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@Blackened Soul - Thanks m8!

Finally pulled the plug on some rackmount stuff. Hoping that my lowball bid on a well-loved vortex gets accepted. Anyways, how much mixer is it worth getting just to integrate rack effects into a nerdier-than-average guitar rig? I may want to have a couple spare channels for some synth shit but if im just running a stereo signal into a couple racks i'd rather just have "enough" channels.

Also picked up this rack but idk how many U:s it holds

What’s the system you’re running it with? PA speakers/FRFR? Guitar amp(s)? Mono or stereo? Effects loops?

With the Vortex, it runs prosumer line levels, so it can be run into the inputs of guitar amps with just a little care. Input wise, it’s happier being run after a strong buffer or synth than running low output pickups right in. An aux send on a compact desktop mixer (or rack line mixer if you want to build out a fridge) will work great to drive it appropriately and keep a dry path away from the so-so converters. Run the outs into a spare pair of mixer inputs, usually even if there are dedicated aux returns—you get to eq the effected signal and, in appropriate instances such as using very long delays, you can use the aux send on the return as a feedback control. Even if you’re using it mono, it’s usually best to sum stereo effected return to mono to keep more of the effect.

Cheap Yamaha or Mackie with an aux send should do you. Add aux sends and channels to give you room to grow. For rack line mixers, the Samson is pretty good and and affordable and has two stereo aux sends for $200-ish, which allows some flexibility of routing an effects unit in each aux loop. Only pain is that the sends are stereo unbalanced on a 1/4” TRS jack, so you need Y cables for connecting to your processor, but that’s easy off the shelf with the Vortex’s unbalanced TS inputs.

Ah! I run an ampeg preamp into a crown poweramp, mono for now but I intend to run stereo down the road to get the spread it's just a matter of speakers right now. One send is enough tho? I'm not that advanced a mixer user but dont you effectivly need a send per parallell chain? Thats why I'm not sure wheter I should get a bigger mixer or not cause most mixers that are like 8 channels seem to have only one send.

Was kinda drawn to yamaha but mostly cause i like the yellow knobs but im pretty sure they have some crappy compressor in it too right?

One mono send is sufficient to send a mono signal to your Vortex”s input. A few older effects with stereo inputs will work better with both inputs driven, even with a mono signal (Lexicon PCM 80/81 and 90/91 come to mind).

If you’re running a stereo input signal—let’s say a synth—and want to preserve the imaging in the effect, you can use a mixer with a stereo aux send, one with two auxes that are used as L and R sends, or you get creative with inserts, direct outs, or other means to split the synth sound to drive the inputs of the effect which runs into a spare channel. If you’re running two synths or stereo effects and want to preserve imaging from both, auxes will be easier. (If you get a Mackie 1604 VLZ or Allen & Heath MixWizard, there are more tricks, but R-ingTFM will get you further than I will.)


Also: there is no iron law that says you can’t take the easy way out and run a mono send from a stereo pair of channels. Run the same (or only) aux send for your L signal in channel 1 and your R signal in channel 2–you’re basically summing to mono. You can do the same with a second aux send. If your preferred algorithms sum to mono anyway this will make your life simpler. Me, I’m trying to push things as far as I can, so I’m looking for maximal routing capabilities for my stuff, so I focus on my edge use cases a bit much.

qersty wrote:Finally pulled the plug on some rackmount stuff. Hoping that my lowball bid on a well-loved vortex gets accepted. Anyways, how much mixer is it worth getting just to integrate rack effects into a nerdier-than-average guitar rig? I may want to have a couple spare channels for some synth shit but if im just running a stereo signal into a couple racks i'd rather just have "enough" channels.

Also picked up this rack but idk how many U:s it holds

NSFW: show

I don't know what your budget is, but the Samson SM10 is pretty great for the money.

Yeah you're probably right in r'ing-tfm to meet my requirements. Probably should do some math too. Like I want to run as parallell and as stereo as possible which probably isn't gonna happen in the end but it would be fun. I already have some eventide stuff which do line so it would be cool to rack 'em and chorus the shit out of everything and like thats one send for that like honestly the longer I think I probably have to get a pretty big desk or some matrix deal. Maybe just get two mixers would be better for routing and like group dry from one to a second to split the effects and back?

If you want to run stereo into the mixer and then run to stereo effects into two loops and preserve the imaging, it’s the Samson SM-10. Unless you want to go through pricier/bigger/trickier-on-the-implementation, generally picking at least two of these.

Oh, I guess I should mention the Bradshaw style of line mixer, which I tend to ignore for the limitations. Two parallel loops in each of two series spots, the one-mix and two-mix, each run at fixed levels, so it’s on you to control your levels at the processor. They tend to run $500-ish used from the various makers. But once you understand how to use them, they’re almost idiot proof. Big downside is you can’t go fully wet and eliminate the dry signal.

yeah going something purpose-made seems pretty limiting. I really should give a long hard look at what i can get used, hard to find something without built in fx though

I guess running things criss-cross like I do is not as popular as I thought? In daws I always run effects I want on the sends with their own send and then make them feed back into eachother so I have big stacks of reverb/delay/chorus etc

Scheming again. Thinking about getting a Culture Vulture to run as a stereo preamp into something like a Mesa 50/50 stereo power amp. Someone stop me. Please.

Definitely do it.

Thanks for playing.

codetocontra wrote:Scheming again. Thinking about getting a Culture Vulture to run as a stereo preamp into something like a Mesa 50/50 stereo power amp. Someone stop me. Please.

Are you just wanting it for playing through or is it something you'd use for heavy lifting in mixing applications?

If just for playing through and live use, I'd maybe consider a used Drawmer 1960 as well.

I wait for IVL Kramer PitchRider 7000 and Proteus 2000 1u racks so I can shout into a microphone and the sounds of the 90s come out. Very nice.