![]() Instead like probably most of you, I’m used to ALSA, the Advanced Linux Sound System. My Linux in the 1990s was all about setting up web servers, so the first Linux sound subsystem passed me by. In the beginning, there was the Open Sound System, or OSS. It’s time for a dive into Linux audio, to a level I’ve never needed to do before because, well, it’s always just worked, hasn’t it? Who Knew There Was So Much To Linux Audio! So near and yet so far, I can see them but not touch them! I have a load of sound cards to choose from, but I can only record from one of them at any one time. Unfortunately I can’t just fire up Audacity expecting an awesome multi-channel experience. I placed the order, and when they arrived I plugged them in and instantly had a computer with five audio jacks. I’m not pricing for the most expensive faders on the market, but a reasonable quality linear potentiometer adds quite a bit per channel to the BoM.Īt this point it occurred to me, can I use the PC as a live mixer with multiple sound cards? I can order a heap of very cheap and nasty USB sound cards for under ten dollars, so it won’t cost me much to try. The problem was that the budget climbs with each successive channel towards the point at which I’d be better off spending a bit more and buying one. It’s possible to make one without too much bother, and indeed I considered exactly that. Most small mixers however use straightforward op-amp gain stages and buffers, with adjustable ones for each channel. They claim this thing has a TI PCM2902 chip inside, and who am I to dispute that! It’s so simple that one can be made with passive components only, and indeed there are extremely affordable mixers that do just that. Cheap And Nasty Sound Cards To The Rescue!Īn analogue mixer is an extremely simple device at heart, it simply sums a series of audio signals each of which has its own volume control fader. Surely I can come up with an alternative. Around the three figure mark are several models, but I am both a cheapskate and an engineer. If I want a bunch of silly digital effects or a two-channel desk with a crossfader I can fill my boots, but for a conventional mixer I have to look somewhat upmarket. In their place are models aimed at podcasters and DJs. This means that those bedroom musicians no longer need cheap mixers, so the models I was looking for have disappeared. Lay down as many tracks as you like, edit and post-process them digitally without much need for a physical mixer, isn’t it great to be living in the future! Where once there were bedroom musicians with a four-track cassette recorder if they were lucky, now everything’s on the computer. But the marketplace for a cheap small mixer just ain’t what it used to be. There comes a point in every engineer’s life at which they need a mixing desk, and for me that point is now. ![]()
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