Besides applying the 2nd set of 4 aux channels serially, it also is sending the mix of all channels to a single channel in the second mixer. So you lose the ability to control how much of each channel is sent to each aux.
I believe the following is much closer to a full solution, though I think it has some group limitations. I don’t fully understand how the groups work.
Mixer 1 direct outs are configured to send post mute/solo (default), The UNMELD splits out the stereo channels and sends them to the mixer 2 stereo channel inputs.
Mixer 2 Aux Sends are configured to send pre fader, and all channels are muted. So mixer 2 only produces aux output, which is chained into the mixer 1.
I used aux 2 from mixer 1, and aux 1 from mixer 2, just to prove the mixer 1 final output is getting aux from both mixers.
Only the faders/solos/mutes from mixer 1 channels are used. Mixer 2 is only used to add 4 more aux send/return channels.
The key feature of Mindmeld’s Auxspander for me is the groups, which allow you to layer effects and feed them into each other. This is cool, but not the same.
Yes, that works, but using the Chain LR doesn’t. Is there a menu item somewhere that enables this? Or is the Chain input just for chaining mixers with only one Auxspander at the end?
The Chain input is pretty basic - it takes the master output of one mixer (which may or may not have an Auxspander attached) and brings it into a 2nd Mixer (which may or may not have an Auxspander attached), just prior to the 2nd mixer’s master out. It means you don’t have to use up a full channel on the 2nd mixer to bring in the output of the first.
You can think of it like a simple extra channel input that doesn’t have any pan or level controls or Aux sends.
Chaining 2 mixers doesn’t give you more than 4 Aux sends available on any given channel, but it does let you have access to more send FX for your sounds - you just need to plan which mixer a sound goes into. I often use one mixer for drums and another for synths for example and have quite different FX setups for each.
This is usually good enough, I agree, and I love the MindMeld mixers, but for this (possibly deluded) project I want to have at least 12 Aux sends available to all channels. The Quantal daisychain mixer gives me the ability to do that.
My MixMaster solution is extensible to 12 Aux and beyond. For 12 you simply duplicate the 2nd mixer with cables (so the UNMELD is already patched to all muted channels, etc.), add the 3rd aux expander, and send the 3rd MixMaster output to the 2nd MixMaster chain input.
It is not space efficient, but it gives you 12 aux channels with all the MixMaster features except aux groups can’t span multiple mixers. Performance is pretty good.
I used MixMaster Jr, but it should work just as well with the 16 channel mixer.
I hope you can give it a try and let us know how it worked for you.
Dave, your solution is a great workaround and works well. I may go back to this but for now I’m developing something using the Quantal modules. They seem underused.
As someone said, there are usually more than one ways to build what you need. What I end up using may depend on factors I haven’t considered yet.
OK I got a bit sidetracked with this, but to prove a point (not least to myself) here is a version of the modular mixer with 8 Aux/Sends, with the interface built to resemble the look of a MindMeld mixer as closely as possible. The full functionality of the MindMeld mixers is impossible to reproduce.
This example has 16 input channels and 8 Aux/Sends but you can see how you could add more where required.
This is mappable onto the working modules, the Quantal modular mixer units. This is one input channel with 8 Aux/Sends. I’ve only got 6 effects connected here.
For each channel to have controls for each aux/send, I’ve got an input module (pink01) followed by 8 aux/sends. this is repeated for as many input channels as you need;
As far as I can tell, this can be expanded to allow any number of Aux, but although adding more that 16 inputs is possible, they would not have access to any Aux.
I revisited this and it got simpler with switching between multiple Mixer/Aux units. This can be expanded as far as CPU allows, and it’s easy to have multiple voices going into the mixer and have each voice able to select any or all effects on the board.
For this test I have one effect module per Aux unit but you could fill the slots to have four on each, and selectable.
If you don’t need more than 4 channels (possibly stereo), then my soon to be released Venom Mix Expanders includes Aux/Send expanders that can be chained, with no limit to the number of Aux Sends.
There are many types of Venom Mix expanders. The goal is to be able to create a compact 4 channel mixer with just the features that you need. If you want all the features that are available, then you probably would be better off with a single monolithic mixer - with MixMaster being the obvious choice. But at least for me, more often than not I don’t need all the features, and I hate consuming so much space in my patch.
