AudioMedia - October 2008 - (Page 47)

Allen & Heath | ZED R 16 Finally if the first two buttons are pressed simultaneously then you can use the equaliser of the ZED R- as an analogue insert on your DAW controlled mix. There are quite a few possibilities here, all very flexible, and these are just a few simple examples of their use. I tried all of these out as described, and all worked perfectly. With the session running at . I did not experience any real latency issues. Of course this will be affected by your system, but I would not expect this to be an issue for most with reasonable buffer management. With the faders in MIDI mode to act as a controller with the DAW, I can only really comment on its use with Sonar, and once again all were very smooth. The faders in general work in a very refined way for what are fairly short mm travel faders/controllers. on this occasion. As an analogue mixer it is robust, quiet, and transparent and, as a controller, straightforward. The digital routing is very flexible and marries the analogue and digital worlds together very well. The majority of users will have most configurations covered with the ZED R- . I hope that Allen & Heath continue to develop templates for other DAW systems to aid installation, and I have no reason to doubt that this will be with us sooner rather than later. This is both a welcome and, for me, successful return to the studio world for Allen & Heath and, with the refinements and support resources promised, can only get better. ∫ I N F O R MAT I O N was, but given the development with Sonar, I should have had more confidence. Pulling up the MIDI controller page within the ZED R- driver software, a grid system for the mapping of controllers to functions makes for a simple user-friendly approach. I have not used a Windows-based system for a while, but I had no problems interpreting the interface laid out before me, and all learned function associations worked fine. First, simply taking the ZED R- and using it as a basic analogue mixer with a couple of microphone and line signals on a few channels. When setting up, the first thing that struck me was the overall build quality. Every switch, fader, and rotary control felt very solid indeed, and I have no doubt would be able to withstand heavy use with little problem. The other immediate observation was just how quiet the ZED R- was. Opening up and routing in a few other channels just to see how much these rogue channels would add to the distortion had no real impact at all. This is a very quiet console. The mic preamps are very clean and transparent. I have memories of the GL and GL , and the ZED R- preamps are a certain improvement on what was already a very usable design. As you would expect, things are much quieter now. Now let’s have a look at the digital routing of the ZED Rusing those additional buttons next to each of the channel faders mentioned earlier. The manual has a page for each of the modes that can be achieved with these based on a popular application. With all the switches not depressed the incoming analogue signal goes through the ADC into the Firewire and ADAT outputs to your DAW immediately after the preamp and HPF, so taking the signal at the earliest opportunity. Pushing the first button labelled Dig Send=Post EQ sends the signal out after the onboard analogue equaliser section. The next button, Dig Return=Pre Insert, uses your DAW as an insert through the Firewire. The signal leaves the ZED R- after the preamp and HPF, through your DAW, then back into the console pre EQ. Here you can add a plug-in processor within your DAW, and then continue to mix through the analogue path to the L-R bus. You could also just use this mode to use the ZED R- as an analogue summing mixer for the digital outputs of your DAW for mixing. The third button, Dig Return=Post EQ, takes the signal from the ZED R- to your DAW as before, then returns it after the EQ to continue to the L-R bus using either Firewire or ADAT connections. This would allow for monitoring in your DAW during recording as per an in-line channel/ monitor routing scenario. The Allen & Heath ZED R- was much better than I was expecting it to be. That sounds a bit unfair, but you do have to keep expectations reasonable when reviewing sometimes. I was somewhat out Conclusion £ GB£1,819.00 (inc.VAT), US$2,999.00 AAllen & Heath Ltd., Kernick Industrial Estate, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9LU T+44 (0) 1326 372070 W www.allen-heath.com AUDIO MEDIA OCTOBER 2008 47 http://www.allen-heath.com http://www.seelectronics.com http://www.sonic-distribution.com

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Audio Media - October 2008 Content Recording Post Broadcast Geofocus:�Portugal &�Spain What's Up UK IBC Report Microtech Geffel UM 930 Steinberg Cubase 4.5 ADK�Hamburg &�Vienna Final Cut: House of Fallen Lexicon PCM96 Review The Conch Awards Feature Sound Devices 788T Review Lexicon PCM96 Allen &�Heath Zed R16 Power: Fact & Fiction, PT.2 Product Sampler Plug-ins Video Guide AMSR Plasa Report Audio Technica IEM�M3 Rushes Live Mixing Techniques:�Bruce Johnston Drawmer 4x4 Kickbox

AudioMedia - October 2008

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