FBX2400 2-Channel Feedback Exterminator

The performance-saving power of the Sabine FBX2400 with SMARTFilters lies in it's ability to control feedback during the program, not just at setup time. If feedback occurs during that crucial moment of the show, in the middle of the big solo, or just when the worship leader begins the sermon, the FBX Feedback Exterminator places a filter that only kills the feedback, not the sound and power you work so hard to achieve. Think of the Sabine FBX as a very advanced set of automatic parametric filters. If you had the time, the filters, and the test equipment, you could find the feedback frequencies, dial in the precise filter location, and make a very narrow filter, just deep enough to remove the offending tone. The FBX2400 does it all for you automatically, and it does it faster than any other method.

How does the Feedback Exterminator do it? First let's consider just how a superior feedback control filter should behave. Filters can be described by their Speed, Accuracy, Resolution, and Sonic Integrity.

Speed: The industry's best digital signal processors that run the SMARTFilter algorithm give the FBX2400 a distinct speed advantage over all other automatic feedback controllers. And in Setup Mode the speed is increased, so you can complete your entire setup of the FBX in less than 30 seconds. During the show the 24-bit FBX is constantly on the watch for feedback, never allowing it to ruin your show. Filters are placed almost immediately (in 0.4 seconds at 1 KHz).

Accuracy: Is it music or is it feedback? This is the most difficult question your feedback controller must answer. A wrong decision means you waste filters (less gain for you) and punch unnecessary holes in your sound. The FBX has always excelled in it's ability to make the right decision, and the new SMARTFilter technology makes it even better. Less sophisticated feedback controllers place filters on any loud tone, even if it is music, but the FBX2400 uses a patented analysis of the harmonic content of your program material. Because feedback is low in harmonics, and music and speech are rich in harmonics, the FBX Feedback Exterminator is able to make the correct and accurate answer to the music or feedback question.

Resolution: This is a big one. Now that we know feedback is happening, we need to target it precisely. Many feedback controllers place their filters in the general vicinity of the feedback and then widen the filters until the feedback goes away. The FBX uses a more sophisticated solution. It centers the filter exactly on the frequency that is feeding back. This unique one-Hertz resolution enables the FBX2400 to control feedback with transparent filters that are ten times narrower than graphic equalizer filters, which can only muster 31 spots to place their very wide filters. Feedback frequencies are single tones, and that means there can be almost 20,000 places for them to occur in the audio spectrum. You can see that using a feedback control device with less resolution is like shooting a fly with a shotgun. You may eventually get that fly, but it will take a lot of shooting and cause a lot of damage!

In contrast, the FBX2400 Feedback Exterminator places these accurately chosen filters with one Hz resolution. This means a direct hit on a single feedback tone ” every time.

Sonic integrity: Sabine's innovative approach to digital filtering is unique in the industry. Our filters just sound better, with far less phase distortion and a smoother response. Sabine filters maintain their integrity at all depths, providing true Constant Q performance.

Some feedback suppressors tout the benefits of more filters, but why add more filters than you need? The FBX processor could easily produce 50 filters, but they would only degrade your sound. Sabine's thirteen years of experience as pioneers and inventors of automatic feedback control have discovered that no more than twelve filters are most effective.

Total Control: The 2-channel FBX2400 is for controlling feedback for the whole mix in both mains and monitors, and is patched between mixer and power amps.