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TRUE HANDLING SAFETY:
Anti-clipping processing
ensures handling safety,
and reduces stress.
If required, the digital signal processing (DSP) functions inte-
grated into the microphone can be configured and controlled
remotely via the DMI digital microphone interface and the
RCS remote control software. These functions include gain
setting, changing the directional characteristic in the case of
the D-01, pre-attenuation, a low-cut filter, a compressor/lim-
iter with an additional de-esser function, and a peak limiter.
Here in particular the digital approach can provide a signifi-
cant advantage. The peak limiter, which receives the output
signal almost directly from the capsule, functions as a com-
pletely automatic „safety valve“, permitting the safe utiliza-
tion of the entire available dynamic range even in stressful
recording situations.
External components that were previously required, such as
analog preamplifiers and A/D converters, are no longer neces-
sary.
To permit clear identification, the microphones send informa-
tion such as the name of the manufacturer, model, serial num-
ber and currently installed software version to the receiver.
The microphones are equipped with three-pin XLR connectors.
A bidirectional signal conforming to the AES 42 standard is
transmitted, containing the balanced digital microphone out-
put signal, the phantom power supply, and a remote control
data stream, which includes a signal for synchronizing the mi-
crophones with a master clock.
The D-01 large-diaphragm digital microphone
Its 15 different remotely controlled directional characteristics
and numerous additional features permit the D-01 to be opti-
mally adapted to almost any recording situation. These com-
prehensive features demonstrate what can be achieved with
digital microphone technology. The D-01 has a newly devel-
oped capsule, and is valued by users particularly for its hith-
erto unknown transparency and fidelity to detail.
The TLM 103 D large-diaphragm digital
microphone
For many years the analog version of the TLM 103 D has
played an important role for ambitious home recording and
project studios. This microphone has made the Neumann
sound available to a broad spectrum of demanding audio en-
gineers and musicians. The TLM 103 D provides all of the
sound features of its analog counterpart, in addition to the
advantages of digital circuit technology described above.
considerably better performance is therefore required, in or-
der to prevent the addition of noise to the signal. At the same
time, this process must be optimally adapted to the signal
levels and source impedance found in the microphone.
If the A/D conversion is carried out only after the signal
reaches the mixing console or other equipment, this is usually
associated with loss of signal quality, since the conversion
takes place only after the gain levels have been set. Head-
room aspects and noise contributed by the microphone pream-
plifier and A/D converter thus affect the dynamic range.
Consequently, the development goal was to achieve high-
quality digitization of the capsule signal directly in the mi-
crophone, so that level matching and other processing steps
could be carried out in the digital realm. This is the only way
of maintaining the full quality of the microphone signal.
Synchronization
The AES 42 standard defines the following two methods of
synchronizing the microphone with the receiver (e.g. a mixing
console or a DMI digital microphone interface).
Mode 1: The microphone operates asynchronously, using the
sampling rate of its internal quartz oscillator. In this case, a
sample rate converter is required at the receiver. This mode
should be used only if mode 2 synchronization is not possible,
since conventional sample rate converters often impair the
dynamic range, and increase the latency time.
Mode 2: The microphone is synchronized with a master word
clock. This can be either an external word clock or the internal
word clock of the DMI. In this case a frequency/phase compar-
ison with the master word clock is carried out in the AES 42
receiver (DMI). A control signal is generated that is transmit-
ted to the microphone via the remote control data stream,
controlling the frequency of the quartz oscillator in the micro-
phone.
Via the BNC output of the DMI, the internal word clock gener-
ator can be used to synchronize additional DMIs and subse-
quent processing equipment, such as a mixing console.
The microphones
The signal generated by the capsule is converted directly into a
digital signal. The result is a digital output signal with 24 bits
and, for example, a dynamic range of 130 dB (A-weighted) in
the case of the D-01.