Xer Mixa mixer update: hex and quad sound, synced mutes, more

Hot on the heels of our in-depth review of the expansive Noise Engineering Xer Mixa, the folks at NE have a beta update with lots of new features. And that includes the ability to use quadraphonic and hexaphonic outputs for immersive panning.

I mentioned the possibility of quad setups in the reviews of the Noise Engineering and 1010music Eurorack mixers because these are very convenient ways to get immersive audio. Until we’re booked to a Eurorack gig on a Dolby Atmos setup, quad is also easily applied to analog mixing. And you can get a lot of spatial effects just with careful quad panning.

Quad and hex are now both in new beta firmware for Xer Mixa. You could have hacked this before, but they’ve made it far more convenient.

Config > Audio > Panning and you can choose stereo, quad, and hex
Quad uses the B output pair as rear left and right – so you can still use A as an aux send or cue (and it operates normally) – use the pan encoder for left right, and the B encoder for front/back
Hex does the same, but uses all three output pairs: M for front left/right, B for middle left/right, and A for rear left/right. Pan now rotates around all six, with B adjusting width.

Tthis is no small matter. It instantly makes this an ideal Eurorack mixer for these setups, and whereas you can find some other tools to do this, rarely would you get this many outputs.

Also in this version, they’ve added synced mute states. Send MIDI clock, and you can mute/unmute with MIDI clock signal. For analog clocking, use Expando Expandi and set the destination to clock, so that any input becomes a mute trigger.

Of the two, the mute triggering is especially useful, I think, but the other one could be a fun trick.

Also in this update: