Mackie DFX-6 mixer

I had the chance to use this mixer a few days back at a friend’s wedding. I was in charge of sound and music…of sorts. In any case, I stationed myself close to this mixer and hooked up my laptop to channel 5/6. I must say that this mixer sounds pretty good. Its rather compact and has a whole lot of effects to chose from, making it a great mixer to use in a small pub.

Mackie has a very interesting name for their effects back, calling it EMAC. According to Mackie:

EMAC stands for Extended Multiplication and Accumulation. In non-geek terms, that means no loss of internal precision during audio processing. We started with the best proprietary reverb, delay and modulation algorithms our engineers could devise, then added 32-bit internal processing for a difference you’ll definitely hear.

Pretty interesting! There is also a Vocal Eliminator, for karaoke when you want to remove the vocals. According to Mackie, it does a pretty good job! I did not get the chance to try it though.

The sound was consistently great, as with most Mackie mixers. There is a five-band equalizer, which would suit small pubs just fine as the main mixer in say, a band for instance. There are two AUX send and returns. AUX 1 is for monitoring/foldback and AUX 2 is for the effects. I was using AUX 1 for a small Yamaha MSR100 monitor which also performed flawlessly. Channel one and two was utilised by wireless microphones that a pastor was using to register their marriage, and also to give a pretty candid speech. There is a phantom power switch to activate the phantom power but as I had no condenser mikes or active DIs to run, I did not need to use it.

So would I recommend this? Definitely. Small pubs and clubs with maybe two-piece bands would benefit from a mixer like this that just does the job. I know I liked it but for me, I would prefer a mixer with pots.

Yamaha MSR100

There are lots of powered-speaker manufacturers in the world and Yamaha is one of them. This MSR100 powered speaker, I had only just found out about it last weekend when I was providing audio at a wedding ceremony. The restaurant, where the wedding was held at, had these for monitors. I hooked it up to the AUX of the Mackie mixer that was installed in the pub and I must say that the sound coming out of this small wonder was simply rich. Not bad for a powered speaker that sports an 8″ woofer and a 1″ titanium diaphragm compression driver. The built-in amplifier delivers 100 watts of power and it could handle the restaurant with ease.

Yamaha’s website describes this unit:

A simple but effective mixer built into the rear of the unit provides 3 inputs with master EQ for sound control. The “Input 1” XLR connector accommodates almost any microphone or line input (with a -50dB/+4dB pad switch), while line sources can be connected to the “Input 2” and “Input 3” phone-jack connectors. Naturally, each input has its own level control, with a master level control for overall output. Two-band EQ gives you further control over the final sound. A convenient clip indicator alerts you if the input signal level is too high, so you can reduce levels to avoid distortion. For larger events the MSR100’s special link out jack can be used to connect multiple units for higher power and expanded coverage.

And its true. I was surprised and pleased at what this little speaker was capable of. Its capable of producing up to 112 dB SPL…not too shabby! It can be used as a FOH system for sound reinforcement or it can be used as a monitor speaker. A variety of mounting options allow pole mounting, ceiling suspension, or wall mounting so that makes it very versatile.

Yamaha, you have done it again!

Now its Kim Kardashian that wants to be a DJ

I got this from the EDMTunes page on Facebook. If it was not bad enough, I found out a couple of days back that Paris Hilton tried her hand at DJ-ing with very bad results. What is it with these socialites and the DJ world? All I can say is, there goes the craft.

Hercules DJ Control MP3 E2

A friend of mine bought this Hercules controller yesterday. Pretty inexpensive…cost him less than $150. But there is a caveat though. It does not come with an internal soundcard and so he needed to buy an external one. Loading was pretty simple. All I had to do was load the Hercules drivers, and then install the Virtual DJ software that came with it. The controller worked right out of the box. Specs-wise, this is what this controller has to offer:

• 2 vinyl-style jog wheels
• 3 faders
• 6 equalization knobs
• 2 pitch knobs
• 1 stick & multiple buttons

After he bought this, he went to another shop in the same shopping centre and bought this USB soundcard below:

The soundcard was pretty inexpensive too. Cost him about $18. So what he has to do now is configure Virtual DJ to route the headphone mix to this soundcard and the laptop soundcard takes care of the house audio. That is going to be a pretty tall order for him but I have given him some tips on how to do it so he should be OK.

Money well spent? You bet!

A cat named Shadow

There is a new addition to the family, and that new addition is a ragamuffin named Shadow. Cute little bugger and loves playing around. He is still getting used to the new surroundings but he will get used to them in no time.

Stanton DJC.4 controller

Looks like Stanton is upping the ante with this controller. Its a 4-deck controller, bundled with Virtual DJ LE.It features:

• Analog inputs for turntables or CD players, with direct pass-through to software for DVS control
• Each channel can be assigned to either 2 MIDI decks (A/C, B/D) or an analog input via toggle switch
• User replaceable 100K cycle 45mm cross fader with adjustable curve
• 3-band EQ control w/ complete KILL plus gain per channel
• VU meter LED for level monitoring
• 1-Balanced (1/4″ TRS) Microphone Input w/ volume & tone control

The specifications look pretty good:

• 4 channel (Dual-Stereo) 16bit/48kHz audio interface allowing comprehensive connection to your sound system
• Included Virtual DJ LE software allows for 4-deck control, video mixing, effects, with plug and play functionality
• 2 or 4 channel control with deck shift functionality and browser loading, giving direct access to the controls you need fast
• Long-life replaceable Cross fader with hardware fader curve knob allowing your custom cutting preference to be dialed in
• Rugged metal chassis, designed to withstand years of use in the most rigorous environments
• 95 assignable MIDI controllers (63 buttons, 5 faders, 12 push encoders, 22 control dials, 2 touch-sensitive jog wheels) & shift function

There is a very good review on DJWorx.com and it does justice to what this controller has to offer. I am a sucker for reliability and robustness of controllers so I am quite interested in this one. Plus the fact that it comes with Virtual DJ (it can work with Traktor Pro with a mapping file) I like it already.

IDE Disk On Module (DOM)

I have only just found out about these things. Well, that is part of life…we learn new things every day. This happened when I was supposed to fix a kiosk for a client. They were using this as a hard drive. This is a disk-on-module (DOM) hard drive, something like a flash disk but you can connect it to an IDE port and you are spun. It seems that these were designed for industrial computers and since there are no moving parts, like SSDs, they can last a long time. Perfect for your older computers that only accept IDE drives. I am curious…I might get one for my old computer and slave up some SATA drives to it, but use this just too hold the operating system. I think these will hold up pretty well!

Cheap speaker cable

I did an event last Saturday and the premises was kind enough to let me borrow their in-house speakers for the event. But the funny thing is, the speakers, menacing as they looked, sounded pretty underpowered and the powered mixer driving them always seemed to be peaking. I thought that the Yamaha mixer amplifier, which is pretty decent by any measure, could not drive the speakers well. It was only when I did my inspection that the penny dropped…

This is what they were using as speaker cable. This thin, so-called “high definition” wire was used as speaker cable. Now, I am not running this down if you use it for car stereos, hi-fi systems. In short runs of about a couple of metres, it should serve you and serve you well. But for professional audio? Those speakers that day had literal miles of this stuff connected to the mixer amplifier. Long, high-gauge speaker cable like this have lots of resistance and that is what actually happened…the speakers just were not getting the full power fed by the amplifier!

But then again, I do not think those speakers were set-up in a way for dance music, which is what we used them for. This in-house system is probably used for meetings and seminars and the long speaker cable runs were there so that the speakers could be placed in any corner of the room. But all the same, it is worth noting that long speaker cable runs do have lots of resistance.

Yamaha DXR12 powered speaker

When I heard these, I was blown away…totally blown away. Yamaha collaborated with loudspeaker giant NEXO, adding their insight and expertise as an industry leader in touring-grade sound reinforcement to the development of the DXR. As a result of working closely with NEXO’s engineers the Yamaha team adopted a new approach to some crucial aspects of these speakers’ design. The detailed analysis of the transducers, thorough testing of the enclosures’ acoustic properties and optimized limiter setting all contributed to higher SPL delivered with stunning clarity and an unsurpassed level of reliability.

