOMMS routing, including gain compensation
•CDC MC MADI –64 bidirectional channels of MADI I/O, including SRC
•CDC MC Dante –64 bidirectional channels of Dante I/O, including SRC
•CDC MC AES3 –18 x AES3 inputs, 18 x AES3 outputs (36 bidirectional audio channels)
•CDC MC Optical –up to 512 bi-directional audio channels via optical fibre; 2 km drive capability
•CDC I/O 6448 –64 mic / line inputs and 48 balanced line outputs
•CDC I/O 3216 –32 mic / line inputs and 16 balanced line outputs
CDC MC Router
CDC MC MADI
CDC MC DANTE
CDC MC AES
CDC MC Optical
CDC I/O 3216
CDC I/O 6448

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Up to two MegaCOMMS remote I/O devices can be connected directly to the console. The addition of a
CDC MC Router allows up to 11 further MegaCOMMS units to be connected.
In addition to the I/O provided by the CDC MegaCOMMS remote I/O devices, the control surface is
provided with sixteen analogue mic/line inputs, eight analogue line outputs (all balanced), four balanced
AES/EBU inputs and four balanced AES/EBU outputs. The routing of this local I/O may be configured
via the CDC five’s software.
16 analogue inputs
8 analogue outputs
4 digital inputs and outputs (8 channels each)
2 pairs of MegaCOMMS ports
A and B, both with RX and TX

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Console System Overview
The control surface contains all the system DSP, and apart from the local analogue I/O, all audio signal
paths and processing are in the digital domain.
The stageboxes contain Cadac’s high quality analogue microphone preamplifiers with their gain and
other parameters being remotely controlled, together with 96 kHz, 24-bit A-to-D and D-to-A conversion.
The CDC five employs the now-familiar concept of “layering” to reduce the size of the control surface,
with 16 motorised faders able to control a maximum console configuration of 48 input channels mixing
into 24 assignable mix busses, plus left, centre and right master busses, and three monitor busses for
PFL and AFL plus headphones.
The graphical interface on the 23.5” touchscreen screen has been designed to present as familiar a
layout as possible, using large, initiative controls with visual feedback.
The rotary encoders at the edges of the screen map to the graphical interface on the screen and are
used to make all parameter adjustments (levels, EQ parameters etc.)
An important feature of the CDC five is that there is very little distinction between input channels and
output channels in terms of features and facilities. The 24 mix busses are freely assignable as groups,
auxiliary sends, matrix sends or FX sends: all of these have fundamentally the same facilities as the
input channels and are displayed and controlled in the same way.

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Waves®
The CDC five control surface includes a Waves® SoundGrid® interface. This allows up to 64 channels
of Waves®studio-grade plug-ins to simultaneously run alongside the console’s own native effects. It
requires the use of an external Waves®Server plus a PC running Waves®’ MulitRack®SoundGrid®with
appropriate Waves®licenses, all available from Waves®.
An example of Waves®SoundGrid®Server and Cadac integration:
Audio is streamed from the console’s integrated interface card to the SoundGrid®server, processed,
and then streamed back to the console via Cat-5e.
The Waves processing is patched in the same way as the Cadac I/O racks and can be used as a send
and return for effects processing, or alternatively it can be patched and used as inserts, giving great
flexibility.
More information about using Waves®effects please refer to the Waves®website.
See the section Waves®SoundGrid®Interface for details of the interface’s connections
See Section CDC five Local I/O Mapping and Waves
MegaCOMMS
RG6 coaxial
cables
Audio In - XLR
Audio Out - XLR
Audio Source
Ethernet
Waves®
SoundGrid®
Server
CDC I/O Stagebox
Audio Monitor
Cadac Digital Console with A
Waves Interface Card
PC Running
MultiRack®SoundGrid®
Ethernet

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When the console’s Waves®SoundGrid®interface is connected to a suitable laptop or desktop
computer with Waves®“Tracks Live” installed, it can record up to 64 tracks of 24-bit, 96 kHz audio.
Example of a Waves®Track Live®integrated with a Cadac console:
For more information about using Waves®Tracks Live®please refer to the Waves®website.
Ethernet
Cadac Digital Mixing Console with
Waves Interface
MegaCOMMS
RG6 Coaxial
Cables
Audio In - XLR
Audio Out - XLR
Audio Source
Computer Running
Waves®Tracks Live®
CDC I/O Stagebox
Audio Monitor

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MegaCOMMS: Data Protocol
Communication between the remote MegaCOMMS I/O devices and the control surface is via a
proprietary Cadac high speed protocol called MegaCOMMS, using high-speed 75 Ohm coaxial cable
terminated in BNC connectors.
MegaCOMMS is a robust, TDM (time division multiplex) system. Control data is embedded within the
data stream, so that no audio channels are sacrificed for this purpose. The high bandwidth available
means that the current implementation of MegaCOMMS can carry 128 channels of 24-bit, 96 kHz
audio, plus control data, plus clock, bi-directionally, up to 150 metres (492 ft) via a pair of RG-6 coaxial
cables.
In addition to audio and control data, MegaCOMMS provides for accurate, phase-aligned clock
distribution, by embedding timing markers in the data stream. This allows reliable, low-jitter
synchronisation of all hardware elements within a network.
The simplest implementation of a MegaCOMMS network is the straightforward console-stagebox
configuration. In this application, the console provides the clock and the stagebox synchronises itself
once the connections are made. Total through-system propagation delay for this system, including all
console processing and A-D / D-A conversions is an astonishing 37 samples (@ 96 kHz), or just under
400us. This compares with the many millisecond propagation delays usually found in most other similar
systems.
Two interconnection paths are provided, A and B, each of which requires a transmit and receive cable.
The maximum capacity of each path is 128 audio channels in each direction.
MegaCOMMS can also be converted to an optical format from BNC via our converters, when distances
over 150m are required. Maximum distance over optical is 2km via single mode fibre,

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Console Features
•Up to 48 simultaneous channels in the mix
•24 mix busses, freely assignable as groups, aux sends or matrix sends, plus LCR main busses
and monitor LCR
•16 local analogue and 4 local AES3 inputs
•8 local analogue and 4 local AES3 outputs
•Waves®interface card providing 64ch. multitrack recording, or for connection to a Waves®
MultiGrid®server to access the full range of Waves®plug-in processing. Note: Requires the
relevant Waves®Licenses
•Unrestricted allocation of physical I/O to input channels and group/aux/matrix outputs
•16 VCA groups
•40 user assignable buttons, with OLED displays (e.g., Mute group masters)
•Input channels may be linked or paired for stereo operation
•100 mm motorised faders with OLED displays of current assignments
•All output types –groups, auxes or matrices - may be mono or linked for stereo operation
•Channel sends to outputs may be pre-EQ, pre-fade or post-fade (switchable pre or post VCA)
and post-Mute
•Default display of all primary channel parameters
•Two physical inputs per input channel
•4-band fully parametric EQ on all inputs and outputs
•Cadac EQ
•Variable-frequency hi and lo-pass filters on all inputs and outputs
•1/3-octave graphic equaliser available on all outputs
•Compressor / limiter with sidechain filter, plus gate on all input channels
•Compressor / limiter with sidechain filter on all outputs
•Adjustable delay on all inputs and outputs
•16 stereo (or 32 mono) FX processors –freely assignable

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•Each FX processor provides reverb, delay and modulation, in any series/parallel combination
•Switchable inserts on all channels
•Switchable LR and LCR panning
•Channel copy and isolate functions
•Full Monitor, PFL and Talkback facilities
•23.5” 16:9 touchscreen display
•Scene automation with fast keypad access
•96 kHz, 24-bit Delta-Sigma A/D and D/A converters
•Low-noise, wide dynamic-range analogue mic pre-amps with remote gain control
•All channel functions immediately accessible by single touch
•Stereo bar graph meters, integrated in fader bays
•Gooseneck console lamp

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Console Hardware Overview: Surface
Control Surface: Part 1
1
5
4
6
3
2
2
8
7
10
9
11
12
13
14
15

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1. Main Screen: A 23.5”, 16:9 high-definition touchscreen. The default display shows a block of
16 consecutively numbered channels; alternative sets of channels may be displayed by setting
a GO TO button using one of the 40 USER ASSIGN [13,15] buttons, or by “swiping” the screen
horizontally. Touching any area in a channel strip opens a virtual panel with controls for
parameter adjustment and enhanced displays. Switch functions are actioned by touching the
virtual “button”, rotary controls are mapped to the encoders to the bottom / right of the screen.
1: The Screen
2. Rotary Encoders: 28 encoders are provided, 12 on the right-hand side of the screen and 16
along the bottom (also referred in this manual as “vertical” and “horizontal”). The encoders also
have press plus press and hold functions along with turn depending on the function used. By
default, the lower set are the channel pan controls but may be changed to be mic gain/trim by
the SWAP button [6]. The vertical set is inactive until an on-screen panel is opened; the
function of each active encoder is then clearly indicated. The function of the lower set may also
change when certain channel panels are opened. This is part of the functionality of the audio
channel paths.
3. SEL Buttons: Are used in conjunction with control panels that are displayed on the screen and
in conjunction with the COPY [5] and ISO [4] buttons.
4. ISO Button: Used in conjunction with the SEL [3] buttons when placing one or more sections of
a channel strip into RECALL SAFE mode. A press and hold of the ISO button when used in
conjunction with CUE recall will temporarily disable the SAFES on the CUES recalled.