Can someone PLEASE help me understand the BFD?

[RobertR]

I'm extremely frustrated, because I have no idea what I'm supposed to be seeing on the display after downloading REW filters into it. After I do that, is there ANYTHING else I need to set/press/adjust?

1. Before downloading, do I leave the BFD on AUT, or do I need to set it to PAR (Filter Mode button)?

2. Do I need to press the filter select button after downloading? I told REW to download to preset #1, left channel. Then I told it to download to #1, right channel. Does this mean I need to select filter 1, or just leave everything alone?

3. After I downloaded the filters, I selected "1", then all 24 red LEDS on the left started flashing. What does this mean? What are those LEDS supposed to indicate? How many filters are set? Why would ALL of them flash?

4. In filter #1, I can select "Engine L" or "Engine R", but not both. Can someone explain why?

The BFD manual is as clear as MUD, so if anyone can help me out of this confusion, I would greatly appreciate it.

[brucek]

First, forget about the REW loaded filters and learn to use the BFD and its front panel. Actually once you learn, you'll see how quick it is to simply load the filters by hand - but either way, you need to learn how to use the front panel.

The BFD has 10 programs that hold 2 sets of 12 filters. The BFD comes with the programs preloaded with various filters set in various modes fro convenience. It's a nice idea to go through and set all the filters to OFF ('OF') mode first to stop all the silly flashing. A flashing led will be a filter in feedback destroy mode.

So, at the very least rotate the dial until you get to program 4 or 5 (these are favourites of many since they have all the 2 sets of 12 filters set to parametric (PA) mode by default). Once you are at program 4 simply go through the exercise of turning all the filters to OFF and you will end up with all the leds shut off.

Now you can begin to enter a filter by hand into filter position one (of program 4). Set the filter to PA and enter some freq, bandwidth and gain. The single led will be on and the store light will be flashing. Tap the store light twice and it will stop flashing and now the filter is loaded. Go and examine the values you entered into the filter.

Carry on and play with adding more filters until you get it.

The IN/OUT led should be solid green to enable the filters to do their job on the incoming signal.

To select engine L and engine R together and have them in couple mode, press both engine keys together.

Read your manual some more.

brucek

[RobertR]

Thank you, Bruce. I apologize for the emotional nature of my first post. You're right, once I abandoned the whole REW uploading idea, it became clear how to operate the BFD by using it manually. Thanks again for your help.

[Sonnie]

The BFD Guide is a good place to start reading up on the BFD... I believe it will explain most of what you are looking for in detail.

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Also, you don't have to hit "store" after entering each filter. You can wait until all filters are loaded and then store.

Regards,
Wayne

[RobertR]

Thanks for all the tips and help, guys. After playing around with the BFD for awhile, I feel very comfortable with how it works now. Oh, by the way, the Behringer Ultradrive Pro DCX2496 is even more fun to play with.

[g3kko]

brucek wrote:

To select engine L and engine R together and have them in couple mode, press both engine keys together.

What if I have a subwoofer on L and tactile transducers on R? Right now, I have the subwoofer tuned (engine L lit) and the TTs just passed through (engine R unlit). I'd like to light up the TTs and cure a couple of bad resonances in my furniture.

How do I enable them both? Is that the "couple" mode? Or does "couple" imply some sort of mono summation of each channel?

You guys probably hear this all the time, but the differences made to my system with REW & the BDF have completely transformed my home theater. I was *this* close to chucking my sub out the window and building a new one. So thank you for all the hard work around here, helping to make the tools more approachable!

[brucek]

How do I enable them both? Is that the "couple" mode? Or does "couple" imply some sort of mono summation of each channel?

As I wrote in my post above, To select engine L and engine R together and have them in couple mode, press both engine keys together.

In couple, the channels remain stereo, but you only have to enter a filter once and it's copied to both channels for convenience.
While you're in single mode, select either the right or left channel, and then when couple is selected, the single channel you had selected will be copied to the other channel.

brucek

[g3kko]

Bruce:

What you wrote is basically what it says in the manuals. Sorry to be so thick-headed. I must be looking at this sideways. Is it possible for the L & R engines to both be active, with separate, independant filters for each?

Does the status of the light indicate whether the filters are active? Or does it just indicate which set of filters are currently selected for editing?

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Is it possible for the L & R engines to both be active, with separate, independant filters for each?

Yes, and that's what you want if you need to "EQ the furniture" separate from the subwoofer. The horizontal red LEDs will show the number of filters used for each channel. Each red LED is an active filter. The Left/Right buttons determine which set is selected for editing,

Regards,
Wayne

[g3kko]

Wayne A. Pflughaupt wrote:

Yes, and that's what you want if you need to "EQ the furniture" separate from the subwoofer. The horizontal red LEDs will show the number of filters used for each channel. Each red LED is an active filter. The Left/Right buttons determine which set is selected for editing,

Regards,
Wayne

D'oh. I understand now. The actual engine lights don't really specify whether the engine is active, just whether that engine is selected for programming. Everybody keeps using the word "active" and to me that meant I kept interpreting that as "active doing stuff to your signal."

Thanks for your persistance with my thickness.