Problems recording and streaming with zedi10 fx

[Craftybutcher]

Hi..guys. total noob here. I have a few questions and issues. I have a 2015 iMac on Catalina and a focusrite clarett 2pre usb interface. Ideally I was looking to stream to Facebook live with my mic in Ch 1 of the focusrite and into logic Pro X where I can utilise various effects/compression etc and with backing tracks on a Windows laptop into St1 of the zedi 10fx I hoped I could combine the now affected vocals, post logic, via the usb with the backing track and have the mixer as the chosen input for Facebook live where it would receive the combined signals of music and affected vocals from the usb as it should route the main stereo out. Can this even be done, or is there another way of achieving this? Also there appears to be an issue somewhere as.. when I try this all I get on FB are the vocals,no matter which of the three usb output options I choose..also the vocals are not very good quality. It doesn’t recognise St1 or stereo out.. even when I try to do a line/level check in logic for recording purposes, it will only recognise Ch 1 of the mixer. I have tried them all one at a time and logic won’t pick up the main stereo out of he mixer.. is this a settings issue or is my new mixer goosed? Many thanks in advance.

[volounteer]

@Craftybutcher

Do you really need to stream live?
Or could you assemble the recording first and then upload it for playback?

I find it hard to really envision how you have everything connected and what all the signal flows are from your OP.

Not a utoob or FB expert, but our church has to combine the total audio and video on one stream first.
Does not seem like you are doing that the way the Z10 was designed to operate.
Have you looked at the block diagram and carefully RTM?

[Mike C]

So to double check what I think you are doing and want to do.

You want to be able to mix together the processed vocals and the backing
tracks in the ZED mixer with the vocals on Ch.1 and
the backing tracks on ST1 and then send that audio to FB live.

You are taking a vocal mic into a Focusrite pre amp going vie USB into
a computer running Logic Pro to add processing to the vocal mic.

How are taking the signal out of the Logic Pro computer that has the
processed vocal audio into the ZED mixer, a direct USB connection from the
computer to the ZED, and analog output on the computer to an input on the
ZED or an analog output on the Focusrite to an input on the ZED?

Are the backing tracks on the same computer that is running Logic Pro? Are the backing
tracks running from Logic Pro?
What audio out connection are you using to send the backing tracks to the ZED mixer?

Are you using a separate computer for the FB Live connection?
(if not may be FB is picking up the audio direct from the computer.

If you plug headphones into the mixer how does that sound?
Leave the recording buttons up and the listen buttons up.
Listening with headphones when you push a listen button down
you will hear just the channels audio.

To send the main stereo out of the mixer via USB on the ZED both USB buttons should be up and the channel record buttons should be up.

[Craftybutcher]

I got a reply from Allen and heath telling me a few potential solutions though…. Weirdly despite having 4 channel 2 way usb, still involves cabling into my interface… In any case after a lot of trial and error I have discovered that i can use and my channel/ input on the zedi as long as it’s cabled out from any of the outputs and that signal routes fine into the interface, however if I select the zedi as the input, it only accepts ch1 from the zedi. Also when I go into Mac settings and look at the sound input/output tab.. while playing music,(chSt1) or singing,(ch1) it goes dead when I change it from interface to zedi as the input… My deduction so far is.. either my Mac will not recognise ch2-4 of the usb or they are damaged… Not sure how I can isolate these to narrow down which it is.

[Mike C]

The ZED 10 USB is two channels output and two channels input with the input
either in ST2 or the direct playback input.

[Craftybutcher]

Just seen this reply. Yes that’s what I am looking to do, I can use mic input into clarett or into zedi 10.in any case these processed vocals should route via USB channels 1+2 or 3+4 into the zedi 10. Most likely from 1+2 leaving 3+4 free. This signal from usb is hard wired into ST2 in the zedi I am told… The signals from this and from the Windows laptop with backing tracks going into St1 would be mixed and would be routed back to the Mac via USB ch3+4 by choosing the option M1,M2, L,R. I am told from Allen and heath that routing the input 1+2 or3+4 has to be done in logic and I have found this… However when I choose to send M1,2 ,L,R and choose zedi 10 as logic input.. it only recognises the mic in ch1 and seems to disregard the other 3 channels. Connection from laptop to zedi is a jack from headphones out going into 2 1/4 inch TRS..into St1 in zedi. also FB live gives an option of choosing input and when choosing zedi 10 again only ch1 is recognised. I havnt tried the headphone thing though monitoring in zedi is usually ok. I posted a response from a&h above. Have only tried one of their options so far. Will try more shortly

