ARC Quickstart Guide V0100.book
Contents
1. requiring another power supply This appendix was written to e Inform the user about the A R C s power circuit in sufficient detail to allow the successful powering of other pedals via the A R C e Alert the user about some potential problems when using this feature e Recommend a general method for evaluating and properly applying this feature WHO SHOULD READ THIS This is written for those that understand electrical electronic fundamentals and have a need to power at least one other device from the A R C s power daisychain feature As mentioned in the warning at the beginning of this manual see CAUTION we recommend against using this A R C feature unless you are quite skilled in the art of electronic design development and or troubleshooting If you re not an elec tronics professional please let a professional daisychain A R C power to other devices THE SCOPE OF THIS DOCUMENT This document assumes that the A R C will provide power for only one additional device Given the sheer number of effects pedals available it s likely there are other application issues lurking that have not been anticipated in this document For this and other reasons this document is not a substitute for the educa tion and experience required to safely interface electronic devices POWER CIRCUIT DETAILS The POWER IN and POWER OUT jacks are actually paralleled connections Although marked as IN and OUT these labels are intended to2. power supply you ve sourced is rated to provide V at upply I supply Via a 2 1mm coaxial connector with the polarity required by the down stream device e Hook up the downstream device with a cable that has a 2 1mm coaxial connector on one end to connect to the A R C s power jack and whatever connector is required to interface to the downstream device power jack Now the A R C and the downstream device have their power connections made At this point intercon nect the audio of all devices as you would normally Carefully power up the system and verify expected audio performance If there are any unexpected hums buzzes or excess noise that seem to be related to the A R C and the rest of the system consider the following section Ground Loop Reduction Ground Loop Reduction One of the most troublesome noise issues in a given set up can often be caused by so called ground loops This is a category of signal interference caused by the flow of unwanted currents usually due to multiple return paths When all other external mechanisms for reducing ground loop effects have been exhausted e Reduce the coupling between the signal and power references in the A R C by completely removing the screw on the right side of the cabinet Please note that right side reference is relative to the view as seen in the manual with the audio connections toward the top of the page and the knobs facing you see Figure 1 The A R C s
3. simplify hook up for the general user by reducing apparent connection options Obviously IN and OUT designations for parallel connections are either really dogmatic or non sensical In this application either jack may be connected to the power source while distributing power from the remaining jack There is one 0 474 F 25V ceramic X7R cap in parallel with each set of coax jack terminals physically located at each jack The coax jack s in turn feed s the AC terminals of a full wave bridge rectifier Schottky barrier type for low forward voltage The negative of the bridge rectifier is the internal refer ence for the A R C while the positive of the bridge rectifier feeds the power converter The internal side of the bridge rectifier is bidirectionally filtered to tamp down HF noise in both directions That is this filtering is intended to reduce noise signals outside the A R C from adversely affecting the A R C and also any internal A R C noise from adversely affecting outside devices The audio and power references are connected to the A R C s chassis Since the incoming power supply reference and the internal references are connected through the bridge rectifier there is a mechanism for a Purpose of this Document Appendix A 1 FMR Audio 1 512 280 6557 ARC Quickstart Guide Appendix A fm www fmraudio com potential difference to exist between a downstream device s audio reference and the A R C s Sho
