Every major gear manufacturer makes an analog mixer these days and they come in all shapes and sizes. That said, most of them are created to fulfill multiple applications and most all contain microphone preamps. For a home studio with lots of hardware keyboards, these mixers have a lot of extraneous functions, like the mic preamps, that actually get in the way of the task at hand in the home studio. That’s why the Cre8audio Assembler mixer fits the bill perfectly, as it’s designed to do just the job of mixing together hardware keyboards in the home studio, and do it well.
Assembler’s ten audio inputs are split into three distinct mixer channel types that all have several features in common. Each input includes a preamp capable of up to 20x gain boost, ideal for boosting line level signals, subtle clarity enhancement, or aggressive signal saturation, with three assignable aux sends on each channel.
Channel 1 and 2 provide “vintage-inspired” high and low EQ controls, each offering ±15 dB of boost or cut, and all six mono inputs include a dedicated pan control. Two sets of stereo inputs take advantage of the powerful preamps and assignable aux sends to work with both Eurorack and line level signals.
Aux Sends
The Assembler offers significant flexibility with its three assignable aux send channels, allowing the ability to access external effects like reverbs and delays, or additional functionality as sub-mix channels. There are also two stereo returns and one mono return, each with independent gain adjustments (up to 2.7x gain).
Each input has three segment LED meters and channel mutes, as well as a Master Output control and a headphone output to monitor the mixer’s output. All the IO is on ¼ inch plugs at the top of the mixer, for easy access.
Cre8audio Assembler is schedule to be released in May with an MSRP of $399. You can find out more here, or watch the video below for more details.
