A&H Zed R16 Firewire Mixer

[rolandman]

Selling mine in the classifieds.

It's been nothing but trouble for me. But I'm not a computer guy. And considering I bought it at the original price ($3000) it really sucks that I haven't gotten the set up solid after trying for a year yet.

You guys that that love yours, do you use PC's or Macs?

I'm wondering if my Macbook isn't a lemon.

[djmukilteo]

Originally Posted by rolandman

Selling mine in the classifieds.

It's been nothing but trouble for me. But I'm not a computer guy. And considering I bought it at the original price ($3000) it really sucks that I haven't gotten the set up solid after trying for a year yet.

You guys that that love yours, do you use PC's or Macs?

I'm wondering if my Macbook isn't a lemon.

I use mine with a PC and it works fine.
It could be your MacBook.
Is there something specific you can describe that you're having "trouble" with?
What DAW are you using? Sonar, Cubase, Logic, PT?

I assume you've corrected the FW grounding issue and have all the latest drivers and firmware?

I assume you have a compatible FW chipset in the MacBook and have tested it with the A&H compatibility tool?

[dagz?]

hey there everyone, -here's my experience, for those of you having any issues with the zed, and possibly any firewire audio interface.

computer spec: gigabyte p55-ud3 / i5 / Pci Ti firewire card / winXP32.

when i first got this thing, it refused to play ball at all. even on the highest buffer settings, it was unable to record for more than a few seconds, playback was flaky when you clicked on anything. it was a total mess.

after reinstalling xp three times using the different onboard hdd controllers, disabling everything that wasnt specifically related to audio -getting a replacement board, and doing every other xp tweak known to man, and reading allmost all of google. i came to the conclusion that it was a hardware conflict. (not to be confused with irq shareing issue)

the only other hardware i had was a pcieX16 ATI hd5700 video card, i took it back to the shop, and swapped the Vid card for a (far cheeper!) lower spec'd pcieX16 nvidea 8400. -from that moment forth, the zed CAME TO LIFE. -and i got a wad of cash back too. thumbsup

i belive that the issue stems from the HDMI audio implementation on these newer video cards (or less than ideal driver design). -the nvidea one has a lead which you connect to your mobo should you want to use hd sound, where as the ati one combines the audio with the hd video output. -there is is no way to disable the audio features on either card, and i wasnt even using the hd output anyway. this is just a hunch of course. -but the end of the story is: DAW machines dont need high end 3d video anyway. so dont waste your money on them, because they can cause issues that lower spec cards do not. - i did allready know this, but i foolishly let myself get 'upsold' at the computer store!
the 'dpc' checker in the zed driver did not change with the new card, fyi.(between 100 - 250us)

the allen heath support guys were quite helpfull, and supportive during my teething period, and i highly recommend going to them for help if you get stuck.

totally stoked that this thing is up and running now, got my first fullsize project starting this week.

mean.
dave./

[djmukilteo]

This is a perfect example of how important it is to rule out your own computer first before pointing the finger at any new piece of equipment that you have purchased!
One thing that happens is the fact that every new product is designed and built with the attempt at working on certain common computing platform configurations and each manufacture tests their equipment based on those systems.
This is the problem...everyone's computer is different....even if it's the exact same brand or model....we adjust settings and we customize our computers to fit our specific needs and then we try to install a new piece of equipment and can't understand why it doesn't work!
We immediately conclude it is this new piece of equipment!
Which is a good logical conclusion and the most obvious....after all you didn't change anything in your computer you just installed this new stuff and bammm....nothing is working....
Always search for actual trouble issues with a product but always assume your computer is at fault....

[ocdstudios]

of course i go to buy one of these and there are none available anywhere and won't be till june! I even called The UK. I'm not waiting on the 24 either as I don't have that kind of cash and won't for years. I was all excited about stepping up my gear....

any suggestions? I did find one or two used on here but have gotten any response. I have been at this for 3 days straight trying to find one. anyone who says they have one, really mean they can drop-ship one, which means they can't get one either. They'll just take your money and make you wait till june!

anyone know a good dm-3200 for sale with a FW card in it?

Just think, I'm still in there after reading all this and can't even buy one!