4. FMR Audio A R C Owner s Manual V1 00 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgement CAUTION ia i see E DAN oe eR EO oe ASNO 1 IMFOGUCTION 3st iat hoch eae O E es Lee ese eos lk ee eae 1 Functional Description ARG OWORVUIOW isc hte hd be did ts ato ad eee Riek AEE 1 ABN ISOM wets ita e bd ie ao e deal Oo ede ob de da 1 Whats cool about the A R G ua ii Boe A Ri E ti oe aa 2 What Sucks about the ARO cur a ee id Dd idea 4 Hooking Up the A R C COMECON de 0d a ads Vda ais Va aa leas WR 5 Operating The Controls Control amp Indicator DescriptionS o oo ooooonooo eee u ene 7 IMHE ENN Ss cara a aed beer ua plate a ee ae De ate Se ada 7 As O es 8 Application Configurations TEAR CaS a DOOSt Pelado erre ER ae N 8 TEARC acaAdrec DO g catet ett ete Rew eae hae Geen eeee aaa eS 9 TMG AGA G aS a COMPeSSOl saa ia 9 Tne A A asa Stud eme SS See wk oe ee ee ease 10 Closing MNOUGKIS cis see ete ce eee ater aes ees hee eee ete ea eeee us 10 Control Descriptions 0 0 0 0 0 eee eee eens 11 Appendix A Understanding and Using the A R C s Power Out Feature Purpose of this Document 0 0 0 ccc eee eens A 1 Who Should Read This 0 0 0 ce eee eens A 1 The Scope of this Document o ooo A 1 Power Circuit Detalls 50030 tae A Aa A 1 Operational Precautions vola Je FOAM tc ees ara Ei a eee A 2 Voltage an C29 hem crated ow aoe alate AE cw ee a ee A 2 Total GUIFERT DW c
5. FMR Audio A R C has the ability to daisychain its power connection Using this feature correctly and effectively requires specific technical knowledge and should not be attempted by the casual user without the advice and direction of properly skilled personnel Without the proper knowledge and appropriate action it s possible to damage or destroy other devices property and or cause minor personal injury For example without the proper knowledge and appropriate action It s possible to e Damage or destroy the A R C and other equipment such as power supplies pedals amplifiers and speakers e Cause loud ear damaging noise e Blow mains breakers or fuses If you are unsure about or do not understand the fundamentals of electronics and power distribution DO NOT ATTEMPT TO POWER OTHER DEVICES VIA THE A R C ARC Owner s Manual V01 00 fm FMR Audio 1 512 280 6557 www fmraudio com INTRODUCTION This is the FMR Audio A R C QuickStart Guide The purpose of this document is to e Describe the overall features of the FMR Audio A R C e Describe the basic connection of the A R C to your system e Describe the top rear panel controls and connections e Present the A R C specifications FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION A R C Overview The FMR Audio A R C an acronym for Articulation Resonance and Clarity is named for its per ceived effects on the sound of many instruments The A R C allows you to easily alter how more transient not
6. RIVE INPUT AMP and BYPASS In unbalanced Connect your instrument into this jack with a standard instrument cable i e 1 4 phone plug to 1 4 phone plug Power In Jack This jack is wired in parallel with the POWER OUT jack See Power Out Jack above for more details Control Descriptions Page 11 of 13 FMR Audio 1 512 280 6557 ARC Owner s Manual V01 00 fm www fmraudio com Figure 5 A R C Top Panel FMR Audio Control Description DRIVE Knob This control increases both the amount of compression as well as increases the mix between the compressed signal versus the uncompressed When turned clockwise CW the unprocessed signal is decreased in relation to the processed signal and the compressor forced to simultaneously increase compression levels and ratios In the fully counterclockwise CCW position no measurable compression occurs DRIVE Level Indicator This bright blue LED proportionally varies its intensity with the amount of signal compression This feature is additional proof of the A R C s utility the LED is so bright that with the right DRIVE level and musical performance the A R C may be used as a flashlight or if engaged in official activities with SETI www seti org as a tool to aid in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence We do not warranty the A R C for such uses however INPUT Gain Knob This control changes the gain of the preamp stage from 0dB
7. UGHTS The FMR Audio A R C is compact 4 in 1 effects box that can positively enhance the sound of most sound sources from stringed instruments like mandolin dobro acoustic guitar and fiddle all the way to drum tracks vocals and even the two mix there s hardly a sound that doesn t sound better coming out of it Whether you re a live performer or a studio cat the A R C can truly add some Articulation Resonance and Clarity to your performances Page 10 of 13 Closing Thoughts ARC Owner s Manual V01 00 fm FMR Audio 1 512 280 6557 www fmraudio com CONTROL DESCRIPTIONS Figure 4 A R C Rear Panel Balanced Out Out MADE IN AUSTIN TEXAS U S A Power Out Jack This jack is actually wired in parallel with the POWER IN jack and is intended to permit the daisy chaining of the A R C s power source to other effects pedals Although either may be used as an input or output BE CAREFUL to observe the detailed electrical requirements of the other effects you ll be connecting to Balanced Output XLR This output will product up to 20dBu of level in a fully balanced differential manner Use this output when you want to interface with equipment that uses XLR connectors for their inputs This connector emits a signal whenever the A R C is active 1 e unbypassed Out unbalanced to instrument amplifier Connect this jack to your instrument s amp This output is affected by all of the controls on the A R C D
