Question 1

When was Cadac founded?

Accepted Answer

Cadac was founded in 1968. The name is derived from the first letter of each of the founders' Christian names: Clive Green, Adrian Kerridge, David Bott and Charles Billet. The company's first console was installed at the legendary Morgan Studios in London.

Question 2

What does Cadac's name stand for?

Accepted Answer

Cadac is an acronym formed from the first names of the company's four founders: Clive Green, Adrian Kerridge, David Bott and Charles Billet. The company was established in the United Kingdom in 1968.

Question 3

Where are Cadac products designed and manufactured?

Accepted Answer

Every product in the Cadac CM Series is designed and manufactured in the United Kingdom. This gives Cadac direct control over build quality, performance standards, and long-term reliability, and reflects the same engineering values that have defined the brand for over 50 years.

Question 4

What is Cadac's heritage in professional audio?

Accepted Answer

Cadac's heritage spans more than five decades across recording studios, theatre and live sound. From the late 1960s, Cadac consoles were installed in prestigious recording studios worldwide, shaping the sound of countless iconic albums. In 1984, Cadac entered the world of theatre, supplying a bespoke console for the West End production of Little Shop of Horrors at the request of sound designer Martin Levan. This began decades of Cadac consoles at the heart of major productions including Wicked, Billy Elliot, The Lion King, Jersey Boys and The Phantom of the Opera. Today, Cadac continues that legacy with the CM Series, designed for the demands of modern live audio production.

Question 5

Does Cadac still make analogue consoles?

Accepted Answer

Cadac’s current product range is fully digital. The CM Series — comprising the CM-J50 digital mixing console, CM-SR stage racks, network bridges, the CM-RT12 MegaCOMMS Router and the CM software apps — represents the company’s focus today. Cadac’s analogue heritage, including the legendary J-Type theatre console, remains part of the brand’s identity and informs the audio character of the CM Series. The Cadac mic preamps newly designed for the CM system carry that lineage directly into the digital domain.

Question 6

What is the latency of the Cadac CM-J50?

Accepted Answer

The CM-J50 has a through-system latency of under 0.4 milliseconds. Cadac treats latency as a first-order engineering concern, differences of less than 0.1ms affect audio quality, and the CM-J50's automatic latency management system synchronises all internal routing and processing before summing to ensure absolute phase coherency at every output.

Question 7

What sample rate does the CM-J50 operate at?

Accepted Answer

The CM-J50 operates natively at 96 kHz, with 24-bit conversion and 32/40-bit floating-point internal processing. The console runs at 96 kHz throughout the signal chain rather than upsampling from 48 kHz, and all connected CM-SR stage racks and network bridges operate at the same native rate.

Question 8

How many inputs and outputs does the CM-J50 have?

Accepted Answer

The CM-J50 has 96 input channels and 56 output buses, which are configurable as auxiliaries, groups, stereo auxes or matrix outputs. In Monitor Mode, 54 busses are available; in FoH Mode, 48 buses are configurable. Local I/O on the rear panel consists of 16 analogue mic inputs, 8 analogue outputs, and 8 AES3 inputs and outputs. Additional I/O is available via CM-SR remote stage racks connected over MegaCOMMS.

Question 9

What processing does each CM-J50 input channel have?

Accepted Answer

The CM-J50 provides full processing on every one of its 96 input channels — there is no shared DSP pool and no channel count reduction at higher sample rates. Each input channel includes a six-band parametric EQ with selectable dynamic EQ function, a gate, a dual-mode compressor with side chain filter, and full routing to all 56 output buses. Every output bus has its own 1/3-octave graphic EQ and compressor/limiter. In addition, the console provides 16 stereo effects slots, each with reverb, modulation and delay elements, plus an integrated 64×64 Waves SoundGrid interface for plug-ins and recording.

Question 10

Does the CM-J50 have built-in effects?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The CM-J50 includes 16 stereo effects slots as standard, with no Waves licence required. Each slot provides reverb, modulation and delay elements, all accessible directly from the touchscreen and assignable to any input or bus. For engineers who want to extend the console’s effects capability further, the integrated 64×64 Waves SoundGrid interface allows up to 64 channels of Waves plug-ins to run simultaneously alongside the native effects.

Question 11

What audio network protocols does the CM-J50 support?

Accepted Answer

The CM-J50 natively uses MegaCOMMS — Cadac's proprietary high-density audio network. It also supports Dante/AES67 via the CM-DT64 network bridge, MADI via the CM-MD64 network bridge, and Waves SoundGrid via the console's integrated 64×64 Waves interface.

Question 12

Does the CM-J50 support Dante?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Dante integration is available via the Cadac CM-DT64 Dante network bridge, which connects to the CM-J50's MegaCOMMS coaxial ports and supports up to 64 bidirectional channels at 96kHz. The CM-DT64 also supports AES67 and is configured via Dante Controller software.

FAQs

This is an online repository of FAQs, in-depth "how to" Knowledge Base guides and Technical Bulletins regarding Cadac CM-Series products

What is the latency through the CM-J50?

What type of optical transceivers do I need for the CM-J50 and the CM-SR series racks?

What type of optical fibre do I need for connecting the CM-J50 to the CM-SR stage racks?

What spec of coaxial cable should I use for MegaCOMMS?

What is the best practice for MegaCOMMS cabling when designing a system?

Can I connect to a Dante network?

Can I connect to a MADI network?

Can I use Waves with the CM-J50?

The CM-J50 fails to load successfully and the log files says memory corrupt, what do I do next?

The CM-J50 starts up in Debug Mode, what do I do next?

How do I access Explorer on the CM-J50?

How do I download the CM-J50’s log files?

How do I stop the console programme running on the CM-J50?

How do I upgrade the software on the CM-J50?

How many I/O boxes can I connect to the rear of the CM-J50?

I have attempted a factory reset but the CM-J50 is still having issues on start-up. What should I do?

I have tried to upgrade my console with new software and the upgrade seems to have failed and the console no longer works. What should I do now?

The CM-J50 will not update the user options for start-up. What should I do?

What is the difference between a Project, Show and a Cue?

My Cues will not load properly. What should I do?

My Show files will not load properly. What should I do?

What are the shut down options?

What do the start up options mean?

What’s the difference between Programme Upgrader and Clean Programme Upgrader?

When upgrading the console software a window appears stating “Console Launcher had stopped working”, what do I do next?"

What is MegaCOMMS?

Will MADI coaxial cables be OK to use?

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

Why does Cadac use RG6 coaxial cables rather than Ethernet?

What resolution do I need on my PC to run the CM-Editor offline editor correctly?