Xone 96 Mixer

The Lounge Other Gear
#144

At the moment, this is how I work:
4 Volcas (Kick, Bass, Keys and FM) all going into MOTU UltraLite Mk3 as well as DT and MicroFreak.

Outs from MOTU UltraLite Mk3 going into Mackie 1402 VLZ. Now DDR7 and ZOOM MS70 CDR as FX on the 2 aux on Mackie.
Maschine outs also going into Mackie.

Alternatively, MODEL1 used along with Traktor.

I am still looking for the most suitable workflow at the moment. Eventually would like to have only MODEL1 and add a digital mixer for all my outboard gearā€¦
Not sure thoughā€¦

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#145

Yeh model one is really nice. I wish they would add a soundcard to it though. Much easier to setup if using with traktor etc.

#146

Not too sure about a Soundcard in MODEL1ā€¦ I would rather have the choice of Soundcard.
True enough about setup: much easier to have a single USB cable acting for audio.
Had a DB4 before and the soundcard was a bit of a nightmare. Unstable drivers: common issue for digital.

#147

Noticed on the back of model1 that they have a multi-pin d shaped connector. Not sure if any soundcards have this for output . If so one cable could be used to Model1 from sc

#148

Thatā€™s dSub.
Very handy to route indeed from SC. Allows to have all audio connected to the mixer (ins, main outs, aux sends and returns, 3 on this particular mixer) while still allowing all 6 channels opened to RCA connections :slight_smile:

#149

Model1 thread is here :wink: Allen Heath Model 1 DJ/Studio mixer

@vasidudu if you still wanna send me some model1 demo s you ll have to hurry coz i m on the edge of ordering a xone96 :wink:

#150

@dtr
Have not had time to look into this.
Will try this week.

#151

Iā€™ve gotten the Xone:96 and have been using it for a couple of days now. My first observations:

Feels sturdy and looks great. Out of the box a couple of knobs had some friction. Pulling out the caps a bit remedied that. The power supply side gets warm.

Itā€™s big! Being designed for sitting in between CDJā€™s and turntables itā€™s very high compared to synth hardware. Having it standing tall in the middle of my synth gear does create a kind of barrier.

I found out I want to have it in the front of my standing desk, not at the back with synths in front of it like my Mackie was. In the back position reaching the aux send knobs was uncomfortable. This thing is for hands on playing and if youā€™re average tallness like me youā€™ll want it front desk, or a lower desk (mine is 1m height).

Iā€™ve been jamming a lot and all the controls just invite for playing. So different from the Mackie. I used that one as an audio routing device, mostly set and forget. The Xone is a sound sculpting device. Great match for a synths and drum machines set up. Didnā€™t take me long to come up with new playing strategies involving the EQs and 2 filters.

I find the individual filter modes quite timid. Very clean. Luckily they are state-variable filters meaning all types can be engaged in parallel. I found that high-pass or low-pass combined with band-pass gives me a more pronounced filter character that I find more usable.

Whatā€™s really interesting is that the routing of a channel to the filter is after the aux sends. Meaning that fx like a reverb receive the unfiltered sound. So I can filter away the dry signal while the audible reverb tail is still fed by that dry signal. Makes for interesting mixing options. Send that fx return into the 2nd filter for even more sculpting and mixing options.

Filter crunch does what it says on the box: add grit. Certainly does not replace my dedicated distortion boxes but effective so far at giving fx tails a crunchy character, bringing out high sizzle.

Iā€™ve been using the phones 2 output as a 3rd aux send for my AH. That means I can only send 1 channel at a time. Weā€™ll see if that works for me in the long run. Have not used the soundcard yet.

My routing is :

Circuit Mono Station > Analog Drive > Ch1
AR > Ch2
MD > LPB2ube > Ch3
AH > Ch4
Space > Return A
H9 > Rtn B

Send 1 > Space
Send 2 > H9
Phones 2 > AH

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image4032Ɨ3024 1.79 MB

8 Likes
#152

Thanks for posting your little review. I have been eyeing up one of these for a while now.
(no funds at the moment though).
Could you use phones 1 as your 3rd aux send? It would give you the option to send more than one channel through your Heat using the cue buttons. Setting relative levels may be tricky though.

#153

See my test of that earlier in this thread. Works but with a caveat.

#154

Ah yes, I remember reading that now. My memory doesnā€™t seem to be what it used to be!
Cheers for all the detailed info on your setup.
Very useful for my possible future plans.

