eMotion LV1 Tutorial 4.5: Mixer Window – Channel Strip Part 1

Mar 01, 2017 | 4,854 Views

Learn how to control processing, routing, and levels in the channel strip of the eMotion LV1 live mixing console.

This is the fourth lesson about the Mixer window. So far, you’ve gotten an overview of the window, and you’ve learned about the mixer Layers. If you haven’t seen these earlier Mixer window tutorials, now’s a good time.

The Mixer’s processing, routing, and control ultimately take place on channels.

Pick a Mixer Layer to choose which kind of channels or busses you’re controlling. Then, use a mixer channel to actually do something.

To control a channel, you need two things:

First are the Channel Strips. These control the functions that are common to all channels in the layer and form a framework for other channel controls.
Second are the Layer Modes. These are how you select and control the processing and routing of the channels in a layer.

Channel strips are organized like you’d expect in a live console. There are three sections.

Depending on the Layer, there’s an input section at the top for patching to I/Os.
A processing/routing section that changes, depending on which Layer Mode is selected.
A section for channel parameters control, including the panner, fader, mute, meter, and cue/solo activate.

Input and Talkback channels can patch to audio from an external source. A drop-down menu at the top of a channel strip is used to patch to hardware and software I/O devices that have been assigned to the Mixer in the Device Racks. When an I/O with a preamp is assigned to a channel, its preamp can be controlled from the channel strip. To change the channel between mono and stereo, select Flip to Mono or Flip to Stereo.

Auxes, Main outs, and Cue don’t patch audio from I/Os. These channels are patched from within the mixer.

The Mode Controls Section is reserved for the Layer Mode controls. Each Layer Mode has its own function and appearance. On the left there’s a legend of Mode functions.

Modes are covered in detail in Lessons 4.7 to 4.10.

The bottom section of a channel strip is the same for most channels. The imaging knob provides mono panning and stereo balance and rotation. We’ll talk about this in the next video.

The Channel Mute button is red when its channel is muted by the user. When a mute is activated by a mute group, DCA fader, Dugan Automixer, or solo, the button flashes red. Click on a button to unmute it.

Click once again to keep the channel muted even if the mute group is deactivated.

Click a third time to return to normal mute group behavior.

When a panner or fader is touched, its value is displayed in the Pan/Fader Value box. Panner values are displayed in blue, fader values in yellow.

The Peak level indicator shows peak level and clipping. Peak hold, clip hold, and clip indicator threshold are set in the U/I Settings page. Click anywhere on the meter to clear holds.

As you’d expect, a channel fader controls the output gain of its channel. Touch a fader to select the channel. This channel will also be selected in the Channel window.

To unlink the fader selection from channel selection, deselect Channel Select Follow Fader in the U/I Settings page. Now you can move a fader while controlling the parameters of another channel.

If the channel is being controlled by a DCA, its fader will not move with the DCA fader. Instead, a ghost fader will indicate the change in channel level as a result of the DCA fader offset.

Learn more about DCAs in lesson 3.11.

If you’re using a multi-touch display, you can move several faders at a time. But only one channel at a time will be selected.

Channel strip meters can display channel input or output. Their behavior is set up in the U/I Settings page.

The CUE/SOLO switch activates a send to the Cue or Solo buss for monitoring. Use the CLEAR SOLO button on the Top Bar to clear all cues and solos. Click on the Gear Button to access the Cue channel and configure Cue / Solo.

In SOLO IN PLACE mode, the mute indicators on all channels except the soloed channel will flash red until solo is cancelled.

The Channel Index lists the channel’s position within its layer type: channel, group, aux, etc. Layers are color-coded.

This is useful when the selected channel is not visible in the current layer, or when constructing a custom layer.

This lesson Introduced you to the eMotion LV1 channel strips. As you’ve seen, there are no real surprises here.

We’ll complete the tour of the channel strips in the next video, when we take a look at the pan/balance/rotate imaging tools.

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