Connecting a Mixer

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by RichrdC

That XR18 looks great but am I to think it only works with iPad tablets and things? I don't think so, but.....I play around on a Windows 10 desktop.

You need to actually do some work here, like open the manual for some of these products and have a read, look at the pictures. And in this case you would see Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS clients for the mixer mentioned.

The brothers of these Berringer rack mount mixers, like the X32 Compact or X32, both with motorized faders, are one of the few low-cost mixers capable of HUI/MCU DAW control, so have a look there as well. And this starts to get complex, look at videos on YouTube that show how to set them up as a DAW control surface and see how that looks vs what you are using now.

[RichrdC]

I think you're already giving me places to look towards where I want to go.

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by RichrdC

Hello Dave, Thanks for the link to the Studio on FB. I'll guess and say you're the guy in the middle of the image. :)

Not sure what image but its probably not me, I don't show up on film

[RichrdC]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

The L-12 is a compact digital mixer that does act as a USB interface... 14in 4 out (aka 14x4) (as well as having a build in recorder to SD card... which many digital mixers have today). Meaning 14 channels to the DAW and 4 outputs from the DAW (for you to playback stuff to the mixer, like backing tracks, or maybe guitar amp sims or VIs etc.). Since you are on Windows, if using Pro Tools, and ideally really for any DAW you want an ASIO driver from the vendor (don't use ASIO4ALL) and I believe Zoom has that. And they have a driver for Mac. And they have a class compliance mode that lets this work with say an iPad. All of which is great... except there are some complaints online about problems with their ASIO driver. You might want to look into those and see if they might still be relevant/how people got on etc. Like with audio interfaces the quality of drivers and how long vendors support those (and in this case with a complex product also provide firmware updates) is important and something you can get by looking at other Zoom product updates and what OS versions their drivers are supported on and have been updated for.

Other things you need to check for yourself, like are there enough mono vs. stereo tracks in the mixer, the effects, or sub-mixes, or mic inserts etc. that you might want.

These Zoom units are fairly plasticy/build down to a price, but that may be all you want/need. And almost certainly the preamps in these mixers will sound worse than available in more expensive interfaces, and they may just be noisy, suffer from hum problems, especially with lots of devices connected etc. For any of these I'd buy from a vendor with a good return policy, here Amazon.com is a good choice.

There are lots of devices in this category so take some time to look around. Again, there are some that will operate as a HUI/MCU control surfaces with motorized faders so could potentially replace the control surfaces you have already.

Hello, Well I decided to take a shot with the Zoom L12...I've run into an issue. I'll check the Zoom site for sure, but thought just maybe I just haven't finished the setup.. I downloaded the operating file from Zoom.. Got the L12 up and running in PT.
Zoom says first thing to do on the mixer is set time & date. Done. Formatting the SD card. Done. Got some XLRs into the monitors.
In ProTools when I look at inputs on a session, sure enough there a 12 mono, 2 stereo inputs or stereo inputs also adding up to the 14.
The issue is in the setup of Preferences for Midi controller, Pro tools isn't recognizing the L12..I'll enter HUI in first box, hit the drop down in the second box and all I see is my little Oxygen Keyboard listed.. I assume something isn't set up right and is part of the reason why I can't hear the audio. You can see the faders in the session playing the song. I've got the USB tab lit on the L12 which I know you need to do to bring audio back to the L12. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your expertise.. Richrdc

[Darryl Ramm]

Remember the bits where I said that typical low-cost mixers are *NOT* going to support HUI/MCU DAW control and I pointed out that the Behringer X32 is an example of one that does. The Zoom does not support HUI or MCU. If it did you would see documentation about that in the manual.

Is the audio actually working. Can you hear anything in monitors or headphones connected to the L-12 when you play back a known good audio recording in Pro Tools?

Are inputs working? If the inputs and outputs are not labeled as they should be go to Setup>IO and on each of the input, output and bus pages click the default button.