IK Multimedia is establishing itself as one
of the most prolific developers of iOS apps and accessories for musicians, and
its latest offering is the iRig Mix, a compact mixer for all recent Apple
devices. There are no specialized connectors, so it’s actually a fairly
conventional mixer, albeit one with a few interesting tricks up its sleeve.
IK
Multimedia is establishing itself as one of the most prolific developers of iOS
apps and accessories for musicians, and its latest offering is the iRig Mix
The box itself is very lightweight, and
although this makes it supremely portable, the plastic casing doesn’t feel
quite as strong as it might. Place it on a flat surface, however, and the
sticky feet anchor it nicely, so slipping around during performances shouldn’t
be a problem. The front panel has two sets of controls, each with gain, bass
and treble, a cue button for previewing sound before it’s sent to the main
outputs, and a fader. At the bottom, a cross fader lets you move between the
two channels. Power comes through a micro USB port, and there are basic
four-segment LED level meters to give you an idea of how loud your signal is.
The rear panel houses two mini jack ports, one for each channel, and Phono
outputs for connecting to powered speakers or an amplifier. All the relevant
cables are supplied, but they’re pretty standard, so serious DJs might want to
use their own. On the bottom edge is a headphone output with independent level
control and a Viin jack input for a guitar or mix, also with a gain knob.
That’s really rather a lot of functionality
to pack into such a small box, and the iRig Mix makes good use of it, giving
you various different ways to use the hardware. At its most basic, you can
connect one iOS device, pop the mixer into split input mode and control each of
the two stereo channels with the dials and faders. The second mode involves
mixing between two devices, either both iOS or one iOS and another device such
as a CD player. Here, you would connect both inputs and put the mixer into dual
input mode, with each track playing in a separate channel.
If you’re using IK’s free DJ Rig app for
iPhone or iPod touch (there’s no native iPad version at present), you can take
advantage of the X-Sync system. Enable this in the app and flip the switch on
the mixer, and it allows the app to read the signal from the second device and
tempo sync itself. This takes a bit of figuring out, but does work, although
it’s best with very rhythmic music, preferably electronic. One minor issue we
had was that switching to X-Sync mode on the hardware seemed to introduce some
hiss into the signal, although this wasn’t too intrusive.
iRig
MIX is a mobile mixer from IK Multimedia that works great alongside their new
DJ Rig App
The third mode is rather nifty. It enables
you to plug in a guitar or mic signal and have it fed through to your iOS
device for processing using IK’s VocaLive or AmpliTube apps (available in free
versions for all iOS devices) and then returned to the mixer - all this while
feeding in a second signal from another device. So it would be easy to j am
along to a song, for example, using vocal or guitar effects in real time. This
could conceivably be used for solo performances, even if most venues have their
own hardware in place.
iRig Mix is a remarkably portable and
capable device that you can imagine someone whipping out at an impromptu party
along with a couple of iPods or iPhones. It’s also a useful general mixer,
since it accepts any audio input. D J Rig is a great little app, too, and ties
together nicely with the hardware. As an inexpensive way to D J anywhere, the
Mix is well worth taking for a spin.
|
Details
§
Price: $94.5
§
From: ikmultimedia.com
§
Needs: iPhone 3GS or newer, or third or fourth-generation
iPod touch, or any iPad
§
Pro: Incredibly portable * Faders feel
authentic - Flexible to use * Works as a micro PA mixer * Ties in well with
IK’s apps
§
Con: Case could feel more sturdy * Slight
noise in some modes
|
