When I try to figure out how to configure the ZED to hear only my guitar plugin sound, I get this response from the AI:
“The ZED is not a modern audio interface.
It’s an analog mixer with an added stereo USB card.
It doesn’t have a separate monitoring bus like a Focusrite or Universal Audio.”
So I need to use a Focusrite-type sound card or something similar… I’ve never found a way to hear only the plugin sound produced by the computer… Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank
I assume you’re connecting your guitar to channel 1, for example, and want to send its signal to a USB plugin on a PC or similar device.
You want to receive the signal from the USB plugin back at the mixer and only hear that signal, not channel 1 itself - is my understanding correct?
While your mixer isn’t ideal for this setup, but according to my NI, it should be possible if you open the Aux exclusively from channel 1 for sending, set the USB OUT switch to AUX-FX, and open the ST-2 or PLAYBACK fader (both with no jacks connected) for receiving.
The problem is that you would have to ensure on the PC that only the sent left channel (Aux) is used by the plugin!
Alternatively, you couldn’t be able to use any effects on the mixer, because their sources on the sent right channel (FX) would also be routed to the plugin.
Hello, thank you for your reply. I understand the suggestion and I’ll try this routing. Actually, it’s so simple on a sound card that I thought I had an immediate solution with the ZED… I understand it’s not designed for that. It turns out that guitar plugins have evolved so much in recent years that usage patterns have changed (mine at least).
Thanks
How would you do it simply with a sound card?
Perhaps it’s all a misunderstanding and you don’t actually need the mixer to function as a mixer, but simply want to use it as a sound card with USB stereo input and output?
By the way: If you’re using passive pickups, your mixer also has two Hi-Z inputs on channels 7 and 8.