8. c range STUDIO EFFECT Subtle amp Sweet Compression For many players pedal based compressors are too over the top because they exhibit a suck and swell type compression This works well for some special effects but discourages one of the major uses of com pressors dynamic processors to help balance the tone presence and performance of an instrument particularly when it must compete or blend with other sounds The A R C works well with electrified acoustic instruments in a live setting where the subtleties of the instruments tend to get lost by allowing the player to electronically balance articulation resonance and clarity of the instrument If you love the sound of your instrument in an intimate solo setting then you ll appreci ate how the A R C helps you achieve that experience in both live and studio per formance settings Fidelity Although the A R C is an effect the audio electronics are designed so that the statically measured output signal very closely resembles the input sig nal a paraphrased definition of fidelity Each A R C is hand trimmed for mini mum distortion typically to less than 0 005 Total Harmonic Distortion plus Noise THD N Dynamic Range The A R C s 110dB dynamic range exceeds the dynamic range of many recording studio devices not to mention the smaller dynamic ranges of the myriad of available stompbox effects The additional dynamic range of the A R C means more of your instr
9. cific settings for the INPUT and DRIVE controls there are a couple of guidelines that we can give you to help you more effectively pilot the A R C 1 When the DRIVE control is fully counterclockwise CCW the A R C acts mostly like a preamp and the compressor s effect is minimized In this configuration the INPUT and AMP controls dominate 2 Regardless of the INPUT control s position as the DRIVE control is rotated clock wise CW the A R C s compression action will be increased and the balance between the unprocessed compressed signals will increasingly favor the com pressor 3 The XLR output of the A R C is always active when power is applied No matter what you re functionally using the A R C for the XLR output is available APPLICATION CONFIGURATIONS The A R C as a boost pedal In this configuration we don t want the A R C to do much more than just amplify your instrument s sig nal To use the A R C as a boost pedal keep the DRIVE control set to a minimum the AMP control to 0 i e fully CW and use the INPUT control to give you the desired level Page 8 of 13 Application Configurations ARC Owner s Manual V01 00 fm FMR Audio 1 512 280 6557 www fmraudio com Figure 2 Using the A R C as a BOOST Pedal Banjo Amp FMR Audio Use this control to give you the E desired boost o x 0 o dB the banjo is shown for illustrative p
10. controls on page 6 of the main manual e In place of the removed screw carefully put in the provided Nylon screw Finger tighten this screw only Conclusion By applying sound electronic interfacing principles the following guidelines presented in this appendix and using the features present in the A R C another effects pedal can be adequately powered while main taining acceptable to excellent audio performance Appendix A 4 Daisychain Checklist
11. d phone jack and an XLR connector For a regular instrument set up use the 1 4 output to go to your instrument amp Should you also need a separate feed for stage monitors and or front of house FOH applications you may addition ally use the XLR balanced connector by hooking up a regular microphone cable from the A R C s XLR connector to a mixing board You can use the A R C as a direct box in either a studio or live environment by using the XLR connector to connect the A R C with a mixer or A to D converter You don t have to do things in the order listed above for everything to work The above order is only a sug gestion and has worked well for us Figure 1 The A R C s controls a a O O FMR Audio Page 6 of 13 Hooking Up the A R C ARC Owner s Manual V01 00 fm FMR Audio 1 512 280 6557 www fmraudio com OPERATING THE CONTROLS Control amp Indicator Descriptions There are four top panel controls on the A R C see Figure 1 e INPUT LEVEL This knob controls the gain of the input preamplifier This con trol is used in combination with the DRIVE control to change how the A R C will affect your instrument s sound This control will affect the XLR output the 1 4 output and the amount of input signal to the compressor AMP LEVEL The 1 4 output jack is intended to drive the input to an instru ment amplifier This control affects only this output and allows you to match the level c
