A&H Zed R16 Firewire Mixer

[sirthought]

Originally Posted by studjo

a bit off topic but I mixed a jazz festival this weekend on a A&H GL2400 while it wasn't the best of all console ever made it was a joy to use. The mic pre is pretty neutral and the EQ works. I had to crank it up at some sources pretty hard and the artifacts were tolerable. I think it's a great piece of audio equipement for a very reasonable price. I still prefer this stuff for live applications to the digital solutions.

Jo

Remember that this was designed for studio use, not live like the GL2400. We don't know the differences in the pres. Of course they are going to say they are great, but it would be nice if A&H reps addressed this. Are they the same design? The converters would also be good to learn more about.

It is nice to see that the price is below $3K, even if it's just slightly.

[tubeydude]

I would also like to know if the firewire chipset has any issues and also if the drivers were developed by A and H or whether they were developed (and will be maintained) by a third party. If so, who?

The ZED R16 looks awesome, but it will be TOTALLY reliant on the stability of the drivers.

I also would like to hear about the conversion quality.

I'm also curious about the preamps: opamps? discreet transistors? Transformer coupled?

Come on. I'm sure you guys are reading this. I'm even willing to be a beta tester for you.


Erik

[chris_m]

Are there Vista 64 drivers? Seems there's only 32bit supported for windows architecture. Also TCs own units don't have support for 64bit vista yet and from what it seems is still far away.

[tubeydude]

Maybe the A and H guys could chime in again. They were here early on. Why not now?

There are lots of people genuinely interested....

Also zooming in on the one picture of the back I've been able to find...it looks like it may say made in England on it. Is this the case?

[sirthought]

Originally Posted by tubeydude

Also zooming in on the one picture of the back I've been able to find...it looks like it may say made in England on it. Is this the case?

Umm, yep, that's where Allen and Heath are from. It's probably made in China, but I don't know that for sure.

[UnMix Studio]

We need a consumer feedback. A&H always gonna say its great. Wanna hear from some one who using it

[tubeydude]

So it looks like this has been available in Europe for a while. Anyone over there have any reviews???

[Bif]

Originally Posted by computa

i would assume to give folks a choice. By using the FW aren't u trapped into using the Allen & heath drivers? thats what killed the FW mackie onyx. their drivers sucked.

I couldn't agree more

It's the drivers.......... important as ever.

[Bif]

[quote=AlienHealth;3071503]Hi all,

We supply a control panel application which sets the ZED-R16 sample rate, buffer size, and clock source via the FireWire connection, but if ADAT is used without the FireWire connected then a switch on the back sets the sample rate to either 44.1 or 48kHz. At the moment there is no clock source hardware switch, so the ZED-R16 will be the master clock source unless changed using the FireWire connection from a computer, so you can either sync from the ADAT out on ZED-R or tell it to sync from ADAT in using the FireWire connection.

In reaction on this quote:

In Adat Mode,
What is the Adat I/O performance at 96 khz?

yours sincerly,

Bif

[tubeydude]

Hi Bif,

Since you have opened the "can of worms"... Are you with TC tech (makers or DICE II)?
Can you shed any light on what we can expect as far as firewire stability/performance with the ZED R16?

Are there any issues? Such as they want to see Texas Instuments FW cards?

What sort of latencies can we realistically expect?

Thanks,

Erik

[androne]

This thing can be ordered for sure, but I think nobody has one yet up for testing...
no ready stock of it
still, thats in europe for as far as I can tell

Where are those US gearslutz having one of these ???

[Bif]

Originally Posted by tubeydude

Hi Bif,

Since you have opened the "can of worms"... Are you with TC tech (makers or DICE II)?
Can you shed any light on what we can expect as far as firewire stability/performance with the ZED R16?

Are there any issues? Such as they want to see Texas Instuments FW cards?

What sort of latencies can we realistically expect?

Thanks,

Erik

Hi Erik,

unfortunately i am not with tc tech, so i cannot help you with driver and latency specs etc.
I thought there is a post in this thread somewhere that shows some latency figures for the Zed r16, but i'm not 100% sure.

grtz,

Bif

[RedArmchairStud]

Does anyone know how the converters in the ZedR16 are?

[tsvisser]

Sorry, just my random musings of a wish list for a future variant of this concept...

