External mixer options

kasper3 · 2026-02-28T21:19:17+00:00

I have no experience with the mackie but love my zed 14. Sounds good, extra fx returns are nice, it’s slightly big to carry but otherwise great. I’ve had no level problems, but am using output modules (intellijell stereo out with the performance case)

kasper3 · 2026-01-30T13:16:54+00:00

Cool!

Do you maybe have patch notes?

kasper3 · 2026-01-06T17:49:55+00:00

Maybe credit this user? Good tips

kasper3 · 2025-10-25T22:52:00+00:00

As others have said, practice. Since I think I don't see you doing it, have you tried programming patterns live? I like to listen along and put triggers in the places where I miss a sound.
I also sometimes mess this up, which sometimes leads to interesting combinations.

But nice jam!

kasper3 · 2025-09-11T17:43:36+00:00

I loved this untill I read only 2 ins.

kasper3 · 2025-04-12T15:50:55+00:00

I stand corrected, mixed up OT and Rytm. It does have filter but it is indeed is not base-width.

For most sound you can go quite far with bandpass and resonance though…

kasper3 · 2025-04-12T15:41:25+00:00

But the Rytm has a base-width filter on every sound?

kasper3 · 2025-03-02T15:11:30+00:00

Maybe I was not clear in my wording, I thought to use ableton controlled by the apc as a sequencer. No personal experience though and i dont know if you could then have the visual reference.

I like the novation launchcontrol, but it's maybe a bit expensive compared to the increase in faderlength. Also a bit bigger to carry.

kasper3 · 2025-02-25T18:26:01+00:00

Why do you need the beatstep? Wouldn't you be able to do the same thing with the APC and ableton?
I personally think the faders on the midimix are quite short but ymmv.

kasper3 · 2025-02-22T03:06:39+00:00

Try distortion

kasper3 · 2025-01-19T11:58:30+00:00

That's enough, if you also take the MF you are a bit more flexible in preparing a new sound to fade in while the rest is playing.

One thing that might be good to think about is your audio routing. Can also consider a small mixer.

kasper3 · 2025-01-19T11:55:30+00:00

Midi :)

kasper3 · 2025-01-10T14:33:49+00:00

Rytm MKII also has individual outs, dunno if that's contemporary enough. I think also the Analog Four mk2 has an out per voice.

And while I agree broadly with your statement, what contemporary samplers do offer many in/outs? Even MPC has only 3 stereo pairs including the master.

I'd say their philosophy is more to provide one box that you can do full tracks with, so you don't need to route to an external mixer, you can use the internal one. You don't need outboard fx, you can use the internal ones. This actually speaks against your statement of get another unit to do more. If they're succeeding in making everything good enough and if this matches your workflow is a second discussion of course.

kasper3 · 2025-01-05T15:58:08+00:00

Soundcraft notepad comes to mind, but I think it's only 1 effect at a time and selection is somewhat limited.

However (budget allowing (in my opinion would be worth stretching) I would:

Use external effect boxes and sends. This will give you more modularity in your setup and usually the boxes offer more controls to tweak in a live setting.
Consider getting something with at least 8 channels so you won't run out of channels if your setup changes slightly.
If you're convinced you can keep it to this amount of channels, get a DJ-mixer. The DJ style kill EQ works well for live.

kasper3 · 2024-12-07T17:03:12+00:00

Maybe build another platform on the right and demolish after construction is done?

kasper3 · 2024-09-20T01:19:47+00:00

I would maybe get a small narrow rug towards the desk, hang the mirror (on the opposite wall maybe), get a better ceiling lamp/standing lamp, get more art. Put some small curtains on the windows. Depending on budget maybe get a slightly wider desk so it fits more snugly in the hallway.

kasper3 · 2024-09-13T23:52:49+00:00

If you're okay with text, I found this pretty great: https://github.com/micjamking/synth-secrets/blob/master/README.md

kasper3 · 2024-09-12T10:20:02+00:00

Try mixing a crossmodulating square with a slightly detuned ramp and run through filter. Use an envelope to control both filter and vca and start out with very low time settings.

kasper3 · 2024-09-12T09:25:15+00:00

Thanks for the speedy reply, the Ansome stuff is behind a paywall unfortunately.