12. e for us to specify exact settings for all the possibilities you may have for the A R C Despite this we can give a rec ommended starting set up For these initial settings we 1l assume that you re using an instrument such as a guitar plugged into the A R C and that the output of the A R C is connected to an instrument amplifier With this set up in mind Operating The Controls Page 7 of 13 FMR Audio 1 512 280 6557 ARC Owner s Manual V01 00 fm www fmraudio com e Set the AMP level to the most clockwise position the INPUT and DRIVE controls to the fully counterclockwise positions and make sure the A R C is bypassed i e the RED bypass light is lit e Set the volume of your guitar and amplifier as you normally would with the A R C bypassed Since the A R C is starting in the bypassed condition setting the volume of your instrument and amplifier is as though the A R C is not in your signal chain e Engage the A R C and adjust the DRIVE and INPUT controls to give you the desired effect see Application Configurations starting on page 8 While play ing alternate between bypassed and engaged When the A R C is engaged adjust the AMP control so that the loudest parts of the musical passage are the same in both the engaged and bypassed conditions Now we re ready to see how the controls vary the depth and character of the effect on your instrument Taking Control As already mentioned although we can t give you spe
13. e short comings of such a powering scheme become evident The A R C s daisychaining power can be a conve nient feature that unfortunately can uncover ground related problems The accommodations that we ve made for dealing with these problems are e The A R C s internal supply not only performs the power translation from the incoming 9 12V levels to 15V but adds an increased level of isolation between the power supply reference and the audio reference e The A R C s audio reference is optionally separable from the incoming power supply reference by a ground lift mechanism DAISYCHAIN CHECKLIST Preflight Before hooking up the A R C to the downstream pedal or the power supply e Identify the power requirements of the downstream device i e voltage voltage polarity current and connector characteristics e Select the operating voltage for the entire chain by picking the highest down Daisychain Checklist Appendix A 3 FMR Audio 1 512 280 6557 ARC Quickstart Guide Appendix A fm www fmraudio com stream device voltage that s within the A R C s root mean square RMS voltage range This becomes the required V 1 e Calculate the total additional power required by the A R C as discussed in Total Current Draw of this appendix e Add the A R C s total current requirement to the downstream pedal s maximum estimated current consumption This becomes 1 e Make sure that the
14. es stand out against sustained ones articulation resonance while increasing the overall perceived clarity of the sound The A R C offers sonic performance along with a unique combination of other fea tures that you will find equally useful in the studio or on the stage Specifically the FMR Audio A R C provides 1 A boost function that buffers and amplifies instrument signals to a higher level 2 A compressor that enhances your instrument s tone and dynamics 3 A direct box to interface your instrument to live or recording studio equipment 4 A studio effect that may be used to process audio tracks from your favorite Digital Audio Workstation DAW or recorder It does all this with a minimum set of controls and a look that entices you to plug it in and turn the knobs A Brief History The FMR Audio A R C is based upon our very yellow and nicely tonal PBC 6A With the 6A I found that I could make guitar tracks especially acoustic guitar tracks sound sweeter fuller and punchier with the right combination of PBC 6A control settings A friend pointed out that his guitar s sustain was being enhanced in a totally natural way like the guitar amp was just resonating a little more without the suck and swell characteristics we experienced with stompbox sustainers or compressors Although I sus pect that our 6A customers are using it on guitar tracks of all kinds among other things the 6A is a stu dio effect
15. n also consume significant cur rents It s actually driven by an opamp operating from the internal 15V so that the effect on the incoming current is a little more complex to calculate After fac toring power conversion efficiencies and the like the additional current load on the incoming power supply is given approximately by 0 314 V in Al LED where Al pp is the additional incoming power supply current resulting from a maximum brightness LED and V is the voltage of the external power supply So these two additional sources should be added to the A R C s 200mA current consumption at 9VDC 1 8W in addition to the total current required by the downstream device that you re powering Ground Loops Normally when you re trying to power multiple audio devices from mains voltages the isolating nature of the internal power transformers and other circuits helps prevent multiple ground paths that can result in signal interference and audio performance degradation For a variety of reasons including the lack of standards ad hoc assembly practices and a bare bones design approach the typical effects pedal doesn t have isolation between the power terminals and the signal references As long as the effects pedal is operated with a separate isolated power source interconnecting audio signals wouldn t create any problems However once you attempt to power two or more effects from a signal supply source th
