Model 1 DJ/Studio mixer

The Lounge Other Gear
#184

got one of these a few weeks ago, finally got everything setup and have had it running for a week now

confirming all the problems itt, the popping from master filters seems to be through the cues, when resampling or recording out any of the masters the popping from
filter activation is (usually) gone. this could be a grounding issue in the house

i’m concerned about the cabling, i got daddario cables and they don’t set well, but i’ll have to try changing the screws, it does seem like it’s an issue with the cable and not the mixer connections, but i’ll have to get other cables to check
i’m assuming it’s my budget cabling, but i do get a lot of white noise, especially from my pedals, two strymons, everything is routed through an antelope 32+. to get good levels on these i have to boost them heavily in ableton, often times with a filter to help cut down the noise

this mixer is exactly what i’ve been looking for and i’m honestly over the moon about it

the master filters and channel filters are different, i’m not sure if the channel filters are really filtering down to 500hz like the master, or if it’s intended to have the master silence a track while the channel filters only mostly reduce the sound

the low gain situation activating the master filter is severe and by far the worst part of this mixer

for example, to use the fader to silence a track, then send it to the closed master filter, and then bring the fader back so i can flip the master swtich to bring the track back, but when doing this i get clear audio when bringing the fader up before the master filter kicks in, and this is significant for performance. it doesn’t matter if i cut the gain knob and then bring the fader up and then increase the gain, there is still a volume requirement for the master to engage, which is purely an engineering problem

but this is the only mixer like this and it’s exactly what i need to do what i want
there are workarounds for these issues as i’m completely integrated with ableton

honestly i’m in love with the thing, despite all this negativity, just giving it to you straight
as it is very expensive especially considering the interface and cabling requirements
but with that simple rca/dsub switch you’ve got 12 stereo channels at your fingertips complete with 3 layers of sonic shaping
worth every penny tbqh

#185

I fully agree - the zero-crossing detection for the master filter would be perfect if it worked at low volume (or if it was possible to disable)… I also find this very annoying. For the dsub connector, changing the screws in order to have the correct thread should normally work.

Edit: at least it is somewhat reassuring to know that this is a general issue and not a problem that is specific to my mixer…

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#186

Sounds annoying indeed. Would be interesting to know whether they fixed that in the 4ch version that came out.

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#187

Regarding the new model 1.4; don’t think so, believe its essentially the same mixer with 2 less channels, but haven’t tried it.

Interesting thought that the hum/click could also be caused by grounding issues, will check this later on. I have half of my synths connected to 1 power socket in my studio, and the other half to another socket on the other side of the room. Might not be the best idea huh?

also, yesterday was the first time I thought I missed a panning option on the mixer. why doesnt the mixer have this? most mackie mixers do…

#188

I agree that it would be nice to pan the LR signal of each track. But I do not know of any high end DJ mixer with pan/balance. I think it comes down to the difference in use-case between DJ, front-of-house, and studio mixers.

#189

How are you guys using it?
End of chain or feeding it into your soundcard?

Atm am feeding it into my Apollo and utilising the snake connection to route audio channels from the Apollo 16 and patchbay to it.

Also feeding it direct connections and using an eventide h9 on its aux input but bringimg it back into its own channel instead of using the sends (so I can mess with the eq and filters).

Is there another more creative way?

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#190

Nope you got the optimal method. Just track it like that. You get those nice analog channels to shape your recordings

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#191

yeah this sucks, but tbh for the performance I just tend to not really use the fade out but rather the 2 master filter knobs and turn them back again when I want them to kick in.

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#192

wow never thought of this, that you can ofcourse connect BOTH the RCA and DCUB and switch between them with the buttons. awesome idea! shit now I can connect (buy) even more synths… haha

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#193

could you elaborate on this? sounds interesting but don’t really understand what you mean with snake connection

I also saw ooramusic doing the feeding back of fx pedals in the channel inputs (to have eq over it etc), love that, but dislike that it uses up a channel (need them for all my synths haha)

#194

Sure - I mean I use the D-Sub (sry not snake) to route instruments connected via the Apollo and patchbay

And have permanently connected synths via 1/4 to RCA cables (so I can flick between them and D Sub).

The H9 is going into Aux input 1 in stereo, and its outputs go into a physical channel input on the mixer (so I can mess with the EQs and Filters). The downside is that you end up using 1 stereo channel on the mixer but the benefit is more precision and sculpting - many times you will run a delay or reverb and it can get muddy in the low end so its nice to have the flexibility to control that.

Nothing fancy and has been mentioned above, I probably wasn’t clear enough

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#195

Good idea to use the dsub like that. will consider that too :slight_smile:

#196

Since yesterday, the DSUB out on my Model 1 stopped working - no signal is sent on any of the channels. The aux outs on the 1/4" jacks continue to function correctly, and I also checked the DB25 breakout cable, which is perfectly fine. Any users having had a similar issue?

#197

Thats odd. Are your sound card settings correct? I havent tried using DSub out from the Model 1 yet. Do the DSub ins function correctly when you are routing into the mixer from the sound card?

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#198

Thanks for your reply! I do not have it on a soundcard but use the DSub outs for sending aux busses to my fx boxes and the OT and the main lr is hooked up for recording. The DSub ins as well as the outs jacks work, and I checked the cable… I sent a message to Allen and Heath support.

#199

Cool keep us posted would be interested to see whats wrong.

The only other thing I can think of is whether or not you are sending from the correct DSub out on the M1?

Silly question but I was pretty sure the Aux only go out on the secondary DSub

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#200

Everything is plugged in correctly. Actually, I was jamming for a while, left everything plugged in and switched on, and when I came back some time later, the aux sends via the DSUB had stopped working… I will keep posting once I know more.

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#201

Quick update: Playdifferently (i.e. Allen & Heath) support was very responsive, they directed me to their French distributor who in turn put me in contact with their technician in my region who collects devices for repair from a music store in my city. It is off for repair now. Now waiting for an update…

#202

PS: I had bought the mixer used, so it is not under unser warranty any more, and I decided to open it to have a look - it looks very clean and beautifully built…

20210731_161107
20210731_1611071960×4032 1.39 MB

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#203

I m guessing you checked whether a flat cable connection got loose?

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