|
|
You are bidding on a Samson C-Control studio mixer, barely used in my smoke free home studio. This unit gives you flexibility that usually costs hundreds more by providing multiple monitor outputs, multiple source inputs and talkback functionality.
Be sure to check out my other auction for the Samson Que 8 Headphone Amplifier, a great addition to this unit! If you purchase both I will cover shipping and throw in 6 1/4" patch cables to get you started.
The Full Details
With so many powerful virtual instruments and effects available within music software, it's perfectly possible to set up a computer-based recording system without a mixer, but there are elements of the traditional mixer that it's difficult to manage without, especially if you're using active monitors. For example, you need an easily accessible physical volume control, perhaps a monitor Dim button for when the phone rings, and a mono button to see if your mixes collapse into a lifeless heap when played over a mono system. Then there's talkback, the ability to select different two-track machines for playback, and a headphone out. Samson's C*Control provides all this and more.
Essentially, the C*Control duplicates the master section of a mixer and, in addition to its main stereo mix input, it can also switch to three further stereo sources. Stereo input level monitoring is implemented using a pair of six-segment LED meters. What's more, it can even mix these inputs, which is useful if you simply want to use your guitar preamp to play along with a CD or one of your songs in progress. There's no input level control though so levels must be controlled at source. As well as being monitored via speakers, the stereo mix can be sent to three stereo recorders at the same time (any one of which can be used as a monitor source via the input selectors), and there's switching for up to three sets of studio monitors. The third monitor output may be on at the same time as either of the first two making it suitable for feeding a subwoofer or for driving separate playback speakers in the studio area. Clearly much thought has gone into the monitor switching system, not least because, if the Speaker B button is pressed down, the Speaker A button toggles between Speakers A and Speaker B, whereas if the Speaker B button isn't down it simply turns Speaker A on or off. The routing also makes it virtually impossible to feed an output back into an input, which would produce electrical feedback.
C*Control includes an integral electret talkback mic (mounted in the front panel) that can send into the cue mix or into the two-track outputs, where a rear-panel jack allows remote talkback switching using an optional 'normally open' switch. The speaker outputs dim whenever talkback is operated. A headphone amp with its own level control is built in, and a stereo cue output feeds the selected stereo input to an external headphone amp or other cue system. Using talkback momentarily overrides the source in the cue output but does not affect the headphone output.
|