[djmukilteo]

Originally Posted by ocdstudios

of course i go to buy one of these and there are none available anywhere and won't be till june! I even called The UK. I'm not waiting on the 24 either as I don't have that kind of cash and won't for years. I was all excited about stepping up my gear....

any suggestions? I did find one or two used on here but have gotten any response. I have been at this for 3 days straight trying to find one. anyone who says they have one, really mean they can drop-ship one, which means they can't get one either. They'll just take your money and make you wait till june!

anyone know a good dm-3200 for sale with a FW card in it?

Just think, I'm still in there after reading all this and can't even buy one!

hey there ocd:
Did you try Northern Sound and Light or Sweetwater?
Also I think Rolandman was selling his...
I saw 2 units on Ebait!

[Wraith]

I posted this in the R24 thread and I thought I'd post it here as well. I don't know if it has been posted already or not.
Enjoy.

[djmukilteo]

Ya just watched this over on the ZED GS-R24 thread!
But your just making us R16 guys envious doing that ocd...LOL....OK probably not...I know I love my R16 and for my humble needs the R16 is beyond cool to me....I'm not at that big boy toy level anyway...

When I decided I wanted to go back to having a real mixer in my hands and after selling older Mackie mixer gear and dropping my Tascam38 8 track, I went all ITB. I got an RME FF800 and Cubase 4 and a smokin self built computer...I thought wow this is incredible!!...this is the way faster with no dropouts rock solid recording....no limits...and that is the case with my system....far and away the way to go....from where I was a couple years previously....wow
But then I got tired of all the changes and mousin around all the time and being old school I started to miss that 8 channel mixer that used to do the trick for all my tape decks, synths and I even missed using the tape remote and locators and moving faders around and the pan and the EQ....(even though all of this was available in my Cubase at the touch of a mouse)....but something was missing...then the idea of having a sort of "desk" like in a real studio really appealed to me....hmmm ya that's the ticket.....but then I didn't really want to lose that whole DAW thing..it works perfect......I really wanted both worlds ITB and OTB. I started pouring over the threads on MCU Control MIDI boxes and summing mixers and on and on it went....but then I saw the Mackie Onyx and found the A&H ZED R16 and the only thing I had to decide was how comfortable will I feel with the price....the ZED won over the Mack because of the features and you know it was the same feeling I got when I had spent $1700 on the FF800....I thought wow this is incredible!!
I'm still saying that....every time I try something different on the ZED or start mixing tracks, or put my headphones on and listen real close...I just think...wow this is incredible!!

[nonamesleft]

any ideas why my macbook pro has developed this issue with the ZED recently after 5 months?

- new macbook pro running snow
- zed r-16 with correct grounding FW (i checked it myself)
- most recent drivers installed...etc

everything has been solid...really solid, but when i have cubase 4 and itunes open at the same time, the itunes playback has started to get screwed up...like it starts to distort every 2 seconds or so. Cubase still works fine, and if i shut down Cubase then itunes seems to work ok. I am worrying that eventually Cubase will start to see some problems...

any ideas?

[djmukilteo]

That has to be an audio hardware conflict between Cubase and iTunes being open at the same time.....they can't share the same audio path..
I cannot use WMP when my Cubase is open at all...WMP won't even start and the same thing happens to a friends setup....

[malfunction]

there's one on Ebay here in Switzerland, good starting price too. I suppose you could talk to the guy, try to work something out.

ALLEN & HEATH Zed R16 - eBay (item 120549241903 end time Apr-03-10 10:09:05 PDT)

Originally Posted by ocdstudios

of course i go to buy one of these and there are none available anywhere and won't be till june! I even called The UK. I'm not waiting on the 24 either as I don't have that kind of cash and won't for years. I was all excited about stepping up my gear....

any suggestions? I did find one or two used on here but have gotten any response. I have been at this for 3 days straight trying to find one. anyone who says they have one, really mean they can drop-ship one, which means they can't get one either. They'll just take your money and make you wait till june!

anyone know a good dm-3200 for sale with a FW card in it?

Just think, I'm still in there after reading all this and can't even buy one!

[ocdstudios]

ebaits just that baits all are drop ship companies so none have it

waiting on rolandman to answer his pm.

dont know about the switzerland thing i could try

at work will read thru agin.

yes i tried all the usuals mentioned and no luck

[ocdstudios]

Switzerland price is pretty high in USD for a ZEDr16. Especially if it's used (have no idea, I can't read the ad, LOL)

hopefully Rolandman will get back to me asap. It either that, a presonus, a mackie, a dm-3200 or I order one and wait till June. Wonder if it's worth the wait...

