Small mixer fits on keyboard with independent pair of stereo outs

[dsteinschneider]

I'm looking for recommendations on a small mixer that can sit on a keyboard (PX-5S - sit over speaker) with a pair stereo outs - one to a pair of Roland KC-300's behind the keyboard and another to the mixing desk.  Each pair of outputs needs to have it's own volume control. 

 

I've been researching for a while on Sweetwater and Amazon - found a Depushing DJ oriented unit that fits that has effects and aux sends that I think can be repurposed to send to the mixing desk but hoping for a small two channel input mixer with a pair of independent stereo outputs. Most small mixers are the opposite. 

 

Thanks in advance for any recommendations. 

[Morrissey]

Not immediately thinking of a board that small with that set of outputs.

 

Have you considered running your KC300's in master/slave mode?  Then you could feed the stereo inputs from your keyboard into just one of those amps, and send a stereo feed out from that amp to FOH.

[Morrissey]

"Stereo Link" mode + Line Out to mixing desk

 

[AnotherScott]

How many inputs?

[mate stubb]

Radial Key Largo fills the bill, although it's more high fidelity than a KC 300 needs

[drawback]

Would this do it?   https://www.artproaudio.com/product/splitmix4-four-channel-passive-splitter-mixer-2/

[CEB]

I use one of these that sits on top the stage piano at a rehearsal place.  It works fine.   If you want something really good get a Key Largo. 
 

[Stokely]

Will you need to adjust it a lot?  I don't really change my Key Largo once levels are set, and everything stays the same from gig to gig.

I ended up putting it on a pedalboard with my Rolls monitor mixer, the nice advantage is that cables attach on the ground and power is pre-wired.  I have both wall warts velcroed on the underside and already plugged in to a thin power strip also velcroed underneath.   I have the key largo monitor outs connected to one  of the Rolls inputs, the other is for the aux I will get each time.

[EricBarker]

Velcro is your friend. I always put a bunch of velcro on the lower-right side of my boards, and then any half-rock sized mixer with velcro covering the top. Slap that puppy up there, and you're good to go, and at arms reach to adjust levels on the fly.

I have a couple MOTU M4 interfaces laying around, turns out, they become standard mixers if you just plug them into a wall outlet. It wouldn't be my first choice because they're high price for low input count (you're mostly paying for the interface side, which you don't need), but I had it sitting around, so it worked great. I wish the Key Largo had front-facing controls so it could work like this, but there are a number of alternatives that would be great here.

[AnotherScott]

I wonder if a Zoom U-24 might do the trick, if you don't need a "mixer" per se (i.e. there are not multiple stereo sources to be routed)... it's quite compact.

 

Or maybe a Mackie MIX5?

 

(I'm assuming the headphone out, with its own level control, could serve the function of being the second destination.)

[EricBarker]

This would be perfect for velcro and a 3-board setup. You could even route the headphone out to a personal monitor for independent control!

 

https://www.sweetwater.com/c1014--Line_Mixer?highlight=PowerMix3&mrkgadid=&mrkgcl=28&mrkgen=gpla&mrkgbflag=1&mrkgcat=drums&percussion&acctid=21700000001645388&dskeywordid=92700073370090886&lid=92700073370090886&ds_s_kwgid=58700008063423976&ds_s_inventory_feed_id=97700000007215323&dsproductgroupid=1824422034604&product_id=PowerMix3&prodctry=US&prodlang=en&channel=online&storeid=&device=c&network=u&matchtype=&adpos=largenumber&locationid=1012887&creative=624396267553&targetid=pla-1824422034604&campaignid=18437397300&awsearchcpc=&&&gclid=Cj0KCQjw27mhBhC9ARIsAIFsETFTOH8zZvRTmvh3XKsbHLQhPuzOwOEesn9PQ4fFeXZ26fbtg0YvJboaArgkEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Morrissey]

6 minutes ago, AnotherScott said:

I wonder if a Zoom U-24 might do the trick, if you don't need a "mixer" per se (i.e. there are not multiple stereo sources to be routed)... it's quite compact.

 

 

Clever

[voxpops]

29 minutes ago, CEB said:

I use one of these that sits on top the stage piano at a rehearsal place.  It works fine.   If you want something really good get a Key Largo. 
 

I also use one of these on top of my SP6. Although the two main output pairs have only one master control, the phones output is independent of the master level and can be used to send a secondary signal. I find the quality and versatility good. It's sufficient to use with my two main boards plus an occasional monosynth.

[drawback]

55 minutes ago, EricBarker said:

This would be perfect for velcro and a 3-board setup. You could even route the headphone out to a personal monitor for independent control!

The OP needs two pairs of stereo outs, while the Power Mix III only has one pair. Check out the Split Mix online manual, it can be set up in a lot of options.

[Delaware Dave]

Rolls MX28.  Not much bigger than a cigarette pack, 3 stereo inputs, one pair of regular outputs and one headphone jack that, with a splitter, can be converted to a 2nd pair of outputs and have independent output control over both sets of outputs.

