Understanding Inputs on the M4IP-USB Blade

Question:

I have an M-4 blade and am trying to use the USB inputs. When I connect my PC to the USB port, the computer finds the USB driver. And, when I play audio on the PC, I can see the audio on the Blade's front panel meters so I know that audio is getting to the Blade. But when I use Navigator I cannot see any audio on what I think is the USB sources on the blade. Is there some other configuration necessary to get the USB audio into the system?

When I look at the Sources tab in Navigator, it doesn't show the input meters for the microphones, it only shows the input meters for the USB inputs. Why?

Answer:

The default labels of the USB inputs on an M-4 Blade are labeled: BL00xSUA, BL00xSUB, BL00xSUC, and BL00xSUD where x is the ID number for that Blade. When you go to the Sources tab in Navigator the meters that you see are for these very inputs.  (You'll notice that even though the USB I/O is to the right of the mic jacks on the back of the Blade, the USB sources are the first items in the list.)

The next four sources you will see in the list, labeled by default BL00xSMA, BL00xSMB, BL00SMC, BL00xSMD, where x is the ID number of the blade, these are the 4 outputs of the microphone processors. At this time, Navigator does not display the meters for the microphones.

Because the M4IPUSB is a microphone processor, we placed the input meters and gain controls for the microphones in the M4IP configuration program instead of Navigator. There, you can adjust the input gain, output gain, compression, and equalization and see metering of both the incoming microphone audio as well as the metering of the post-processing output (which is what you are routing to the console).

So there you have it: the source meters in Navigator are just for the USB I/O. The microphone meters are shown in the M4 setup GUI, which is also where you adjust the processing.

When you are first setting up the M4, look at the default label carefully before you edit the name. If it says UA, UB, UC, or UD, it's the USB. If it says MA, MB, MC, or MD, it's the microphone. What we see happen often is people will rename the USB sources as mics and the mic processor output sources as USB connections, and then get very confused.

If you do find yourself confused (or you're taking over an existing system and things have been renamed from default) and aren't sure which source is tied to which jack on the back, if you click to highlight it, look to the right in Navigator for the Details pane. At the bottom of that pane you will see HINT: followed by a description of the source. That should get you back on track.

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