I wish I had 5 grand, then I KNOW I'd be waiting for the Zed-24. If that thing was 3500-4000 It would be in my range to save for. Looks like I won't be getting a 24 due to the price, I am dissappointed to b/c that thing looks awesome and would be the be all end all for a LONG time in my home studio...

But back to the problem at hand...

Folks have issues with ZED R16's, I have issues GETTING a ZED R16. LOL. I wish I had a ZED r16 to have problems with...

[ocdstudios]

Hey mike any status on the availability/ship date of new ZED R16's yet?

trying to work out a deal on a used on in the UK - but the price is getting to what a new one costs. Think it's worth going ahead and buying used at new prices? depending on how much my bank is going to charge for a money transfer I may just pull the trigger!

[cavern]

i got a strange problem with controlling the transport bar in nuendo with the zed r16 transport buttons.
i set up asio protocol and checked "sync on line" in the transport menu.also tried midi time code and tried checking MMC box.

when i activate the online tab in a nuendo project on the transport bar(when it's set to midi time code, i can control the,
fast forward/reverse and stop, no problem but play and record don't do anything when i press the buttons.

and if i set it to asio protocol, when i activate the online button on the transport bar,it starts to play automatically from a position down the timeline and it won't stop playing unless i turn off the online button, even if i click stop with the mouse.
am i setting this up from the wrong location? i don't know much about midi at all.

has anyone set this up in nuendo or cubase wich should be the same.
what am i missing..
i don't use any other midi controls, i just need the transport functions to work.
thanks for any input.

[lovekrafty]

Originally Posted by cavern

i got a strange problem with controlling the transport bar in nuendo with the zed r16 transport buttons.
i set up asio protocol and checked "sync on line" in the transport menu.also tried midi time code and tried checking MMC box.

when i activate the online tab in a nuendo project on the transport bar(when it's set to midi time code, i can control the,
fast forward/reverse and stop, no problem but play and record don't do anything when i press the buttons.

and if i set it to asio protocol, when i activate the online button on the transport bar,it starts to play automatically from a position down the timeline and it won't stop playing unless i turn off the online button, even if i click stop with the mouse.
am i setting this up from the wrong location? i don't know much about midi at all.

has anyone set this up in nuendo or cubase wich should be the same.
what am i missing..
i don't use any other midi controls, i just need the transport functions to work.
thanks for any input.

It's not that complicated, scratch everything you did and reset it

This is what you do.

In Nuendo go to " Devices menu" in the top bar
open Device setup
tab over to "add/remove" devices
add a " Midi Machine Control Slave "
once added click on it's setup menu
set the MIDI input for ZED R

That's it you're done, you now should have full transport functions

Cheers
LK

[cavern]

Originally Posted by lovekrafty

It's not that complicated, scratch everything you did and reset it

This is what you do.

In Nuendo go to " Devices menu" in the top bar
open Device setup
tab over to "add/remove" devices
add a " Midi Machine Control Slave "
once added click on it's setup menu
set the MIDI input for ZED R

That's it you're done, you now should have full transport functions

Cheers
LK

thanks for posting.
is there a way to add that from another location or source.(like a .dll file from the plugin folder)?

when i click on add, i got stuff in there like,
generic remote
roland
tascam
about 10 different controllers but no midi machine control slave.
can i create one in there somehow.

[lovekrafty]

Hmm, no Midi Machine control slave ? you must be using an old version of Nuendo,
I don't know of a way to add definitions in Nuendo

Maybe you should go over to the Nuendo forum for help

Cheers
LK

[cavern]

Originally Posted by lovekrafty

try generic remote, see if it works

i tried generic remote last week but it only has note on/off and cc for fader movements and such,
but no mmc features for transport.
tried the mackie and yamaha one too just as a shot in the dark but no luck.
i know the midi comunication is good cause if i chose time code in transport/transport sync setup and then activate the online tab in the transport bar, i can control fast forward/rewind/and stop.
but no play or record.that's why i use the word stange.
if STOP/ FFand REW work in the time code setting, why wouldn't PLAY and RECORD.
i can live without it, i have key commands for transport on my keyboard but it would be handy to have it right there in front of me.

[cavern]

Originally Posted by lovekrafty

Hmm, no Midi Machine control slave ? you must be using an old version of Nuendo,
I don't know of a way to add definitions in Nuendo

Maybe you should go over to the Nuendo forum for help

Cheers
LK

yeah, it is an older version 1.5 from 2002 lol.
we do only live inst. recordings and use outboard effects so no need to upgrade for what i do.
thanks for giving it a shot, i'll try the nuendo forum or maybe i will upgrade if it's reasonable money.

