Hello! In this video, we’ll show you how the DLC module of the ASP8024 Heritage Edition
can used in a variety of situations to help speed up your workflow or give more control
over your mix.
DLC combines both the analogue and digital domains together to provide a powerful and
efficient hybrid solution to your console workflow.
DLC operates using two different layers, the analogue, and the DAW layer, which you can
switch between at any time. In the analogue layer, it provides intuitive analogue VCA
automation as well as an extra set of line inputs and outputs. In the DAW layer, it provides
a powerful array of DAW control features, right at your fingertips.
We’ll take a look at a few different situations in which DLC can be utilised in your workflow,
before we start though, here’s a quick overview of the DLC section and its various controls.
The left half of the console contains the DLC channels, these contain a meter, the source
and destination buttons for routing audio, mix and pan buttons for adding the audio into
your mix, followed by channel select, cut and solo buttons, and 8 motorised faders,
used to control both the analogue VCA automation as well as the DAW depending on which layer is in use.
Moving over to the right hand side of the module we find the OLED displays and each
paired with an encoder. These show you the channels or parameters that you are controlling
with the encoders being used to adjust the controls shown on screen. The 5-8 button below
allows you to swap the encoders from editing channels 1-4 to channels 5-8.
Below these are buttons which allow you to navigate across channels in your DAW, 4 assignable
key buttons, buttons allowing you to modify what the Encoders control in the DAW, a button
allowing you to enter setup mode and the DAW layer button which enables you to flip between
the analogue and DAW layer.
The Select mode group allows you to adjust what the select buttons does when pressed.
This can be modified separately for both the DAW and analogue layers.
Finally, at the bottom of the module we have the transport controls including Cycle, Marker,
Nudge and Scrub as well as a jog wheel for controlling your playhead.
Rather than explain the individual controls, lets take a look at a different scenarios,
to show how everything works together to provide a quick and easy workflow for your sessions.
An out of the Box workflow would typically be where the console alone is used to control
levels and pans, with effects being provided by hardware gear, all routed from the console.
The DAW would simply be used to capture and store the audio and then playback at unity
gain, very much like a 24 track tape machine. Traditionally, automation systems on consoles
require bulky hardware or dedicated computers to capture and store the automation data.
However, the DLC module simply stores the automation data in your DAW session as MIDI
data using our innovative Faderlink plugin. This enables you to record, edit and recall
eight channels of VCA automation directly from your DAW session, just like you would
with any other plug-in.
So what is VCA? VCA stands for Voltage Controlled Amplifier and is a device which will adjust
the level of an audio signal via an external source. VCA’s are used because it allows
your automation to continue in the background even when you have switched to the DAW layer
and are using faders for DAW control.
DLC has various ways in which this can be implemented. Firstly, the DLC has dedicated
inputs and outputs via two 25 way D-sub connectors on the rear of the console. These can be connected
directly to converters and fed directly in and out of DLC, or could be wired into a patch
bay, allowing the VCA’s to be patched into various points of your signal path. This particular
console has a built in patchbay module, but all the examples in this video can be done
with a non-patchbay console as well.
Otherwise, the DLC can be fed from 8 console sub groups, great for applying automation
to groups of instruments, such as a drum bus for example.
You can select these sources and destinations on a per channel basis using the SOURCE and
DEST buttons at the top of the channel strips.
To demonstrate, we’ll show you how to write some analogue automation while doing an out
of the box mix. We have a simple mix set up along the console which we want to make a
little bit more engaging and dynamic by adding automation, so we’re going to ride a vocal
into the chorus to boost the level and build up some emphasis.
First, we would want to setup an instance of Faderlink in our DAW. The plug-in doesn’t
have to be on the vocal channel since its just storing MIDI data but to keep our session
organised I’ll put it on there.
On the console we have the DLC I/O wired into the tie lines for easy access using the DLC
I/O ports on the rear of the console.
In this instance, we’re going to patch our vocal channel from Channel 1’s tape return
insert send into DLC channel 1. Now we just need to set our Source button to DLC Input
and then press down the Mix button so that the vocals are sent to the mix bus. The destination
doesn’t matter in this instance since the audio is being sent to directly to the mix
bus.
We now set our track to Touch, Latch or Write, which allows us to write in our Midi data.
Now we simply hit play and record in our automation using the faders.
Hit stop and our Automation has been saved. We just need to flip the auto mode in the
DAW back to Read and then to make sure we don’t override our Automation accidentally,
we can set the channel to Auto Safe. Simple press the Auto Safe mode and then press the
select button for channel one. Remember that the volume automation is taking place on the
console itself using the VCA rather than automating the level in your DAW.
