Hello audiosex.pro!

We noticed TW's thread (https://audiosex.pro/threads/anyone-tried-it-what-are-your-thoughts-mixanalog-com.38997/) and thought we'd stop by and say hi!

It's true, we've made it possible to control analog gear over the internet. Version 2.0 of our web application launched on the 31. of May 2018 and will remain completely free to test until the end of June. Everyone is welcome to try it!

Find it here: mixanalog.com

There are still a few bugs though and some missing features. If you want to help us get stuff done faster, help us by providing us with user feedback (mail us at [email protected]).

How to use the app:

1. UPLOAD a file you want to process.
2. Press PLAY and TURN THE KNOBS.
3. LISTEN to the processed audio, while it is streamed back to you in real-time, at up to 192kHz and up to 24-bit lossless.
4. Switch to the DOWNLOAD tab and get the file.

List of available gear:

• Burl B80 Mothership with BDA8 and BAD4 units
• Distopik FC670 (Fairchild clone)
• Distopik EQP-1A (Pultec clone)
• Distopik Precision MEQ
• soon Telefunken M15
• soon Bettermaker Mastering Limiter
• about 8 more pieces to be added this year

Links:

• Facebook
• YouTube
• Twitter
• SoundCloud
• the gearslutz thread

Let's address the issues from the TW's thread:

TW wrote that we have a Fairchild 670 compressor/limiter, a Pultec EQP-1A and a Distopik Precision Series Mastering EQ. I'm sorry, but the Fairchild 670 and the two Pultec EQP-1As are only top quality clones with mods that let us control them digitally. TW was misinformed and that's our own fault. We'd like to thank the Gearslutz.com forum for asking questions and making us realize the mistake. If our mistake wasn't pointed out this early in our marketing campaign, eventually, it would have ended very bad for us. So yeah...thanks for saving our ass!

TW's webcam live-stream wish came true. Live-stream of the server room is available on our YouTube channel.

Pipotron3000 hints that having real hardware, means that only one user is able to access 1 chain (we'll be calling them racks) of gear at a time. Our goal is to push the efficiency of the racks to the maximum. Ideally, the racks will be in use almost 24/7 (minus maintenance downtimes). We only have 1 working rack of gear at the moment. It's called Rack1 and it reached 50% daily efficiency on 15. June 2018. Rack2 will be available by the end of the year.

Luka asked if anyone has done this before. We don't know of anyone attempting exactly what we're doing, though RackFX tried to do it with a DIY-Servo approach. We believe maximum accuracy and durability can't be achieved with servos (check our 2016 test clip on YouTube or Facebook), nor digipots and that's why we developed our own electrically equivalent circuits to the pots.

The RoBoT is questioning us having actuall gear connected to the cloud. We're about to record a new behind-the-scenes video to deliver the proof. Meanwhile, you can take a look at our YouTube channel. We've uploaded a few clips from our R&D Archives and even set up a live-stream of the Rack1 system. There's not much action (obviously), but if the blinking lights make you feel better, we'll keep the live-stream running.

TonyG received an incomplete answer from our CEO, Bojan Šernek on how our preset saving feature works. As mentioned before, we developed our own electronic components that are digitally controllable. These components can send and receive data, which can be stored on a computer device, to be recalled later.

He was also justly "freaking pissed off" by the fact that while our FC670 and the two EQP-1As are clones, our website did not state that yet, when he visited it. Again, all thanks go to Gearslutz.com for making us realize the mistake and pointing us in the right direction. We'd appreciate Tony's input more, if he'd been just a little bit less hostile. We also haven't received any emails, no draft of his letter of intent or an NDA that he claimed he'll be sending us. Angry troll?

Anyway...TonyG's engineer would keep the salary he was willing to bet, the process of modding an actual original vintage Fairchild 670 would be exactly the same. No extra components would be needed and the sound of the Fairchild would remain unchanged.

A photo of the actual tape machine we have is availabe on our Facebook page. By the way, TheAudioHunt is also using "the problematic image".

11Fletcher was curious about the Telefunken tape. The tape machine we bought, already had an option to install a remote control panel with transport control buttons and coresponding signaling lights. We replaced the buttons with transistors and started reading the lights outputs, to get the status feedback from the machine's logic circuitry. To read the tape position/end of tape, we took a photo sensor signal from one of the circuit boards and installed transparent leading tape on the beginning and the end of the reel. The whole thing is piloted by a microcomputer.

The tapemachine will obviously have to be maintained and the tape will have to be replaced every now and then. The Telefunken M15 and all other devices with such unique properties/requirements will be available, but their access might get limited by the level of your subscription plans.

Grok is partially right about the danger of some giant corporation taking over our niche. We'll do our best to beat them to it. Pricewise, the more gear we'll have hooked up to our system (up to a healthy amount), the more sustainable it will be. In late 2019, we hope to start the development of a prototype plug-in that would insert our service into your favourite DAW. We'll need funding for that though.

He's right with the fact that 2 original devices don't produce the same exact results. The clones can get very close to the original sound, often even closer than a improperly conserved and maintained original piece.

