Allen & Heath - Xone 3D(Words by Marcus Wortley)

The Xone3D is a very strong second outing into the Hybrid MIDI controller/DJ Mixer format by Allen & Heath (the first being the very widely respected Xone 92). Here Allen & Heath build on the prior format by adding more MIDI control, a soundcard and a better spec'd MIDI clock. In fact it is a pro quality Dj Mixer, USB Audio Interface, MIDI Clock source, and MIDI Controller all rolled into one unit. The 3D offers a (re-configurable) 4in/4out USB Audio interface, a 4-channel DJ mixer (with twin VCA filters + LFOs) and 105 MIDI controls. Its footprint is 19" x 14" yet the unit is not too heavy to pick up and transport if you so wish. The 3D comes packaged with a USB cable, Ableton Live5 lite - Allen & Heath Edition, 2 sets of plastic layovers for both Ableton Live and NI Traktor, 19" rack mounts (with screws and washers), a bag of spare knobs and sliders for the unit (one of each type on the unit), a printed manual & a DVD containing the drivers, config utility, PDF manual and a flash info utility with links to various content at Allen & Heath's Xone site.

1D : Audio Mixer

   As I stated, the 3D starts where the 92 left off, so lets work our way down one of the mixers channel strips:

 Two Fx sends are available,  the 1st being switchable between Post and Pre fader. The second is fixed to post and can be used to send a signal to the in-built MIDI clock. As the 3D's audio mixer has 4 channels to mix on it has a combination of Line and Phono inputs in the following configuration of buttons:

To round off the features of the 3D's audio mixer features we need to cover the two FX returns that are found on the left of the mixer directly under the MIDI Clock. Below that there is the Filter's LFO with Tap Tempo function, Depth Pot and a three point micro switch to select what the filters affect. Right under the LFO is the Xfader on/off button, and fader curve pot that allows you to change the Xfader character.

Most of you reading this review will be aware of the Allen & Heath VCA filters that are featured on most of the models in the Xone range of DJ mixers. The usual controls for frequency, resonance/Q and the three filter shapes and filter on/off are mirrored on both sides of the mixer. Needless to say the filters sound brilliant and really sparkle without overdriving the signal, unless you go that little bit too far from not knowing what you are doing. 

 
The Xone 3D features a expanded MIDI clock over the prior Xone 92, a 3 digit LCD readout shows a line of three dashes on power up and displays OFF when disabled. A small green dot is shown in the bottom right hand corner when an audio signal is routed to and analyzed by the MIDI clock (This pulses in time with the beat). It is possible to see the tempo to the nearest decimal place by pressing and holding down the Tap button (this shifts the all digits one place to the left).

Beneath the LCD screen one finds the MIDI Start/Stop/Reset button, used to start or stop a slaved sequencer or device.  The appropriate message is sent on the button's release. Pressing and holding this button will reset the MIDI Clock but will not affect any devices currently slaved to it.   Holding down this button for approx 5 seconds will switch off the internal MIDI clock and OFF will be displayed in the LCD, and it's light ring turns on/off showing the status of MIDI messages.

Underneath the MIDI Stop/Start/Reset button is the Push/Pull switch that enable you to nudge the speed of the MIDI clock and sync to external sources. This offers the facility to set the clock between 70 - 400BPM (Gabber techno anyone?). Setting the BPM is a simple as tapping it out on the Tap button, from there one can de/increase the tempo in increments of 0.1BPM by holding down the Tap button and adjusting the Push/Pull button once the decimal place become visible.

Lastly the bottom three-stage switch allows the routing of the master or FX2 bus to the MIDI clock for analysis or for the MIDI clock to be switched off.

Looking at the back of the unit we can see the master power switch, PSU lead port, Fuse holder, Master XLR out puts, Monitor RCA outs, FX1 & FX2 RCA outputs, Soundcard outputs (1-2, 3-4 & 4-5), Master digital S/PDIF & Toslink optical outputs and inputs, MIDI In & Out ports, a USB2 port, a mirrored 1/4"  headphone output, grounding point, and a 15pin type game port connection. Above and to the left of the game port we see five sets of RCA inputs, the first on the right being FX returns, then the rest reflecting the phono/line level audio inputs of the 3D's DJ mixer. 

On the front right of the Xone 3D we find another two mirrored headphone outputs (one mini jack + one 1 1/4" jack) bringing the total up to three with the other 1/4" jack output on the units rear. There's also a XLR Mic input with accompanying level pot, and a High and Low Filter with -/+12db range.

