Recording - November 2015 - 49

As you can see in the screenshot, these are full-function lowlatency mixers, with each input
color-coded by type-blue for
mic/line, green for optical, purple for DAW return-and offering level, pan, stereo link,
Mute, Solo, and send level and
panning for Cue mixes A and
B. The master section has a
large LED level meter, Cue
Master out levels with Solo buttons that override each other
(for quick cue mix comparisons), buttons to view or hide
each type of input, and monitor
function buttons surrounding the
main level knob (which is just
for show-HW means it's a
hardware-only control). There
are buttons for Mono Sum,
Polarity Reverse (activate both
at once to hear the L-R "Side"
audio), Talkback, Alt (the second set of line outs), and Dim
and Cut (mirroring the buttons
on the front panel). Any of these
can be assigned to one of the three
Function buttons by the main volume knob
for easy access.
Pressing the System button under the
main LED meter opens the Setup Strip and
Routing panel on the right, sliding the
Master section partly over the channel
inputs to make room. On the Setup Strip,
you can select whether the optical in and
out are S/PDIF or ADAT, select your clock
source, assign any input to Talkback
(when you do this, that input gains a yellow color code and its level fader vanishes), choose whether the Mono signal is
Left only, Right only, or a mono mix of
both. You can also adjust the relative level
of the Alt output (to match gains of different pairs of speakers) and control how
much of a volume drop the Dim button
causes (0 to 30 dB, default 15 dB).
The Output Routing Matrix determines
which signal is routed to which physical
output. The two Main Out pairs can each
be split into two mono outs, allowing you
to feed two separate mono cue mixes and
still route audio to the mains and phones.
Sources include the Main output of the
mixer, the Alt Speaker output (routed to
the second set of main outs when the Alt
button is pushed), Cue A, Cue B, and
DAW Mix (a direct out from your software with no DSP mixing or panning).
Note that the insert returns are preA/D, allowing you to place line-level signals directly into the digital domain with
no preamp or filtering. Combined with
the Cue controls and the spare set of outputs, you can actually put hardware
processors in send/return loops, and
even process direct outputs from your
DAW and bring them back in the analog
domain. This is some pretty cool stuff!

The iD14's mixer application looks quite
similar to the iD22's, but lacks the Output
Routing Matrix and has only one Cue bus,
which can be routed to the headphone or
main outputs. The iD button's functions are
selected via right click and can include
Mute, Mute + Polarity, Talkback, 15 dB
Dim, and a special function called
ScrollControl. When this is selected, the
encoder knob becomes a large scroll
wheel, allowing you fine control of mouseover functions in many DAWs, for automation writing, virtual instrument tweaks, and
other uses. Precisely what ScrollControl
does and how it responds to movements
depends on your computer and DAW.
In both cases, the full routing and settings state of the mixer can be saved,
renamed, and recalled easily. This lets
you save configurations for tracking, mixing, and so forth.

In use
If you've been impressed by the
flexibility of these interfaces, their
audio quality will floor you.
Audient really has distilled a lot of
its large-format console power into
these little boxes. The preamps are
clear without being sterile and
offer up to 66 dB of really clean
gain... not many portable interfaces can do justice to low-output
dynamic and ribbon mics, but
these sure can! The D/A conversion is exquisite and the main and
headphone outs both offer gobs
of power for the taking. I've heard
digital mixers costing thousands
of dollars that can't match the iD
interfaces for clarity and detail.
In weeks of use with a variety
of DAWs, I only ran into one
"gotcha", and that was on
iTunes of all things. Audient does
warn you that if your software
resets itself to a new sample rate
(as can happen if, for example,
you play back tracks of different
sample rates as part of a playlist), the iD
will "burp" a few times as it resets itself to
the new rate. This won't damage your
speakers, but it's startling the first time you
hear it. I was sure I'd broken something!
Audient warns that you should mute your
speakers before doing this, and I'll verify
that that's a very good idea.
Conclusions
Audient may be a new name in the interface game, but these first offerings make for
an impressive start. The iD22 shines for its
handy monitor control features, inserts, dedicated controls, and expanded digital I/O,
but if you don't need that level of flexibility
and still want Audient quality, the iD14 is
truly a cut above the ordinary.
Prices: iD22, $599; iD14, $299
More from: Audient, www.audient.com

RECORDING November 2015

http://www.audient.com

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