Soundtracs MX Story...

  • Thread starter Thread starter sweetbeats
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The ad looks pretty good but I'd drop the section where you list its shortcomings. Better to just say that you've modded it to improve its performance rather then fix known issues.

Maybe also offer the ability to deliver it within a reasonable distance if the buyer doesn't have appropriate transportation. Maybe also list what the mixer originally sold for. And state that its British made, rather then just saying "brit", which not everyone might immediately understand the abbreviated word.

Also, leave out the fact that you've now reduced the price. This tells buyers you're stuck with it and growing more desperate. Also talk about why you're selling it.

Hope that helps a bit.

Cheers! :)
 
Wow sweetbeats! Been reading some of your mixer threads and I'm impressed. I've done the same, only with bikes though. Buy road/mtn bikes, fix them and sell them.

Last bike I did took me 9 hrs. to clean. Then install new parts, polish frame and tune/adjust everything. It didn't even make it to CL. A friend had his brother-in-law come down to take a look (half way through the refurbishing).

Bought it right there. Now I told him a couple more weeks as I had more parts coming in. I ended up breaking/shattering my left elbow in a mtn crash. 1st ever broken bone/surgery.

Got a huge titanium plate. Finished the bike 4 days after surgery with one arm. Had to install all the cables and adjust/tune everything.

He was/is very happy with the bike.

IMG_3204.webp
 
The Ghost of FM said:
The ad looks pretty good but I'd drop the section where you list its shortcomings. Better to just say that you've modded it to improve its performance rather then fix known issues.

Maybe also offer the ability to deliver it within a reasonable distance if the buyer doesn't have appropriate transportation. Maybe also list what the mixer originally sold for. And state that its British made, rather then just saying "brit", which not everyone might immediately understand the abbreviated word.

Also, leave out the fact that you've now reduced the price. This tells buyers you're stuck with it and growing more desperate. Also talk about why you're selling it.

Hope that helps a bit.

Cheers! :)
Click to expand...

Awesome, Ghost. Thank you. Updated listing can be seen HERE. Probably take a few minutes for the changes to hit their server, but here's hoping I get some bites!!
 
sweetbeats said:
Awesome, Ghost. Thank you. Updated listing can be seen HERE. Probably take a few minutes for the changes to hit their server, but here's hoping I get some bites!!
Click to expand...

That looks pretty good!

Let's hope you get some serious responses from it now!

Cheers! :)
 
Off it went today.

So glad to have connected with a buyer that appreciates what was done to the mixer and is looking forward to putting it to use. And like me the buyer is a fan of dub. :cool:

Ben, if you're reading this, it was a pleasure to meet your acquaintance. I know you'll take good care of the Soundtracs!
 
Hello
You did a great job with Sondtracs mixer.
Bought parts of a mixer Soundtracs MRX, missing connections and have to replace some components. You have the schematic for this mixer or let me know where I can get.
Thank you.
 
MX1.webp

Ok Im now digesting the big refurb for this one. Thanks so much for posting this thread Cory! It will be like my Bible over the coming months. I will be doing a lot of the manual work but will take sections at a time to my Tech guy. I think first up will be a very detailed and methodical run thru of the mixer while its still in one piece. Note down any dead pots/sends etc. Note any signal problems channel by channel. I think I better get some schooling on test tones etc too.
 
Schooling on test tones? Can you clarify?

Looks like you have an early MX.

Thanks for the comments!
 
sweetbeats said:
Schooling on test tones? Can you clarify?
Looks like you have an early MX.
Thanks for the comments!
Click to expand...

Yeah I mean running some sine waves through each channel/Bus/Aux etc and perhaps some dynamic tones for Dynamic response as well. And run thru a audio spectrum analyzer....And snap shot so can compare channels..

Im not the best when it comes to that stuff so I need to brush up. I just want to make sure that each channels spec is very close. Also I need to test for noise. But not sure how to do that. I guess I need to start on the power supply first? Once that's up to par I can test the board before pulling it apart? Do you think its worth re-doing the old one or get a new one i.e Studio Systems - The Soundtracs of Your Life

P.S know where I can get a manual?

Thanks dude.
 
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I think you're trying to do too much too deep right off the bat.

Do you have the mixer yet?

Plug in a mic and try it out. Just go through and see what's working and what's not working first.

Run some program material into it and just listen. Then you'll know what really needs fixed. Outside of that I always consider the power supply to be a great place to start.

But don't assume you need to go all banshee on the thing. I tend to do that and it really is just because I can't help myself, but half the time (or more) half of what I do (or more) is totally over the top.

