[sdiy] VCA mixer ?

[Richard Wentk]

At 05:49 29/09/2003 +0700, Merlin Zener wrote:
>Has it already been done?

Simmons used to make a rack mounted analogue mixer with MIDI automation. A 
long time ago. ;-)

Many big studio desks (Neve, SSL, etc) have VCAs in the signal path to 
allow automation. (The other option is to use motor-driven faders, but 
that's a *really* expensive way to go and a real dog to design well. And 
it's also not what you want here.)

>Are there some products I could look at?

You might be better off getting a MOTU 828 or two or some kind of digital 
desk. 128 MIDI-controlled VCAs are going to be *very* expensive no matter 
how you do it. It's also going to be a nightmare getting that many into a 
small space.

If you really want to go analogue THATS VCA chips like the 2150A have a 
good rep, although I haven't seen them around for a while. There's also an 
SSM chip, but the THATS will probably be better for high quality mixing.

I think what the world really needs is some kind of high quality 8:8 
crosspoint/mixer chip. Any volunteers to finance and design one? :-)

Richard