8x4x2 Rackmountable Mixer with external 12VDC XLR-4 power input (and external supply)
32x24 matrix switcher, between the 8 mic/line inputs, 8 ADAT/SMUX inputs, 16 FW inputs, 8 ADAT/SMUX outputs, 16 FW outputs.
Motorized long throw P&G faders
I/O section on a rotatable pod, like the Mackie 16 channel mixers, that allow the connections to be up, back, or downward facing.
All rotary encoders free spinning with no physical stops / LED indicators for feedback
LTC SMPTE time code input with on board reader and WC with pull up/down options for video
Input Faders also support stereo mode
Master Fader to be ether be Main + Subwoofers + Tape or 5.1 mode

That would fulfill all my needs, and I'd spend more.

[Jake Gilla]

So this thing has supposedly been out in the UK for a while now, and in the US for a couple of weeks.

Has anyone bought this thing? If not I think A&H is in some trouble with this piece. It looks great and all but if no one buys it....

[tsvisser]

I don't think it is actually shipping here in the States... there are some delays. I don't have much doubt in my mind that it is going to be a big seller. I was seriously considering one for myself, but in its existing form, has a bit too many limitations.

But for $3k and the market it is targeted at, this is going to be pure gold... or is it platinum. I found that personally, I am going to have to spend more money to get what I need.

[tubeydude]

I really wish there was somebody with actual experience that would describe how it is performing. Especially with Sonar on a PC.

It seems that sept 25 is the first release date in the US although other places are saying early Nov. Who knows???

3K is a lot of money and they are making some extraordinary claims. I hope that they make good on those claims! Then a lot of other people and I will be quite happy!

[DONNX]

1. Does the midi controller work with Protools? The transport at least and faders?

2. What brand/model of A/D and D/A chips did you guys put into the mixer? Cirrus logic, AKM, etc. I like to know the stats on them to see if this will replace my current converters.

3. Does the Adat work with Protools? Can I adat output out of protools to the R16. What is the latency? D/A?

4. When will it be available for purchase in the USA?

5. Do the preamps use transformers?

6. What type of opamps were used in the summing and eq section?

Thanks

[sirthought]

It is for sale here, here, and here. Looks like stock is coming in this month and next.

I don't think the A&H people are bothering with this site. Maybe you could get your questions answered from one of the retailers.

[DONNX]

Originally Posted by sirthought

It is for sale here, here, and here. Looks like stock is coming in this month and next.

I don't think the A&H people are bothering with this site. Maybe you could get your questions answered from one of the retailers.

Already emailed them. They don't reply. So far, I am not liking their customer support.

[kingofswing]

The Zed R16 looks just like what I have been after for some years. I was considering the Toft ATB or Trident, but this looks to be great. I own some of the A&H Xone DJ mixers and they sound superb with great headroom.

Anyone know if the other 'multipurpose' ZED mixers share the same engine as the Zed R16 in terms of eq and pre's? I don't need firewire AD-DA, so maybe the Zed24 would be a better fit for me.

[DONNX]

Hello Allen & Heath anyone home?

[kingofswing]

Originally Posted by DONNX

Hello Allen & Heath anyone home?

I know that they pick up the phone whenever I call them. try calling them instead. I'm going to try one out this month, and see how it sounds and works for my setup.

Apparently the Zed R16 has better preamps and EQ's than the rest of the Zed series or even the entire A&H range for that matter.

[Rick Hoekman]

I have spoken to a representative of A&H yesterday and this unit will be shipping in the States in about a month. Also the preamps and clocking are better than the others in the ZED series.

[DONNX]

in a month? I heard in 2 weeks from now. End of October.

[jonnathaniel]

looks like a nice well featured mixer for todays pro-sumers i like the taught of submixing in analogue, using that nice EQ. But why do they torture us with those 60mm faders that nobody likes, thats a big minus, plus the absence of at least 4 groups that would make it really usable for the live user, those 4 busses should not cost too much, nor would the faders. Can't wait for a review, might buy it if positive.

Check this video out:


Sonic State - News (Video Item) LIMS08: Zeds Red Baby - FireWire Red, A+H Zed R16 FireWire Recording Mixer represents good value

[tubeydude]

Interesting. After listening to the video, it says that the firewire chipset is the DICE Jr. not the DICE II.

I know the DICE II has bee problematic for some, but have not heard much about the DICE Jr except that it seems to be a bit more well behaved on the presonus units. (if you kinda take a look at the chatter level at their forum)

Does anyone else know the difference between the DICE II and the DICE Jr?

[jeronimo]

I´m really curious about this....

[teeco]

There's been a very positive review about this mixer in the Nov 08 issue. Some off the quotes : Sounds fantastic, 16 classy preamps comparable to Dav Electronics, Eq's that are smooth with weight and presence.....check it out.

[tubeydude]

oh man. you're killing me. Is in the physical mag or it there a link to the review somewhere?

Did they mention anything about the firewire drivers? stability? latency?

Thanks,