Is that the same functionality as the push buttons that are on the bottom of my ATB 24 v2.1 (#998), that switches the meter feed from the monitor return to the direct output? Or does this mod read both the monitor feed AND the direct output, showing a summed result on the meter bridge?

Dave

I have a newer ATB24 (SN 845 if I remember correctly).

I would prefer the meter bridge to monitor either the line inputs or the direct outputs. I am willing to do one of these mods, but after reading all these pages, I am very confused!

So far, I see 2 different mods, one from Alan Hyatt, and one from UPrecording (who was advised by a PMI tech).

The 2 different mod posts are here:
https://gearspace.com/board/3959883-post242.html
https://gearspace.com/board/4282570-post295.html

Can someone please explain the difference between these two mods. The mod Alan suggests seems like a simple wire move. The mod that UPrecording posted, involves making a jumper to the other side of the card.

What would the difference in outcome be?
Is one line in (pre-gain/fader/eq), and the other direct out (post-gain/fader/eq)? If so, which is which?

Thanks,
gee_lo

************************

EDIT: Since posting this, I have already received a PM from Alan, and an email from Barry at PMI. It was confirmed that Alan's posted mod sees the direct outs, and UPrecording's posted mod is pre-fader of the mic/line path. I also learned that some of the newer boards have factory installed switches on the belly of the board for this very purpose. (I have to check my board this evening to see if mine has them). Furthermore, I feel the need to comment on the excellent customer service both Alan and Barry have offered me. Barry and I have spoke several times in the past few days, and I am so happy to have bought a console with such excellent, personal, and accessible customer support. Anyone considering the Toft ATB should know that they are buying some of the best support I have ever dealt with.

EDIT #2: For any ATB users looking to mod the meter bridge to monitor the line ins, (instead of the Mon ins), I performed the mod on all 24 channels with 100% success. (This pertains to ATB owners with the older version, that doesn't have the pre installed button.) Also, my mod does not involve soldering the meter bridge wire directly to the channel card - which would make your cards permanently installed in the frame, unless you de-solder the wire. Rather, I modified the connector that the meter bridge wire plugs in to, and added a jumper to feed the meter bridge from an alternate location on the card. PM me for details. I will probably add photos to this post soon in an update as well.

Just demoed a 16ch ATB at a local musicstore today. It was of the new 2.1 series. I don't know if it has the jumpers for the meterbridge feed but this one showed dancing lights only for the monitor inputs. There really should be a jumper to avoid unnecessary soldering mods. Allen heath, SC Ghost etc. have jumpers.

Anyway, about the desk. The one we tested was a 16ch version. I am planning to get a 24ch desk later in the spring and for some reason always thought that the 16ch looked somewhat small. However, it is actually bigger than the pictures let you think. This unit had a very good finish and looked beautiful. The meterbridge looks great when in operation. Overall, the desk felt quite solid and gave a very positive impression.

The 2.1 version has push buttons on the bottom of the console that switch the meter bridge to read the direct outputs. Carefully use a screwdriver to push in all channels. You access these buttons through the holes located towards the back of the console, I think under the EQ section. Great solidly built product.

Thanks for the info. I will check this tomorrow when I get my atb.

Hello,

With the help of the kind gents at PMI, I decided to take on the Meter Bridge Mod project. As you can see from my previous post, there are a few options. I decided to do my own variation, and share it with Gearslutz in case someone else decided to try it.

My desire was to meter the direct outs on each channel, rather than the mon returns. The newer model ATBs have the internal buttons on each channel (accessible from the belly of the board). But there are hundreds of ATBs out there that were built before these buttons were added. This is what you will need to do to meter your direct outs:

I basically did Alan's mod, but rather than solder the meter bridge wire to the card, I modified the connector (CON2), and added a jumper to R107. Soldering the meter bridge wire to the card would essentially attach the card to the meter bridge wiring harness. If you wanted to remove a card, you'd have to desolder the wire. Not really a big deal, but I came up with a way to keep the cards modular and removable. Also, soldering the wire directly would mean you'd have to solder while the channel cards were installed in the board...which is much easier said than done, since there is a plastic connector directly above it, and it's a very strange angle. Also, since you need to apply a bit of solder to the card, I feared solder splatter, and decided it was safest (though slowest) to perform this mod with the cards removed individually.

PMI was kind enough to send me removal instructions for the input cards, and the process was very straightforward. I reccomend you work on a large flat table, with a lot of cushioning underneath a clean sheet. You'll have to flip the board over a few times, so use a big work area.

Once you have the cards out, it's easy! Just snip the + lead wire on the CON2 connector, and bend it back a few mm. Then solder a short jumper from the snipped CON2 lead, and jump it to the end of R107. It's only about 1" away, so you won't need a long jumper.

The whole project took about half a day, but the most time consuming part of the job was dealing with the knobs. They are hard to remove (you need to use padded pliers), and the inner plastic core of the knob often broke it's glue bond from the outer metal shell - and remained on the pot shafts. I had to reglue many knob back together, so be prepared! (PM me for details on knob repair, it was a project on it's own!) But I was still very happy I did the mod, it works 100%, and it makes a huge difference in my workflow. I am very jealous for the owners who have a simple button to press!!!

Even though I snipped a lead on a connector, this mod is totally reversible for future owners. Just bend the lead back, add a drop of solder, and you are back to the factory metering scheme.

A picture is worth 1000 words, so here you go! PM me if you have any questions.

Thanks,
gee_lo

With the meter bridge on, the ATB-24 is about 24 x 40 x 10" tall (max, at the top of the bridge, maybe 4" tall at the front). The weight of the ATB-24 surprised me, like ~140 pounds boxed and 130 for the unit itself. It's a nice size for a project studio in my opinion. Some here are ciritcal of the sound and build quality, but I'm pretty happy with it thus far.

