Using the MX-1 with off-brand hardware?

Forum for Aira
Post Reply
MRKL
Posts: 1
Joined: 22:25, 15 February 2017

Using the MX-1 with off-brand hardware?

Post by MRKL »

I'm looking to buy some gear and I was very fascinated by the MX-1 mixer.

Right now I am using the Arturia MiniLab with FLstudio, but I'm working on changing DAW to Ableton asap.
I don't have any other hardware gear since I'm new to producing and I simply haven't had the cash for it.

So my question is: Can you link the MX-1 to one Ableton or FL track for each of the 18 channels? or can you only play one track at the time to the PC channel on the MX-1?
And also, can you use the MiniLab through an Ipad or computer (with Analog Lab2) to work as an instrument and plug that into the MX-1?

Or do you have any other tips for me what I should buy
I want to be able to jam live with my PC and MiniLab, and mix the tracks with effects (like the MX-1)
But also just use the device for mixing/recording in my DAW.

Excuse me if my English is hard to understand, I am from Sweden.
projektil
Posts: 11
Joined: 11:54, 7 February 2017

Re: Using the MX-1 with off-brand hardware?

Post by projektil »

Sweden, YES :D

Just kidding.

The MX-1 is seen as an 18 Ins, 18 outs soundcard.

I have never tried to feed it from two applications at the same time, this may be a limit, as many interfaces do not support multiclient.

A typical setup would look like this:

You route any hardware you have (or may get later in your case) via the analog and USB connections into the DAW, ableton for example. There, you can select which tracks get fed by which input. To keep things simple, you would create 4 mono tracks for input 1-4 and 7 stereo tracks for the rest.

This can now be recorded.

For playback, you can again assign your audio tracks to the MX-1 output you like, a setup that keeps you sane is again routing the 4 mono tracks to the 4 mono outputs 1-4 and the stereo tracks to the rest.

The last channel is a bit special though, as it can be seen as the master channel of the mixer.

Be aware: In the above scenario, you can only record what is delivered via the inputs directly to the computer. There is no MX-1 processing or effects involved yet. In that way, the MX is an AD converter, you get "dry" recorded audio.

The playback then goes thru the whole MX-1 processing, ie filter, effects etc. But this then can not be recorded, as the "MX-1 to PC" connection is already busy doing the dry AD conversion mentioned above.

In order to record the MX-1 effects on the PC you need to record each track individually (thru the last stereo channel, the master) and this is what disappoints many. On the other hand, I don´t know of any device similar to the MX-1 that could do the trick.

I hope for a MX-1 mk2 that does it via Dante, but that´s a completely different story ;)
Goon
Posts: 68
Joined: 23:43, 11 July 2015

Re: Using the MX-1 with off-brand hardware?

Post by Goon »

You can record the MX1 master out with FX, very easy to setup within Ableton, record tracks 17-18 is master out..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gi6xHCRDgY
User avatar
flyingace
Posts: 264
Joined: 22:11, 31 August 2011
Location: Central Arkansas, USA
Contact:

Re: Using the MX-1 with off-brand hardware?

Post by flyingace »

Just got an MX-1 and very impressed so far but I, also, will be connecting off-brand and non-AIRA hardware to it. Curious as to how I'll set it all up and if it will work. My biggest issue is my Teenage Engineering OP-1 which is USB MIDI only. They used to sell an OPLAB to connect to CV and MIDI but it's no longer available. Anything else out there to do that?
Post Reply