The cult of rotary mixers

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 to use?

2. Simpler design. Sometimes less is more, especially at DJ gigs. The article kind of hints at this, but part of the feel is not just the quality of the parts but how little (visible) parts the device has. Just compare how the Xone (one of the most respected lines of mixers) looks: https://i.pinimg.com/474x/35/52/dd/3552dd4fbb206be6a4425523e... to the DJR-400:http://www.electronique-spectacle.com/media/DJR400.jpg Yet the tools in DJR-400 are just fine. I definitely wouldn't want a DJR-400 for a 10-hour minimal techno set, but for blasting out house music in a packed club there might not be anything better at that price point.

3. You can do amazing tricks with the above mentioned Xone mixer (you could argue that it's almost a musical instrument of its own), but the way of operating reminds me more of a computer than an analogue device. There's a reason why so many DJs still prefer vinyl. The digital XDJ stations are even "worse" in this aspect with their LCD touchscreens and endless configuration options behind menu trees. After a long day sitting on a computer, the last thing I want is to feel like going to stand next to another computer.

4. If a problem occurs on an analogue device there are only a few things that could have gone wrong; there's some dust where there shouldn't be, some cable is loose, there's problems with electricity or some part is physically bent. But with these increasingly digital tools it's more like debugging and fixing a computer with proprietary software. There's an endless amount of error modes and although the reliability of the high-end models is still excellent, it's just another thing to keep in the back of your mind when you're trying to focus on your music and expression. The new rotary mixers are a statement against this trend of increasing digitalisation that has entered the mixer market, too.

I thought this was gonna be about blenders :(

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.

All mixers use almost all rotary controls — the only non rotary controls on most mixers are the channel faders and the cross fader. The primary advantage of a channel fader not being rotary is that you can see at a glance where it’s at, and quickly move from one setting to another to a rough level of precision. When you’re doing hip hop or certain kinds of house mixing (think your classic Chicago house style like Bad Boy Bill), that’s essential. You’re just banging through records a couple minutes at a time, and your hands are off the mixer all the time in your record bag or whatever.

I used to be a progressive house or trance dj, though and I was playing 10 minute records with 3-4 minute transitions and I tended to have my hands on the mixer all the time making minute adjustments, so a rotary mixer with the finer control made more sense.

All the nonsense about sound quality is just bullshit. Nobody at a night club gives a shit about sound quality, as long as like your record needle is clean and you aren’t doing obvious bullshit like pushing the sound into the red.

I was a DJ for five or 6 years— I played everything from dive bars to mega clubs for thousands of people. I’ve talked to hundreds of DJ’s about djing, including very well known names. I’ve never once had a conversation with any of them about audiophile stuff in the context of a club. Some of them are into it in their home studios, but when you’re talking about mixers and turntables— it’s only about user interface issues (or the quality of the effects add ons)

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/

This article has surfaced some of my current frustrations with the DJ Mixer landscape. I've been DJ'ing (mostly mixing at home) for 20 years now. Started with a cheap Gemini, and got a Pioneer DJM-300 shortly after

I used that DJM-300 from probably 99-2014. It was an absolute tank. Aside from two crossfader replacements, it didn't have any issues. If the RCA's didn't get smashed in as result of a drop, I'd probably still use it.

Since then, it seems like anything under $1000 is going to have extremely poor quality potentiometers and channel faders. Even with big names like Pioneer, their low end mixers are almost guaranteed to have scratchy pots and faders in under a year. And, brands like Numark will have scratchy pots in two months.

Which, is hard for me to understand. I built two mixers for my eurorack modular setup probably 5 years ago, and used alpha pots (which are considered cheap, and cost $1/piece). No scratchy pots at all; and they get considerably more usage than my DJ setup.

I've been passively looking for something to diy, but none of the offerings are aimed at a 3-band EQ DJ setup. I'll probably break open my current mixer and replace all the pots, but it's sad that I need to do such a thing. Especially considering the retail cost of parts will be $10.

Rotary knobs are great, I created a react component inspired by them. https://github.com/hugozap/react-rotary-knob

And to think....all I want is a 6/12 channel stereo mixer with 3.5mm jacks so that I can combine my PC's and ham radio(s) signals into one common set of speakers.

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?

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.