The Mixer

Believe it or not, there’s another audio source available to you have that we haven’t discussed yet – the Mixer!

It’s one of the five main menu categories on the right.

This is a stereo mix that can combine any input in the entire system,

and also includes an Auto-Mix capability and an FX engine.

This is perfect for meetings, panel discussions, conferences,

or even live entertainment applications like an impromptu performance at a coffee house.

The mixer’s stereo output can be used as a primary, secondary,

or selectable source for any of the MP-M output channels.

On the mixer page, you’ll see your fader banks listed horizontally across the top.

If you have ever used the QSC TouchMix, this should look pretty familiar.

The first bank is your Mic/Line inputs, the second bank is your mono-summed RCA inputs,

and then the USB/FX faders include the onboard USB Player and your FX bus, which we’ll discuss in a little bit.

And don’t forget that we’re using an MP-M80 in this example,

so you’ll see fewer channels on an MP-M40, but the functionality is all the same.

For each channel strip, you’ll see the same thing –

– at the top is its friendly name that you assigned in your initial setup.

This name is actually a shortcut to that channel’s overview and setup pages,

if you want to jump over and make some changes on that channel.

Back in the Mixer, we’ll see that each channel strip also has an option to include this channel in your Cue mix,

allowing you to listen to the channel on your headphones using the Cue output jack.

You can pan any channel from left to right, which will of course only be applied to a stereo output,

and you can also make its volume adjustments with these sliders.

You’ll notice a Level meter which is pre-fader,

allowing you to see the nominal level of that audio source even when you have it turned down.

If your channel has any dynamics, or gating engaged, or phantom power,

the respective indicator lights will illuminate.

At the bottom you have the ability to Mute the entire channel, or to add it to your Auto-Mix.

The MP-M’s automixer is a gain-sharing design,

that works by comparing the signals from the input channels and applying attenuation—or, level reduction.

While in operation, the auto-mixer senses which channels are being spoken into,

and allocates gain to the active channels while reducing gain to the inactive channels.

This is ideal for conference scenarios to make sure that people who are speaking into their microphones

are given more gain than those who are silent,

which will help eliminate the duplication of background ambient noise and give focus where focus is needed.

There are no settings to use in the Automixer –

– it will automatically go to work on any channels that have Auto-Mix engaged,

and it has no effect on the other channels.

If you want to assign the Main stereo mix out as a possible source for an output channel,

simply go to that channel’s Source select screen, and add “Mixer” as an option.

Now, rather than routing a single input source to this room,

you can use your mix of as many input sources as you like.

Let’s also take a look at the FX channel.

This is typically applied to specific instruments or vocals in a small live band scenario.

If you go to the Mixer and select the USB/FX fader bank, you’ll see the basic controls for your FX channel.

In order to adjust the settings of the FX we’re using,

you can select the name of the channel at the top, to jump to the FX setup page.

On this first tab, labeled “Effect”,

we have the ability to select what type of effect we want to apply, and which channels it should be applied to.

All of your input channels are displayed here – simply select a fader and start applying your effect.

When a fader is all the way to the left, the channel is considered “dry”, meaning no effect is applied.

When the fader is all the way to the right, the channel is considered “wet”,

meaning that 100% of the effect is applied.

Anywhere in between is up to your preference.

Since these faders are a little small on the screen,

this is a good opportunity to use the control panel here – get it close enough first,

and then use the nudge buttons to make finer adjustments.

You can elect to apply different amounts of the FX to every input channel,

but all other effect parameters are applied equally to every channel.

If you need to get more granular control over these effects,

you should probably take a look at adding a QSC TouchMix to your arsenal.

Here in the Effect menu, let’s choose what effect we want.

You can choose from a Mono Delay, Stereo Delay, Chorus, Pitch Shifter, Dense Reverb, or Lush Reverb.

You can adjust any of the settings in their panel to your liking, or you could select from an existing Preset.

You can get to the presets either by selecting this preset shortcut,

or by selecting the Presets tab in the top navigation bar.

Here you’ll see a list of all the available presets that come with this particular FX bus.

If you want to use one of these, simply select it and then use the Recall button.

You can also save your own settings if you’ve made particular adjustments –

– use the Save/Save As option and give your custom preset its own name.

This preset will be stored in the MP-M’s internal memory, but you could also choose to copy it to a USB drive,

so that you could then import it onto a different device.

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that applying an effect to a channel does not change that original source input,

or even alter that input’s channel strip in the Mixer.

You’ll only hear those effects when you add the FX channel here to your mix.

And once again, you can assign the Mixer output as a selectable source

for any Zone where you want to hear the effect you’ve applied.

That’s it, thanks for watching.