The TC Electronic EQ Station-8/8 is the ultimate live EQ. 8-ch. AD/DA & 8-ch AES/EBU - Parametric, Graphic & Dynamic EQ + Delay and Limiter. 2U with bright color display.
More than a decade ago TC Electronic introduced the multi-award winning TC 1128/6032 EQ. It became the benchmark for digitally controlled Graphic EQ's. Now TC Electronic is back in the live business using cutting edge 48 bit DSP processing and superb ADA conversion technology - the result is EQ Station, the next generation EQ solution for the most demanding live-sound applications.
When time and control is of the essence
With EQ Station's intuitive user interface you will be up and running within minutes! You no longer have to choose between ease of operation and a full set of features. The layout of the user interface was designed to fit the live sound requirement for instant access to all major control functions.
The EQ Station is a dedicated Live-EQ. Combined with the Motofader-64 flying-fader remote and the TCP/IP based PC editor software you have the most versatile and sophisticated, yet easy to use, EQ System for any live- and Public Address-application found on the market today.
Features in EQ Station
6 band Parametric EQ29 Band Graphic EQ3 band Dynamic EQDelay (600mS)Peak LimiterStore/recall of settings (250 User Preset locations)Extremely bright QVGA full color TFT display (320 x 240 pixel resolution)Separate display views and bypass buttons for Graphic, Parametric and Dynamic EQ's.Individual Frequency, Bandwidth and Gain EncodersLinkable channels for stereo and In-Ear Monitor applicationsAvailable in 4 and 8 channel configurations
Front Panel
The most impressing part of the front-panel is the brightest full color display you have ever seen on a 2U 19" box for live-applications. The 240x320 pixel resolution (QVGA), and a backlight that is as bright as the best laptop-PC's on the market today, makes the overview of settings and adjustments extremely easy.
The display is accompanied with lots of large direct access buttons for accessing features and menus. Several dedicated encoder wheels for adjusting processing is also present. In total this creates an incredibly intuitive user interface that will make even the most analog thinking sound engineer feel comfortable - within a few minutes he will be able to solve even the most critical situations in a hectic live-event.
Analog I/O
EQ Station offers some of the finest AD/DA converters available in any studio or live processor today. Analog domain gain scaling, so the full resolution of the converters can be used regardless of the operation level of the surrounding equipment, complements the wide dynamic range of these converters.
To counteract harsh sound and listening fatigue often associated with digital processors, EQ Station is an industry first to incorporate headroom for reconstructed peak signals exceeding digital full scale.
The maximum operating level can be set at 4 positions, +15, +18, +21 and +24 dBu, each with additional Full Scale Safety Margin.
For more exotic level handling requirements, the analog inputs may take in signals as hot as +30 dBu, and both inputs and outputs can have the max level set as low as +3 dBu. Analog gain scaling is performed in steps of 3 dB between these extremes, and can of course operate under automated control.
8 channel. Digital AES I/O card for EQ Station
The 8 inputs and output channels of audio in AES digital format are made accessible by connecting the AES cable to the 25 pin D-type connector. The AES cable is coded XLR type connector's in numerical order; each carries a pair of digital audio channels.
Take full advantage of EQ Station's tremendous processing resolution with the new optional Digital AES/EBU I/O card. No other equalizer or dynamics processor for live applications come close to this much internal headroom. For a user transitioning to digital mixing, one of the appealing solutions is to start using the EQ Station via the digital domain. Thereby a synchronous, high resolution digital signal path with mastering grade DA converters is provided, and with a lower noise and distortion than what can be found on other converters on digital consoles today.
EQ Station doesn't only feature the ultimate precision resolution; its timing is also magnitudes better than other live processing devices. Predictability counts in professional audio, and EQ Station is the perfect anchor to remove jitter from any interfacing, and provide clean feeds from its analog and digital outputs. DA, sample rate conversion and even interfacing reliability is readily compromised when jitter from long cable runs, or less than perfect digital transmitters, is present in the signal path. Therefore, jitter rejection is a major quality guarantying factor. Jitter rejection and timing circuitry of EQ Station is built on the experience from the acclaimed TC System 6000.
On the user side, TC's long time experience with digital interfacing helps diagnose if synchronicity on any of EQ Station's digital inputs fails, while clock back-up options ensures uninterrupted operation, even under severe operating conditions.
Control I/O
High-speed standard Ethernet running TCP/IP protocol makes it possible to setup a multitude of EQ Stations in a network. Connecting external computers for remote control using the PC/Mac editor software is a breeze.
The standard TCP/IP based network enables the use of any standard computer network component. This can e.g. be used to ad standard wireless network (LAN) to the system, giving full wireless remote control of all features in the EQ Station from any standard PC, Mac or Tablet PC that has a built in wireless LAN-card.
A built in Link-connector works as a passive HUB and makes it very easy to daisy chain multiple EQ Station's to quickly establish a network. This way you do not need an external HUB or network-switch to connect multiple EQ Stations.
MIDI input and output is available, enabling remote Program change and Control change of all processing features in the EQ Station.
A 9-pin D-SUB connector located next to the MIDI I/Os, is primarily used for connecting the Motofader-64 flying-fader remote.
Graphic EQ
Everybody knows that there is a big difference in the behavior and response between various industry standard analog graphic EQs. With the EQ Station you now have a unique option to select the response type you prefer. The Type selector gives you access to exact DSP-emulations of the main high-end analog graphic EQs on the live-market today.
Select between following types:
TC1128Classic960 Narrow-QClassic960 Broad-QClassic27
Behind these four EQ types are not just a mapping of the bandwidth/Gain response, but three basically different ways of combining 29 EQ filters. The TC1128 is a parallel construction; the Classic960 types are combinations of parallel and cascaded filters; and finally the Classic27 is a fully cascaded filter-structure.
The different structures give very different response curves. Compare the types and choose the one you like, or the one best suited for a specific application.
Parametric EQ
Six band high-quality parametric/shelving EQ is available in the EQ Station. Lo and Hi bands are selectable between fully parametric or shelving filters, band 1-4 are selectable between fully parametric and notch filters
Impressive +/-24dB gain per band enables any adjustment needed to reach the desired response.
A unique way of selecting and displaying the EQ filters with six small boxes makes it very easy to keep an overview of settings and fast switching between filters.
Dynamic EQ
Dynamic EQ enables you to shape your sound depending on the energy of the signal, or to notch out specific level dependent problems. Dynamic EQ processing is not yet widespread in live-applications, but it can be a really powerful tool when set up according to the source material.
Two different types of Dynamic EQ can be selected: Three band full-range or two band individual.