Curious about mixer controls

[BanjoGuy55]

With all the various effects plugins available inside and outside of Mixcraft, I'm just curious how many folks actually use the EQ, compressor, oscilloscope, etc., located on the mixer panel. I usually have them hidden to save space, but do use the 'gain' knob for gain staging before adding plugins. Do they affect the audio before the FX chain, or after?

It's not an issue and I know they work, but again, I'm just curious if anybody finds them useful.

For me, I'll just stick with channel strip plugins with more control and analog tone.

[CactusMusicBC]

Not dead sure about Mixcraft but most Daw's follow the same signal flow which is top to bottom.
So that is how you stack your effects.
Where is this gain control you mentioned? That's something that is important to me but I don't see one. Are you refering to the Drive? That seems to be for adding distortion. The gain is normally at the top just like on a real mixer.
The other thing missing is the meters have no readings showing you the peak level. I have to place a plug in meter on the master and solo the track.

[Passionpasi]

https://acoustica.com/mixcraft-10-manua ... ignal-flow

[Ray Cube]

I use them often but have to be careful with the drive function and rarely add it at all or if used only up to a couple of percent.
Then again I'm old enough to have used real studio consoles and before a lot of effects in hardware were available and compressors were a separate bit of equipment.

Mixer Mixcraft.jpg (686.2 KiB) Viewed 8239 times

[hpharley90]

What are you curious about?

[BanjoGuy55]

Thanks for the replies and for the signal flow diagram link. Interesting to hear that users find those controls work for them.

I think the 'gain' knob was added in MX 9 Pro. I'd been using a gain plugin in my first fx slot before MX 9. If you haven't already, you can go to the 'settings' icon in the mixer and turn the various knobs and meters on or off and also re-order them. I think the 'gain' knob is turned off by default. Once you have the mixer layout that works for you, save it as your default.

As for my being curious, I just wondered if folks were using the built-in mixer tools rather than plugins which offer a lot more control, presets, a GUI, etc. All versions of MX Pro Studio have some really great EQ, drive, and compressor plugins, especially the Toneboosters stuff.

Lately I've been turning those mixer knobs and meters off to save screen space and am getting to know a couple of channel strip plugins from Brainworx and Fuse Audio Labs. They offer the same mixer tools and much more. [Hint: Wait until the Brainworx stuff is on sale, which happens regularly.] I just got the Fuse Audio channel strip on sale for $19 from Plugin Boutique and so far it looks and sounds really good. Fuse also has a free tube preamp plugin on their website that adds drive and analog tone. So many options for sculpting your sound.

[CactusMusicBC]

Thanks for pointing out that there are hidden features. I find that a bad choice. Mixcraft is generally very intuitive and you can go a long way without reading the manual. I would have just carried on using the workarounds.

Im the type of person who prefers to use any supplied tools in a given Daw. I find that they are generally more CPU friendly.

[cactus-head]

Mixcraft signal flow:

https://acoustica.com/mixcraft-10-manua ... ignal-flow

I use the mixer controls mostly for ballpark initial mix and gain staging. The EQs I'll tweak a bit as necessary for a track that needs a little more or less of "whatever."

The overdrive I sometimes use for a hint of grizzle on a track. Usually on a synth, or bass.

[BanjoGuy55]

After zooming in on the mixer graphic provided by Ray Cube, I realized that the mixer is now a lot more advanced than what I remember in earlier versions of MX. I then went to the MX 10 manual and saw all the newer goodies offered. Much more complete. I now see why some users find the mixer useful.

As for the signal flow diagram, I trust that re-ordering the modules on the mixer (top to bottom) also changes the signal flow (i.e., EQ before compressor vs. compressor before EQ), correct? Also, hiding a module takes it out of the path completely?

So much to learn. Thanks, R.C. for the graphic.

[cactus-head]

As for the signal flow diagram, I trust that re-ordering the modules on the mixer (top to bottom) also changes the signal flow (i.e., EQ before compressor vs. compressor before EQ), correct? Also, hiding a module takes it out of the path completely?

Hello,

I don't think that is an accurate assumption. There's no where I can think of in the manual that says the order determines the signal flow. There is only the diagram that states the signal flow.

Showing or hiding the control doesn't deactivate it. If you turned on and had the compressor cranked up all the way and then hid it, it would still be cranked up all the way and affect the sound.

[Ray Cube]

I agree there is no evidence of sections being disabled or moved around in the signal chain, but reducing the amount of controls in the mixer view will eventually lead to the volume sliders becoming longer and that could be useful, and adding send channels adds send gain controls for those channels to the mixing desk.

Micraft mixer 2.jpg (652.52 KiB) Viewed 7867 times

[BanjoGuy55]

Interesting to know that the signal flow is fixed, even if the effects are re-ordered on the mixer. The 3rd-party channel strip plugins I've been learning allow for modifying the signal flow order to some extent. Also interesting to know that mixer effects are still active even if they are hidden. I guess it's important to make sure they're not dialed up before hiding them to prevent surprises, especially if that becomes your template for future projects.

Thanks again for the replies.

[cactus-head]

The effects on the tracks are arrangeable and their order determines the signal flow. The mixer "tuning" controls seem to have a fixed flow regardless.

[ppayne]

I think this is a good compromise between easy to use and total overkill. Mixcraft stands for intuitive. I hope that never changes. Personally, I never wanted to rearrange the controls in the Mixer. Why should I do that? No listener in the world thinks, oh, that song used EQ before drive in the Mixer signal chain Completely unnecessary, I think.

Related to the OP, I mostly just use gain and typical stuff like pan and volume. I still use the frequency display.

Max peak level from the last playback and limiter would still be very useful.

Patrick

[Ray Cube]

The ability to groups and ungroup tracks is already a great boost to initial mixing and helps with retail space within the monitor, but it may also be nice to be able to save different mixer views as mastering may have different needs for an individual compared to initially laying down tracks.
Or is saving the project with a slightly different name for mastering sufficient if changing the mixer view?