[Craftybutcher]

Oh meant to say.. in a&h reply they said it’s 4 channel usb but out Mac into zedi it’s paired, either at pair 1+2 or 3+4 but from zedi into Mac you can record ch1-4 simultaneously or 1+2 +L+R or 1+2+aux+FX.. but I have yet to get this to work as I said above2-4 isn’t recognised.

[KeithJ A&H]

For others who come across this and to consolidate the two discussions (support ticket and this thread), here is a copy of the initial response.

”
The ZEDi-10 (and ZEDi-10FX) USB interface has 4 inputs and 4 outputs.
The inputs coming from the computer are fixed/hardwired, going from USB channels 1&2 to the ST2 channel and USB channels 3&4 to the ST3 channel. To send something from the computer to the mixer then, you would simply send stereo signals from, say Logic, to USB channels 1&2 and/or 3&4. They can then be added into the main mix or sent to the Aux out using the pots on the ST2 and ST3 channels.

The outputs going from the mixer are slightly different as you can choose what is on the second pair of channels (3&4) using the USB OUT switches as follows:
M1-M2-M3-M4 (no switches pressed) = USB channels 1 to 4 are sourced directly from the preamps of the 4 mono channels.
M1-M2-AUX-FX = USB channels 1&2 are sourced directly from the preamps of M1 and M2 then USB channel 3 is a copy of the AUX send output socket and USB channel 4 is a copy of the FX send output socket.
M1-M2-L-R = USB channels 1&2 are sourced directly from the preamps of M1 and M2 then USB channels 3&4 are the stereo main LR mix.
(note that if both switches are pressed, M1-M2-L-R is active)

When using the ZEDi with Windows (and the Windows ASIO/WDM driver), you can see the inputs and outputs as two stereo devices, as well as four mono options for the four ZEDi outputs.

With a mac however, the ZEDi runs as a class compliant device and so you would use routing in whatever application you are running to select the channels you want to use.

This is quite simple in any pro audio program (Logic for example), but I think the problem you are having here is that the macOS system and most browsers are only geared up for stereo inputs, and may only be picking up the first two USB channels. This is why, even if you were to pick the M1-M2-L-R option, you might only be getting the first two mono channels to facebook.

There are a few ways you could achieve what you want to here however:

1. Switch around the Windows and Mac computers, this would give you the option of selecting USB channels 3&4 in the Windows managed ‘layer’. Then select M1-M2-L-R and you will be sending the main mix out to facebook live.
2. Use the ZEDi as the mic input for Logic by selecting it as the interface and using channel 1 or 2 as the input (wherever you connected your mic). The output from Logic could then go back to the ST2 (1&2) or ST3 (3&4) channel on the ZEDi to be mixed with the ST1 and/or the ‘dry’ unaffected mic signal. Now you can reuse your focusrite interface by connecting the ZEDi main LR outputs to it (with XLRF to TRS Jack cables so you don’t accidentally send phantom power back into the ZEDi!) and selecting the focusrite as your facebook input device.
3. Use XLRF to Jack cables to loop the ZEDi main outputs back into M1 and M2 channels (again to prevent accidentally sending 48v phantom power into the outputs and damaging them). This way, by selecting M1-M2-L-R, you would actually end up with L-R-L-R on the ZEDi USB outputs (because M1 and M2 are now physically coming from the LR outputs). This does mean you cannot use those inputs for other things however…
4. Install something like ‘Loopback’ (https://rogueamoeba.com/loopback/), which I think would give you the ability to re-wire USB channels 3&4 wherever you need using software.

“

[Mike C]

Ok I have to admit that I completely overlooked that this post was about
the ZED “i” 10 series and not the ZED 10 series so some of my routing questions
and comments made no sense!

I actually have a ZED 10 (non i) and use as a USB interface quite often.

[Author]

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