Allen + Heath DB4: Innofader Installation

DJ Gear & Hardware Hardware: Controllers, Mods and Gear
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Allen + Heath DB4: Innofader Installation

So I installed an innofader in my DB4. The process was easier than I worried it would be but still posed some challenges that I’ll share here for anyone wanting to do this mod.

If you’re still reading this, you already know how amazing the DB4 is as a 4-channel digital mixer. It does have some issues though; one of them is the curve settings on the stock faders. The faders themselves are quite nice, very smooth, solid feeling, nice fader caps and you can indeed cut back and forth quickly on them. Skratchworx did a nice review of the DB4 when it first came out and there was a response from A+H providing detail about the faders; you can read the review and response here.

The bottom line is that these are indeed top quality faders that will last a lifetime, but they are not “scratch” faders. The main issue with these faders is the curve setting – although the curve is adjustable, it does not turn the fader into an “on/off” switch at its sharpest setting the way you find on some magnetic and optical faders. The travel point for the cut-in is also not adjustable as it is on some other top shelf mixers (e.g. Ecler Evo series or the Denon DN-X1700), which means you will have to move the fader a few millimeters to get to your cut-in point, which will slow down your cuts if you are a serious turntable trickster. Nevertheless, you certainly can scratch on these faders, even do some crabbing and twiddling, but the sound will be a bit “smeared” as the fader is still moving the sound from zero to high volume over time rather than just cutting the sound on and off. This can sound ok, but the cuts don’t sound as sharp as they would on a true scratch fader. I did a quick video example with the stock fader so you can hear the difference:

(and yeah I kind of suck at scratching; this is just meant to illustrate the sound).

If you’re going to do this mod, make sure you get the Innofader Pro as the regular innofader probably won’t fit. You also ought to check out SmiTTTen’s excellent article on installing the innofader in the S4 – this is a different model innofader and a different host unit, but it helps give you a sense of what you’re in for. As smiTTTen points out, when you get the innofader, it comes with a dizzying array of goodies and minimal (but pretty straightforward) instructions:

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The first thing to do is identify the correct adapter board to use with this mixer; that’s easy enough as it comes in two pieces. Look at the diagrams on the instructions and match them up to the pieces; the one you want looks like this:

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Then you want to connect the cables to the adapter board; make sure the connectors go in the right places as described on the instruction sheet and make sure the adapters are facing the right direction; you shouldn’t have to force anything (though you do need to connect them firmly so some strength is required).

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Easy enough so far; the hard part is getting the thing into the mixer and getting your settings right. Thanks to mixarchitekt I learned that the easiest way to get to the fader is from the bottom of the mixer. I would have spent hours trying to get the top panel of the mixer off but this sage advice saved me all that frustration. Flip the mixer over (I put mine on a pillow so as not to stress the knobs and faders too much) and get to work on the 8 screws.

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(Continued in the next post as I am out of attachment space…)

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Be forewarned, these are not “normal” (aka phillips or straight) screws; you need a bizarre six sided "Torx - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia tool to get them out. If you mess with them with a Phillips head you run the risk of ruining the screws and you don’t want to do that. So look for a tool with this tip:

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Here’s what your DB4 looks like on the inside - very nice and clean and proper and British:

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OK here’s where I started to get frustrated. I couldn’t figure out how to get the fader out. Most of you will already figure this out but I’m kind of slow so it took me a while to realize I had to first remove the screws holding the fader to the top panel of the mixer; it came out easily after that:

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A Phillips head screwdriver works fine with these although they are apparently Pozidriv screws.

The fader comes out pretty easily after that:

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See that orange connector on the fader? We want to connect that to the adapter board for the Innofader. Be careful to connect it to the right adapter on the innofader adapter board:

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We’re almost done … one more post coming.

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part 3

Next we need to insulate the adapter boards. This will keep the electronic gremlins from your Innofader from messing with the ones in your DB4 and keep all the magic smoke inside. The nice folks at Audio Innovate provide these nice rubber sleeves to do the insulating so you don’t have to mess with cardboard and scotch tape or whatever. First put the little velcro strips on the inside of the sleeves:

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Next slide the adapter boards in the sleeves, one board one sleeve, and seal them with the velcro. Obviously you want to leave room for the wires to get through but you can do a nice job of sealing up the boards themselves with these sleeves.

