Mackie 1642-VLZ3 Manual De Usuario

Owner’

s Manual

LEVEL SET (PFL) taps the channel signal 
before the fader. If you have a channel’s fader 
set way below “U” (unity gain), SOLO won’t 

know that and will send a unity gain signal to the con-
trol room, headphones, and meters. That may result in a 
startling level boost at these outputs, depending on the 
 position of the SOLO [46] level knob. 

In a nutshell, soloed channels are sent to the SOURCE 

[42] mix, that ultimately feeds your control room, 
headphones, and meters. Whenever SOLO is engaged, 
all SOURCE selections (MAIN MIX, 1–2, 3–4 and TAPE) 
are defeated, to allow the soloed channel to do just that 
— SOLO! 

An LED that does two completely different things! 

This saves space, but requires some explanation.

First, the “–20” part: Often referred to as “signal activ-

ity,” this LED will flicker in time with the signal present 
in that channel. It’s handy for confirming that a channel 
is indeed active, and may also lend a clue as to what the 
signal is. For instance, a kick drum will cause the LED 
to pulse in time with the drum, and a synth pad will 
cause it to glow a bit more steadily.

Now for the “SOLO” part: When a channel’s SOLO [27] 

switch is engaged, this LED will glow steadily. It will 
also be brighter than it would be as a –20 indicator. In 
conjunction with the RUDE SOLO LIGHT [47], you can 
find a rogue SOLO switch very quickly.

Another LED that does two different things!

First, the “OL” part: “OL” means overload, or clip. You 

don’t want that to happen. Ever. Clipping can happen 
to any mixer — it’s the point where the signal’s volt-
age tries to exceed the supply voltages that power the 
circuitry. This OL LED will come on just before clipping, 
so if you see it, take immediate action: Perform the 
Level-Setting Procedure. If that doesn’t help, check for 
excessive use of EQ boost or fader gain. Like the –20 
LED, it will flicker in time with that channel’s signal.

Now for the “MUTE” part. Assuming your levels are 

set correctly, the OL LED will never come on as a result 
of clipping. That’s pretty boring. So, to liven things up, 
this LED will glow steadily when that channel’s MUTE 
switch is engaged.

Here is a quick reference to these LEDs:

Engaging a channel’s MUTE switch provides the same 

results as turning the fader all the way down: Any chan-
nel assignment to L/R, 1-2 or 3-4 will be interrupted. All 
the post AUX sends will be silenced, as will the DIRECT 
OUT [5] signals on channels 1 through 8. And of course, 
that fun-loving OL (MUTE) LED [29] will commence 
to glow. The PRE AUX sends, channel INSERT [4] 
send and SOLO [27] (in LEVEL SET (PFL) mode) will 
 continue to function during MUTE.

Depending on the audio content in a channel, engag-

ing its MUTE switch may cause a slight popping sound. 
This is not a problem within the mixer, and it can be 
avoided: Simply engage the LOW CUT [34] switch on 
each channel (unless its low frequency content is vitally 
important, such as a kick drum or bass guitar). LOW 
CUT eliminates subsonic debris, which causes the pop, 
and its effect is usually transparent.

PAN adjusts the amount of channel signal sent to the 

left versus the right outputs. PAN determines the fate 
of the L/R assignment, subgroups 1–2 and 3–4, and the 
SOLO [27] (in NORMAL (AFL) mode).

With the PAN knob hard left, the channel signal will 

feed the left main mix, subgroup 1, subgroup 3 and left 
NORMAL (AFL) solo mode (assuming their assignment 
switches are engaged).

With the knob hard right, the channel signal feeds 

the right main mix, subgroup 2, subgroup 4 and right 
NORMAL (AFL) solo mode.

With the PAN knob set somewhere in-between left 

and right, the signal will be divided between the left and 
right buses.

The PAN knob behaves a little differently for the ste-

reo channel strips. Since there is a left and right input 
on these channels, the PAN knob controls the relative 
balance between the left and right sides, just like the 
balance control on your stereo system at home.

Use channels 9-16 to connect stereo sound sources. If 

you must use the mono channel strips (1-8) for stereo 
sources, follow this standard convention: Always plug 
the left signal into an “odd” channel (1, 3, 5, etc.) and 
the right signal into the adjacent “even” channel (2, 4, 6, 
etc.). Then pan the odd channel hard left and the even 
channel hard right. 

Name

Color

Flickering

Glowing

–20 (SOLO)

green

signal  present

channel soloed

OL (MUTE)

red

channel clipping

channel  muted