Now we’ve seen how DLC can be used in the analogue domain, let's look at how it can
be used to control our DAW.
An in the box workflow would be one where the actual summing of a mix is done in the
DAW digitally using plug-ins. In this instance the audio is never fed out of the DAW at any
point. While most people with a console will be mixing through the console itself, sometimes
you may find yourself doing a quick mix in your DAW without having the time to setup
the entire desk.
To start controlling your DAW, simply hit the DAW layer button. DLC uses the HUI protocol
which gives you comprehensive control of your DAW including transport, level and pan and
basic control of your plug-ins, all from the centre of your console. DLC is officially
compatible with Logic Pro, Pro Tools, and Cubase, and will operate slightly different
depending on the DAW you are using. For more information, you can download DAW specific
manuals on our website.
To demonstrate, we’re going to do a little bit of mixing in the box to show you how you
can use the DAW layer of the DLC. In this instance, we’re using Logic Pro X, and the
stereo mix from Logic is coming in via our EXT 1 input on the console so we’re not
using the mix bus on the console itself, just the monitor path.
First, we’ll do a rough mix of our tracks using the faders and pan controls. We can
bank along our mix using the bank buttons to move beyond the initial 8 faders. The encoder
mode is currently set to Pan so the encoders are controlling the pan controls of our channels
in the DAW. To adjust the pans of channel 5-8, simply press the 5-8 button and move
the encoder, you can see that the channel names have flipped over on the OLED screen
to indicate this.
You can even use the DLC to help write level automation in your DAW.
We have a couple of Aux buses setup on most of the tracks which is feeding to a reverb
and a delay. To adjust the Aux send for each channel, we change the encoder mode to Aux
and then adjust them just like the pans. You can also double press the Aux button which
will put the aux sends onto the faders for quick control over your Auxes.
To change between Send A, Send B… etc simply press the page buttons.
Control your plugins by changing the encoders to Insert mode, this gives you hardware control
over the different parameters of your software plugins. The plug-ins on your track will appear
on the OLEDs and you simply need to press down the encoder to select the plug-in.
The plug-in controls now appear on the OLED and can be controlled using the encoder. Use
the Page buttons to see more of the parameters.
Whilst we have covered most of the functions during mix down, the DLC is a powerful tool
for the tracking process too. By setting the”Select” function to Record ARM, we can quickly arm
tracks for recording, whilst the transport controls allow you to keep the session flowing
smoothly without reaching over for the mouse. You can also use the assign encoder mode to
set your inputs and outputs.
The most common method of using DLC is a hybrid setup where a combination of software plug-ins
and hardware gear are used together to get great a sounding mix. DLC’s ability to quickly
flip between controlling your DAW and your analogue automation means that hybrid mixes
are simple and quick, plus you can jump between the layers at any time without affecting the
settings of the other layer.
But if you can simply automate levels in the DAW why would you ever need to use analogue
automation on the desk?
A useful example would be using a hardware compressor as an insert on a channel on the
desk.
Using Analog Automation, you are able to have a constant level being fed from your DAW into
the console, run this through your compressor and then automate the processed signal level
after the compressor, and sending it straight to the mix bus without having to convert it
back into your DAW at any point.
To demonstrate this, firstly we take the tape return insert send and patch this into the
input of our compressor, then we take the output of the compressor and then patch this
into the input of our DLC channel. The Output of this channel is then fed back into the
channels tape insert return to continue its journey onto the rest of the console.
We setup an instance of Faderlink in our DAW session to control our fader as we did before
and then it’s simply a case of writing our automation.
However, DLC gives even more flexibility and creative choices. As the insert sends on the
desk are half-normalled, we can use the sends to split the signal, which opens up a world
of possibilities for parallel processing.
For example, we can a drum bus from the sub groups, and take the insert sends out to a
stereo compressor. Then we can take the returns from the compressor and patch them into the
DLC inputs.
Now if we press the Mix button on both the sub groups and on the DLC channels, we have
both the dry signal from the sub group and the wet signal on the DLC.
We can use the DLC automation to control the wet level and then ramp this up at points
where we want the drums to pump harder to add impact like the chorus for example.
This doesn’t just apply for compression, these techniques can be used with any outboard
gear. But if you have a killer plug-in that you
want to use as well, its just as simple as flipping the desk over to the DAW layer and
automating it there.
DLC offers a huge range of functionality in both a fully in the box and out of the box
setup, as well as giving you a huge range of added flexibility when used in a hybrid
sense, unlocking more efficient and more powerful workflows that might currently be unavailable
to you.
For more information please visit audient.com/ASP8024HE