1 Like
#155

I an loving mine too - I raised my A4 and Rytm sitting in either side using some stiff foam.

#156

You could yes. Levels would be set with channels gain knob.

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#157

Question to other owners: does the selected soundcard mode (16 or 32bit) in the driver panel (Win) and Audio MIDI Setup (OSX) impact the bit depth that a DAW like Ableton can access?

#158

Hmm, took me a little while to get things stable in 32 bit mode. Rebooting, replugging USB. Seems fine now (Ableton, finder, Spotify) but streaming audio in Firefox doesnā€™t soundā€¦ Any ideas?

This is on mac. On my win laptop it works fine.

#159

Safari does play streaming audio fine though. Problem is with Firefox on OSX with 32bit mode apparently. Anyone able to try this on their end?

#160

Nope. In a daw you use the bitdepth as set in the project or application settings to either 16 or 24 (32 / 64 bit floating point is sometimes a seperate setting specifically used for vst processing and headroom purposes, while recording external audio will still be at 24bit)
Best to run it at 16 bit when streaming etc. It will or should switch to 16bit automatically anyway when streaming music at 16bit. Maybe Firefox canā€™t do this automatically as apposed to safari but no idea if thatā€™s really the case. Would explain your issue though.

Either way there is no real upside of forcing your os to run the soundcard at 32bit.

#161

Ok tanx!

#162

Hey - been following this thread for a while.

Your setup looks dope, glad it works so well for you.

Iā€™m planning on building a similar one, moving my live setup from Ableton to hardware machines.
Iā€™m playing electric violin with livelooping. I already have an OT which will be the brain of the setup, taking care of launching samples and resampling. Anything rhytmic will be provided by an AR.

And then thereā€™s a couple of guitar pedals Iā€™d like to use. Iā€™ve tried the whole thing using a A&H ZED 14 Mixer, but it doesnā€™t really feel very ā€œplayableā€. Iā€™m glad you said that the Xone is an upgrade to the playability. It makes you wanna use the mixer in a creative way. Thatā€™s 100% resonating with me!

The Xone 96 is pretty much the only mixer which would fit. The way Iā€™d like to route everything:

CH1 -> Analog Rytm
CH2 -> Octatrack
CH3 -> Electric Violin (In Stereo, processed by a Line 6 Helix, balanced stereo line level outs)
CH4 -> Looping Pedal Input (Stereo line level outs, only ā€œwetā€ signal, means just the loops)
Return A: Return from Guitar Pedals
Return B: Havenā€™t found a use for this one, except maybe OT Cue Outs.
Send A: Send to Guitar Pedals
Send B: Send to OT input for resampling

Question 1

When using headphones - do I hear the effect of the Master Insert? I was thinking about adding some kind of compressor, maybe a FMR RNLA to add some slight compression to the bus in order to glue the whole thing. Is the headphone Out pre or post Master Insert?

Question 2

How can I integrate a Click Track into such a setup? I need help with how the Cue System works. Iā€™ve never used a DJ Mixer beforeā€¦

Some songs start with just the violin, laying down some loop layers and of course, they need to be in song tempo - so I need a click in my headphones which will not be heard in the audience. The looper is synced to the OT btw.
Either one of the OT or AR will need to have a Click Track being routed through one of the alternative outputs on the OT or AR and fed into Returns C or D which are permanently cued. Iā€™m using In-Ears by the way. Am I correct assuming the following:

  • When enabling the cued Return C Channel: I am hearing the Master Output + Click Track, the balance is set using the CUE/MST knob in the monitor section. The Click will not be heard on the main Outputs.

  • When disabling the Cued Return C Channel, Iā€™m hearing the normal Master Output on my Headphones. No audible change in the audience.

Throughout the set there will be times I need the click but usually itā€™s turned off for 80% of the time. Iā€™d just need to sacrifice one of the AR tracks for click purposes which would always be running.

Iā€™d really appreciate any kind of feedback on my questions and overall setupā€¦ any thoughts?
Iā€™m probably split the setup into two cases, I donā€™t want to carry huge 1m / 35 kg flight cases anymoreā€¦ :smiley:

#163

Question 1: monitor headphone out is post insert.

Question 2: I had to try this to be sure and it wonā€™t work like you want. RTN C and D, having only one level control, donā€™t sound on the monitor headphone cue unless turned up, and then it also sounds on the master. Youā€™d have to use 1 of the full featured channels for it.