2D : USB Audio Interface

The USB interface inside of the 3D offers two sets of stereo outs, and two sets of stereo inputs. These are configurable with the included Xone3D utility for both Mac & PC platforms between 1 stereo in 3 stereo out operation or 2 stereo in 2 stereo out operation. The internal routing works well and offers plenty of options from the task at hand, it also lets you update the unit's firmware: 

Soundcard mode is selectable from 1 stereo in / 3 stereo Out to 2 stereo in / 2 stereo out: 

Routing for the Soundcards Inputs:

3D's Digital Output

MIDI channel and Map Mode: 

3D : MIDI Control

The Xone 3D features a 105-part MIDI mapable controller section that is split mirrored in two sections, to the right and left of the workstation. Both sides offer exactly the same controls and also, like the 92 that came before it, there are more controls available on the mixers surface. This is well illustrated below in a screenshot from inside the unit's manual:

From purely an Ableton Live user's perspective (and in my honest opinion) they take up far too much space in the controller sections that would be better serviced by another 4/5 rows of endless encoders/push buttons or pots. These are most definately here for the NI Traktor crowd, the dials let you map a continuous controller value to their rotary movement, but also have 4 micro switches located underneath their four compass points (North, East, South & West). Because of the lack of dampening in their movement, I found that if you press one of the micro switches, then if you move the rotary dial it will  send out an unwanted MIDI message. If these were dampened with some sort of resistance like the dual encoder/switches located at the units topsides, and above right of each dial, then they would function far better! I found it best to make the decision to use either the rotary dial or the push switches, not both.

 
As for the rest of the MIDI controller section I do not subscribe so strongly to the common critic of other reviewers that the top three rows of pots and encoders are spaced far too close together. While I used the unit I found these not to be too much of a hindrance and a smart move to fit more control into the unit. Yes they could offer more 'pinky room' but to be frank my hands are like spades and I found them OK. The two rows of normal pots either side of the MIDI control sections are nothing short of creamy having the exact same build and feel as the pots used for Sends on all the Xone range.

The biggest stars of the MIDI sections for me are the combined Switch and Encoder combos. There are 10 of these on the 3D (Most notably in the included Live template the one marked as 'Scene Control'):

 I must say they do the job perfectly. If you read my review of the Ecler Nuo4 I strongly criticised the comparable switchgear and I’m glad to report Allen & Heath have done a truly great job here. With the use of NI's Tracktor there is the facility to press down these combined encoder/switches at the units top to move between layers and this is similarly to something that ALDJ member Ryansupak has been working to achieve with his template for the 3D. Through the use of PD & MIDIyoke on PC or OSX's built in IAC drivers, Ryan instead uses the 4 bottom Cue buttons on either side of the 3D's MIDI sections to switch between control of two of four virtual decks at any given time, you can find more information on that here<<<. I made a template for the Xone3D giving the user control of 8 fixed channels, and my scene control implementation adapted from my Penny & Giles MM16 (A very rare high end mid 90's MIDI controller that also has a jog dial that I have use as a Scene Control). I have been using this for a good period of time and I think illustrating that here will give you an insight into the workflow, and general coolness of using a 'Scene Control':

For the layman user out there, in Ableton terminology a vertical line of clips in the Session view is known as a 'Row', and a horizontal line is known as a 'Scene'. In the above screenshot, you can see each Scene has only one trigger button active and the other row's trigger buttons for that Scene have been removed. This allows you to trigger the next scene below or above with out stopping the last one, or any prior single row of clips (If you were to leave a trigger button active in a row it would stop all clips in that row).  I also expanded the use of Auto-Launch BPM Scenes to add more control to the 3D:

  The above Scenes have no clip trigger buttons activated, so launching them will only change Live's master tempo to the associated tempo marked in the Scene launch box to their right.

 
Special thanks and props go to our resident in-house graphic designer Womoma for the design of our custom layovers <--

 
For more info and to download my template please check out this thread on our forums here<<<. Work is still happening on getting these made at the moment with two different versions - One for a three band EQ and one for a four band EQ. 