 

[ChazKeys]

I think you can use Control Room and Main Out at the same time on the Behringers - there are loads to choose from: 502, 802 etc

[voxpops]

2 minutes ago, ChazKeys said:

I think you can use Control Room and Main Out at the same time on the Behringers - there are loads to choose from: 502, 802 etc

One thing to be aware of with the small Behringers is that the control room volume is also affected by the main mix volume control.

[EricBarker]

48 minutes ago, drawback said:

The OP needs two pairs of stereo outs, while the Power Mix III only has one pair. Check out the Split Mix online manual, it can be set up in a lot of options.

 

Ahhh! I missed that part. Good find. Also no top-facing controls so it could be attached to the bottom of a board. I get it, that's my special method, but I think it's worth considering.

These days, I'm down to 1 main board, and one bass synth, which I route completely separately into a bass amp, so I'm not really in the market for a mixer like this. But if I were, the SplitMix4 looks like a fantastic little piece of kit!

[dsteinschneider]

Thanks for all the answers - this helps a lot!

 

I have a Xenyx 502 - at first we thought it might work but decided against it. 

3 hours ago, Morrissey said:

"Stereo Link" mode + Line Out to mixing desk

 

Thanks for the heads up on Stereo Link - we are in fact using that feature now. Neatens up the cabling around the keyboard and simplifies amp volume and eq settings. Unfortunately doesn't help with independent volume issue between amps and sound reinforcement/recording levels. 

[mate stubb]

[timwat]

5 hours ago, mate stubb said:

Radial Key Largo fills the bill, although it's more high fidelity than a KC 300 needs

 

[cphollis]

I was going to suggest something like the XR18 mixer, but I took a quick look at what the prices have become, and sheesh!  They have six auxes plus all sorts of other nifty features, meaning you can mix plenty of keyboards with plenty of mixed outputs: one mixed stereo out for the FOH, one stereo pair for your IEMs, and one for your stage amps if needed, and more if necessary.  My IEMs get a mix that includes what I'm being sent for monitors.  I also found myself using some of the onboard effects, such as the multiband compressor. 

 

If you find a used one that isn't too much, it's a nice piece of kit for a small band or a keyboardist pretending to be one.

[ShadowMan]

I’ve been using the Rolls Mini Mix for years. Great bang for the buck and easy to velcro on top  of any board.  Plenty of gain, but you’ll need to add a DI box if you want balanced outs.  

 

I also have the Yamaha MG06.  Equally nice, not as compact. But you do get the pair of balanced outs, and mic inputs w/phantom power.

 

In live performance,  using either one will let you run IEMs or stereo monitors from one output, and feed the FOH from another. Very flexible. 

 

Had that Behringer, too. Absolutely no comparison to the other two.  And Voxpops nailed it on the main mix volume. So it wouldn’t work for your purposes either.

 

[Paul Woodward]

I bought this but have not needed to use it yet as I have a YC61 that allows me to route the iPad audio and line in from my stage piano through it. It’s tiny, runs off USB power and acts as a USB audio interface. You can connect to a PC and program the built in effects. Got it for £50 primarily for that stereo aux in (for iPad) before I got the YC.

[Coker]

15 hours ago, CEB said:

I use one of these that sits on top the stage piano at a rehearsal place.  It works fine.   If you want something really good get a Key Largo. 
 

I use one of these when I need to send a vocalist through my PAs with the keys. Instead of Velcro, I have a thin square of steel taped to the top of my keyboard and use an old speaker magnet to “glue” the mixer down (the mixer is also magnetic).  It will not move until I pull it off to pack it away.  And, no, the giant magnet does not affect the sound. 

[D. Gauss]

I would assume that once you set your FOH feed level, that volume to FOH is a moot point, as FOH will take care of the rest?  If so, use whatever mixer you like (the yammy above works great), keep it on the floor or whatever, and put one of these on your keyboard (the size of cell phone), between a set of outs and the amp to control the level to your amp. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ATTY--a-designs-atty-2-channel-level-interface

[Stokely]

I have a Rolls mx28 (not being used as I have a Key Largo) and when I first got it, it was noisy, with a bit of crosstalk between inputs.

I bought a different power supply for it at the advice of someone here (iirc) and it cleaned right up.   

[dsteinschneider]

We decided on the ART SplitMix4 for $75 at Sweetwater even thought it is more of a point solution than a full mixer. We thought it will be handy to have for live or studio keyboard use. In a separate search the ART USBMix4 showed up - it has a headphone and stereo monitor output that share a volume control. That was the final contestant on the mixer side. Thanks for all the suggestions.  

[dsteinschneider]

On 4/6/2023 at 2:36 PM, drawback said:

Would this do it?   https://www.artproaudio.com/product/splitmix4-four-channel-passive-splitter-mixer-2/

@drawback - thanks for the heads up on this product!

[cphollis]

16 minutes ago, dsteinschneider said:

@drawback - thanks for the heads up on this product!

That's a very clever product ...