[microsound] "No Input Mixing Board"

Tue Dec 14 17:34:53 EST 2010

DOD made a number of stereo guitar pedals - chorus, flanger and so on
- with a single input and stereo outputs. So it's easy enough to plug
one output into the input and monitor the other out. They can be
picked up very cheaply (a lot of the DOD stuff was marketed at
teenagers so grown-ups don't like them. Imagine Eric Clapton using a
pedal with a knob labelled 'Ass').

Chris

On 15 December 2010 09:23, Scott Carver <scott at artificia.org> wrote:
> I would advise anyone who gets a chance to try it out - it's a ton of fun.
> It is, however, VERY unstable and thus very hard to control changes. Without
> any kind of loop pedal or external software or anything, it tends to be a
> process of (a) messing around randomly until you find an awesome stable
> state, and (b) carefully pushing that stable state around until you either
> lose it or lose interest. With respect to that, I've actually found that
> less cheap mixers are sometimes better. Doing it with a crappy second hand
> one seems like a good idea, but if the pots are shitty it becomes pretty
> difficult to hone in on anything interesting. The last mixer I tried it with
> would sometimes lose it's state if I bumped the table it was on....
> And, with regard to external effects / reverb - anything that can introduce
> nonlinearities and then be fed back into the signal is great, but anything
> that introduces delay tends to be bad. I've tried it with, for example,
> cheapo digital reverbs, and sometimes the only sound you get is a tone at
> 1/effect latency - not interesting. Analog signal chain is the way to go.
> - Scott
>
> On Dec 14, 2010, at 6:00 AM, Andrew C. Smith wrote:
>
> Nakamura came to play in Brooklyn a few months back, and actually had a
> whole rack mount setup with digital reverb and all kinds of effects. Sort of
> a surprise, to me anyway (I'm only a little familiar with his music), but it
> was interesting how the feeding back mixer was juxtaposed with this totally
> stock, everyday digital reverb sound.
>
> Also, you may just want to try asking around and seeing if you can borrow a
> cheap mixer and patch cables from anyone. To my knowledge, no-input feedback
> can't ruin a board, and most pros (even most amateurs) have a few extra
> small mixers sitting around. If you try a few out you may know better what
> to look for when you go to the music shop.
>
> Since no one else said it yet: don't use headphones.
>
> Good luck.
>
> Andrew
>
> On Dec 14, 2010, at 8:32 AM, Michal Seta wrote:
>
> You could probably get a Behringer 8 channel mixer for less than a
>
> 100$ at your local music equipment store.  Those are totally useless
>
> for pro-audio but they should fit your needs.  Of course you also need
>
> a lot of patch cords.  You may want to check your nearest electronics
>
> surplus store, they may have good deals on cables (maybe even some
>
> amateur mixing boards!).  Just make sure that when you are buying a
>
> mixer to use as a musical instrument, there are more outputs than just
>
> Main Out (hopefully Aux and/or Fx and maybe even direct out) for
>
> increased flexibility of routing signals.
>
> Here's one good deal for a Behringer:
>
> http://bit.ly/f4JPqy
>
> You could also check some local classifieds listings but I would
>
> advise that when you buy this kind of stuff (especially online or
>
> through an ad) you do it with an adult, hopefully someone who
>
> understands your needs and what you are buying to some extent.
>
> Cheers.
>
> ./MiS
>
> On Tue, Dec 14, 2010 at 8:12 AM, Nic Freed <beatthefinalboss at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Thank you very much for replying so fast! I do like Larseneurs, but I do not
>
> speak french, so I do not know how much I can use their site :(
>
> You explained that very well, and now that I understand, I am very anxious
>
> to try ;)
>
> If you don't mind my asking, where might I get a cheap mixing board with an
>
> input and output? Maybe somewhere on ebay or something?
>
> Thanks again!
>
> --Nic
>
> On Mon, Dec 13, 2010 at 11:49 PM, Michal Seta <mis at artengine.ca> wrote:
>
> Hi Nic,
>
> The base idea behind the no input mixing board is that a mixing board
>
> is never perfectly silent.  It is then expected that when you plug its
>
> output to its input, the inherent noise (or hum) that is within the
>
> system will quickly start adding itself up and you will be able to
>
> build a feedback loop.  Most mixers have pre-amps built in which can
>
> greatly help you build the sound faster (and they will add a little
>
> bit of noise to the signal as well).  You can then use the EQ knobs to
>
> shape the resulting signal.
>
> Some mixing boards come with built-in effects so you could very easily
>
> start sculpting very intricate soundscapes but if you want to be true
>
> to Nakamura you should use a plain mixing board with only controls
>
> being volume, gain and some EQ (usually just 3 knobs on simple boards:
>
> treble, mid and bass).  Note that having multiple mixing strips and
>
> ways of cross-connecting them gives you an advantage (most mixers will
>
> have auxiliary inputs and outputs which you can exploit to make cross
>
> connections between different strips).
>
> Getting a cheap mixing board will bring you quick instant
>
> gratification because those will usually have higher signal to noise
>
> ratio.  You will be feeding back in no time.
>
> If such minimal meas of noise making interest you, you may also be
>
> interested in Larseneurs (http://www.larseneur.net/NewsENG.php).  The
>
> idea being that you simply use a computer and let the sound pass
>
> directly from your microphone input straight to the output.  Your only
>
> control is input volume.  Your sounds will greatly depend on the
>
> ambient noise.
>
> Happy feedback!
>
> ./MiS
>
> On Mon, Dec 13, 2010 at 11:14 PM, Nic Freed <beatthefinalboss at gmail.com>
>
> wrote:
>
> Hello :)
>
> I have become very interested in the works of Toshimaru Nakamura
>
> recently,
>
> with his self-named "No-Input Mixing Board", and I would like to learn
>
> more
>
> about it. From what I understand, the output of the board is connected
>
> to
>
> the input... but if so, where does the initial sound causing the
>
> feedback
>
> come from? I would like to try this myself, once I understand it better,
>
> so
>
> I was also wondering about what I would need to purchase to create
>
> something
>
> with this method.
>
> I am 15 years old and without a job, so maybe a cheap mixer and
>
> something to
>
> create sound, like a function generator? I would probably try and get it
>
> for
>
> my birthday, so it can't be too expensive :x
>
> Thank you very much, in advance!
>
> --Nic
>
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-- 
Chris Gregory
---
chris at chrisgregory.com