[djmukilteo]

Originally Posted by cavern

i tried generic remote last week but it only has note on/off and cc for fader movements and such,
but no mmc features for transport.
tried the mackie and yamaha one too just as a shot in the dark but no luck.
i know the midi comunication is good cause if i chose time code in transport/transport sync setup and then activate the online tab in the transport bar, i can control fast forward/rewind/and stop.
but no play or record.that's why i use the word stange.
if STOP/ FFand REW work in the time code setting, why wouldn't PLAY and RECORD.
i can live without it, i have key commands for transport on my keyboard but it would be handy to have it right there in front of me.

cavern:
It should be "generic remote".....It's possible your MIDI settings have been corrupted or have been changed in the parameters. Each control has a MIDI code....maybe your getting phantom MIDI signals or collisions from some other MIDI device?
You could remove (delete) the current setup and reload a new one....Do you have that Cubase template and instruction from A&H?....use that and make sure all of the settings are correct...

[lovekrafty]

Originally Posted by djmukilteo

cavern:
It should be "generic remote".....It's possible your MIDI settings have been corrupted or have been changed in the parameters. Each control has a MIDI code....maybe your getting phantom MIDI signals or collisions from some other MIDI device?
You could remove (delete) the current setup and reload a new one....Do you have that Cubase template and instruction from A&H?....use that and make sure all of the settings are correct...

After looking into it further, I see what you're talking about, it's not a corruption issue
it looks like under " Generic Remote " Cavern will have to set up a custom template.

First thing is to delete all of the fader / mute etc parameters
then add new ones, under the MIDI status choose MMC from the drop down menu
for each new transport function i.e. play, record

I have'nt seen the Cubase instructions but it should give you the rest of the info.
Once you've selected a parameter with MMC selected under the MIDI status you could try the
learn function, just make sure the MIDI input is set to ZED R

It looks like it can be done in the earlier version of Nuendo

Good suggestion Dj


Cheers
LK

[cavern]

Originally Posted by djmukilteo

cavern:
It should be "generic remote".....It's possible your MIDI settings have been corrupted or have been changed in the parameters. Each control has a MIDI code....maybe your getting phantom MIDI signals or collisions from some other MIDI device?
You could remove (delete) the current setup and reload a new one....Do you have that Cubase template and instruction from A&H?....use that and make sure all of the settings are correct...

would you have a link to the cubase instructions.can't see it at the A/H site in downloads.

[djmukilteo]

Here is the PDF with the settings for Cubase SX but I'm pretty sure Mike said it would work for Cubase or Neundo.
The MMC is in there with the settings.

[djmukilteo]

Here's a zip file with all the .xml and template files I have on the ZED control and Cubase.

[cavern]

cool, thanks to both of you.
i'll give those a go.

[cavern]

ha! bob's your uncle..it works.
you have to set it up manually without the mmc control slave.
thanks again for getting me thinking.

[arvproductions]

Talking bout the midi part of the ZED.. I remember i tried using the buttons (midi) on the ZED once, but failed because i found at that point that the buttons (in Logic) don't 'stay on' when pressed. Which means the buttons cannot control on/of functions? Anyone into this?

[cavern]

Originally Posted by arvproductions

Talking bout the midi part of the ZED.. I remember i tried using the buttons (midi) on the ZED once, but failed because i found at that point that the buttons (in Logic) don't 'stay on' when pressed. Which means the buttons cannot control on/of functions? Anyone into this?

i don't know logic at all but in cubase/nuendo generic controller, there are settings for the switches in the midi setup...push button/togle.
for on/off operations, it has to be set to togle.
maybe there's a similar setting in logic.

[ocdstudios]

So, I got a ZED on the way, finally! Thanks to Low.End.Theory - a member here.

I need a FW card, etc - so the questions are...
- 400 or 800??
- VIA chipset for the Zed right? Any specific card please?
- No other audio card? I have a server w/ no onboard audio. The pci slots are on 2 different busses if that matters. I would like to be able to run computer speakers for checking mixes, etc. Would a usb audio setup be better?
- no other video card right? I'd like a dual monitor setup but if a video card causes problems I can do w/o...

Thanks for the answers I will be headed to the comp. store tomorrow

Matt