Note that I didn't do any recapping of the board itself on my MX...just rebuilt/upgraded the power supply, and there were repairs to pots on the individual modules, and then all the structural work and mods to the ground scheme. The structural work was just to satisfy my OCD-ish-ness...and the ground scheme mods were to deal with the high power AM radio station literally down the street. If you don't have noise problems, then don't go all banshee. I rebuilt/upgraded the power supply because the mixer itself was able to starve the PSU...and it needed recapping and cooling management changes too.

If you know how to rebuild/upgrade the power supply then it will be cheaper to upgrade/rebuild it yourself. If you don't then the Studio Systems ones look like an option but I don't know *anything* about what they do to them or what they are inside. Also they are the "brick" type as opposed to the rack-mount units like I had. The brick type are not well regarded...even less so than the rack-mount units.

Studio Systems should have a copy of the manual they can sell you.
 
Yeah I have it $500 US. Yes I have been running some Keys thru each channel.
The only thing so far is channel 8 bus seems dead.
Gosh the Eq is soooo smooth and musical... really creamy, not harsh... Love it!
Will be good for sound shaping and broad carving...

I will pass some tones thru each channel so too see how they compare and note down.
Will get my Tech to go over the Power Supply and see what he says.
He's quite a Guru. So Is good I have him.
And yeah only going to replace bad caps. Might do some better grounding too...
And will def paint her up again. Might get it a custom color. i.e Studio Purple... ;)

Did you have worn button names? i.e like Solo & Mutes?
Know any tricks to re-do those?

Cheers..
 
I don't know any tricks to replace worn screening.

Channel 8 bus is dead? Can you clarify? Do you mean it won't pass signal to any of the subgroups? How about the main bus? If that's the case check the pan pot.

Only going to replace the "bad caps"? How will you know they are bad? Are you pulling each cap and testing on an ESR meter? That's the only way to know for sure if it's good or bad and if you're pulling them already you may as well replace them.

Test the power supply for ripple and proper voltage. Get yourself enough 150ohm 1/4W resistors to stuff in pins 2 and 3 of each mic jack, then set each mic trim to about 3:00, route each strip to all 8 groups, pan center, faders to unity, group faders to unity and bring up the main faders and see if it throws the console into a LF oscillation. We're loading the power supply and if it runs out of gas with this test it needs to be upgraded.
 
Thanks I will pass that info onto my tech guy for advice. Yeah the 8th bus does not pass audio to the master. Havent pulled it apart yet. Not un-till we have tested everything first then will get her to bits.

Do you think using the desks line inputs as a front end before multi-track for synths and drum samples etc then on return as mixing desk as well would be too much creamyness? I have quite a few classic keys i.e JP8/JP6/OB8/XA/Matrix12/Prophets etc. I want them down to multitrack (Tascam X48) as clean as possible. Thanks for your time..

P.S.. Do you know what the blank MultiCore (expansion) panel does/goes to at the back?
 
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Only your ears can judge the level of creaminess.

The multicore connection was an optional ELCO snake connection paralleling input and output jacks.
 
sweetbeats said:
Only your ears can judge the level of creaminess.
Click to expand...

HA!

Great work, sweetbeats! I've been reading this thread for over a year (maybe i even posted and can't remember!) and am finally ready to start on my 24 channel MRX. It'll most likely be a year before I can use it (stored in a detached garage that will be used as my studio at some point), so I want to take the time to go through it, piece by piece, and make sure it's 100%.

When going through it at time of purchase, I found one dead channel and a headphone output that didn't seem to work. I say "seem" because I had the same problem on an FMX that I bought and then promptly sold to a buddy to finance the MRX. It's either a big coincidence that they're both not functioning, or I didn't get how to bus a signal to the headphone out. I'm hoping it's the latter, which is possible as I didn't spend much time with the mixer before storage. In addition to those things, it will also need a few new pots (broken shafts) which i'll get from Steve, The Soundtracs Guy. I've purchased a manual from him (as well as for the FMX) even though I realized it's the same as the manual I got with it. Worth it as he's given me a LOT of free advice over the past couple years. (I originally had a SOLO Live) He also cautioned me against replacing caps "just to re-cap." I'll be going through them all with an ESR meter to see if anything seems wonky.

Any advice on a workflow to check the strips individually if I do NOT have the chassis inside? Also, any places to start on the headphone issue (as in - "here's how you bus a channel to the headphone out") would be handy! Can't wait to dive in!

-James
 
Help me, have you ever experienced something like this ...
soundtracs mixer solo logic, when EQ is flat, the results are like this, low frequency tone is almost non-existent ??
 
I’ve only owned an MX-32, so no experience with the solo logic.

What is your source material? Is it across all channels? Is there an impedance mismatch? What equipment is connected to the input? How are you monitoring the output? To really establish whether or not you have a problem, you should use a tone generator to input tones of a known level across the audio spectrum, and then measure the level at the direct out jack with the fader set to unity gain and plot the response curve. If the LF range is non-existent this will quantitatively show that.
 
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