In this video I’m going to take you through the different features of the iD mixer that
controls iD14. If you want information on a particular section of the iD Mixer, go to
the video description for the timestamps of the different sections, so you can skip ahead.
On a mac, double click on the iD Mixer in your application menu, this will launch the
app, and create a menu bar item in the top right of the screen. The mixer window should
then open, so long as your unit is connected and powered on. If you close the mixer window,
you can reopen it at any time by clicking on the iD icon selecting show mixer.
On Windows, click the iD mixer in the application menu to launch the app. This will open the
mixer window when iD14 is connected, and also create an icon in the system tray where you
can open the mixer window and change settings like iD14’s sample rate and buffer size.
Simply put, the iD mixer is the control centre for your iD interface, allowing you to customise
functionality and settings to make iD14 work best for your workflow.
The iD mixer is made up of a few different sections.
The channel section displays your analogue and digital inputs, as well as your DAW returns,
or in other words, the audio coming back from your Digital Audio Workstation or computer.
The Master section contains the Cue Mixes and the monitor controls. Then finally you
have the System Panel which enables you to control your routing and other settings. We
will look at the routing options available in more detail later in this video.
So the channel section is what you will use to build up your Main and Cue mix, or in other
words, the audio you want to send out of iD14, whether it’s your full DAW mix going to
your main speakers, or a separate headphone mix with a click track to an artist you are recording
There are three kinds of channels, Mic channels, Digital channels, and DAW Returns, and these
individual types can be hidden using these channel toggle buttons in the master section
to help keep things tidy.
The 2 Mic Channels show you the signal from from the Mic/Line inputs, the Digi Channels
show any signal from the optical inputs and the DAW returns display the audio coming back
from your computer, where the iD14 output in your DAW will correspond to the DAW return
channel. For example output 1+2 will go to DAW 1+2, and output 3+4 will go to DAW 3+4.
This will come in handy when sending out a separate artist mixes.
At the top of each channel is the customisable Channel name, you can double click on this
and type the name that you want to help organise your mixer app. Once named, if you forget
the input type, or get a little lost in the mixer window, you can hover over the channel
toggle buttons and the type of input will appear under the name.
On the analog and digital input channels, a polarity reverse button can be found below
the naming strip, for dealing with phase issues caused from using multiple microphones, such
as top and bottom miking a snare, or the front and back of a guitar cab. On the mic channels
you have access to a +10dB digital gain boost for boosting quiet sources.
Next up you have the pan controls to position your signal in the stereo field. You also
have the stereo grouping button, letting you control the levels of a stereo source by grouping
together two adjacent channels.
The Solo and Mute buttons allow you to quickly isolate channels, which can be useful if you
want to check that a particular input is sounding good without any distraction from other sources.
Finally you have the meter and the fader. The meter displays the dBFS value, which is
the level that comes into your computer. If the input is set too loud, the peak LED will
light up, meaning you have clipped your converters and could end up with some bad sounding distortion.
We recommend setting your inputs so at the loudest point, you are peaking at -10dB.
The fader is used to set the monitoring level of a channel for the particular Mix you are
working on. When you turn up one of the input channels, you are actually making use of the
low latency monitoring, letting you listen to your inputs without any delay.
In the Master section, you are able to toggle between different Mixes, your main mix, typically
used for your speaker output, and the Cue Mix, generally used for creating custom headphone
mixes for artists you are recording. Simply click on the Mix you want to edit and adjust
the faders and pans on any of the channels you want to hear.
If you want to preview the Cue Mix to hear what your artist will be hearing, you can
hit the solo button in the Cue window. You can also adjust the master level of the Cue
Mix here too. The meters will show you the overall level of the Cue, and the chronometer
along the bottom will show the level over the last 20 seconds, so you can see that audio
is being sent, and you can also keep an eye out for clipping.
Next we have the monitor control buttons. Here you have a number of different functions
that can be used to help improve your workflow in the studio: Talkback, Polarity and Mono.
As well as cuts for the speaker and headphone outputs. This is also possible by selecting
the output on the unit, and then pressing the encoder.
