Re: Mixer with MIDI scene recall

[Greg Mills <gregmills@blueyonder.co.uk>]

Hey mech, thanks for your input. I was kind of hoping there would be
something a little more recent than 1987! Fidelity is an important factor
for me, although some of my gear is not that recent I would prefer the 
final
output to be as clear as possible. The filtering sounds interesting though,
love the analogue filter sound.

Greg




> At 1:02 AM +0000 10/31/06, Greg Mills wrote:
>> 
>> I've been trying to build up my guitar rig for a while and have
>> gathered a few effects boxes and rack units along the way. I need a
>> way to connect it all together such that whatever combination I come
>> up with I can save as a preset. Does anyone know of a small (rack
>> sized) 8 to 12 channel, 2 or 4 bus mixer that has MIDI scene recall?
>> I would prefer this to one of the many guitar oriented 'matrix' type
>> units available (such as the Switchblade, Max1, G-System, etc.)
> 
> Well, I think I've posted about it previously (check the archives for
> full details) but there's the old Simmons SPM 8:2 from circa 1987.
> 
> Essentials: 8 single channels with pan, 3-band parametric EQ, two
> mono effect sends/returns, MIDI scene recall (can fade between
> presets), unbalanced 1/4" inputs and stereo main outs, and some
> limited effects (panning and filtering using envelope or LFO).
> 
> Pros: compact (1U rackmount); 128 MIDI-recallable presets/scenes;
> cheap (~$50 - $100) on ebay; filter effect uses the same CEM chip
> found in many analog (Oberheim) synthesizers; extremely feature-laden.
> 
> Cons: earlier software revisions can be a bit noisy (version 4 was
> the last official, and quietest, rev); older unit so no support;
> fidelity is a little less than more modern units (response starts to
> drop off around ~15k, so it's okay for straight guitar/bass and many
> voices -- less so for instruments requiring a wider frequency range);
> programming can be more than a bit tedious(!); program dumps are only
> to tape, with no official MIDI support for that.
> 
> Also, with regard to the fidelity issue, I've a suspicion that much
> of that -- as well as the noise issues -- could be solved by
> replacing the older op-amps with more modern chips.  However, I
> haven't found a bench tech willing to do that on mine yet.
> 
> --m.