Small mixer controllable over the Internet?

[Chris DeVoe]

I'm looking for a very small mixer that I can control via a remote application over the Internet for remote tweaking of audio for a webstream. I really don't need much more than volume control for four channels, so I don't need any huge boards.

Can anyone think of anything that will accomplish this?

 

[brian maddox]

Re: Small mixer controllable over the Internet?

I'm looking for a very small mixer that I can control via a remote application over the Internet for remote tweaking of audio for a webstream. I really don't need much more than volume control for four channels, so I don't need any huge boards.

Can anyone think of anything that will accomplish this?

Okay, my solution is kinda stupid, but i'll throw it out there anyway.

I've got a couple of the old MOTU 7s Midi Controllable Mixers. It's a single rack space unit. 7 Stereo line inputs with basic EQ and a couple of aux sends. All MIDI controlled. If you paired that up with a Netbook running just about any kind of program that will spit out MIDI Control messages, you'd have a system you could Remote Desktop into and that would work.

Okay, yeah it's kinda a weird idea...

 

[Chris DeVoe]

Re: Small mixer controllable over the Internet?

Okay, my solution is kinda stupid, but i'll throw it out there anyway.

I've got a couple of the old MOTU 7s Midi Controllable Mixers. It's a single rack space unit. 7 Stereo line inputs with basic EQ and a couple of aux sends. All MIDI controlled. If you paired that up with a Netbook running just about any kind of program that will spit out MIDI Control messages, you'd have a system you could Remote Desktop into and that would work.

Okay, yeah it's kinda a weird idea...

No, not that weird. I built a system once that was driven by SMTPE time code using a MIDI audio mixer, a MIDI lighting controller and a JL Cooper MidiMute that I used to switch video feeds on and off, all controlled by some SMPTE to MIDI box using a variety of note on-of and velocity data. To sell reproduction Shaker furniture. The system was shockingly robust and ran for many years.

That said, I'd like to minimize the complexity of the system if possible. If I wind up using a Netbook, there are a million USB interfaces out there, but what is not clear is if they can operate as analog inputs and outputs - basically a remotely controlled VCA. For this installation, I need to mix into the audio input of an IP camera rather than capturing the audio into the computer to make sure the video and audio remain in sync by using the MPEG encoder in the camera.

Edit to add: It looks like Ivie introduced something at Infocomm that will be a good fit for my needs.

 

[Chris DeVoe]

Re: Small mixer controllable over the Internet?

I spoke to Bill Raventos at Ivie the other day, and they are introducing a small version of their iFlex mixers. Anyone have any experience with their stuff? How it sounds, and what the development system is like?

 

[harrybrilljr]

Re: Small mixer controllable over the Internet?

I was going to say the Roland Octa-capture has 4 stereo mixers built in. It's got 8 inputs and 8 outputs, plus an RCA spdif in and out. What is beneficial here is that if the computer shuts down the audio will still pass. However of the power goes out and comes back on, it would have to be manually turned on. The Motu 8Pre (and many of their products) works as a mixer as well but it has to be connected to a computer to pass audio through the mixer. It does have a hard power switch but if the power goes out, even though the computer will stay on battery and the motu will come back on, the motu software would have to be restarted! Hopefully the product you are looking at from Ivie doesn't suffer from these kinds of (remote) reliability issues.

 

[Chris DeVoe]

Re: Small mixer controllable over the Internet?

I was going to say the Roland Octa-capture has 4 stereo mixers built in. It's got 8 inputs and 8 outputs, plus an RCA spdif in and out. What is beneficial here is that if the computer shuts down the audio will still pass. However of the power goes out and comes back on, it would have to be manually turned on. The Motu 8Pre (and many of their products) works as a mixer as well but it has to be connected to a computer to pass audio through the mixer. It does have a hard power switch but if the power goes out, even though the computer will stay on battery and the motu will come back on, the motu software would have to be restarted! Hopefully the product you are looking at from Ivie doesn't suffer from these kinds of (remote) reliability issues.

Thanks for the information about the Octo-Capture.

I just learned today that the remote location will have a Mac Mini, so it opens more options. The advantage of the Ivie device is that it has it's own Ethernet interface and IP stack.

 

[Brent Handy]

Re: Small mixer controllable over the Internet?

Uh, Symetrix Jupiter would fit.

Thanks for the information about the Octo-Capture.

I just learned today that the remote location will have a Mac Mini, so it opens more options. The advantage of the Ivie device is that it has it's own Ethernet interface and IP stack.