Karaoke Forums

Hamsamich points out a good mixer. i'd just read some reviews and it's looking pretty good. Does anyone uses a Zed14 that could give a first hand review? but the price is a little steep. Oh well, you get what you pay for. I wish i'd known before spending 250 on my vocopro Mixer.

Hamsamich,

What's the difference between the Zed 12fx and the zed 14?

The ZED series are a good set of consoles and worth the premium that you pay for the Allen & Heath name. The biggest difference between the 12FX and the 14 is that the ZED 14 does not have the internal Effects processor. Instead it has a 4th stereo channel (a total of 14 input channels as opposed to 12 on the 12FX). Other than that they are almost identical.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

I just bought the zedfx-12. I will let everyone know how much I like it. It is on it's way. Hard to find, had to buy off ebay. They are backordered everywhere. when I post my opinion, you'll have to keep in mind my low experience level. But some people who are on my level or near it will probably appreciate that while others will yawn/scoff. anyway, I'm excited!

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[glow=red]Yo sucka, we need this hea CHOPTER, and we need it now![/glow]

Ok, been playing with my Zed12fx for 6 hours now. It is really bigger than thought. The extra channels and the large faders really add to the size. I will deal with it though because I really like it. I'd have to say this is just barely a compact mixer.

The sound seems really nice, and I can hear the FX are MUCH better than the behringer I was using. (1202FX).

I love the extra and better EQs on all channels. The sound contol is obviously better.

There is so much more on this Zed and it will take me a while to explore all the extra capabilities. There's alot I may never use.

The usb recording function isn't as cool as I thought. The UCA-222 usb rca jack connector by behringer I picked up for 35 bucks last week seems better. I had the gain turned all the way up on the stereo channel I was trying to record with and the ZedUsb was still too low for recording volume. I couldn't get audacity to increase it and I played with the mixer for 2 hours trying to get the recording level higher but no help. I even tried Sonar/Cakewalk, but that almost made me pull my hair out, so I quit trying. That program is crazy complicated. Audacity is so much easier. (cakewalk/sonar comes with the Zed). I plugged the UCA-222 back in the usb connection on my compu and use the Zed Record out rca jacks and it was much louder and easy to control with the channel gain. I'm going to call A and H and see what they think and make sure I'm not a moron. If I can get them on the phone.

If I had it to do over again I might have went for the SoundCraft EFx8 as it is smaller and I don't really like the Zed's USB out function. Cakewalk is no cakewalk. But I'm keeping my Zed. It looks cool.

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[glow=red]Yo sucka, we need this hea CHOPTER, and we need it now![/glow]

hamsamich,

I own a ZED 14 and have no problem with the USB out In fact it has more gain then my Emu-1212m? Check your control levels to make sure you're all the way up.
I personnaly love Cakewalk, I even upgraded to the latest version for $0.99 I was using Cubase before and I now prefer Cakewalk, it really has some great plugins

geez micky I've checked every control level I can think of, been over the book twice. tried it with cakewalk AND audacity and it is the same everytime. I would think I'm for sure doing something wrong, but then why does the behringer do so well? concering cakewalk I will give it another try, but audacity is so much simpler and easy to use....thanks for the info.

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[glow=red]Yo sucka, we need this hea CHOPTER, and we need it now![/glow]

My guess is you are sending a relatively weak signal to the USB recording interface in the mixer, and a quick glance at the photos leads me to believe there is no separate gain control for it. So this is most likely user error, and I bet A&H will suggest that you run the mixer output signal much hotter and turn down your amplifiers if you need the recorded signal to be louder.

I don't know anything about the software but I bet you can increase the volume of a recorded track after it is recorded, if not during the recording session.

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Jeff Wheeler, moonlight DJ/KJ

Micky,

Based on your useful feedback on this forum I also purchased the ZED 12FX some time ago and am very happy with it. Yesterday, I finally got around to installing the Sonar LE software that came with the ZED and after a couple of hours stepping through the tutorials I gave up because I can’t figure out how to record a karaoke backing track stored on my PC hard drive (in MTU Hoster KMA format) via the Sonar LE software.

After not making much progress, I too have just upgraded to the latest Sonar LE version for $0.99 but have yet to make another attempt at recording via the software and the ZED12FX.

As all of my CDGs have been ripped to MTU Hoster I don’t have the CDG player connected to the ZED12FX and therefore have not tried that recording route yet.

You obviously have had success using the Sonar LE software and I’d appreciate any advice on how to record digitised karaoke track via Sonar.

Thanks.

well, how do I increase the "mixer output signal"? yes I know I can increase the volume after, but I want the recording to be done right the first time. like I said, the behringer does it right the first time. so let me know how to "increase the mixer output signal". I've been trying but can't get that one. thanks - jim

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[glow=red]Yo sucka, we need this hea CHOPTER, and we need it now![/glow]

Raise the faders / turn the gain knobs?

