One of the things I love most about the iLive systems is the ability to program Strip Assignments. It’s possible to bring the most needed channels for each song onto the top of the surface on a scene by scene basis, even if you don’t wish to use any other automation functions at all. This is of great assistance, especially when using a smaller format surface. On an iLive-80/T80 or R72, I tend to include only the Left Bank 1 Strip Assignment in each scene to bring a mixture of Input Channels, DCAs, IP FX returns onto the Bank 1 Layer A, ready to use for each song whilst the right hand Bank 2 Strip Assignment is not included in the scene contents and remains static, containing my DCAs, Mixes, Playback etc on the various Layers.

However, if you have a high channel count that might mean it’s not always possible to have all channels accessible at all times. I therefore have 2 special scenes assigned to quick recall buttons on the surface. These scenes only contain the full strip assignments for both Bank 1 Strip and Bank 2 Strip and nothing else at all. The first scene has all inputs arranged on the surface in a 1 to 1 arrangement so not only are all inputs available but they are in the exact order of the input patch, which is perfect for giving a channel and patch overview and also ideal when line checking. The other scene arranges all Mixes, Playback, FX sends etc on the surface to give a full overview of them and is excellent when setting up a PA system at the start of each day. – David Millward