They call it "cluster"

I doubt it buuut it could be something very similar. If you have 1 input with ±5 Volts then you have to get an output that is about the same for it to be workable by whatever is down the line beyond this mixer. the moment you have 2 inputs, each input has to be cut in half or the mixer needs to be able to do on-the-fly unknown variable dynamic range mixing... which... aside from distorting the volume gives wildly different outputs (on the fly, i might add... which is a nightmare if you want a stable volume that always gives the same output). You add a third input? same thing. The output has to have the same original variability both if all 3 inputs are at +5 or at -5. So each input gets cut to a third, and so on and so forth. It's basically a safety measure and a way to make sure the sound stays the same quality as the original and that you don't have to change the main volume on the mixer each time an input stops being quiet all of a sudden... and so on and so forth. That is how i would do it. Buuut i do not know what they did and i never worked with that equipment.

Simone Spinozzi

I do not understand the electro/physics behind the "loading effect" .. I just know that it happens, and that's what somebody called it in a Mutable Instruments forum thread where somebody asked what was the lowest ohms value they could get away with for the summing resistors in a passive mixer. You would expect a slight signal drop just from the resistors themselves. In this case I'm using 50k thermal resistors I got cheap on ebay. One of my other mixers uses 10k carbon resistors and the overall output is louder but it still has noticeable "loading effect". The first signal you plug in comes out at _almost_ its original volume, but each signal you add to the mix causes the total output to become noticeably quieter. Like I said, I don't know how or why this happens. Maybe it's averaging the signals?

Interesting. I had not considered it from this point of view. So does the output volume drop because the more inputs you add the more resistance gets applied?

Simone Spinozzi

Passive mixers are still subject to "loading effect" wherein the output volume drops the more inputs you plug into it. Mixing with a Y cable is not advised, but each input of the passive mixer has a resistor to protect upstream devices from signals bleeding backwards along the input line. This could, in theory, be bad - but in practice probably nothing would happen because most devices are built with output impedance .. just in case the user is dumb enough to connect outputs directly to each other (which is what you're doing when you mix signals with a plain Y splitter.) The sound quality of a passive mixer is excellent (no noise is introduced) but you have to take the signal loss into account. I'm using that recycled video case as an output mixer (stereo, 3 inputs per side) and since "modular level" can peak as high as 10v .. line level audio is only about 3.5v so the signal loss inherent in the passive mixer actually works for me in this situation. I can turn my audio mixer up almost to unity instead of -5 where I usually set it when using the Mixology outputs.

🤔🤔🤔 i feel you about the having to move stuff around. didn't you say passive mixers were to be sort of avoided? I probably misunderstood and you meant stuff like cable splicing only since that one has volume mixers to avoid unnecessary tension i suppose. also, believe it or not when you said snapping fingers i could not place it because it sounded like when you beat one of those brush drum sticks on a regular drum stick, even after you said it was rain it took a while for me to place it. 🤦‍♂️ And thanks for sharing. Can't help on your doubts though. 😅

Simone Spinozzi

i'll listen to this ASAP!

Simone Spinozzi