is there a decent MIDI studio mixer?

[ralphh]

as thread title says, i'm looking for a nice mixer to go with Reason 4
this one is kinda nice but not exactly what i'm looking for..


ideally they should look like this


this one has a USB connection but i think its's only a audio interface, i already have that shit, behringer....
you can assign a shitload of effects besides EQ on the knobs for every track, so it would enhance the workflow a lot i guess

so, is there a nice studio mixer somewhere out there?

[deadly_habit]

http://www.ucapps.de/midibox64.html

[ralphh]

http://www.ucapps.de/midibox64.html

That thing is a decade old, wonder if it will work correctly with reason 4/windows 7?
I think i would prefer a behringer BCR over this one, although it's not what i'm looking for either..
thanks for the heads up anyway

[Depone]

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec03/a ... ontrol.htm

Mackie Control, widely used and trusted control surface

[deadly_habit]

midi is midi
the standard hasn't changed since it's inception

[Electric_Head]

He wants it to be pretty Deadly.

[deadly_habit]

heh well you're pretty limited, the mackie control, breakinger motorized fader/knob boxes, custom built midibox 64, or some hard to find/expensive boutique midi interfaces
http://www.sweetwater.com/c808--Mixing_Control_Surfaces

[ralphh]

He wants it to be pretty Deadly.

No, i dont care much about looks, but i think the bottom knobs are too small to work with imho
if i had the skill i'd build it myself

edit:

and the main reason i put that behringer mixer as refrence is because it fits in nicely with the reason mixer, so it's all for the workflow



and faders are sexy

[Electric_Head]

[ehbes]

Buy reason 6. Best mixer you could ask for

[bassinine]

well, since deadly went there....

http://lividinstruments.com/hardware_builder.php#brain

http://store.highlyliquid.com/collectio ... s/midi-cpu

[__________]

http://store.highlyliquid.com/collectio ... s/midi-cpu

Yep!

I bought the MIDI CPU myself last month after researching DIY MIDI controllers for a good year plus. I'm yet to build the controller (still designing) but the build quality and customer support from the Highly Liquid boys is really very high. Can't believe they aren't more popular...or is there just not enough demand for custom MIDI?

I know you said you don't want to DIY, but you could easily do a channel strip MIDI mixer constructed in the same way as audio mixers with channel strips. Each MIDI CPU can take 14 potentiometer inputs, then you could chain the signal on through each channel strip using the MIDI outs and throughs. Use the final channel strip as the output. That'd give you 14 knobs on each channel (more than the Behringer audio mixer) or a few less knobs plus bonus switches.

Other than that, there's the interfaces like the Mackie Control, etc. I've always been kind of underwhelmed by them. Not sure how people justify that kind of cash for a few motorized faders and hardware transport buttons.

Ask someone who builds custom controllers for a quote!

[bassinine]

oh, and the bcr 2000 is actually about as good as it gets in that price range. sometimes, the LEDs would glitch out a little bit - but other than that it was solid. never had any problems with functionality.

[drake89]

A midi mixer that lets you mesh perfectly with reason is ass backwards IMO. You're going to spend at close to or 2x the software cost to interface with it. I'd get the behringer things or build one like they were saying if you're dead set. At the end of the day you're still in reason. I'd rather be in anything else and mixing ITB maybe with one of the behringer fader junts. Face it: if you want a hardware mixer like reasons you should be using your computer mostly as a tape machine. In other words forget about the midi aspect.

[Today]

Reason's 2d mixer is just perfect, tbh. I have no idea how you'd go about mapping a mix control surface to Reason

[ehbes]

Reason's 2d mixer is just perfect, tbh. I have no idea how you'd go about mapping a mix control surface to Reason

^ this...unless you've got an ssl lying around its gonna pretty damn hard

[mks]

We're talking a price difference of at least $1000 between something like that Novation and the Mackie Control. Some of the other options are even more.

I just use the faders on my Akai MPK49 or the APC20 and usually get along just fine although I do wish they had a longer throw which is just not practical on devices like these.

I would consider one of the PreSonus FaderPorts for my studio though.

I would also consider one of the Allen and Heath Zed mixers as well. It does not have midi, there is no automation but it does have USB in/out so you could do real time mixes with tracks in the box.

http://www.allen-heath.com/uk/products/ ... =ZEDSeries

[Today]

i almost recommended the Presonus faderport but OP seems to want a desk-like control surface, whereas the faderport, as far as i could see, is only handy for recording automation and maybe punching the record/stop/play buttons, jog, etc. Because it's just one fader, you'd need to keep using your mouse and shit to map it to something, set your value with the fader, then move to the next parameter...

to me it would only be worthwhile if you absolutely hate drawing automation and prefer the feel of a fader to ride the volume of a track or aux send or something

[mks]

i almost recommended the Presonus faderport but OP seems to want a desk-like control surface, whereas the faderport, as far as i could see, is only handy for recording automation and maybe punching the record/stop/play buttons, jog, etc. Because it's just one fader, you'd need to keep using your mouse and shit to map it to something, set your value with the fader, then move to the next parameter...

to me it would only be worthwhile if you absolutely hate drawing automation and prefer the feel of a fader to ride the volume of a track or aux send or something

From the reviews I have read, it sounds like you can jump between channels very easily and be pretty much mouseless.

I do prefer the feel of faders and knobs in my studio. I try to make it as mouseless as possible.

[ralphh]

I try to make it as mouseless as possible.

This is my plan. i now work with a hercules rmx and a korg padkontrol, which is hard to keep up what all the knobs are for, i'm a choatic person....
So i thought a mixer layout would be nice because it's easy to manage if you make a standard template.

well, since deadly went there....
http://lividinstruments.com/hardware_builder.php#brain
http://store.highlyliquid.com/collectio ... s/midi-cpu

I know you said you don't want to DIY, but you could easily do a channel strip MIDI mixer constructed in the same way as audio mixers with channel strips. Each MIDI CPU can take 14 potentiometer inputs, then you could chain the signal on through each channel strip using the MIDI outs and throughs. Use the final channel strip as the output. That'd give you 14 knobs on each channel (more than the Behringer audio mixer) or a few less knobs plus bonus switches.

Other than that, there's the interfaces like the Mackie Control, etc. I've always been kind of underwhelmed by them. Not sure how people justify that kind of cash for a few motorized faders and hardware transport buttons.

Ask someone who builds custom controllers for a quote!

Hmm,I might aswell build my own. Seems like fun/cheaper, this is one to do some research on.
Maybe i need to try out reason 6.5 first, i'm really digging the ssl mixer from youtube vids, although it might not be worth it to make a controller for it (and my room will look like a space ship too )
if i make a DIY i want to design it around a reason instrument/options for clarity reasons