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Jeff Wheeler, moonlight DJ/KJ

I already did that and stated so in my earlier post (gain knob). The fader has no effect on recording level......found that out early. I've done 50 or more test recordings? So does the fader have an effect on your recording level? strange.

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[glow=red]Yo sucka, we need this hea CHOPTER, and we need it now![/glow]

If you're trying to record the main mix you can use either L/R Pre (as in pre-fader, which I suspect is how you have it now) or L/R Post (where the signal would pass through the fader before going to the USB out). Try setting it for L/R Post and see if you can get the level where you need it. Normally, L/R Pre is where you'd want to be and then ensure that your faders for your mix are around the 0 dbu (still adjusted obviously for the mix you need) mark and use the main to adjust house volume. That would maximize your output without having to play games turning down the input sensitivity on your amplifiers.

Also you can set the input level on the computer through the sound properties in control panel (Windows) or Settings (Mac). Cranking that up should help you make up for any level deficiencies, however it will also bring up the noise floor a bit to so only push it as far as you have to.

You, my friend, have run into an all new challenge in gain structure brought to you by the digital realm. Honestly though, that USB out works pretty much the same as a 2TR output/input on other consoles.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

Tony has provided some nice explanations Keep in mind you'll need to install this Asio driver to avoid latency problem as indicated in the A&H manual

http://www.asio4all.com/

If I were you, I would try to configure with Audacity first after you install this asio driver and you can always use the Cakewalk plugins with Audacity, so don't try understanding Cakewalk for now, you'll see it I'll come...

Maybe that's the problem (ASIO drivers). I'll give that a shot. I'm just surprised how great it works with the behringer USB recorder, like magic... Yes I am using Pre, cuz Post was even quieter. Must be something I'm doing wrong. I'll keep playing thanks for the suggestions.

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[glow=red]Yo sucka, we need this hea CHOPTER, and we need it now![/glow]

Beecee,

Sonar can't open a KMA (Hoster) file, you'll need to convert to wave or even better extract with Sonar directly from your cd. For best results, try not to use any MTU software to extract for recording, nothing wrong using their software for extracting to wma or kma for karaoke purposes, but their poor sound engine doesn't qualify to my standard of a nice multitrack recording or for burning a cd. Anything extracted or burned with their sofware will be different from the original and you don't want that in a studio recording session.

Also, Sonar won't read the cdg, it's not a karaoke software but a studio recording software with a great sound engine. You can find some karaoke software that will let you record your vocals in sync with the music and still be able to read the graphic on screen, I'm using Karawin Pro, this software is built on the Bass sound engine and will work with asio and in 24 bit. Once you're done recording the vocals, just open both the music & vocal tracks with Sonar and finish the mix

Ok figured it out. The "real" gain on Audacity shows up only AFTER you start recording, but it doesn't show up right away. And sometimes it doesn't show up for a few seconds. And if you re-size audacity more stuff shows up. There is another bar that says "input level" that wasn't working on the top toolbar, I was trying to use that. This seemed like it is the gain/recording level but it really isn't. You just have to wait until you start recording, then the gain "shows up" for each channel you record, EVENTUALLY. I guess Audacity has its quirks but I like it for it's simplicity. Strange that the behringer got it all right without any prodding though. The USB on the Zed needs more monitoring and care. With the behringer USB audio interface I just hit record and it "handled it" and everythiing was near perfect to everyone listening when i played back numerous recordings without any messing.....anyway, thanks for the help, chalk it up to quirky program/inexperienced user. Nice to have 2 ways to record now. Would have been nice to have this UCA-222 with Audacity the whole time, wow was that easier than I would have thought to record and sounds better than I would have thought for 35 bucks! When I'm feeling like a challenge I'll start with Cakewalk again....

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[glow=red]Yo sucka, we need this hea CHOPTER, and we need it now![/glow]

The term compact is somewhat of a relative term I guess. The ZED 12FX is only 21 inches wide. The Mackie VLZ 24.4 that I use for one of the bands is over 30 inches wide. The Mackie, and other boards it's size, are considered and marketed as compact by the manufacturers. Of course these manufacturers (like Yamaha for instance) are producing concert boards which is what they compare the smaller consoles to when they deem them compact. A Yamaha 4K is almost 7 feet wide and over 3 feet deep, so that you have some reference.

I believe what you guys are referring to as compact is what a manu would call a "personal" mixer. These are usually 8 channels or less, many times don't have faders and typically are small enough to fit in a briefcase.

That might explain some of the confusion in this thread.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

Thanks for the updates Hamsamich. Would you choose Mackie Profx8 given the choices again?

No I don't think so. I wanted a board now and I am worried about posssible Mackie's fall in quality. Plus the FXpro USB connection supposedly has issues (live performances sound bad when using it). I think I would go with the SoundCraft eFX8 if I had it to do over again, but only because of the size of the board. I do like this Zed very much and will just deal with the larger size, I went on a ski trip and actually thought about the board more than once, I missed it. Sad.

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[glow=red]Yo sucka, we need this hea CHOPTER, and we need it now![/glow]