In any case, NEXO is owned by Yamaha and as said in the paragraph above, NEXO knows a thing or two about speakers. Their PS-series speakers are the stuff of legend and till today are still very much respected. With that said, let’s get down to these speakers and check them out:

As it can be clearly seen in this picture above, the DXR12 has a three channel mixer. That is pretty good and it allows some flexibility when it comes to using one speaker alone for say, a small PA system in a small room. Just bring one speaker and hook up a microphone and an MP3 player to it and you are spun. Then there is the DSP D-CONTOUR switch that allows the digital signal processing to optimise the speaker as either a front-of-house (FOH) or as a monitor, as well as a high-pass filter switch. D-CONTOUR, according to Yamaha on their website:

D-CONTOUR is an intelligent multi-band compressor that gives you powerful and consistent sound throughout all output levels. By constantly monitoring the output of multiple frequency bands and calculating the optimum EQ adjustments for each, even the maximum sound output maintains outstanding clarity and musicality.

Performance-wise, this Class D, bi-amped speaker is capable of putting out 1100 watts of power and has an output level of 132 dB SPL. Now, if that is not loud, I do not know what is. It is also pretty light for such a powerful speaker, weighing in at about 20 kilograms.

Do I like these speakers? I sure do. Will I buy it? It depends. Lots of other offerings from other speaker brands at a fraction of the cost but the very fact that these DXRs have been given the NEXO treatment, they look very tempting indeed.

Cerwin-Vega! CVA-118 active subwoofer

I was using this at an event a few days back. This subwoofer is one heavy mofo. It weighs in excess of 50 kilograms. But how does it perform? Funny you should ask because I am about to tell you.

This is what the rear looks like.First of all, the inputs. We hooked this sub up with two Cerwin-Vega! CVA-28 speakers. A pair of signal cables ran from our mixer to the 1/4″ jacks behind this subwoofer for the stereo input. Then, another pair of signal cables ran from this sub to the two CVA-28s that were on a stand above this active subwoofer.

The sub was indeed powerful. I could feel the bass running all through the night of the event, the lone 18″ woofer pounding away at the low beats and the highs taking everything the DJ could throw at it. I was pretty impressed with it but the weight of this thing….that was the prohibitive part. But then again, it was solidly built, plus endowed with a 700 watt RMS built-in amplifier, its a no wonder it weighed a ton.

Specifications of the sub is as follows:

• Custom 18″ Cerwin-Vega Woofer
• More bass in less space (18″ driver in 15″ cabinet footprint)
• Built-in System Amplification   (700 W RMS / 1400 W Peak)
• 4-Position High Pass Filter
• Sweepable Low Pass Filter
• Scalable with multiple subs using Master/ Slave Output
• Cast Aluminum Grille
• Solid 18mm Hardwood Enclosure with Paint or Carpet Finish*
• Top-mount 35 mm Pole Socket (for single pole / dual antler^)

• Frequency Response: 39 Hz – 135 Hz (±3 dB)
• Peak Power Handling: 1400 watts
• Program Power Handling: 700 watts
• Frequency Range: 36 Hz – 135 Hz (-10 dB)
• Max SPL: 131 dB
• Crossover:
  LPF: Continuously variable from 65 Hz to 130 Hz
  HPF: Selectable Output 65Hz, 85Hz 130Hz or Bypass
• Driver: model, SW18C, size 18″
• 18″ Woofer with 3 ” Voice Coil
• High Quality Coolex® Paint for Durability
• Input Connectors: XLR/F Balanced 1/4″ TRS
• Output Connectors: XLR/M 1/4″ TRS

Pretty impressive. But I would take a smaller sub. This one was able to deliver the goods but something lighter is recommended. I nearly broke my back trying to lift this. But did it perform well? Yes it did. Cerwin-Vega! have a great product in this sub!