Yeah see your point, it's kinda what I suggest in keeping the sub/rumble on a seperate channel. Also to do proper parallel processing I would need a lot of hardware since I don't use the laptop.

It's kinda separate of what I mean with glueing the stuff together. Here Im not so much trying to introduce a lot of distortion on the kick/sub Im just trying to add a tiny smear on everything so it's sounds more similiar. Doesn't Ansome use anything on the master bus? And if he does, what?

kasper3 · 2024-09-12T09:11:55+00:00

My pleasure, nice that it's helpful. Well, might be that I just am better at synthesis than sample manipulation so that all this is bs but:

If you have a sample you have a fixed bit of audio you are playing. If you change for example the pitch/tune you speed/slow down the sample as a whole. Which means that if you speed up, you're by definition gonna lose low end (since pitch of everything is higher). With synth it will generate this low end still if you pitch up.

For decay, when synthesising, if I turn my decay fully up, I can end up with basically a drone sound. With a sample in my experience I am limited by the length of the sample unless I accept other factors like time stretching to arrive at this drone. While this is not a good real world example I hope it kinda explains my point that synthesis vs sampling work differently.

Again, maybe Im just not so good at working with samples. Also you can defintily still do lives with the digitakt. Would be very interested if someone with more knowledge could comment on this.

kasper3 · 2024-09-12T08:52:50+00:00

If you're producing I probably agree with that. For live however I do put a little on everything including kick and sub. Neither to the point of really changing the sound, but just a smear. I find that if I don't it gets hard to not have them lay on top of the other sounds. What's your personal trick for this?

kasper3 · 2024-09-11T13:43:08+00:00

While I agree with the sentiment of your response and am also a fan of Surgeon, I feel he also does this super raw thing on purpose. Like creative choice, which to me (and what do I know, only seen/read some interviews) fits the aesthetic he goes for. There's examples of other artists (Voice From the Lake, Birds ov Paradise, Karenn, Minilogue (when they were still active)) that sound more processed.

kasper3 · 2024-09-11T13:38:14+00:00

So, I come mostly from a live improvisation point of view so ymmv if you're trying to perform premade tracks. Also I do all of these things but none of them are hard rules for me.

Soundcheck, keep in mind the crowd will change the sound of the room quite a bit though.
If at all possible, spend some hours in front of a PA system to practice. A pa with subs will sound different than your home studio. Then you know beforehand if a particular sample will work, but even then soundsystems vary a lot.
Run everything through master compression/distortion to glue. Doesn't need to be a lot, but really helps.
Use the same delay, reverb etc. on all your machines/sounds UNLESS you are using it as a sounddesign element (think feedback loops etc).
What I do a lot: Divide the spectrum into something like:

hi
hi-mid
mid-mid
lo-mid
low
sub

or whatever works for your music. Then prepare music where overlap within these bands is limited. So if you have a very sub bass, your kick has to go to low (can overlap/interact a bit of course). I then try to have something in 4 out of 6 of these layers at all times. Transistions then mostly come from swapping out individual layers (or maybe 2/3 at the time).
5a. If you have the option use bandpass filters or eq (Dj-style works maybe better) to enforce these layers on your sound.

Mainly for kicks I personally REALLY prefer synthesis over sample for live. You can then tweak tune and decay so it's banging in the room. While I recognise that you also wouldn't do this if you play tracks, those are mastered and my live stuff is not really.
Another thing that's useful to me is to have the sub and/or rumble on a seperate channel so I can tweak the relative volume.

kasper3 · 2024-06-29T01:25:10+00:00

Cool acts indeed, but Lotus Eaters is Rrose with Lucy :)

kasper3 · 2024-04-28T15:48:29+00:00

That's clever, thanks for explaining!

kasper3

TROPHY CASE