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OK, believe it or not, all that was the easy part. The most annoying part for me was actually fine tuning the innofader using the adjustment screws on the innofader itself. I put it all together without adjusting first, praying for the best, and screwed everything in, and then tried to use it. Well there was no cutoff; the fader seemed to not work at all. So obviously don’t do that. I had to take it apart and put it back together a couple of times until I figured out how to have the innofader out of the unit and have the unit plugged into the speakers and turntable so I could test it out as I made my adjustments. I’m sure this violates some kind of basic law of electronics, but nothing blew up and everything seems to still work so it’s all good. It wasn’t until after about a half hour of doing this that I looked up the detailed instructions on the innofader website – that should get you sorted; page down to the Customization section. This is a bit of trial and error to see how much cut in and curve you like.

Also be sure that when you put the mixer back together that you use the screws provided by Audio Innovate rather than the Allen + Heath screws to attach the innofader to the top of the unit.

Once it’s all back together again, scratch away! I did another video of scratching with the Innofader installed. As you can see, it actually did not make me any better at scratching (if anything, my cuts are even more off-time in this video), but you can hear the difference in terms of how sharp and precise the cuts are with the Innofader. It also feels better overall. Even though the A+H fader is also quite smooth, the Innofader just glides back and forth. In fact, if you hold the fader on one end you can see that gravity alone is enough to move the fader from one side to another.

So… is it worth it? That’s up to the end user. If you can afford this expensive mixer, adding an Innofader is a no-brainer. If you don’t scratch at all, it’s probably not necessary. Some people don’t use the crossfader at all, so obviously it’s not necessary if that’s you. And this really isn’t a “battle” mixer – if you’re shooting for the DMC you really want a mixer with a nice clean interface like the Rane TTM-56 rather than a busy effects processing digital mixer. But if you like to throw in some quick cuts during your sets and you don’t like the curve on the stock fader, the Innofader is a nice upgrade. One drawback is the curve adjustment switch on the mixer is now useless – it does have an effect on the curve but it isn’t a desirable one, and it doesn’t seem to be possible to use the cross fader in any mode other than the sharp curve mode, although that may be something that can be adjusted by someone who knows more about what they’re doing.

Hope this helps someone!

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Cool Tutorial !

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Yeah this has no effect on the line fader adjustment switch (unless you put innofaders in the line faders too…)

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Great write up!!! You can get Torx bits at nearly any place that sells tools including Wal Mart. They come in number sizes like T-2 or T-3. What number is the bit you used Ben?

btw, I fixed the wikipedia link in your second post.

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Looks like T-10 fits. I have a set of bits and just tried different ones until I found it. Think I first discovered Torx when I had to take apart my Macintosh Plus, hehehe.

Thanks for fixing that link - I think it was working right under the old website, I’m not sure.

kevz - the fader feels a lot better but if you don’t scratch it may not be worth the expense. It’s a better fader in lots of ways, but the A+H fader is just fine for quick cuts back and forth while mixing; it’s just not cut out for scratching, and the lack of precision on the cuts will be noticed if you’re doing a lot of them.

One drawback (depending on your perspective this may be a feature) of the innofader is you can’t use the A+H supplied fader caps with their cool logo engraved on them. But the innofader cap is great, better for scratching as it’s a bit heavier, and the line down the middle of it is almost the same color so it doesn’t look out of place on the mixer.

Glad you guys appreciate the info! I had forgotten about this post months ago lol…

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Necrobumping this to ask if anyone actually did this besides me. Now that A+H offer a Pro X fade option, I’m wondering if I’m the only person in the world with an innofader in a DB4.

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Thank you so much for this tutorial. I just spent yesterday evening installing this and your tutorial was a huge help :slight_smile:

Getting the cut-in and curve settings was definitely the most tedious part. I like my x fader set hamster and I wanted a complete cut of A on the left and B on the right. Turning the cut-in all the way to the right ended up causing the fader to have no cut at all (fader effectively did nothing with both channels full volume no matter what) so I found that setting it one notch above the far right set it where I wanted.

Any word on whether the pro x fade offers any advantages to the innofader?

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Many thanks for your article its spot on,ive just done the same but to include an innojuster :smiley:

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Excellent write up, thank you for taking the time to share the tutorial.