16. n our commitment to music and technology and c In order to help others here and abroad we believe we ve got to be vital and capable ourselves Our first choice is to employ as many U S based resources as possible in the design manufacture and distribution of our products What sucks about the A R C In each product guide I try to summarize the product s strengths see What s cool about the A R C starting on page 2 and weaknesses from my view as the designer and user This is no exception e Few Panel Controls Many recording studio signal processors have lots of panel controls to afford maximum flexibility to the recording engineer It s almost a requirement for the studio environment For an effects pedal lots of controls can be an unnecessary complication for many musicians We tried to balance com plexity of controls and ease of use and gave the A R C three rotary controls and a bypass switch Some will find this complement of controls to be too few while others may find it to be just right Page 4 of 13 Functional Description ARC Owner s Manual V01 00 fm FMR Audio 1 512 280 6557 www fmraudio com e Large amp Heavy Enclosure As previously mentioned we decided to use a non standard enclosure for the A R C This will be a problem for some musicians since it ll be more difficult to make room on a crowded pedal board for a larger than normal enclosure and for even smaller set ups the larger enclo
17. nd that the compression effect becomes more pro nounced and may be too extreme except for a special effect Find the balance that s good for your cir cumstance Application Configurations Page 9 of 13 FMR Audio 1 512 280 6557 ARC Owner s Manual V01 00 fm www fmraudio com Figure 3 Using the A R C as a D I Banjo Mixer Recorder ADC i Use this control This control DOES NOT to give you the a effect the XLR line output desired level at i 2 level It only effects the the XLR output O O level of the 1 4 AMP E e output jack AR C O Turning this CW will give more compression on both the AMP and XLR outputs The A R C as a studio effect Hook up the A R C as you would a dedicated studio effect For example let s say you ve recorded a vocal track in your DAW and want to process it with the A R C instead of a software plug in There are two parts to this setting up the software and setting up the hardware you ll need to confer with your DAW s manual for routing an external insert To use the A R C as an external effect plug an appropriately con figured digital to analog converter DAC channel from your interface into the A R C s input jack using a standard 1 4 to 1 4 phone plug cable Then connect the A R C s output either 1 4 jack or XLR jack with an appropriate cable into a channel on your analog to digital converter ADC CLOSING THO
18. oltage range For a typical pedal this would be 9VDC Total Current Draw Since a single power supply in the daisychained configuration would be feeding the A R C in addition to downstream devices the total current consumption must be considered While the A R C is specified to operate on as little as 200mA be aware that it may actually require more current depending upon actual operational conditions There are two additional considerations for the A R C s total current draw e The A R C uses a THAT1646 line driver that s capable of 27dBm levels This out put level magnitude will obviously impact the total current draw and is not included in the specified 200mA average In addition because the A R C is actu ally operating from 15V internally levels developed by a switching power converter one cannot merely add the increased current to the 200mA input cur rent The following simple expression however can be used to estimate the addi tional worst case input current required for driving a line to 27dBm levels Mis 1 19 in In this case the AZ denotes the change in current seen by the external power supply due to driving the XLR output to maximum levels into 6000 while V denotes the voltage of the external power supply 1 e 9 to 12 V Appendix A 2 Operational Precautions ARC Quickstart Guide Appendix A fm FMR Audio 1 512 280 6557 www fmraudio com e The A R C s very blue Drive Level Indicator ca
