I bought a used K-Mix to use as a live mixer. I also have a KMI MIDI Expander I use with QuNexus MIDI keyboard controller. I was wondering how I could use the K-Mix to control my OT for live playing? I’d mostly like to use it for rudimentary MIDI tasks such as volume fading, muting, panning, and anything else the OT can receive from the K-Mix. I haven’t found anything in-depth on YouTube or elsewhere. Most forum discussions on this are a bit old so K-Mix firmware update might have added new features or addressed previous requests. Any detailed help / advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
You can use for it for that but you can’t assign a different midi channel for each fader to control each of the OT levels like a traditional mixer. It’s a stupid limitation and part of the reason I sold mine. You get three banks of midi configurations but each bank only sends out messages on a single midi channel. You can use a bank for the OT’s auto channel but then you’d have to select the channel on the OT in order for the K mix’s CC’s to affect it. You could then use your other two banks to control two of your more important OT channels, for instance your master.
Yikes! Seems easier to just control the OT from… the OT itself! :-/
So what good is the MIDI functionality in the K-Mix? Lastly, what are the other reasons you sold your K-Mix? I just bought a used one as a live mixer because it has a good form factor (small and light), very flexible EQ, 3 stereo AUX out, built in compressor + gate, and it looks rad. I read reviews of it before buy8ng it and general impressions were quite favorable. I hope to not be disappointed.
You can still squeeze a lot of midi functionality out of it, even if it’s limited. I’d still set up a bank or two and explore where it could take you.
I think it was the midi implementation, low headroom causing my inputs to distort easily, not so great mic preamps, no display for precision dialing in of values on anything, and a few too few inputs that made me sell it. I might have had some USB interference too, i forget.
BUT it’s a very innovative device and there’s nothing else out there like it. I know of many people who love it and i certainly loved aspects of it. I hope many other manufacturers would take note, refine, and release their own take on the K-Mix, especially in how to make a mixer/interface combo very extremely compact.
Ultimately i ended up with a MOTU ultralite mk4 which has a lot of the functionality of the kmix but executed with more precision and quality of sound at the expense of very few hands on controls. Pretty satisfied so far.
Give the KMix a good chance, you may find it indespensible!
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I have the MOTU UltaLite mk3 as my main studio interface but have never used it live. I simply haven’t used a laptop / compute4 with my live setup so never considered using my MOTU although it’s super reliable and still sounds fantastic after all these years.
Hey Elektronauts!
Im interested in integrating a Kmix with my Octatrack Mk2.
Can anyone with experience with this setup recommend it?
My main goals:
Interested in the compact size.
I want to have all my gear including the OT connected to it,
then send any channel combination via alt outs to the OT ins to sample
as the OT is playing back… without any feedback.
Im also very interested if its possible to use the Midi capabilities
to control the OT? such as track volumes/lfo’s filters etc…
if the midi control is possible, what cable do I need to connect to the midi on the OT?
Thanks in Advance!
What is the midi expander? Sorry just started researching on all this.
I was also looking at a korg nanokontrol
To pair that with the octa. Kind of like the oktakontrol.
Google ”k-mix midi expander”, it’s 5pin midi in + midi out for K-Mix.
There are two threads about this already I think, also google ”K-Mix and Octatrack” for other forums about this. I feel it’s be much easier to use the LFOs etc using the OT itself as K-Mix’s physical controls aren’t that great. Aaand it’s crazy expensive for only a few ins and outs. Does the K-Mix have something special you want? I’m curious because I considered one some time ago but the connectivity was a turnoff, as was the price and the fact it didn’t add much to the setup.
https://www.elektronauts.com/t/kmi-k-mix-to-control-ot-mk1/103761