Drum Mixer Concept [Not For Crowdfunding/Selling]

I’m sorry, but it’s all too vague for me. I like the idea, but the way you plan to have these assembled is very unconventional. Even if you have technicians in a family business, it would still be strange to just say to them: hey work on my side project.

I’m out.

What is vague about it, they are employed technicians and they will get paid for doing the job, i plan it like this to speed up the process. doing it myself will take longer. Anyway i just want to see how people like the concept regardless of manufacturing and price.

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Would like to see photos of the assembled boards :wink:

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let’s go :slightly_smiling_face:‍↔

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that’s whole lot of functionality and buttons, there has to be a catch for that price…

what’s the size of that thing? is it fully digital?

also imo oscilloscope is nice and all but maybe only on the master really useful, you can always solo a channel to see it on scope and actually is make sense to see couple if tracks together, imo per channel it’s better to have some metering and/or spectrum rather a scope…
in general I think I’d prefer a built in spectrum analyzer rather a scope…

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This looks brilliant, and frontier breaking, unconventional, and special. Obviously it’s all in the detail. Concentrate on UI and usage.

Can you do a show like Superbooth or Synthfest France or such. You will get attention.

Also I think your price is too low.

I am thinking of this in relation to stuff from a company like Finegear. Performance mixers have been a hot new product in the past year.

ADDED : Modmix from Finegear thread.

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Ja Rule…dis you?

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I’d be curious to see what the 'nauts around here who have experience with supply chains, manufacturing, product design, etc say about this (as well as seeing the assembled boards/ seeing the product in action). I’m mildly skeptical but I’m willing to be surprised, because if you can truly pull this off at this price it’s incredible.

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Patience demo is coming

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your skepticism about the price is understandable

it’s fully analog, its fairly big 90x60 cm, the oscilloscope can be switched to spectrum analyzer. there is metering but its not clear its the white acrylic strip and led is underneath. i agree that its too big and too many knobs the interface can be improved but at the expense of introducing menu diving and digitizing the interface

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image

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Can you tell us some technical details?
How much is the power consumption? Is it AC or DC powered?
VCF is discrete or built around a chip?
How many VCAs per channel and what chip used?
How many PCBs inside? PCBs per channel? Controls are PCB mounted or panel mounted?

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Yes of course, the unit is fitted with 2 power supply modules one for the negative rail and one for the positive rail. It takes 100 -220V.
vcf is based on the ms20 design.
One as3360 for the AM section.
And 4 lm13700 otas for distortion,vca section, aux1,aux2.
Pt2399 delay.
4 pcb per channel,4 for master, one psu. All controls pcb mounted.

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I’m counting 13 pots, the upper part that’s maybe an 8th of the height, a button:
60cm -6 for the upper part /14 elements ~4cm per element. Yeah, that’s tight with so many controlle.

I honestly don’t believe a word till there’s more info or at least some pictures. Nobody sane would produce something with at least some less expansive prototypes.

I have started prototyping on breadboards and eventually designed and ordered the pcbs. Regardless what do you think about the concept and what can be improved?

This is intriguing

So…how huge where those breadboards?
Are there pictures?

No idea. Without more information or some form of demonstration there isn’t much to discuss.

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Some thoughts:

  • Building a new mixer with an established / family electronics business makes a lot of sense. Hardware is a tough business, and a lot of boutique makers seem to be learning as they go with painful consequences for themselves and their customers. As long as you aren’t making stuff in Russia, North Korea, or with prison/forced labor, this seems like a very good thing.
  • Eight channels and $1400 feels like an awkward middle ground to me. If you could do a dual channel strip for $500-600 then you would be able to compete somewhat directly with Analog Heat and similar devices. More channels and an even more premium price is another way to go, with a different set of tradeoffs.
  • Space is at a premium in my current home studio, so I use a MOTU 828mk3 to approximate what you are doing. A knob-per-function control surface would be nice, but I would need more than eight channels and I don’t even have room for the current 8-channel device.
  • If your target market is drum programmers, then delay and any other beat related effects need to sync to MIDI or a sync pulse.

On price, it’s probably worth doing some market research. I’ve got a TR-8s and MD-UW Mk2, and both have sufficient internal mixing and FX capability and insufficient I/O to for a mixer like this to make sense. If I had vintage drum machines with 8x outs, I’d probably be more interested. If I have vintage drum machines in 2024, I’ve paid extremely high prices for them, so I might expect to pay something more like USD 3-8k for a good analog mixer with sophisticated drum-centric FX.

TL;DR: Cool concept, but probably not for me due to space concerns.

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I’ll add that I also find the concept intriguing, but ultimately not for me. Size alone is a big no-go.
What intrigues me is the idea of a mixer dedicated to drum mix down, and eight channels is pretty perfect for that.
But the functionality I would need it much more geared towards good sounding EQ (three band with sweepable mid and LF in 50Hz range) and a compressor (with gate?) that works well on kicks and snares, plus pre/post EQ switchable inserts. And sends. Per channel.
That’s essentially a classic console setup, but if this could be done in a smallish package that is suitable to bring to a live gig, I’d be all over it.