Allen & Heath XONE: S2 thoughts?

[octo]

i've been using a Vestax PMC 25 for 5 years.

i'd like to dream of a new mixer.

the V6 is unattainable but the S2 seems realistic.

anyone played on it? thoughts?
do they have one at Cobra?

what are some alternatives?

[octo]

another mixer i fantasize about

[octo]

might as well post my baby. she's served me well. the fat eq's are so much fun. one of my few beefs is that you can't disable the crossfader.

[oeretS]

Rane Empath Rotary

this thing gets rave reviews from everyone, and can be found for around 12 to 13 hundred. I was a day from buying one when a friendly triber put his Ecler for sale at a nice price, so I had to abort.

[oeretS]

Vestax R-3

[oeretS]

that vestax is a lot more expensive, though it is nice to look at.

I didn't realize the S2 cost so little! A quick search brought up a brand new rotary for under $1100

[Wiseman]

that vestax is very nicely laid out. I like the big crossover and filter sweep at the top.

[oeretS]

yeah I really like the layout as well. bet that thing's fun to play one.

There's always the classic 2016. I think you can get one (without the EQ section) new for about $1500 these days

[praktik]

i've never tried a rotary mixer.

Why does it have this "premium" feel to me?

What are the advantages over a slider?

[oeretS]

there aren't really too many advantages, maybe a little more control over the volume when in the mix. In fact there are arguably more disadvantages.

For me the appeal comes from the design of that era of electronics (late 70's and 80s), which I'm a fan of

[Wiseman]

You look way cooler tweeking a knob than raising a slider.

[Spinsah]

This was my first mixer and it sounded as crisp as a wet fart.



The skulls added a lot in the mix. Some would suggest they were a more sought after feature than rotary faders.

[Wiseman]

My god remember when there was no end of shitty mixers on the market. Absolute throwaway crap put out by even the brands that had good highend models.

[oeretS]

lol that's pretty slick guy

mine was the old numark. notice the white fade on the sliders (helped cut down wind resistence). almost every function on this thing failed within a 2 month period

[Spinsah]

I think Doublecross still uses that mixer!

[Wiseman]

I think we need a new thread.

[Spinsah]

Still happy with your mixer, Sage? I am thinking about picking up the same model...

[Wiseman]

Love it.

Actually just figured out something new I can do with it the other day:

The channel eq kill buttons have two different modes, 1 that kills the correspending freq (hi, mid, bass), and the other where it isolates the corresponding eq (ie killing the other frequencies).

If you are in the second mode though you can set a custom eq with the normal eq knobs, press and hold one of the kill buttons and the button will now be saved with that eq setting that you can recall anytime by pressing it.

[AshG]

Originally Posted by praktik

i've never tried a rotary mixer.

Why does it have this "premium" feel to me?

What are the advantages over a slider?

imo silder fader type mixers are far superior, for a couple reasons:

1. you can easily see at a glance what the various channel levels are with sliders. with rotaries you have to really look carefully at the things to read them, and then remember those settings each time you change a channel, as they're far from easy to read, esp in a club setting

2. you can alter the slider level with one or 2 fingers, while with a rotary you have to use your whole hand. anyone who's ended up trying to do more than 2 things at once while mixing will appreciate what this means.

but as with a lot of things in the audio and dj world, you'll get die hards who latch onto rotaries for the simple reason that that's what they know and grew up on, and for that reason, hold them in an otherwise unjustifiably vaunted light.

[AshG]

Originally Posted by Wiseman

Love it.

Actually just figured out something new I can do with it the other day:

The channel eq kill buttons have two different modes, 1 that kills the correspending freq (hi, mid, bass), and the other where it isolates the corresponding eq (ie killing the other frequencies).

If you are in the second mode though you can set a custom eq with the normal eq knobs, press and hold one of the kill buttons and the button will now be saved with that eq setting that you can recall anytime by pressing it.

that's pretty cool, and actually useful(unlike most fx)

[Wiseman]

yeah I was pretty excited about it. it really is such a deep mixer and sounds great.

[Wiseman]

Originally Posted by AshG

imo silder fader type mixers are far superior, for a couple reasons:

1. you can easily see at a glance what the various channel levels are with sliders. with rotaries you have to really look carefully at the things to read them, and then remember those settings each time you change a channel, as they're far from easy to read, esp in a club setting

2. you can alter the slider level with one or 2 fingers, while with a rotary you have to use your whole hand. anyone who's ended up trying to do more than 2 things at once while mixing will appreciate what this means.

but as with a lot of things in the audio and dj world, you'll get die hards who latch onto rotaries for the simple reason that that's what they know and grew up on, and for that reason, hold them in an otherwise unjustifiably vaunted light.

I agree with you.

but I've always had more fun djing on a rotary mixer.

[Spinsah]

I just don't know if I can justify the cash on something that will sit in the closet most of the time. Damn, I miss having a studio room.

[AshG]

i think my arm/elbow is not flexible enough to crank a rotary around in suitably dramatic Joe Clausell esque fashion.
time to start stretchin'

[octo]

Originally Posted by praktik

i've never tried a rotary mixer.

Why does it have this "premium" feel to me?

What are the advantages over a slider?

like has been mentioned, the only real advantage is more accurate control of the volume. it's great for deep house djs but anyone that has a quick mixing style is going to be hindered. aka Ash G

the thing is that any rotary mixer is drawing on the history of classics like the bozak and urei. an era when build and sound quality was expected/demanded. generally if a company puts out a rotary mixer they can expect to be held to a higher standard than a "regular" mixer. so, they usually tend to (or at least should) put more care into the design and execution, resulting in pricier more "premium" mixers.

personally a new mixer isn't going to make me a better dj. i suck. BUT, i enjoy myself more when i can pretend to be rocking the casbah like Joel Claussell, Tony Humphries, Frankie Knuckles etc.

it's like buying a composite hockey stick because the NHL players use them.

So

The R3 is a sweet mixer but out of my price range

the 2016 is just as pricey with the eqs (i want eqs)

the empath is nice but i'd prefer 4 channels

my first mixer



it's still kicking around. my buddy's using it as a phono stage.