Small mixer fits on keyboard with independent pair of stereo outs

[Werno]

I picked up a Behringer Flow 8 mixer to do pretty much what the OP wants, plus a lot more.  It sits comfortably atop my SP6 and gives me XLR stereo outs to send to FOH or powered speakers, plus it has 2 TRS stereo-linkable aux outs with their own volume control.  When I say 'plus a lot more', I'm not kidding. It has 4 xlr inputs, 2 of which can have phantom power while the other 2 have combi jacks, plus there are 4 TRS inputs in 2 stereo pairs, 2 fx engines, and a 4-band eq+ lopass filter+ one-knob compressor on every input. Each of the TRS pairs has a lo-z option for plugging in a bass or electric guitar. You can save and reload scenes, and a footswitch jack can be set to either step through snapshots or mute the effects for making stage announcements.

 

There's an android and/or an ios app to control it via bluetooth- the only way to access some of the features. I recently used this to mix a 4-piece acoustic group in a middling sized room and it sounded excellent, and the app was solid. I was originally looking for a small mixer with effects to replace a bare-bones Samson I've been using at practices for years, then I saw the Flow 8 and the bang-for-buck sucked me in.  

Flow 8 mixer intro

 

I got it for $300 from Sweetwater, so the price has gone up since this year-old video was posted. Everything else has been as described. 

 

[Delaware Dave]

On 4/7/2023 at 9:37 AM, Stokely said:

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.   

 

Yeah, I put a Boss PSA-120s on it, quiet as a mouse. That power supply is magical ....

 

link

[wineandkeyz]

On 4/6/2023 at 6:00 PM, dsteinschneider said:

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. 

 

You shouldn't need a separate mixer. The KC-300 has a separate Line Out level control for the Line Out connectors.

[erik_nie]

I've made this one, works great for years. 
Planning to make one for our drummer as he has a few sources to mix-down, including a click track, metronome, his roland pad and his e-drums

 

Mixer with several input

You can make any configuration: First mix down all sources, then mix your monitor/in-ear mix.
The sky is the limit and you can make it in the correct form, with the right connectors and in the color you like.
I desoldered the connectors and soldered the cables directly to the boards to prevent contact issues with the small connectors.

 

[D. Gauss]

12 hours ago, Werno said:

I picked up a Behringer Flow 8 mixer to do pretty much what the OP wants, plus a lot more.  It sits comfortably atop my SP6 and gives me XLR stereo outs to send to FOH or powered speakers, plus it has 2 TRS stereo-linkable aux outs with their own volume control.  When I say 'plus a lot more', I'm not kidding. It has 4 xlr inputs, 2 of which can have phantom power while the other 2 have combi jacks, plus there are 4 TRS inputs in 2 stereo pairs, 2 fx engines, and a 4-band eq+ lopass filter+ one-knob compressor on every input. Each of the TRS pairs has a lo-z option for plugging in a bass or electric guitar. You can save and reload scenes, and a footswitch jack can be set to either step through snapshots or mute the effects for making stage announcements.

 

There's an android and/or an ios app to control it via bluetooth- the only way to access some of the features. I recently used this to mix a 4-piece acoustic group in a middling sized room and it sounded excellent, and the app was solid. I was originally looking for a small mixer with effects to replace a bare-bones Samson I've been using at practices for years, then I saw the Flow 8 and the bang-for-buck sucked me in.  

Flow 8 mixer intro

 

I got it for $300 from Sweetwater, so the price has gone up since this year-old video was posted. Everything else has been as described. 

 

yes to this. good find.

[Werno]

5 hours ago, D. Gauss said:

yes to this. good find.

A couple more big Flow 8 selling points I didn’t mention- works as a class-compliant 10-out 4-in USB audio interface. So it can send all 8 inputs plus stereo mix to your laptop or iOs device, and return 4 channels to the mixer. Besides having an app to run the mixer via bluetooth, there’s a stereo bluetooth audio input with its own volume knob, which can be connected to the same or a second bluetooth device. Then there’s the bad news/good news of the power connection, which is a not terribly secure micro-usb plug that, OTOH, means you can run it off any adequately speced usb outboard battery. Commercial over.

[dsteinschneider]

Thanks for the link to the video about the Flow 8. I hadn't heard about it. I use UMC204's in my studio for an edrum setup and a keyboard rig. 

[dsteinschneider]

The ART Mix4 arrives tomorrow. In the meantime we are encountering an odd problem I hope is solved once we split the signal with it. 

 

We have TRS balanced cables going out from the Left/Right Main Out of the "right" Roland KC-300 (amp to the right of the keyboard) to our mixer inputs. Everything is ok until we connect the "left" KC-300 (via Stereo Link) at which time a fairly obtrusive hum comes from both amps. The main L/R outs record fine (no hum) but the amps in the room produce it. We swapped out all cables, made sure to plug both amps into the same outlet. Apparently the amps are 20 years old but have mostly been used in rehearsal. If we swap the left and right amps the behavior remains the same - no buzzing until the second amp is connected.

 

The same thing happened when we tried not using the stereo link and simply ran left and right out of the Korg PA700 keyboard to the amps directly. In this case the amp beguns to produce hum when we connect the TRS cable from the Soundcraft input to the Main Out (mono in this case) 

[D. Gauss]

welcome to the world of ground loops.  Make sure all the crap you have hooked together (not just the amps) is at least on the same AC circuit.  Temporarily lift the ground on one of the Roland amps and see if that clears it up.  If so, you may need an isolated transformer on one of the amps.  These work great for two geetar amps together and could possibly work in your situation, but there or others as well.