1. DL manuals
  2. OceanAudio
  3. Extender
  4. The Ark 500 Series
  5. Owner's Manual

OceanAudio The Ark 500 Series Owner's Manual

Summary of The Ark 500 Series

  • Page 1

    The ark owner’s manual www.Oceanaudio.Co.Uk ark 516 expander ark 508 expander ark 504 ark 516.

  • Page 2: Contents

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 2 contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 3 2. Features ...................................................................................................

  • Page 3: Introduction

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 3 introduction thank you for your purchase of the ark. This manual is for all models of the ark 500 range (ark 504, ark 516, ark 508 expander and ark 516 expander) we hope you’ll have as much pleasure using it as we had designing and building it. ...

  • Page 4: Features

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 4 features the ark is designed to be as flexible as possible. While it can be used as a traditional analogue console (just insert a mic pre and an eq per channel), we would like to encourage you to explore all possibilities and use this console to...

  • Page 5

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 5 because of the channel monitor and direct output facilities, recording instruments to a daw or tape is simple and of very high quality. When mixing down, there is a large number of inputs to the stereo buss available. Here’s an overview which sh...

  • Page 6: Quick Start

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 6 quick start 3.1 power connections the ark 504, ark 516 and ark 516 expander are supplied with a high quality power supply. The power supply of the ark 504 has enough power for one additional ark 508 expander. The ark 508 expander needs it’s own ...

  • Page 7

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 7 3.2 audio connections so as to provide complete flexibility and provide greater access to the many inputs and outputs available, the ark uses the tascam standard 25 way d-sub connector system. Because of this, when used without a patchbay certai...

  • Page 8

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 8 3.4 connections without patchbay but with modules installed for this example we’ll install 16x mic pres in the top rack slots of the ark 516, 16x eqs in the lower rack slots and 8x compressors in the monitor rack slots. We need to make sure that...

  • Page 9

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 9 3.5 using the console with a patchbay the previous examples showed basic ways to use the ark. But the ark offers much more. And as with so many things in audio, there are not much rules. We would like to invite you to customise the connections s...

  • Page 10: Audio Connections

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 10 audio connections the console uses 25 way ‘d-sub’ connectors which follow the tascam standard for audio wiring. This universal standard makes it compatible with any other piece of professional analogue audio equipment (such as patchbays etc.) t...

  • Page 11

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 11 4.1 standard d-sub pin connections (ark 504, 516, 508 ex and 516 ex) pin number description 1 channel 8 + 2 channel 8 earth 3 channel 7 - 4 channel 6 + 5 channel 6 earth 6 channel 5 - 7 channel 4 + 8 channel 4 earth 9 channel 3 - 10 channel 2 +...

  • Page 12

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 12 4.2 master insert sends, returns & master outputs d-sub connections (ark 504 and 516) pin number description 1 no connection 2 no connection 3 no connection 4 stereo master output left + 5 stereo master output left ground 6 stereo master output...

  • Page 13

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 13 4.3 control room, alt mon & studio playback d-sub pin connections (ark 504 and 516) following standard tascam audio connections: channel 1: control room right channel 2: control room left channel 3: alt 1 right channel 4: alt 1 left channel 5: ...

  • Page 14

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 14 4.4 2-track returns d-sub pin connections (ark 504 and 516) following standard tascam audio connections: channel 1: 2 track 1 return left channel 2: 2 track 1 return right channel 3: 2 track 2 return left channel 4: 2 track 2 return right chann...

  • Page 15

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 15 4.5 auxiliary sends d-sub pin connections (ark 504 and 516) following standard tascam audio connections: channel 1: aux send 1 channel 2: aux send 2 channel 3: aux send 3 channel 4: aux send 4 channel 5: aux send 5 channel 6: aux send 6 channel...

  • Page 16

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 16 5. Input module (ark 504, 516, 508 ex and 516 ex).

  • Page 17

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 17 input module operational description (ark 504, 516, 508 ex, 516 ex) the ark input module is an extremely versatile channel strip that provides all the facilities necessary for multi- track recording and mixing. All of the switches / pushbuttons...

  • Page 18

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 18 as previously mentioned, auxiliaries 1 and 5-6 can be “moved” to the channel monitor section so that they are no longer a part of the input section. So you can actually split the aux sends. 3 on the channel input, and 3 on the monitor section. ...

  • Page 19

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 19.

  • Page 20

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 20 6. Submaster module (ark 504 and 516).

  • Page 21

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 21 submaster module operational description (ark 504 and 516 only) the submaster modules provide all of the facilities necessary when using the 8 sub group outputs. They provide monitoring of not only the 8 subgroups but an additional 8 line level...

  • Page 22

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 22 lower subgroup section at the top of the lower section are an identical set of auxiliary send controls to those found on the upper section and they perform the same function. A ‘replay’ switch selects monitoring through the lower section to be ...

  • Page 23

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 23.

  • Page 24

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 24 7. Master module (ark 504 and 516).

  • Page 25

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 25 master module operational description (ark 504 and 516 only) the master module of the ark 504 and 516 contains all of the controls that affect the overall functionality of the console. Associated with the master module are an accurately matched...

  • Page 26

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 26 next in the master module are the controls for alternate control room monitor speakers 1 and 2. In conjunction with the standard control room monitor system these controls make it possible to have up to three different control room monitor spea...

  • Page 27

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 27.

  • Page 28: More On Metering

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 28 more on metering the metering on the ark is very versatile. But since there are 3 different locations on the console, which determine what gets shown on the vu meters (led meters on the ark 504), it's important that this is well understood. Mos...

  • Page 29: More On Levels When Using

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 29 more on levels when using digital audio interfaces the ark has been designed to operate at standard professional operating levels ‘0’ on the vu meters corresponds to +4dbm (1.225v), ‘0’ on the master bargraph meters corresponds to 0dbm (0.775v)...

  • Page 30: More On Speakers

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 30 more on speakers make sure to take care when interfacing the console to control room monitor speakers. Many control room monitors nowadays are self powered systems and contain their own amplifiers. These systems often have as much as 20db gain ...

  • Page 31: More On Grounding

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 31 more on grounding by connecting equipment together using the 'star grounding' principle it is possible to virtually eliminate hum loops from studio wiring. Since the system is quite easy to implement, it only requires following a certain proced...

  • Page 32: Dimensions

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 32 dimensions all versions of the ark have the same depth and height : 94 x 37 cm / 37,01 x 14,57 inch width in centimeters width in inches ark 504 55 21,65 ark 516 101 39,76 ark 508 expander 35,5 13,98 ark 516 expander 66,5 26,18.

  • Page 33: Technical Specifications

    Ark 500 range - owner’s manual - revision 2.2 - page 33 technical specifications input impedance : 20k ohms (balanced) output impedance : frequency response input to group output : ± 1db 20hz to 30khz maximum output level (headroom) : +27dbm (balanced) distortion : line input gain control : +10db, –...