26 Jul
2023
26 Jul
'23
4:46 p.m.
On Wed, Jul 26, 2023, 01:45 Fons Adriaensen <fons(a)linuxaudio.org> wrote:
On Tue, Jul 25, 2023 at 10:18:59PM +0100, Will Godfrey
wrote:
My two cents as someone with two Speck Xtramix analog mixers for a total of
152 inputs - no screen. Those pots are sealed because Vince there told me.
You won't find those problems on detent pots neither that are on my API
2500 etc - and with mixer inserts you can build your channel strips of
choice that the 500 series format caters well too.
As someone who spends most of the day coding in vim and debugging in bash
in black and white - even very complex things like midi I reach for my
Genoqs Octopus with hundreds of metal buttons and knobs but no screen.
I ponder a lot what Berhinger making an Arp 2600 for way under a grand and
the kt-1176 dropping from $499 in 2017 to $349 in 2023 means for Linux.
Maybe it changes little for Linux audio.
But I started out in electronics and what is driving analog is SMT and I do
see that as a race with the proprietary software model.
And hardware changes in the market was an opportunity Linux didn't miss in
this millennium.
All you need is a full desk size flat screen (at
least 8k) with
high resolution multi-touch capability and continuous tactile feedback.
I doubt that very much.
What made those mixers ergonomic was careful design of the layout
of the controls, including their sizes, colours, and 'feel'.
Also don't forget that there were actually two mixers in one console,
one taking the mic or instrument inputs and mixing them to 16, 24 or
32 tracks for recording, and the second taking the tape inputs or
outputs and mixing them to stereo for control room monitoring and to
a small number of foldback mixes for the musicians.
Switching between track input or output for monitoring was done by
the tape machine. It had to be, because when monitoring some tracks
while recording new ones, or for punch in-out, you had to use the
recording tape head for playback.
With only a limited number of tracks available it was quite common
to 'pre-mix' mics to a smaller number of tracks when recording e.g.
a big band or a large orchestra for film music. Which also meant
you had to get this right during recording. Working for radio/TV
as I was then this was not a big deal - you were supposed to be
able to mix 'live' anyway.
On early multitrack consoles there used to be two physically
separate sections with the monitoring section usually being
quite simple, often without EQ or other effects. For the actual
mixdown the recording section was reconfigured to use the tape
outputs.
Later most designs used the 'inline' layout which meant that
each strip actually contained one channel of both mixers.
You'd have two faders (the second one being smaller or just a
rotary control) and two panpots. These and all the rest (EQ,
inserts, AUX sends,...) could be swapped between the two routes.
So the actual signal routing was actually a bit more complex
than in most DAWs today. For example in Ardour all that remains
of the 'recording' mixer is just a one-to-one connection from
inputs to tracks without any controls. If you want to pre-mix
that requires significant additional work to set this up.
Many studios are carefully maintaining these 'legacy' mixers.
For example Abbey Road (London) is still keeping some of
their 60's and 70's equipment in working order. This means
replacing all the worn-out potentiometers and multi-pole
switches (you can still find those, but they are quite
expensive). They have a full-time technician just for this.
Ciao,
--
FA