Bad Gear - Roland Aira MX-1 Mixer

I just have to congratulate you, regardless of the mixer's quality, these have got to be some of the best jams you have ever made. They go real hard and you were clearly in your element here.

My favorite mixer of all time. One of my favorite pieces of gear out of the dozens of instruments I have!

I bet Roland has a price on your head

Small corrections: There are 3 reverb algorithms, which is "delay 6 / 7 / 8". There are a few other effects hidden as well. Each of the 6 effects buttons have 8 effects to choose from, and with the effects sequencer you can have it change that effect per step. Compressor exists but it's in the mastering button parameters. No compressing just one track, it's the whole thing. Interesting bit of info: roland failed heavily with documentation on this unit. The entire mastering section can be customized via 40+ hidden parameters which were not documented at all by roland. There's a community build manual out there on the web that details all of this. On top of that, there are plenty of button combinations that allow for some really interesting playability, such as selecting all tracks, reversing selection, holding down pan/gain/aux send etc and turning the filter knobs for quick changes (without needing to use the encoder dial), and some other fun stuff, most of which was never put into the roland manual. My issues with the unit is the lack of inputs that arn't usb, the noisy analog inputs, and the lack of a successor. A MX-2 would likely be an instant buy from me. I've been using this mixer for nearly 5 years now, and it's so fundamental to my setup I don't want to think about playing without it.

The unavoidable MC-101 chapter is becoming more and more near with each Aira shown in the show.

I’ll be honest. I have the MX-1 for my live setup and I am in love with it. I could not play without it. I wish Roland made a new version.

I genuinely love my MX-1, even with all the limitations, it's a lot of fun, and sounds great. The only way I see myself ever parting with it is if Roland eventually releases an upgraded version with waaay more analogue inputs and maybe non Aira specific usb ins, but untill then I'll continue to use and love this box for sure.

The Aira series will never die!

It does have reverb!!!! Its one of delay options! If you hold down an effect you have 10 versions of that effect you can toggle through. They have a few different ones I use them all the time and they are sick

This thing came around when I was finishing up college. I had no money to spare, but needed an audio interface with more than just one stereo input. Even at it's 4 mono inputs, this was a top contender as I was excited Roland had made a mixer for synths. Then I tried to read exactly what it did. 4 inputs, 8 channels... 4 channels for Synths I wasn't interested in that had to be plugged into random USB ports. There's a huge FX section, but no FX? I had an MC-505 at the time and was hoping to get some of those AMAZING FX on some external synths. I was so completely confused by this machine that I got a Behringer UMC404 and BCF-2000 and never looked back until you made this video. You explained this thing quite well, but I still get the impression I'd be confused using it. The step sequencer is a cool idea though.

They did a lot more to try and tie together their small synths, than Korg did with it's volcas.

I would like to see a MX-2….. USB class compliant, not only working with Roland gear…better FX … real side chaining, 8 assignable outs (like the TR-8s), sub groups… would be the shit!

Every episode seems to feature a piece of gear I own! The MX-1 is my go to for live electronic gigs. I use the system 1 and the tb 3 as well as a bass station 2. I never had a problem integrating additional hardware gear into my set up with this for live shows. Outstanding jams as always!

For some strange reasons, I will buy everything in your "bad gear" playlist 😂

I loved this mixer. It's was the most indispensable part of my live rig for years.

Audiopilz: slaps roof of YT channel Full Tracks, Extended Jams, Sample Packs: www.patreon.com/audiopilz

Wow two last jams are super-high quality. Always love to see your videos

I had one of these early on in my gear journey when I was quite Roland heavy. I remember the halcyon days hunched and sweating over it in my attic and I remember enjoying stuff about the MX-1. This mixer really helped me expand past running 2 mono inputs into my TR8S. I learnt about S+R off this thing and wanted more, an insatiable thirst for send effects that the MX-1 could not quench. When I look at my Reverb history(that started after I sold this on fookin ebay, the commission! It could have been 3.5%! A fool was I) you'd think I was making records, but no, I was learning that lesson that we all have to learn eventually, It's not what you've got it's what you do with it that counts, It's the ideas not the hardware, I kid you not people! So here I am looking back on my life as a gear whore who had his dull little romp with these boxes but never got to know them and moved on to the next without a thought. I've been through so much electronics and still hoard them, yet now all I use is a Deluge and a Norand Mono and have never been happier. Rejoice in the gear that makes you happy, cast aside(sell on reverb for a fair price) the gear that does not and make electronic music my brothers and my sisters. And erm, there is reverb in there somewhere if I remember.

I really get lost in those longer compositions. Awesome once again! Roland really hit it out of the park with backlighting on that series. There's a fine balance between "I can't see it" and "I can't see anything else"

The mx1 is definitely a must for the aira range, i use the mx1 with everything in my set and it has proven itself to be worthy to stay with me. Loved the episodes you do❤ thanks audio