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The cult of rotary mixers

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Re: The cult of rotary mixers

#11

Post by monadgonad »

antris wrote: post #2

I've been playing records for a few years and have had the pleasure of playing with a DJR400. Some personal additions to the article I'd like to share: 1. The physical feel of the device is amazing. Every knob feels and looks both smooth and incredibly sturdy. It's like the difference between driving a Mazda and a Porsche. Madza might be more versatile, practical, and cost-effective. But which one of them is more fun…

> It's like the difference between driving a Mazda and a Porsche

You mean Honda? Bit of an odd comparison when the Mazda MX5/Miata is one of the most well-known fun drives.

Re: The cult of rotary mixers

#12

Post by et-al »

janci wrote: post #3

By the title I expected the article to be about kitchen blenders, as they are called mixers in my mother tongue. Do native speakers have this confusion?

Yes, but I also saw the domain and context-switched to electronic music.

Re: The cult of rotary mixers

#13

Post by fipple »

perilunar wrote: post #7

Growing up my mum had a Kenwood. Massive beast of a machine. Fully analogue controls. Sounded terrible, but very loud. Could take your arm off if you weren't careful. Even had a mincer attachment. Not really sure how you would make a non-rotary mixer TBH.

Do you mean a Kenmore? Because a Kenwood would be an audio mixer like this article is talking about :D

Re: The cult of rotary mixers

#14

Post by jen729w »

antris wrote: post #2

I've been playing records for a few years and have had the pleasure of playing with a DJR400. Some personal additions to the article I'd like to share: 1. The physical feel of the device is amazing. Every knob feels and looks both smooth and incredibly sturdy. It's like the difference between driving a Mazda and a Porsche. Madza might be more versatile, practical, and cost-effective. But which one of them is more fun…

> After a long day sitting on a computer, the last thing I want is to feel like going to stand next to another computer.

Utterly tangential, but this is why some of us still love shooting 35mm film.

Re: The cult of rotary mixers

#15

Post by vinay427 »

monadgonad wrote: post #11
antris wrote: post #2

I've been playing records for a few years and have had the pleasure of playing with a DJR400. Some personal additions to the article I'd like to share: 1. The physical feel of the device is amazing. Every knob feels and looks both smooth and incredibly sturdy. It's like the difference between driving a Mazda and a Porsche. Madza might be more versatile, practical, and cost-effective. But which one of them is more fun…

> It's like the difference between driving a Mazda and a Porsche You mean Honda? Bit of an odd comparison when the Mazda MX5/Miata is one of the most well-known fun drives.

Well, you picked the other company that is most known for an extremely fun relatively affordable car: the S2000 :)

I feel like neither Mazda nor Honda are appropriate here, anyway.

Re: The cult of rotary mixers

#16

Post by weinzierl »

One feature that faders have is clear visual and haptic feedback - a thing that is not as clear with knobs. For rotary controls not only are the markings smaller if they exist at all but you have to deal with angles instead of distances, for which we know from studies of pie charts for example, our brains are not well equipped for. Then there is the problem that for haptics you need a marking on the circumfence which you can't see in every position, so you need another marker on top - I,ve rarely seen this design. I assume a blind person could use a fader easily but not necessarily a knob.

Where all of this becomes relevant is when we consider digital controllers. If we accept knobs without any visual and physical markings at all we gain an important feature - we can save and recall pot positions. Visual feedback can be regained with a display or a ring of LEDs around the knob or both. With a physical fader all of this is hard to achieve. You need motorized faders, which exist, but are expensive and have a bunch of disadvantages.

Re: The cult of rotary mixers

#17

Post by lisper »

vinay427 wrote: post #15
monadgonad wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's like the difference between driving a Mazda and a Porsche You mean Honda? Bit of an odd comparison when the Mazda MX5/Miata is one of the most well-known fun drives.

Well, you picked the other company that is most known for an extremely fun relatively affordable car: the S2000 :) I feel like neither Mazda nor Honda are appropriate here, anyway.

I nominate Acura as the nameplate with the least fun to drive cars.

Re: The cult of rotary mixers

#18

Post by Cthulhu_ »

jen729w wrote: post #14
antris wrote: post #2

I've been playing records for a few years and have had the pleasure of playing with a DJR400. Some personal additions to the article I'd like to share: 1. The physical feel of the device is amazing. Every knob feels and looks both smooth and incredibly sturdy. It's like the difference between driving a Mazda and a Porsche. Madza might be more versatile, practical, and cost-effective. But which one of them is more fun…

> After a long day sitting on a computer, the last thing I want is to feel like going to stand next to another computer. Utterly tangential, but this is why some of us still love shooting 35mm film.

And some have a hobby in IoT / non critical electrical fiddling?

Re: The cult of rotary mixers

#19

Post by l33tbro »

Audiophile stuff is so often a bunch of baloney, but a vintage Bozak or Urei rotary actually does sound superior to modern mixers in a pretty noticeable way. Even for colder electronic stuff like minimal techno, I think the discrete components make things sound rounder and just more pleasant.

Maybe the best rotary mixers being built today are by a guy in Adelaide, Australia (1). You'll have to wait 3 months (at least) for him to build it.

(1) https://condesaelectronics.com/product-category/mixers/

Re: The cult of rotary mixers

#20

Post by Cthulhu_ »

janci wrote: post #3

By the title I expected the article to be about kitchen blenders, as they are called mixers in my mother tongue. Do native speakers have this confusion?

I thought this was about those Kitchen-Aids that seem to have a cult following too. Oh well, titles, words, etc.
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