Alesis MultiMix12USB, Reference Manual

Page: 17 / 42

A Tour of the MultiMix USB
2
15
2-TRACK
The 2-TRACK IN and OUT jacks are standard RCA jacks. You’ll
use the OUTs for mixing to a tape deck or other recorder. With
the INs you can bring in a signal, which can be monitored and
even added to the main mix via the 2TK TO MIX switch in the
master section of the mixer.
MAIN MIX OUT
These 1/4” jacks are where the signal on the main mix bus leaves
the mixer. From there you can send it to a recorder or a PA system.
The level of this signal is controlled by the MAIN MIX fader.
CTRL RM OUT
You can use these 1/4" jacks to send the control room signal to
the input of the amplifier driving your monitors or headphones.
This output can carry several different signals, depending on which
source you have selected in the master section of the mixer.
Channel Strips
The eight channel strips are virtually identical to each other, with
the only difference being that channels 1 – 4 are mono and
channels 5 – 12 are stereo. Each channel strip contains the
following components.
Fader
The fader controls how much of the signal from the mic or line
inputs is sent to the channel. To adjust the level, simply slide the
fader up and down to the desired level. In the lowest position,
levels are cut completely, and in the uppermost position you get an
additional 10dB of gain. When the fader is at 0, it is at unity gain,
where the level of the output equals the level of the input.
MUTE / Alt 3/4
This switch has two purposes. The mute function is pretty self-
explanatory: when you press the switch, the channel’s output is no
longer routed to the main mix output. The second purpose of this
switch is that in addition to muting a channel, it also routes it to
the ALT 3/4 OUT found in the patchbay. This is where you get
the MultiMix’s extra stereo bus. If you don’t have anything
connected to the ALT 3/4 OUT, the switch acts only as a mute
button. If you do have something connected—say, a multitrack
recorder—this button acts as a signal router.
PFL / SOLO
The PFL / SOLO switch allows you to single out a channel so you
can make adjustments to it before you run it into the main mix.
This is useful for setting an instrument’s gain or EQ and for
2
A Tour of the MultiMix USB
16
troubleshooting. PFL stands for “pre-fade listen.” In other words
this switch lets you hear the signal before it is affected by the fader.
This switch is post-EQ.
PAN or BAL
This control—labeled PAN on the mono channels and BAL on
the stereo channels—lets you assign the channel to a particular
spot within the stereo spectrum. If you turn this knob to the left,
you can hear the signal move to the left, and if you turn it to the
right…you get the picture. The pan controls do this by adjusting
the amount of the signal being sent to the left main mix bus versus
the right main mix bus. The balance controls do it by controlling
the relative balance of the left and right channel signals being sent
to the left and right main mix buses.
Aux
Here you’ll find knobs that control the levels of aux sends A and
B. AUX A is either pre-fader or post-fader, depending on the
position of the PRE / POST switch. When the switch is in the
raised position, the aux send is pre-fader. When the switch is
depressed, the aux send is post-fader.
What does all this mean? In POST mode the aux send is affected
by the fader, EQ and HPF settings. In PRE mode the aux send is
affected only by the EQ and HPF settings. POST mode is
generally used for sending the signal to an external effects device
(so that the fader controls the signal level), and PRE mode is
usually used for cue sends (for example, sending a signal to
headphones while recording, for which you may not want the fader
to alter the channel’s level).
AUX B is always post-fader, as indicated by the word “POST” to
the right of this knob. Like AUX A, AUX B can be used for
routing signals to external devices. And when you are using the
onboard effects processor, AUX B is used to control the level of
the channel’s signal being routed to the processor.
EQ
The MultiMix gives you three bands of EQ per channel. Using
these knobs, you can tailor the channel’s signal by boosting some
frequencies and cutting others. The LO and HI controls are
shelving controls with fixed frequencies of 80 Hz and 12 kHz
respectively. The MID control has a peaking response fixed at 2.5
kHz.
“Shelving” means that the mixer boosts or cuts all frequencies past
the specified frequency. “Peaking” means that frequencies above
and below the specified frequency fall off, forming a peak in a
graphical representation.