I actually got an atb24 with bridge 2 months ago and I am very happy with it. I mainly record my synthesizers through the toft and it works very well for that purpose. Eq is excellent. The size was perfect for my existing studio furniture and the atb looks just beautiful on it after replacing the front row of rubber feet with much slimmer ones. I have also noticed that a couple of things have been done saving money but the result is still stunning for the price you pay for it.

Am I missing something?????

After also discovering that the meterbridge is oddly set up on the new versions to read the monitor inputs, I was glad to read that the 2.1 versions have pushbuttons on the belly to switch to direct output metering.....
BUT....i just flipped the console....I just located the holes and buttons underneath the EQ section....i just flipped the switch on ALL the channels and guess what.... ITS EXACTLY THE SAME..... it's definitely NOT metering the direct outputs, but still, the monitor inputs...

PLEASE EXPLAIN ANYONE??? I just wanna use my big faders during mixing and have the meters monitor the channel in use. ie main channel path (I/P reversed/line ip selected) NOT monitor path... help?

Additional info: ATB32 - belly buttons arrived pressed in - just tried flipping buttons so they are extended (pressed out) - should this be when it meters direct outputs??

Ok, I just learnt that the buttons I pushed in were for the pre/post fader solo switching.... egg on my face... but why isn't any of this mentioned officially on the website or manual??

My console only has the single row of holes and switches as far as I can see. Where are the meterbridge holes located??? I was lead to believe I have the 2.1 series. Serial number is 865

This is soooo confusing..Toft moderator/Alan help???

2.5 and above has the added switch... 2.1 had the supported pots, balanced monitor and a few other additions.... Sorry!

Hi everyone,
I'm wondering if there is any switch/button on my 2.5 atb 16 to show the line/mic inputs on meter bridge instead of the monitor inputs? I couldn't find any. I'll appreciate any help.
Thanks

From our Manual included with the ATB Console....Provided you have the option..

A customer programmable switch has been provided which is accessible through a small hole in the base panel of the mixer. As standard, the switch is factory set to read the monitor return signal as described above. By pressing the switch with a small object such as a thin electrical screwdriver, it is possible to change the metering point to post channel fader. The meter will then always indicate the post fader channel output. This will give a very accurate indication of the signal level leaving the channel. The switch access hole is located towards the rear of the mixer base panel. The other hole is for the AFL/PFL....

Hey all. thought I would resurrect this thread…

here at Films we just received an ATB24 with meter bridge (rev 3) and would also like to use the meter bridge to monitor pre-fade mic/input level. Just also read this entire thread and am confused which mod presented would achieve that (if at all). We want to use the board for live use, so we would be using all 24 line ins and 24 mon returns, but would like to see the meter bridge reflect the pre fade input level. thought I'd tap into this thread to see if anyone ever got this to happen…

thanks!

Hey Frontierfran,

From my understanding, that mod was never discussed. The mod we performed was to change the meters from mon input to direct out metering. You're looking to meter pre fader mic/line input levels, which I don't think was ever addressed. I'd contact PMI directly and see if they can advise.

Good luck,
Angelo

Hey Frontierfran,

From my understanding, that mod was never discussed. The mod we performed was to change the meters from mon input to direct out metering. You're looking to meter pre fader mic/line input levels, which I don't think was ever addressed. I'd contact PMI directly and see if they can advise.

Good luck,
Angelo

looking back, you are correct. thanks. I have contacted PMI and am awaiting a response. Even a schematic would work for me at this point...

There is now a switch on each channel, accessible through small holes under the console. See pg 21 of the manual http://www.toftaudiodesigns.com/pdf/atb_manual_web.pdf

Hi All,
I am coming from ~20 years of working on a Mackie 24-8 and am very close to purchasing an ATB24.
I have seen some complaints in these forums regarding how the Toft is noisy and somewhat substandard build quality.
For those with experience in this sort of evolution, is the Toft markedly ('markedtly' =$4500 diff) better? Quiet board?, nice eq? good routing?
For all the venom spewed at the old Mackies, for $2k new, the routing, monitoring, inserts are hard to beat judging by the current crop of quasi-entry level analog boards out there. I refer to primarily A&H & Toft.

A couple questions:

Is it possible to route a group of input channels (2 guitars for instance) to a single submix (ex: submix fader 1) and then pan that submix accordingly L , R or in between?

Is it possible to use a stereo device (stereo compressor) on a single submix insert so that 5 drums subbed into 1 submix can retain stereo separation.
Thank you Gentlemen.

Hi bni999!

I have an ATB24 now for more than 7 years (Nov. 2008). Aside from a shipping damage there were no defects in all those years.

quiet? Could be a little better but very ok.
Nice EQ? Yes!!!
Good Routing? Yes! Don't miss anything here.

Submix routing: Those submix busses are not stereo. Every submix bus has inserts and you can assign 2 aux sends to them.
You usually want to use 2 submix busses for stereo routing and processing and pan the channels, not the submix. With the cannel pans and the 2 submix faders you can pan everything to everywhere.

Thus you only have a mono insert on each submix channel.

Yes, on the ATB, you can assign any input to any of the 8 subgroups and output to L/R from there

As for 5 channels of drums, you can assign them to any group output as well. Each group output has an insert for a compressor or other device, but the insert to the group is mono...not stereo. You would be best to use two groups, assign as many drums to those two groups, then use the panner to decide where you want each drum...Left, Right, Center or anywhere between, and set the two group outputs to your stereo device.