I don’t scratch at all and I’d really like to change the 4line faders. Nothing wrong with the OEMs but you’ve gotta admit, those innofaders are heavenly. I’m just too worried to take the db4 apart and adding things internally, any tips and suggestions before diving in?

Btw, the DB4 is a beast of a mixer. It’s the best mixer I have ever used, and I couldn’t be happier with it. Cheers

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I just did this yesterday & tried with 2 different Innofaders, anyone else having issues when doing fast scratches like crabs & flares? I did some extensive testing & the mixer doesn’t seem to respond well to fast movements. Very disappointing

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Yea many have complained about the cross fader curve of the db4. Not for that reason, I sold my db4 and got the xone92, wisest choice I’ve ever made. Cheers

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hm, I just traded my 92 for a DB4, what reasons did you get rid of your for? I’d love to know what to keep an eye out for

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The db4 is a decent mixer by my standards, Id say its currently the strongest digital mixer out of all the garbage digital mixers on the market. But I personally prefer an analog circuity mixer, in terms of sheer sound quality (assuming you have a great sounding source, which in my case is the RME UCX) the xone92 is unmatched, I challenge anyone to do a direct A/B comparison of the 92 against the db4 and dare that person to say the db4 sounds better.

The build quality of the db4 is a joke compared to the 92, I still cringe at the db4’s engage buttons (cue, fx on, menu, etc)–they feel so cheap, Id even say its possibly the cheapest feeling mixer Ive ever used, literally feels like its going to either crack or somehow get stuck at any moment. The 4band EQ vs the 3band EQ is more of a preference I suppose, but wtf is up with the 12’o clock position on the db4, the 92’s tactile feedback at 12 feels supremely snappy and locked on, I always had to double check on the db4 to verify that I was at 0db and a lot of times I even found the position to be slightly past 12’o clock due to the ‘give’ and ‘play’ at that position.

Sure the db4 has a vast array of effects, but I found myself only using delay and reverb–I tried, I really tried to make the other ‘effects’ usable, with no luck in the end. The 92 may not have all the bells and whistles of on-board effects but the 2 channels on the left side with a SEND/RETURN function is far more ideal and works perfectly with an external effector, in fact I think its F***ING AWESOME with the Korg KP3+.

The Input Matrix along with a dedicated loop function on the db4 was a genius idea as It was originally intended for vinyl DJs. But what is the point if the phono inputs on the DB4 are weak as hell and sound like garbage? For more info on this, google it and you’ll read the heart breaking truth. The line inputs have a problem as well, try setting the gain at 0db, you’d already be hitting “PK!”–good luck mixing another or even a 3rd track without staying fully red on the main VU meter, I had to adjust every channel very carefully just so that I don’t risk throwing insultingly loud distortions. Ok fine, the line inputs can be managed and set but still, do I really want to sit there and worry about my line gains when other mixer’s gains are properly set from the factory?

Those are just a few issues out of a few more. At this point, Im really finding it hard to find anything wrong with the xone92, it is one hell of a mixer, only thing I don’t like about the 92 is the tap tempo and lack of midi functions but those are easily addressed in large number of methods. I kick myself in the mouth because I mentioned that the db4 was the best mixer, but out of all honesty; those were my initial impressions until I began to use it extensively.

I feel that A&H rushed the db4, it could have been the best mixer but I feel that they released a mixer that is clearly not ready. Have you been on the xone forum for the db4? Ghost-town…With more complains than positive reviews, I’m not surprised with all the complaining–it is a mixer with a price tag of just under $3,000, you’d expect a bit of ‘quality’. its a shame. Oh, and we can rule out the production location of my db4 as it was made in the UK.

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Anyone know where I can find a dark grey faceplate for the 92 rotary version? I’m looking to replace the current silver plate to the dark grey.

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Are you from OC? I think you’re the guy I just traded my Xone92 with, his setup is exactly the same as you described

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Where is OC? I am in Northern California, are you referring to orange county? Thats far from where I am

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just ordered an innofader for my xone:3D. I’m not a scratcher but I use a lot of cuts in my mixing.

I haven’t played on on the db4 yet but played quite a bit on the 64, 92, and played a little on a db2. the db2 sounded just as good as any A&H I used, it was in my house for three days.

The line faders were buttery compared to the 3d, mine might be old though. I run outboard effect through a red sound box, it works well but it’s easy to overload things with it.

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What are you talking about, an analogue mixer and a digital mixer will always sound different.