Cadac Full Line Brochure

Cadac Full Line Brochure

CDC MC AES3 - FPGA PIC Programming

The linked PDF document provides a guide to updating the PIC and FPGA on the CDC AES3 stagebox.

Click to download: DOC02 – CDC MC AES3 – FPGA PIC Programming – Issue A – May 2017

A guide to programming the PICS and FPGA on the CDC MC AES3

As standard the CDC five, CDC six, CDC seven, CDC seven-s and CDC eight have 2 pairs of MegaCOMMS connectors on the rear. This will allow up to 2 MegaCOMMS compatible units to be connected to the console. However if the console is connected to a CDC MC Router this allows the console to be connected to further 11 MegaCOMMS devices.

How many I/O boxes can I connect to the CDC five, CDC six, CDC seven, CDC eight or CDC seven-s?

PIC programming tool

The linked PDF document provides a recommendation for a PIC programming tool that is needed to upgrade the PICS on Cadac products.

Click to open: DOC02- PIC programming tool – Issue D – July 2019

Recommended PIC programming tool

It is highly likely that the ID or “Rack Number” for the stage box / MegaCOMMS unit is not set correctly.

MegaCOMMS rack ID

On the unit there is small dial called “Rack Number” with “0 to 9 / A to F” labelled around it.

If the units are connect directly to a console then they will need to be set to “2” this will then appear as “Rack 1” on the console, a second unit will then have to be set to “3” and this will be “Rack 2” on the console.

If the units are being connect to a Router then they must all be set to “1”.

Use a small screw driver inserted in the slot in the middle and turn the pointer to the appropriate number.

The MegaCOMMS lights are showing green on my stage box but I don’t have any audio?

The login details for the customer repository are:
Login: customer
Password: cadac1968

What are the login details for the Cadac customer repository?

MegaCOMMS is Cadac’s proprietary digital audio protocol.

MegaCOMMS is a robust, TDM (time division multiplex) system. Control data is embedded within the data stream, so that no audio channels have to be 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 via a pair of RG6 coaxial cables.

What is MegaCOMMS?

Cadac specify RG6 3G 75 Ohm 18 AWG solid bare copper, super high-resolution coaxial to ensure that the cable is capable of handling over 4 times the data required for MADI.

What spec of coaxial cable should I use for MegaCOMMS?

The glowing connectors on the rear of the console and on the rack mount units are MegaCOMMS ports.

The red – Rx – connectors are the receive or “in” ports and the blue – Tx – connectors are the transmit or “out” ports.

Why are there red and blue glowing coaxial connectors on the consoles and rack units?

RG6 is a very robust cable and the BNC connectors used are professional grade connectors and we are not limited to 100m runs of Ethernet technology – MegaCOMMS will easily run up to 150m on coaxial.

Why does Cadac use RG6 coaxial cables rather than Ethernet?

No – unless the cables you are using are RG6 3G 75 Ohm 18 AWG solid bare copper, super high-resolution coaxial.

MegaCOMMS requires a cable that is capable of handling over 4 times the data needed for MADI.

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