The eight 100mm faders are spilt into two sets of four on either side of the mixer, and feel as good as 90% of the other MIDI controllers on the market:

For £1400 pounds I'm sure owners and users alike would like to see these feel comparable in quality to the rest of the unit, with less lateral flex

There are also 6 rows of buttons (Split into two sets of three) that flank the unit, these are great for mapping to clips or various other parameters:

It must be pointed out that unlike some of the other MIDI controllers on the market, the 3D has fixed CC values for all its MIDI controls.  So when using other controllers, it's best to select a seperate MIDI channel just for the 3D.  As touched on above, on the back of the mixer is a 15pin type game port for connecting  a joystick to add another 4 CC values for further control. I tested this out with a cheap Quickshot joystick I picked up on Ebay for under £5. I found that this was an added bonus to the unit, but to just add 4 more buttons to the unit I would rather just plug in a second controller like my Remote SL or MM16. I am sure with a good deal of research + possibly using something like MIDIyoke/joystickctrlthe right controller, you could achieve something most pleasing and useful with this. I had the 3D over Christmas 2006 and did not get the chance to delve into all this. If you do let us know on the ALDJ forums!

 

Lastly, to round off the features of the MIDI sections (as we have already touched on the MIDI Clock above), there are the two sets of 4 Cue buttons on either side of the unit's bottom:

 Here we see the Xone 3D with its Ableton Live 5 MIDI overlays, and these stay securely in place as you have to remove all the faders & pots/encoders that they cover to fit them on:

Specs:

Mixer:

• 4 multi-input stereo channels: RIAA preamps for turntables on 4 inputs
• 3-band total kill EQ: +6dB to off2 FX sends: pre/post selection (internal on FX2)
• 2 stereo returns
• Headphone monitor with mix/cue control: 3.5mm and ¼” sockets
• 2 analogue VCF filters: low-pass, band-pass, high-pass, resonance frequency, and filter 'on' switch
• Assignable LFO with depth control
• Mic input: On XLR connector; gain control and 2-band EQ control available
• Power supply: High performance internal switch-mode supply
• RIAA: for THREE turntables (four via internal jumper link)
• Dual Rail VCA Cross Fader

USB Soundcard:

• Uses 24 bit stereo Analogue to Digital converters and Digital to Analogue converters (not lower spec CODECs
• Sample rate can be set to either 44.1kHz or 48kHz; interfaces to any digital audio source up to 192kHz
• Soundcard fed from main mix, FX1, or direct from channels
• 8 channels - either 6 channels from a PC and 2 returns or 4 channels from a PC and 4 returns.
• Sends - mix, FX, or individual analogue channels may be routed to PC or digital outputs
  

MIDI Control Section

• Mappable MIDI controls:
• 105 MIDI control messages available
• 8 x 60mm linear faders
• 16 x detented rotary pots
• 10 rotary encoders, 50 switches, 2 custom jog wheels with micro switches
• 8 illuminated push switches
• Multi-function jog wheels with switched navigation control
• Xone:3D is compatible with any PC software that has MIDI assignable functions: for instance,
  lighting controller or visual effects programs
  

Operating Levels:

• Main Outputs: +4dBu XLR Headroom +22dBBooth Output: 0dBu Jack Headroom +22dB
• Effect Send output:-2dBu Headroom +22dB
• Maximum output: +26dBu
• Mic Pre-Amp Sensitivity: -45 to -15dBu
• RIAA input sensitivity: 7-100mV 47K/330pF
• Stereo Line input sensitivity: -10 to +8dBu
• Frequency Response (20Hz-30KHz):
• Mic to Main output: (+40 dB) +0/-12dB(lo-cut filter)
• Line to Main output: (0dB) +0/-2dB
• Distortion at 1KHz +0VU out
• THD + Noise (mic in +40dB gain) <0.04%
• THD + Noise (line in 0dB gain) <0.02%

    
Common Mode Rejection @1KHz:

• Mic Input +40dB gain >-50dB
• Crosstalk @1KHz:
• Adjacent Channel <-90dB
• Mute Shutoff N/A
• Fader Shutoff <-90dB
• Noise Performance (22Hz-22KHz unweighted)
• Mic EIN with 150ohm source -126dB
• Residual output noise: - main outputs <-97dBu
• Main Mix noise: <-80dBu (84dB S/N)

 
Connection Impedances:

• Mic Inputs: <2K5 ohms
• Line Inputs: >15K ohms
• Outputs: <47 ohms
• Record out N/A

Equalisation:

• Gain (each band) Stereo EQ +6dB/OFF 3 BAND TOTAL KILL
• Gain (each band) Mono (mic) EQ +/- 12dB
• Filter 30Hz-20KHz Dual VCF with LFO

Metering:

• Reading referred to Main outputs 0VU = +4dBu (9 point channel, 9 point master)
• Peak indication threshold 10dB before clipping

System:

• Power supply: Internal Universal input
• Power Consumption: 30W Max 20W nomina

Final thoughts 

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