Modded or mid-price rotary mixers

Got one last week, but have no other rotary to compare with

How do you like it, though? Sound and feel?

No complaints, but this is from someone with not much to compare with as I say. Upgrade from my basic 90s “Made 2 Fade” mixer anyway.

Happy to find a price point between Omnitronic and Mastersounds. Would kind like to hear opinions on whether it’s actually a mid way point sound and features wise also.

Had seen some complaints online about loose feeling EQ knobs on the channels but I haven’t had that problem. Channel EQ knobs give less resistance than the bigger isolator knobs sure, but I see it as a plus (can turn them faster, if that’s what you want). Bass, mid and treble knobs on the main isolator have different cut off frequencies to the EQ knobs on the channels also, again I see it as a plus, giving more choice. And with the channel EQ and isolator combined, you can get more gain or cut than you could possibly need.

Haven’t tried the FX send/return (anyone recommend a decent echo/reverb FX unit?)

Also saw some negative comments pre-purchase about how it has no level indicator LEDs per channel (only post mix), but that doesn’t matter too much either as there’s a level indicator on the PFL.

There’s a 3rd input channel on it also (I think it’s line only, not phono, and no send/return on it).

Happy to answer any questions on it, I know I couldn’t find a complete YouTube run down of everything before buying, and many of the reviews were just sales promo bits from stores.

2 Likes

The loos knob thing is that they are wobbly, but it’s actually very well explained by the dude in the beatsource review. The pots are fastened differently and so have a bit of “give”, but it’s an Ecler thing.

1 Like

I see that on mine now (I think). It’s not something I’d noticed from use, certainly doesn’t feel like they’re “loose” or that they’d come off or anything.

Anyone here have the Mastersounds FX Unit or have had a play about with one? Got the chance to pick one up second hand and would appreciate hearing what people think, bearing in mind I have a Radius 2.

Have watched the overview vids that Mastersounds put out recently and it looks great to me, but I’m not clued up at all with the world of effects units so unsure on whether it’s worth the money etc.

I used to have one of the 1st gen ones, it was fun to use and sounded good, but the inability to set the tempo of the effects was a killer for me, I think they have added this function in the newer ones though.

1 Like

the smaller mackie mixers used to do that on all of their channel strip pots - they knew that people would drop stuff on them so they wanted a fair amount of give before they broke clean off. pretty smart, though a lot of people who were first buying them thought they felt cheap.

Yeah it’s the newer model I’m looking at which has auto BPM on fx8 (the mono delay) - the rest of the fx don’t have this feature though.

I’ve got one of the Mk 1 FX units and absolutely love it. I’ll admit the lack of auto BPMs threw me a little at first. But it’s a deep unit and almost its own music instrument that needs a little getting to know to fully appreciate. However the delays in particular are spectacular (FX1 being my fav) and have a very different sonic pallet from the same delay sounds heard everywhere via the Pioneer stuff.

You do get to learn how to quickly tune the BPMs by ear. I tend to use the high pass filter set quite high so you can hear when the delays are all lining up without it sounding like a train wreck. I like the imperfections :slight_smile:

I like to push the unit - its capable of a lot wilder stuff than in the Mastersounds demo.

Big fan and I’m still learning new tricks with it. Hope this helps!

4 Likes

Had the original one for a couple of years now and really enjoy using it. The echos & reverbs are great for when you want to switch it up a bit. Still learning new techniques with it even now, and always miss it when I’m using another mixer without it.

I have a 1st Gen one too, I really love it. As @leetree says it’s like an instrument in itself. When you get used to the thing’s flexibility and power it’s a bit of a beast and an another creative outlet in the mix that doesn’t sound like much else. Although you can’t auto-bpm the effects, the act of dialling in the tempo creates some pretty mad patterns - you just need to embrace serendipitous discovery as a creative act. I recommend it if you already have a Mastersounds mixer as it’s been engineered with those in mind, and sits in the mix really well, and can often sound like the effects are supposed to be there rather than the DJ transparently asserting themselves over the tracks (which is also an option, of course).

Modular mixer. Anyone seen this? Could be interesting. Kickstarter campaign May 1st.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cpk8GKbjOcv/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

4 Likes

What a great idea- expanding the concept from aiaiai headphones. Hopefully means abit less e waste. Just need to see how much it will cost- was just about to buy the ecler warm2!

i really like the idea, but like modular synths i think the cases will need to satisfy a lot of different form factors. some will want or need a 19" rack model, some will like the small rectangle of the e&s boxes, some will like the long and narrow fit of the ecler warm2.

so i like the idea of dropping different mods to satisfy my specific needs (hoping there’s gonna be a lot of potentiometer choices) but one box size will not fit all.

i was lucky enough to be asked to provide some requirements and feedback on the rane 2015 (prior to numark’s acquisition of the company) and that process showed me exactly how many different users and scenarios a product designer is called upon to satisfy. most of what i and others suggested appeared on the final version, but there were other folks who were insistent on USB integration and at the time i was like “nah that’s bullshit, that’s gonna be like scsi in a couple of years”. nobody listened to me, which was good because i was more or less wrong anyway.

1 Like

A friend sent details of the modular mixer a week or so ago. Looks interesting.

I did try a Bozak AR4 at the weekend at a house party. It sounded pretty good to me allbeit through a home hifi speaker and was having to be pushed a bit.
Isolators on the master out, EQs in each channel, pretty straightforward but seemed like a lot for the money (£1695) being a 4 channel mixer and compared with other similar mixers like the ARS etc.

Early rotary…

4 Likes

Never heard of this company. Nice looking in a sexy German functional way.

1 Like

Good mixers but they look very very bland to me.

As for the modular one, I will have a look if they make it to market. I have been burned by the kickstarter thing before, never again.

1 Like

I think we are drifting away from the “mid-price” with the last couple, although I suppose that kick-starter could be classified as modded.

2 Likes