Moukey / Donner compact stereo line mixers - MAMX1 / MAMX2 / MAMX3

The Surgeon interview seems to have kicked off some interest in these very inexpensive mixers.

Other threads that mention them:

I’m creating this thread because I couldn’t find a manual link - Moukey is a brand owned by Donner, but Donner doesn’t seem to offer online manuals. An Amazon reviewer made the following schematic:

Note: all are welcome to discuss the value proposition of these little mixers.

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You should note that I believe all moukey mini/micro powered mixers use 5v power sources. This provides an acceptable use case for some uses (most), but not ideal for others. Also for whatever reason micro usb alone seems to be noisier than a barrel adapter. I guess my point being: great for jams, mediocre for recording.

I’d also be interested to know what op-amp(s) the moukey is using because I’ve never seen it mentioned.

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I agree that this is best used as a utility / jamming mixer. My intended use is to add more stereo inputs to my 402 or 1202.

The comment below raised an eyebrow. I haven’t had any problems with USB noise, but all of my USB devices are powered from Anker or Sabrent hubs or power bricks:

I’ve got one coming next week, so I’ll post photos if someone else doesn’t get there first.

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My waldorf rocket is powered off USB to a myvolts wall adapter and it has the worst ground loop noise you can imagine. If I didn’t use a DI box with ground lift it would be nearly worthless to record with.

Also it’s USB B to USB A, micro or mini USB is usually worse. Check google about Twisted Electrons devices that only have usb power like HapiNES or microacid8 (µacid8), people just complain complain complain.

I bought the 6 channel one for $38. It’ll do the job, especially for those who need a portable mixer for their little devices setup, like what Surgeon has going on. Now there are a grip of the same mixers, at least the housing, that have a different name, and some have an on off switch, which the Mamx does not. I haven’t tried those, but I would be surprised if it was the same manufactor/company. Its a no frills, super simple mixer. It has those mono/stereo buttons, but I think their was something lost in translation. I saw another one that made more sense and it said Guitar/Phone which makes way more sense as when mono is engaged the level drops a tad.
Here is what I wrote on another topic, but for this cheap I say fuck it!

“Update-Well this is surprising. It’s powered by USB C, and even with volumes noise, I’m hearing very low levels of noise. No cross talk, no bleeding from other channels, and you can even get a little bit of OD/Distortion if you push it. Has an interesting effect when I run several separate drum loops out to it. Almost like a slight bit of compression. Can’t put my finger on it, but the sound changes if I push the kd with percs going, and not in a bad way. I ran both ts and trs through the inputs and outputs. I don’t quite understand what the mono/stereo switch is doing. In mono it is a little quieter, more so when using trs cables and placing the channel into mono mode. I say if you’re looking for a 6 channel portable mixer with “ultra low noise” and no frills (no meters or eq of any kind) this will do nicely.
I’m actually really surprised that it sounds as clean as it does for $38. Nice one Surgeon. :+1:
Here’s the spec sheet.”

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I have the 4-channel one coming too, just as a quick way to sum guitar pedals patched into from the direct outs of the AR and MD. But I also want to try the Bestie when it’s finally available, for the overdrive and feedback options.

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My MAMX3 arrived today. I’ll post more pictures later, including disassembly.

briefly:

  • Power is via a USB-C port, not Micro-B
  • No noticeable noise when briefly testing with the Shruti-1 as input. Sounded good powered by the included USB-A brick or via my nicer Sabrent 10x switched USB hub. (which hangs off my mac)
  • For the Shruti-1, the mixer distorts slightly starting at about 75%. I’m not sure it’s good distortion, but its there and easy to play with
  • Plenty of amplification: with the input at 50%, headphone output was loud around 20% or so
  • Engaging the “mono” switch on an input shifts the signal to one ear as expected
  • Engaging the main switch breaks the mixer into two 4-stereo-channel mixers

Initial conclusion: this is a fantastic value for basic stereo/mono and headphone duties. Will be extremely useful when combined with my passive matrix mixer.

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That’s what I want to hear. I have the 4-channel coming soon, good to know it can submix pedals on the cheap.

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English Manual:



Disassembly:


IC 4558 Detail:



Fujicon RK Series 16v capacitor detail


Huahong LOWESR -40-105C 1000uF cap & 4R7 package


Notes:

  • The 4558 IC seems to be an opamp that is frequently used in pedals.
  • 4580 is also an audio quality opamp
  • The Fujicon RK series electrolytic capacitors have a 2000 hour load life
  • PCB was very dirty, but cleaned up with a qtip and some 91% Iso. (I ran out of 99%)
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Going beyond the call of duty sir.
:dark_sunglasses:

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I love these little mixers. I’d also recommend the MHAMP1 model, which is basically a multi-splitter. When it’s paired with one of the mixers you get a cheap, portable way to do parallel signal processing.

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Perfect man. I was just thinking about something like this.

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If you didn’t need knobs for volume control and you didn’t mind a very subtle amount of volume loss this passive splitter works really well too:

Cubilux 5-Way 6.35mm Stereo Audio Splitter with Switch, Passive Multi 1/4” AUX Switcher, Quarter Inch TRS Splitter Box/HUB for Instrument Cable, Headphones, Speaker, Guitar, Keyboard, Pedal https://a.co/d/1NenjpW

It’s nice to minimize the amount of adapters with these types of setups.

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The outs have a ton of gain, so passive splitters are a great idea.

I think the only person who would be truly disappointed with this mixer is someone who is looking for an actual bad and noisy mixer. This isn’t that, it’s quiet competence.

Also should work well with a matrix mixer:

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Dude you’ve just blown my mind. It’s like have utility eurorack devices in desktop form. They’ve got one for signal selection, mutes, I’m starting to get ahead of myself, but this is all pretty cool, and has got me thinking.

It seems that people are also having a difficult time explaining the distortion on the Moukey devices. It’s good to see I’m not the only one finding it difficult to articulate it. It’s not unpleasant, but at the same time it’s not like those old recording mixers that add a lot of nice grit.

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Had less noise issues with the moukey mixer than with any other mixer or usb powered Hardware ( I talk to you 1010music & Roland) I had before. You have to cranck the volume past 11 to hear the noise on a big PA. I’m using this mixer since 2021 and no problems here. It doubles a very good headphone amp with low noise level too

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That’s great, I hope everyone has the same experience.

Where did you get those flat audio cables?

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For an inexpensive passive splitter/mixer the ART SPLITMix4 is great too.

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AliExpress:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804378377906.html

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