#265

exception: my Mackie mixer which has a kind of 2" thick hollow bumper around the sides and front which I’ve half a mind to simply saw off once the warranty expires

1 Like
#266

on the subject of size, I want to get people’s impressions on what they’re looking for.

an image to spark some reactions:

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image1356×1679 467 KB

stuck to devices I think people are mostly familiar with (excepting the Lyra 4, which I put in because it’s a nice in-between footprint). happy to include other devices that people would like to see, if this isn’t enough reference to imagine stuff.

ignoring the z-axis for now, except to say that accomplishing flatness is challenging.

not looking for super precise input, but size is going to have the clearest impact on the number of affordances and features, so getting to know people’s preference would be helpful.

7 Likes
#267

with this db25 expander you get balanced direct outs of each channel plus the main outs.

4 Likes
#268

FWIW, from a purely vanity perspective I think allgining with Grid and 16n sizing would be nice. I don’t think that it should be the first consideration, but it could be a nice little system. Norns, Grid, 16N, and Mixer.

1 Like
#269

Thanks!! I’d forgotten about that after looking at it when I got the PM. I have an ES-8 which I’ve been using to get sound from the modular into the computer. I don’t love the massive snakes required to handle the DB25 connections, but it would give me what I asked for. Maybe when I get (even) more seriously into recording I’ll bite that bullet. Thanks again for the reminder, it’s got me thinking again.

1 Like
#270

What about a target footprint of an arc + grid?

Untitled
Untitled896×355 132 KB

16 Likes
#271

@s_hamann Ooh, thats nice too.

#272

The same width as two norns!

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image2138×2851 2.11 MB

31 Likes
#273

so, a provocation, framed as a question:

is anyone thinking about things beyond interface and industrial design? is anyone taking inspiration from things beyond interface and industrial design?

It’s a useful way to start thinking about products, absolutely. but equally, has anyone started skimming, say, Small Signal Audio Design to have a think about what’s possible, the building blocks available, what the documentation available is? (Chapter 12, Mixer Architecture, was interesting to consider even though it’s mainly talking about large studio mixers.)

I say this because (in a professional capacity) design inspiration and ideas don’t just come from form and final output; they also come from process, intermediate literature, thinking about building blocks, background research. Technology is a material; we understand materials through thinking with them.

27 Likes
#274

Let’s get organic, folks. Time for some lateral thinking.

4 Likes
#275

This would be particularly interesting if the device was also able to sense and react to the signal (at least level, maybe frequency) at each node. This would make intelligently playing feedback possible - responding to room acoustics, allowing certain frequencies to pass, sidechaining…

4 Likes
#276

I don’t know if it’s just me, but keeping up-to-date on this at a high-level is giving me the impression that there’s not really a consensus on what features or even sizing scale for a mixer people are looking for. No offense, but shouldn’t we start at the basic definition of what a “minimal mixer” (where this spawned from) is instead of tossing out feature requests?

3 Likes
#277

we’ve tried that

nobody really agrees on this stuff because of personal preferences and methods

i still think it’s exciting to share ideas

however i’m reasonably sure that if everybody comes to a consensus on one device then i probably will have lost interest (due to large number of features and controls)

9 Likes
#278

That’s why I suggested to create a cryptic minimalistic device, something not resembling to a traditional mixer.

Just a small box that would only provide a lot of inputs and outputs, analog and digital, controllable with an external device via OSC or MIDI with the controller of your choice (iPad, 16n, Launchcontrol, Grid, etc).

Everything would be routed and mixed internally. That would be fun and handy :slight_smile:

7 Likes
#279

That sounds like how a monome grid inspired mixer would work.

But I assume it’s not a patch bay, it still has VCAs in it, right? So it has sliders or knobs.

I guess it must be mono or just have no notion of spatial positioning because that would require routing constraints. You could use it for spatial mixing but all your concepts around how that works would have to be implemented in software.

It’s an intriguing concept. Certainly more interesting to me personally than an open source version of a Mackie 802.

1 Like
#280

Agreed for sure – I’ve been pretty interested in the more wide-open programmable signal router concepts that @dianus, @Gahlord, @jlmitch5, @bradfromraleigh et al. have discussed at a few points in this thread, and I couldn’t tell if it was remotely practical but I felt like the ability to analyze and react to incoming signals would open up some pretty wild possibilities for feedback.

2 Likes
#281

Exactly. Something abstract on its own, a beautiful object with a lot of possibilities.

Having the concept of modularity in mind, I was imagining the sliders and pots outside of this box because some people want faders, others want pots, others will want something else wether it’s I2c control or osc. But many of us already have midi controllers already suited for mixing control with mute and solo buttons. Well I dont know exactly, but yeah if we add the price of the panel/enclosure, the Cinemag, the faders, the knobs, the buttons etc, the open source device will also cost more than a Mackie or any other factory mixer, it needs to stand appart and be unique imo if it’s gonna cost more than a factory device. Unless we do a massive groupbuy maybe :slight_smile: Even if the mixer is simple and not fully featured packed the most important thing for me would be: clean audio signal.

Yes, indeed, that’s the downside, I mean regarding latency. A few months ago I did something similar as a test, a matrix mixer with a grid, a raspberry Pi (and Pure Data), and an ES-8. That was not perfect but…

2 Likes
#282

Are opinions at least aggregating around a small number of concepts? The taxonomy of this community’s preferences should break down along some pretty clear lines. Here is my strawperson, please beat it to heck and back:

SIMPLE MONO SCHOOL vs JOYSTICK PANNING STERO/QUAD SCHOOL vs EXPANDIBLE SCHOOL?

Are there more? Again, I’m talking “high-level classification” thinking here. The sooner we can detect the shape of the space, the sooner design concepts can move ahead for each of dimensions of that space.

3 Likes
#283

I don’t know if this is actually one of the either three, but I think @Nordseele and I were discussing a sort of minimal meta mixer. A matrix mixer that pretty much just looks like a patchbay, speaks osc (or, I would suggest, midi) for purposes of routing and controlling levels, and, well, that’s it.

Oh wait I was supposed to use all caps so MINIMAL META MIXER

(Oops, did I just invent the MOTU 16a?)

4 Likes
#284

Maybe a bunch of polls might be the way to go?