In a decade or two, we hope there will be an online library of remote connections to almost every analog device in the world. Sonic fingerprints could be taken of the certified original devices and a calculation could be made, that would declare the sound of the original device. The fingerprints of the clones could then be taken and compared against the declared original sound, resulting a clone quality score. But that's just us dreaming.

Conclusion:

We are a start-up company with a young, smart and dedicated team with more ideas than we can handle. We made some mistakes. "Learning on the go" is natural in our environment and we'll eventually be making more of them. Hopefully, we will always be able to recover and continue doing what we love.

We'll be checking this thread daily and replying to your questions, ideas and providing you with the information our website might still be missing.

Thanks!
Team Mix:analog

 

Last edited: Jun 20, 2018

@mix:analog It is always refreshing when a developer or company comes to the Forum and attempts to clear the waters. Good PR on your part. As to the LOI and NDA, there is no longer a need for that...at least momentarily. As to "angry troll" you are 50% correct on that. Angry? I was. Your CEO should have the right answers. Better yet, he should let his PR people do what they do best. Furthermore, your website should not contain false advertisement. In business, the lack of transparency invites hostility. With that say, I reiterate that I do appreciate your initiative as well as all the steps you are taking to run a successful business. I wish you good luck in your endeavors.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jun 20, 2018

Thanks Tony!

We'll do our best to be as transparent and organized as possible and listen to everyone's feedback!

 

how about making something like antares mic mod efx for online? You would be sonarworks of analog studio

 

The only way to go if you want to succeed. Look at all the free exposure you are getting here and direct contact with potential clients. Priceless. @SAiNT should start charging you!

 

Thanks for having taken your time to explain to each one of us who participated in the thread by @TW. I wish more companies would do what you did. It shows you are serious about your vision. One thing I liked about your response was that you were honest and went as far as admitting that your CEO was not forthcoming in his conversation with @TonyG and that the info on your website was incorrect. You can count on me as a regular client.

 

This is brilliant because of the ground breaking process you've created as well as the fact that your service can get these hardware textures on anybody's stuff. Very stoked about playing with this new concept of yours

Since you're a regular client of this can I ask what results you were looking for and how you were satisfied? I'm eager to try myself but wanted to get an idea from someone.

 

Last edited: Jun 21, 2018

We imagine this as having different device slots with neutral GUIs. Let's picture a plain white compressor GUI with knobs and a multi-step switch that would let you change the compressor in use. GUI controls would hide/reveal a button or two while you'd be doing that. You'd be able to quickly compare Neve, API, Gyraf, Manley, SSL compressors at pretty much the same settings.

This will become technically possible with the implementation of the Distopik Pathfinder (digitally controlled analog patchbay) at the end of next month. We'd need a lot of funding though (or amazing deals with the makers). It's definitely a long term goal

 

We'll soon be making more, including an office & server room tour! If you'd like us to address a specific topic, tell us!

 

Very, very cool concept!

 

We finally managed to get some HQ photos <3




Today we checked out this plate reverb a local studio wants to get rid of:



Some angry dude wanted a timestamp photo in an email yesterday, so here it is:

 

Love it

I've been wanting to check this out for a while now but keep getting stuck under tight deadlines that don't allow for much experimentation time at the moment... Happy to see you doing what you're doing

I think it would be a great call if you guys picked up that plate reverb. I believe Capital Records studios remotely treats audio with room chambers and loud speakers in their studios. Since you're system seems to be more workflow oriented for that kind of market a solid plate reverb would be nice no ?

 

Absolutely! It would be an amazing addition to current gear list. The only problem is, we don't have/can't afford a dedicated room for the reverb, so we'll have to set up a subserver at the studio where it's currently located.

It will be the first device not hosted at our HQ, making the first step towards the peer-to-peer-ish network of shared gear, so to say.

 

@mix:analog prime example of pr work. Kudos to you!

 

Booking/file/profile management system is online!



The Pathfinder was placed into the rack casing today and is almost ready to be plugged in!

 

In case you missed it...we brought the Distopik VCA Precision Series compressor online a few days ago!

Here's its audiosex thread!

This is how it looks in the app:



It's the one in the middle:



If you've been following us on social media you may be aware that we accidentally short-circuited the Telefunken M15.

We're happy to announce that the spare parts arrived and it should be online before Friday!

We've also been releasing tons of bug fixes, minor and a few major updates that were not big enough for me to have an excuse to write a post about. These changes include improved stability of the app, the split of the download/bounce process and its stability (it's pretty much 100% stable now) and the consequential pricing system tweak, a few user requested UX improvements...

If you haven't been using the service in a while, I recommend that you stop by and see what's new for you.

RMS and Peak meter will be online today!

oh....and a HUUUGE (and very professional) website redesign is coming somewhere in the next 2 months, yay!

 

Cool idea/service. Thanks for making a proper introduction. Not my cup of tea, personally. But there are certainly people here who might be interested in what you do. A lot of developers could learn from the way you cooperatively interact with the people here.

 

We've started a blog: https://blog.mixanalog.com/

And we'll be posting more videos on YouTube:

 

Another way to get us to part with our money

 

If there's a way to get your hands on analog gear for free, let us know!

Oh wait, you can do that using our service for 1 more week until we switch to the per-session-time pricing system.

And even then we'll be offering 30 minutes of trial time on every major update!