Minimal mixers

[Hovercraft]

That design is so 20th century Chicago manufacturing. No frills, no aesthetic considerations–just accomplish the task at hand for a reasonable price, and make it hard to break.

[mzero]

@Hovercraft

No frills, no aesthetic considerations

Look at those 1930s inspired streamlined knobs… The Eero Saarinen-esque handle…The scale graphics with curved arrows becoming background for the numbers… The prominent placement of the branding plate… The brand font choice… Even the brand name, calling attention to the technology (pentodes) made futuristic with “-ron” suffix.

This artifact is rife with the aesthetics of its time!

[Hovercraft]

Ok, haha–let’s say minimal aesthetic considerations. They obviously used the materials available at the time–which reflected some design considerations of the era. My father was an EE/audio engineer working in product design, so I have a good idea on how companies made decisions on products like these, and I guarantee it was an engineer picking stuff out of a catalog, or the general stock of the company that met the overall design requirements of the product at a given price.

I always noticed the difference between a lot of the manufactured products and the architecture of the city–where conceptual and aesthetic considerations were front and center. You can also contrast a lot of Chicago-manufactured products with similar products manufactured elsewhere–and notice the differences in industrial design. It’s certainly not 100% across the board, but it’s consistent theme.

[Pineyb]

I have piles of old stuff like this, cause I love the aesthetic. My day job is being an Architecture professor. Sounds like you might be in the design biz as well.

[Pineyb]

I do love stuff from this era… and I totally agree with your assessment. Leo Fender bought off the shelf as much as possible.

[solaris]

yes but where’s the output jack?

[renegog]

No True Minimal Mixer Would Have An Output Jack

[eblomquist]

Where do you teach?

I spent a strange sophomore year at RISD having transferred into the architecture program on the basis of essays, as they had no portfolio requirements for transferring in but they did for admission for kids fresh from high school!

Turns out my visual design skill consist primarily of appreciation rather than production… oops! I had an amazing time playing music there after dropping out!

[Pineyb]

I teach at NYIT just up Broadway from Columbus Circle. Of course, I’m teaching from somewhere on the banks of the Ohio River this semester. When were you at RISD?

[eblomquist]

I was there in 1977-78. Talking Heads era! I saw them live at Brown University just up the street. Scared the crap out of my hippie consciousness, but I later came to love them

[Pineyb]

I hung out there and did some music for theater productions at RISD in the early 80’s.Pretty much all my 2600, the Moog Sonic VI and homeade sculptural instruments.

[Pineyb]

Why, it’s hardwired, of course! a 2501 F Switchcraft

[disquiet]

I’m realizing how much the rear typography on that Pentron resembles Pulp Logic case and tiles:

[hermbot]

All are inputs here
I am the ouroboros
All are outputs here

[solaris]

no-output mixing board

[soysos]

This is practically my dream performance mixer, altho it’s a bit noisy and lacking a headphone out, PFL and mutes. But the sound, EQ’s and saturation, pushing into overdrive and fuzz is devine! I have one of the guys at Pittsburgh Modular cleaning it up now. It also originally came with the dreaded RCA jacks, including the power!

[klingklangmatze]

I like to sit on the sofa and surround myself with my little machines. A small portable audio mixer I just discovered is the TC Helicon Blender. It has 6 stereo (or 12 mono) inputs and 4 headphone outputs. All channels can be routed separately on an iPad (via Audio Bus or DAW etc) and recorded there or edited with effects. For 110€ the sound is absolutely ok, but not more.

[fever606]

I was familiar with the large Boss mixers, but this model was new to me…

[randy]

Definitely a contender for “most minimal,” as far as topology anyway.

I like how the dials are marked with UNITY and how that’s at two out of ten. I mean, it’s for guitar players, they’re going to be turning shit up most of the time.

[mateo]

@randy

I mean, it’s for guitar players, they’re going to be turning shit up most of the time.

I bet it distorts nicely!