DLZ CREATOR ADAPTIVE DIGITAL MIXER FOR PODCASTING AND STREAMING, FEATURING MIX AGENT™ TECHNOLOGY
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Most modern professional condenser mics require 48V phantom power, which lets the DLZ Creator send
low-current DC voltage to the mic’s electronics through the same wires that carry audio. (Semi-pro condenser
mics often have batteries to accomplish the same thing.) “Phantom” owes its name to an ability to be “unseen”
by dynamic mics (Mackie EM-89D and Shure SM57/SM58, for instance), which don’t need external power
and aren’t affected by it anyway.
Never plug single-ended (unbalanced) micro phones, or ribbon mics into the mic input jacks
if phantom power is applied to that channel. Do not plug instrument outputs into the mic XLR
input jacks with phantom power on unless you know for certain it is safe to do so. Be sure
the main mix fader and headphone levels are turned down when connecting microphones to the mic inputs
when phantom power is turned on to prevent pops from getting through to the speakers and headphones.
The next step is to tap ‘Set Level Automatically’. The button will illuminate green and the text will change
to ‘Listening...’. Simultaneously speak into the mic at normal volume and continue speaking until the button
changes back to ‘Set Level Automatically’. [Note that it will state ‘Level Set!’ prior to ‘Set Level Automatically’,
but it’s pretty fast!]. Once it is set, you might notice that the horizontal meter will remain on the far-left when
the mic is not in use and in the money-zone when spoken directly into.
Keep in mind that we have only looked at this setup view when on channels 1-4. But what opportunities arise
when another channel is selected? The first box remains the same as it always was: presets, icons, colors,
naming and the ability to bypass all processing. However, since mic/XLR inputs are only on the first four
channels, a channel source is requested when viewing non-mic/XLR inputs, as seen below.
The source for channels 5/6 is either line in 5/6, USB 1/2 or USB 3/4. [Channels 7/8 are exactly the same
as channels 5/6, except the source is either line in 7/8, USB 1/2 or USB 3/4]. Channels 9/10 are a little bit
different in that its channel source is either Bluetooth or SD/USB. Simply tap the source you want for each
channel. An entire chapter is dedicated to routing. This includes detailed instructions and multiple screenshots
every step of the way. Please check it out in Chapter 14, pages 84-86.
Underneath the channel source selection is a trim slider. Trim is a digital level control at the top of the channel’s
processing. It affects all input sources to the channel whether analog or digital. It ranges from –20 dB to +40 dB
with a default of –10 dB. It’s used for adding level to a channel before any of the channel processing.
So what is the difference between gain and trim? When would you use gain and when would you
use trim? In short, gain is analog, while trim is digital (right after the A/D conversion but before
everything else). So if the source is analog, you would use gain. If the source is digital, you would
use trim since it doesn’t have gain. In most cases, you will adjust (analog) gain, not (digital) trim.
If you want to lower a channel level, you can adjust the channel’s trim (assuming it isn’t clipping). The analog
line inputs on stereo channels 5-10 do not have gain. However, digital trim is adjustable for these line inputs.
Trim does not help curb clipping or distortion.
Channels 9/10
Channels 5/6 and 7/8