Preset Libraries

Today we’re going to look at TouchMix’s comprehensive Preset Library and Mixer Scenes,

tools that are designed to help you get a great mix as quickly and as easily as possible.

TouchMix has many high quality factory-programmed channel presets that are good for a variety of instruments,

microphones and musical styles. The concept behind these tools is similar to that of a “point and shoot"

feature on a high-end digital camera. You may not be a professional photographer,

but it’s easy to get a great shot by changing the camera’s mode for an action shot,

a night-time shot, or a landscape shot. The TouchMix channel presets work in much the same way.

Just select a preset that’s right for what you’re doing.

Before we dive into how to use the presets, we’d like to tell you about how they were created.

QSC started by using a wide variety of typical gear that working musicians would use.

Our skilled and experienced concert sound mix engineers spent hundreds of hours

creating these presets in live venues, with real musicians and their instruments.

We used PA systems ranging from small two-way speaker systems

on sticks to full three-way club PAs with subs.

We also chose a variety of the most commonly used microphones

and stage monitors at live performance volume. Then our engineers set all the filters

and dynamics for each instrument to minimize feedback and maximize sound quality.

Finally, we validated these presets using multiple instruments and a variety of musicians.

It means that less-experienced users can get a great mix in a flash,

while professional mixers will love it because it saves them a lot of time.

The presets are designed to be used with common microphones

and pick-up systems in real live sound applications – and they work.

People who have used TouchMix report getting great results with little or no modification.

When you add one to your channel, you’re getting the combined experience of decades of

professional audio mixing applied with the touch of a button.

All you have to do is load a preset and then fine tune it to your own preference.

Alright, now that we know the backstory, let’s explore the channel presets.

To work with channel presets, you start by pressing the Home button,

select a channel and touch the Presets tab.

Make sure that the Factory / User switch is in the Factory position.

In the left window you’ll see a list of instrument categories – Bass, Drums, Frets, Keyboards and so on.

Touch an instrument category name and a list of specific instruments appears in the middle window.

Select a type of instrument and the right window will display a list of options for that instrument.

Depending on the instrument selected, there may be options with and without gates

and compressors as well as options for various types of microphones

and pick-ups or different styles of music. Select the one that seems best for your application.

If you want to learn more about that preset, touch the Preset Info button

and a pop-up with details such as type of microphone and placement will appear.

Once you’ve found the right preset, just touch Recall Preset.

Values for equalization, compressor settings and gate settings will be loaded into the channel,

as well as assigning it a default channel name, level and phantom power.

In the Presets tab you can tap the Next arrow to move to the next channel

and repeat the process until all of the channels you need are set up.

You can tell which channel you are working on by looking at this window.

But let’s say you are midway through setting up your mix, you’ve customized some channel names

and made some level adjustments on your main faders.

But now you’ve decided that the preset you’ve used for “Jeff’s Fiddle" isn’t right for your mix

and you want to recall a different preset, but you want to keep your custom channel name and level adjustment.

To do that, you will simply choose a new preset, but also engage the “Omit Levels" and “Omit Name".

This will place all of the EQs, comps and gates, but leave the existing Levels and Names alone.

And remember Simple & Advanced mode? When you load a preset,

it recalls all the information to that channel regardless of whether you’re operating in Simple or Advanced Mode.

So if your channel is in Simple Mode before you recall the preset, it will still be in Simple Mode afterwards,

but all the advanced settings of the preset will still be applied in the background.

Once all your channels have the appropriate presets,

you have the option to then continue to fine tune your sound manually.

When you’re done, it’s a good idea to save your preset, or save the whole scene!

To save a preset, return to a channel’s preset window, switch over to User mode,

and press “Save/Save as". You can give your preset a custom name,

and decide whether you want to save the preset to the mixer itself, or onto an external USB drive.

To save the entire mixer as a scene, press Menu, and then Scenes.

Just like in presets you can give your scene its own name, and decide where to save it.

Saving a scene includes all the mixer’s settings on every channel, including its presets,

effects selections, pan, equalization, compressors, gates and limiters, and level settings.

You may also notice that TouchMix comes with a few factory-installed scenes.

These are a great way to load a collection of common presets

for a basic band setup to get your mix started even faster.

And don’t forget … Over the course of a performance,

you’ll likely be fine-tuning your mix for the venue and the way the group sets up.

Once you’ve got your mix dialed in to your liking,

be sure to save it with a new name so you’re ready to go next time you’re in the venue.

That’s it for the Channel Presets and mixer scenes. We’ll see you next time.