DIY 8 channel speaker routing

ztutz

New member
Hi, I've lurked on this board for years. I finally have a question:

I work on stereo mixes, 5.1 surround mixes, and 8 channel mixes in my studio. I currently replug my audio interfaces when I need to reconfigure.

I've got two computers, each with 8 balanced outs. I've got 8 powered monitors. In the best of all possible worlds, I would have a dedicated line mixer in my rack with which I could assign one channel from each computer to an output speaker, and which would have a rotary pot to control the gain of the speaker. The two ins would sometimes be summed, but levels could be set in the software - no need for input faders. In fact, if there were a master mute button, I could *probably* dispense with the rotary pots.

This sounds like 16 quarter inch TRS inputs, 8 TRS outs, 8 rotary output levels, a big red mute button, and an assignment matrix. (Digital might be cheaper than 16x8 button matrix? Buttons are low-tech, though, which is a plus...) Basically, a glorified patchbay. Headphone jack for monitoring and working on isolated channels would be a plus, but not really necessary, as I can route from the audio interfaces as necessary.

I know that I could purchase a digital matrix mixer for big bucks to do this. I could also use an 8 buss recording mixer, which would be massive overkill. (A Mackie 16.8 would be ok here - this is what I am using as a budget figure - but it takes up a lot of room.) My question to the board is: should I think about building something myself? I've got soldering iron, scope, etc., but I have zero design ability when it comes to analog electronics. Alternatively, are there devices out there that will do what I want that I don't know about?

Thanks for any advice.
 
I think you will get better answers if this was posted in the DIY section. I'll move it over for you.

Welcome to the site.
 
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