DSP FOR ST ANNES CATHOLIC CHURCH

The size of their congregation had vastly outgrown the church's fifty-seat sanctuary and even stressed their ability to accommodate everyone with multiple services! Using limited funds, St. Anne purchased a multi-purpose gym facility that would seat nearly 1,000 people and hired Zamar Media Solutions of San Jose to install a foolproof sound system that would require minimal upkeep and no technical expertise on the part of their staff. Zamar made good with a Symetrix SymNet-centered system that took advantage of SymNet's unique combination of sophisticated DSP capabilities and user-friendly interfaces.

"More and more, we're getting requests from churches for sound systems that don't require them to keep a technical operator on hand," commented Michael Dow, president of Zamar Media Solutions. "They want their system to simply come on and work. In the past, that would have been impossible, as you couldn't design just one setting that would take care of every scenario. The advent of modern DSP technology would seem to solve the problem, but it's difficult to provide enough programming and still minimize the complexity of the system for the end user, to give them some control but not too much."

Having tried all the leading lines of open-architecture DSP systems, Zamar now favors SymNet when handing such requests. "The SymNet processing logic coupled with the ARC line of user interfaces provides a way for the system to work reliably in the hands of an unsophisticated user," continued Dow."For lack of a better term, we refer to these systems as 'auto-mixers,' even though they don't use auto-mixer modules at all! Users simply select a scenario (e.g. Sunday Worship) from a SymNet ARC-2 wall panel and
appropriate microphones and input sources are turned on or off accordingly, with appropriate gain settings. In addition, and in contrast to most other DSP manufacturers, SymNet provides a designer-specified power-on preset that allows our 'auto-mixer' to work without a hitch."

At St. Anne's request, Dow blended the "auto-mixer" functionality with a 16-channel Allen & Heath MixWizard. Although the MixWizard is mainly devoted to the church band, it takes a few of the onstage mics as well. When the MixWizard is in use and included in the "auto-mixer," the volumes of those mics are controlled by the MixWizard. Otherwise, their volumes are controlled by the "auto-mixer" and are either on or off depending on the scenario.

By Dow's design, each signal that feeds into the SymNet 8x8 DSP, either directly or via a supplemental SymNet BreakIn12, is processed with a high-pass filter to eliminate rumble, a parametric EQ to tailor its sound for the system, and a compressor/limiter to put a hard ceiling on the mixed signal. Then a standard mixer module combines the appropriate input signals, mutes the appropriate input signals, and routes signal to the appropriate bank of Crown CTS amps for output to EAW AX-series loudspeakers.

Users select a scenario from one of two strategically located SymNet ARC-2 controllers. Presets range from a "Small Mass" setting in which only one headset mic, one altar mic, and one ambo mic are on, to "Full Mass" in which the MixWizard, the full complement of stage mics, and the choir mics are on. Even for mics that are on in both scenarios, gain and EQ may be slightly different. For less formal occasions, Dow included a "Movie Mode," in which the system's low-end gets kicked up, and inputs only from the AV system and one podium mic are active.

With the new system installed, St. Anne is enjoying their new, roomy sanctuary. Part of Zamar's success with their SymNet "auto-mixer" formula is their focus on after-the-sale care. They've returned several times after installation to tweak each preset. "In a very real sense, a church can't fully appreciate the capabilities of their new sound system until they've spent a few weeks with it," Dow explained. "After living with it a bit, they're in a much better position to precisely articulate what they want the system to do. So we return several times as their needs get further clarified, all the while maintaining the system's simplicity."