19. oming out of the processing circuits in the A R C with the level you get when the A R C is bypassed This control doesn t affect the XLR s output level DRIVE This knob sets the gain and mix levels of the internal compressor When used in combination with the INPUT LEVEL control this control will change how the A R C will affect your instrument s sound This control will increase the aggressiveness of the compressor and the amount that the compressor s output is blended with the unprocessed signal BYPASS When the GREEN light is on the audio at the output connector is taken from the A R C s main signal path When the RED light is on the A R C s internal circuits are not engaged and it s as though you ve plugged your instru ment directly to whatever you ve got connected to the output jack of the A R C typically your amplifier PROCESS LED Simply put the brighter this light the more processing that s being done by the compressor Even though it s not a multi segment meter with a little practice this LED becomes a quick and useful indicator to help you judge how much the A R C is processing your signal By the way you might be wondering about the size of the knob on the DRIVE control we figure that the most used control will be the DRIVE knob so we made it a little bigger than the others Initial Settings Although the A R C can achieve a wide range of sounds with minimum controls it s still impossibl
20. os ee et oti ae ee ias eee eee A 2 Ground LOOPS 23 62 46nd a ici eae hae oe bd re ees ea eee ee et A 3 Daisychain Checklist PA wh Saha i a cae even Anes A ds wn a ahs pa as sa A 3 Ground Loop Reduction cia beaded See dee eed A 4 Conclusion aaa aa eh a a dea ic oe RS ere decida o A 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT If you re anything like me just smarter and better looking but I digress when I get a new piece of audio gear I get excited and anxious to start playing with it to see what it can do for the sound I hope that you too are excited and anxious to plug in your new FMR Audio A R C Before you jump in however I d like to take a short moment to say something important I know that you can choose to spend your money on any of a myriad of other available products Whether by chance or coercion you ve chosen ours For this I m grateful and would like to express a sincere THANK YOU I appreciate you putting your trust and hard earned cash into one of FMR Audio s products or at least giving us a shot by demoing them Even though all of us here at FMR Audio are very proud of our prod ucts the point of what we do is to give you the opportunity to make music without excessively draining your bank account or making you feel that you must make excuses for the sonic results I hope that the A R C helps you realize at least in some small way your artistic vision k Mark A McQuilken Designer amp Co owner CAUTION The
21. r In We recommend apply ing power to the A R C before any audio cabling is connected to avoid any pops occurring downstream when the power supply is connected Although this is rarely injurious it is annoying If you re thinking about using the daisy chain power feature of the A R C please refer to the section Control Descrip tions starting on page 11 Please be sure to heed all the warnings and only use this feature with proper consultation supervision and or hire someone to config Hooking Up the A R C Page 5 of 13 FMR Audio 1 512 280 6557 ARC Owner s Manual V01 00 fm www fmraudio com ure it for you 2 Connect the Source The A R C s input is a 1 4 unbalanced high impedance Hi Z phone jack Because of the A R C s BOOST feature its high Z nature we recommend that your instrument be directly connected to the A R C s input for best results The A R C may also be inserted further along in your instrument s signal chain without ill effect So for example if you ve got your favorite XYZ pedal that you plug into first just put the A R C in the chain where you d like it to be using a regular 1 4 phone plug cable Remember since the A R C has a wide dynamic range you may also use the A R C as a studio effect In that case just hook it up with an unbalanced cable as you would any other studio effect 3 Connect the Output s There are two outputs on the A R C a 1 4 unbal ance
22. sure will add more weight than most Despite these concerns we chose this path for a couple of reasons 1 there are more electronics in the A R C than normal that without resorting to more esoteric expensive electronic assembly techniques require more spatial volume 2 we wanted enough panel space to permit control adjust ments with your prehensile feet and 3 wanted a slanted top to make reading and adjusting the controls a tad easier Confusing Bypass Indicator This one will trip up some of you when the A R C is engaged the GREEN light is lit and when the A R C is BYPASSED the RED light is lit Technically with this kind of presentation the control should be labeled SYSTEM STATUS with GREEN indicating ENGAGED and RED indicat ing BYPASSED Since SYSTEM STATUS sounds really pompous and nerdy I opted to just label it BYPASS Why the two LEDs Primarily to combine the engaged bypassed indication with an ad hoc power indicator Besides watching the LEDs go off and on in response to the footswitch is cool HOOKING UP THE A R C To use the A R C as intended there are three things you must do in roughly this order e Apply power to the A R C e Connect the audio source and destination s to the A R C e Play Connecting the A R C Here s some specific details about hooking the A R C up 1 Connect the Power Supply Using a BOSS PSA 120 230 type power source plug the power supply into the jack marked Powe
