The ZED-14 has a fantastic pedigree which comes
from nearly 40 years of making mixing desks for the professional sound
community. The audio circuitry is based on years of continual development and
refinement and the performance of all the elements within the mixer is has been
perfected to ensure the very best sound quality possible.
This is a mixer for anyone, from entry-level to professionals, who appreciates
fantastic sound, rugged build quality and imaginative feature sets. It'll be
equally happy running your gig on stage, recording live or mixing down in your
studio at home.
We've teamed up with major software supplier, Cakewalk, to bundle its SONAR LE
music creation and audio production software with ZED, giving you a fantastic,
high spec digital audio workstation.
The feature-set is incredibly advanced for a mixer at this level - it has 13
independent sources to the mix, 10 independent outputs, 4 aux sends, a USB send
& return for PC or Mac recording, playback and effects, a unique dual stereo
input capability and some very advanced monitoring facilities. In fact, ZED-14
is so packed full of great features that you’d think it would cost much, much
more!
It can be used for many different tasks, whether in live performance, utilizing
plug-in effects via USB, live recording via USB and Cakewalk, studio recording
or mixing down to produce your own 2-track recordings.
What about the sound quality? Our chief designer, Mike Griffin, has been at the
forefront of audio innovation for many years and has developed the designs for
our spectacularly successful MixWizard and GL series professional live mixers.
Mike is always striving to produce the best possible sound for our mixers, and
for ZED has produced the "DuoPre", a mic preamplifier which sounds as sweet as
a nut, as pure as the driven snow. The DuoPre combines an optimised line input
circuit together with the microphone preamp circuit so that it will not colour
or distort your sound, will give you lots of headroom and give you a truly
professional feel.
Features
Inputs
One of the great things about the ZED series is the number and variety of things
you can plug in. In addition to the six mono channels there are four stereo
channels, each with a main stereo input on jack sockets, and with the ability to
take additional stereo inputs from phono sockets or from the USB audio input,
flexibility gives you control. In all, ZED-14 boasts 99 different controls on
its front panel - way more than any of the competition! 6 mic/line channels are
provided on ZED-14 - plenty for mics or DI boxes for a small band, duo or solo
performer 4 stereo line inputs - dual inputs, both with gain and 2-band EQ
DuoPreTM
Based on the proven pre-amps from the hugely successful PA series, the ZED
series has new DuoPreTM pre-amps, which use a two stage design, with carefully
controlled amounts of gain in each stage. When amplifying the signal from the
XLR input, the gain range is huge - 69dB of range to be exact - and is very
evenly distributed around the gain control, meaning better control of signal
level. Most of the gain comes from the first stage, so unwanted noise is kept to
a minimum. Line level signals are simply plugged into the second stage of the
pre-amp by using the line input jack socket, which has the great advantage of
less noise when using the line input.
EQ section
ZED-14 features a responsive 3-band, swept mid frequency design with MusiQ -
optimised slope (or Q factor) for equalising individual instruments. HF and LF
also boast Xtra Boost, to make these frequencies more responsive.
Auxiliary sends
4 aux sends are provided, of which 1 & 2 are prefade for foldback monitoring, and
3 & 4 post-fade for effects sends. A stereo signal can be sent from auxes via
USB to computer to create 2 separate record feeds independent of the main LR mix
(1 & 2) and or used as FX sends (3 & 4).
USB audio flexibility
Getting audio to and from a computer easily is now a common requirement for live
sound and music production. The way we have implemented this on ZED is
super-flexible and super-easy! No longer do you need to fiddle around the back
of your PC to get to the soundcard inputs, only to find that the levels are all
wrong and noisy. Just plug in a USB lead to your ZED, select the USB routing on
the mixer and the device on your computer and that's it! Quality audio to and
from your PC or Mac. Three switches provide different send/return configurations
for recording, playback and utilising external FX.
Build
At this level, most mixers are built using a single, flat PCB with all the pots
and switches attached at right angles. ZED-14 utilises individual vertically
mounted channel circuit boards with each rotary control fixed with a metal nut
to the front panel - making a much more robust product that will resist damage
and give years of reliable use. ZED also has professional 100mm faders for
ultimate control over your levels.
SONAR LE - provided Free!
We have teamed up with Cakewalk to bundle SONAR LE with this ZED mixer. The two
team up together in many ways - for example straightforward recording of a
stereo mix, recording tracks individually to build up a song, or for inserting a
SONAR LE effects plug-in.
| Model: |
ZED14 |
| Manufacturer: |
Allen & Heath |
