Hi, is there a quick 'nd dirty way, to connect 6 Synths, Homeorgans and other noizemakerz to 6 guitareffects?
My old audiomixer has one effect input, but it’s not possibile to connect say synth A to effect D, and synth C to effect A, only with painful new cable switching…
I have seen online some matrix mixers($$$) but i dont need pots, only switches to route a to c, or a to b, or both?
Can i use simple audio jack / switch layout, or do i need a “smart” solution?
It’s not so simple to do, I’m using a MOTU 24ai, it can be configured as 48 inputs and 24 outputs, it has 8 effects send busses (uses outputs) and you effects can return on inputs in mono or stereo (uses inputs). These configs can be stored and recalled so in a way it does what you need, but to use it fully you need a TRS patchbay and associated cables to break out the 3 DB25 connectors to 24 inputs and at least one ADA8200 analogue to ADAT or similar for 8 outputs and 8 more inputs. But all of this is in a 3U rack and it can be used as a sound card over usb into your pc or Mac.
Another limitation is that you might was synth A to feed effect D and then effect E in series, this is not something easily achievable unless done manually.
Here are 2 of my configs for 48 inputs and 24 outputs. I have noise gates, compressors, full eq on every channel and balanced inputs and outputs. The patchbays are configured so the top TRS goes to the 24ai and bottom TRS goes to the synth or effect output, thus I can patch from the rear easily.
If you don’t have enough room for a 5U rack then I don’t know what other way you are going to put a matrix mixer that suits your requirements into your space. Any mixer matrix or not will take up nearly all the equivalent space.
Ignore the cables coming out of the front of the ADA8200 boxes, that’s a limitation of those devices, fortunately the outputs are all at the back, so with no front cables you can get 24 in and 24 outputs, drop one unit off for 4U and that’s 24 in / 16 out etc.
It would be interesting to know what you are currently using to mix down your synths. What you could do is build a number of send strips with enough sends to suit, maybe 8, these can be passive as the synth produces enough signal. The sends form a bus for each effect, so simple 100k pots should do it. If you built 4 strips you would need 32 pots to send each channel to 8 locations. The synth output can then carry on to the main mixer input. But again the outputs of all the effects need to be mixed back in as well. Looking at some of the simple passive matrix mixers they still take up a bit of room.
And lastly there was a long time ago an Akai audio patch bay, I think it was something like the MB76, 7 inputs and 6 outputs in a 1U rack, I owned one for a long time and wanted to integrate it into my show to switch the vocal harmonizer between the lead singer and myself, never got around to it because my vocals are not upto scratch, but maybe look for one of these on eBay etc.