23. th a Twist Many effects pedal users insist that their pedals have a hard wired bypass i e true bypass The A R C provides this as well but with a twist in the rare case of a pedal or power supply malfunction the A R C will default to a BYPASS condition no matter what the position of the bypass switch The idea is to keep things rockin even under the rare case of a fail ure Daisy chained Power Jacks To help keep things neat there are two power jacks on the A R C that allow power to be fed into the A R C out of the A R C and into another effect see Control Descriptions starting on page 11 Minimum Controls Maximum Effect There are only three controls on the A R C preamp gain INPUT amplifier output level AMP and the drive con trol DRIVE Yet by using combinations of the INPUT and the DRIVE controls you can achieve many unique tones The AMP control allows you to reduce the differences between the processed and the unprocessed levels Cool Blue Light Emitting Diode LED This blindingly blue light displays the amount of processing being done to the audio The brighter the glow the more processing But does it really matter It just looks sooooo cool Functional Description Page 3 of 13 FMR Audio 1 512 280 6557 ARC Owner s Manual V01 00 fm www fmraudio com e Perdy Knobs We designed the knobs to be locally built here in central Texas They re custom designed They re c
24. to almost 20dB This is not an input attenuator This control actually varies the first amplifier stage s gain In this way gain is applied only as needed and signal to noise ratio can be maximized Page 12 of 13 Control Descriptions ARC Owner s Manual V01 00 fm FMR Audio 1 512 280 6557 www fmraudio com EM Control Description AMP Attenuator Knob This is the gain control in the last stage feeding the OUTPUT jack but it only causes signal attenuation This control varies the signal present at the Out jack sig nal from 0 to 25dB of attenuation BYPASS Indicator These two LEDs show whether the Out signal is coming from the A R C s circuits or from the source signal connected to the A R C s input jack When the Out signal is taken from the In jack the red LED illuminates indicating a BYPASSED condition When the Out signal is taken from the A R C s circuits the green LED illuminates indicating the ACTIVE condition BYPASS Switch This switch causes the A R C to alternate between the BYPASSED and ACTIVE conditions The remainder of this page is intentionally left blank Control Descriptions Page 13 of 13 Appendix A Understanding and Using the A R C s Power Out feature ARC Quickstart Guide Appendix A fm FMR Audio 1 512 280 6557 www fmraudio com PURPOSE OF THIS DOCUMENT The FMR Audio A R C offers the ability to provide power to another downstream device without
25. uld such a ground loop exist and should it create problems the A R C s power reference connection to the chassis can be defeated to reduce the effects of such a potential difference see Ground Loop Reduction OPERATIONAL PRECAUTIONS Voltage Polarity The A R C s bridge rectifier allows either DC polarity power to be used or if desired an AC power source Many effects pedals however do not allow for such a variety of power types and voltage levels It s possi ble that a power supply that works fine with the A R C may actually present an injurious voltage and or polarity to any other pedal downstream from the A R C if connected via the A R C s daisychained power feature For exam ple a power supply whose center pin is positive would work fine with the A R C The A R C would pass along this polarity to the A R C s other power jack Clearly this could be problematic and or destructive to an effects pedal requiring a center negative connection only The final voltage polarity for a daisy chained system should be determined by the downstream device not the A R C Voltage Range The A R C can operate over a range of voltages from 9V to 12V either AC or DC while many pedals can only use 9VDC for their power In general the final power supply selection must be made for the device either the A R C or downstream device with the most narrow voltage requirement that overlaps with the A R C s input v