The polarity button will flip one side of the stereo field whilst also activating mono,
using phase cancellation to cut out the centre of the stereo signal and playing only the
sides. This is a great way to get mix inspiration by removing centre panned signals in existing
records, or check the sides of your own mixes and make sure that any reverbs and delay tails
are sounding as good as they can.
The mono button will sum the stereo mix bus into a mono signal which is useful for checking
if your mix will sound good on mono sources such as mobile devices.
The Talkback button opens up a line of communication between the engineer and artist, either using
one of the mic inputs on iD14, any mic connected to your computer, or even your computer’s
built in mic input. This is configured in the System Panel.
The system panel is where you can change most of the inner workings of iD14.
On the left hand side, you have the digital settings. Here you can select the digital
protocol you want to use for your digital input, either ADAT or S/PDIF.
Below this is the Prefered Clocking Source for use when using the digital input. Here
you select whether you want to use iD14 as the master clock by selecting Internal, or
whether you are wanting to slave iD14 from the digital input.
If the indicator is red, then this indicates that there is no clock signal on the input.
This could be because a cable isn’t connected or the wrong digital protocol is being used.
A yellow indicator shows that a valid clock is available but the sample rate doesn’t
match the current sample rate of the iD14.
A green indicator means that a valid clock is present on that input and is at the correct
sample rate, so you are ready to record.
For information on clocking and setting up iD14 with digital equipment, please click
the card in the top right of this video to find out more.
Below this you have the mono mode letting you adjust which output is used during mono
summing. Followed by the iD button settings. This controls what the iD button on the unit
controls. By default it is set to ScrollControl, enabling you to use the hardware volume knob
to control different sof tware parameters. Watch the linked video to find out more. When
not using ScrollControl, you can set the iD button to control iD14’s monitor control
functions, as well as Dim, reducing the volume of your outputs for quick conversations in
the studio for example. And now we move onto the routing panel, the
sources are displayed horizontally along the top, and the outputs are vertically on the left.
To route the signal, click the button that lines up with both the source and destination you want.
By default, the Main Mix, is routed to analogue outputs 1+2, which means that everything you
have turned up in the Main Mix, will be sent to your main speaker outputs.
By Default the headphones are set to main mix, playing exactly the same thing that comes
out of your speaker outputs. However, If you have built a low latency monitoring mix for
an artist on the Cue Mix and you want to send it to the headphones, you would select Cue
Mix for the headphone output.
DAW Thru allows you to directly route signal from your DAW to a physical output, bypassing
all routing and volume controls.
This is useful if you have a seperate monitor controller for example. You will need to be
careful of using DAW Thru on your outputs, as it will send full volume audio to your
speakers which might not be very pleasant. You will get a warning explaining this every
time you select it, just in case you press it by mistake.
The other tab in the routing panel is the Talkback tab, where you can select the input
that you will be using for your talkback source. Here you have the option to use one of iD14
inputs, whether analogue or digital, or you are able to use an external source which could
be your computer’s built in mic, or even a USB microphone.
When a talkback source is selected, that channel will change into a Talkback channel in the
iD mixer window. An external source will come in on DAW Return 4.
A talkback channel can be identified by its
solo and mute channels changing into a talkback button which will trigger the talkback.
By default, the talkback channel will be routed to the Cue mix, ready to be sent to your artist’s
headphones. Once you have set up the iD Mixer just how
you want it, you can save it as a preset, so you can quickly recall all your settings.
To save a current setup, simply go to File > Save. You can now give the configuration
a name to remember it by and click save. You can also export the configuration to send
to friends or collaborators or to store along with your project.
To re-call a preset, again, simply go to File and then click open. A list of your previously
saved presets will appear. Choose the one you wish to use and click load. The mixer
will now change to that particular preset.
Occasionally, we will release firmware updates for the iD14 to add new features or to maintain
compatibility with new operating system releases. The iD Mixer App will prompt you to update
when any major updates are released by us.
To manually ensure your iD14 is running the latest version of the firmware, simply go
to the Help menu and select Check for Updates. The ID mixer application will check if any
updates are available and if so, will prompt you to install them. Simply follow the process through.
We hope this video has given you an idea of the capabilities and powerful features of
the iD Mixer, and that you find it a useful tool to add to your workflow. For more information
about iD14 or the iD app, please look at the product manual on our website, or have a look
at some of our other videos.