26. ument can be heard with less noise and clipping ARC Owner s Manual V01 00 fm Functional Description ARC Owner s Manual V01 00 fm FMR Audio 1 512 280 6557 www fmraudio com e Studio Effect Power Many guitar effects operate with a limited dynamic range determined by the use of a plain 9V power supply Such a low voltage lim its the technological choices for the analog electronics forcing reliance on noisy and distorted out of date devices The A R C uses the incoming 9V to create a 30V internal supply 15V This permits the use of state of the art devices to achieve low noise wide dynamic range performance Many Power Supply Choices We specify the A R C to work with the indus try standard BOSS PS 120 type power supply This center negative 2 1mm barrel connector DC power supply is used by many effect pedals and is quite easily found on line or in local guitar shops The A R C however goes one better it will run from voltages ranging from 9 to 12V either AC or DC of either polarity All Analog Signal Path From the input to output connectors your instru ment s sound is not converted to digital and back to analog It comes into the A R C as analog and stays analog all the way to the output jack The result is a richer higher fidelity effect The A R C s main signal path is all analog and is only assisted by digital software processes in the power supply and sidechain circuits Hard wired Bypass wi
27. urposes only The A R C works with many instruments stringed or otherwise including the banjo The A R C as a direct box A direct box also known as a direct input D L is primarily used to permit the connection of an instrument level device to a line level device such as a live studio mixer analog to digital converter ADC or recorder The A R C provides this function whenever it s engaged because the XLR output is always active The D I signal is affected by both the INPUT and DRIVE controls but not the AMP control The AMP knob only controls the A R C s output level to the 1 4 output jack To set up for the D I function generally you ll want to get as much signal to the mixer recorder that s required for a good signal to noise ratio With the gain control on the mixer recorder set to OdB consult your mixer recorder s manual for the details adjust the A R C s INPUT control to give you the desired level The A R C as a compressor Set the A R C up as described in Initial Settings and for either boost and or D I function s To add com pression merely rotate the DRIVE control CW from it s fully CCW position until you re hearing the amount of compression you d like The DRIVE control will both change the amount of compression as well as the balance of the compressed signal with the uncompressed signal In general the settings to the left of the 12 o clock position are relatively subtle Beyo
28. ustom built They re solid anodized alumi num and will last a couple of lifetimes THAT2181 VCAs These are the same VCAs used in scores of professional audio compressors gates and other dynamic processors We can use these with out compromise in part because of the higher than normal power supply rails see Studio Effect Power page 3 Steel Cabinet There are a lot of really good effects pedals out there that are housed in the standard Hammond Manufacturing cast aluminum enclosure We considered that type of cabinet as well but decided that the A R C was a little too different to package it the same ol way Instead we designed a custom two piece cold rolled steel enclosure with a sloping front and room for the instrumen talist with prehensile feet It s electroplated and covered in a hard polyurethane based paint to last a good long time Made in Austin Texas U S A We want you to know that we do our own man ufacturing here in beautiful Austin Texas cause a We live here We re control freaks We need things done to standards that are very specific and loftier than most Manufacturing products here helps us to control important costs and reduce waste All this helps ensure that your A R C will retain its value and con tinue working for many years to come b Austin s resources and culture from a very lively music scene to lots of high tech companies products help inspire and maintai
29. with a physical footprint that would be awkward for the performing musician outside of the studio In addition the nine adjustable parameters on the 6A just might be overkill in a stompbox applica tion What to do what to do Introduction Page 1 of 13 FMR Audio 1 512 280 6557 www fmraudio com We spent many hours head scratchin and prototypin to find the right features We wore out our fingers and face muscles pickin and grinnin to achieve just the right sound After many long months and apostro phes the result is the FMR Audio A R C and this manual With only three controls plus bypass it pro vides PBC 6A tonality in a more convenient easy to use format with features more appropriate to support both live and studio instrumentalists What s cool about the A R C This is the part of the manual where I trade in my design hat for my recordist s hat by telling you what I think are the cool aspects of our products in this case the A R C Page 2 of 13 4 in 1 Useful Effects The A R C provides a really nice sounding high impedance 1MQ to avoid tone suckage BOOST pedal followed by a special tone extracting and tone enhancing COMPRESSOR Pro level power permits both the A R C s usage as a DIRECT BOX for impedance matching as well as the ability to drive the relatively low impedance inputs of recording live mixing boards The pro level power also allows the pedal to be used as wide dynami
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