![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/534f023bbfb78f20b9e9e53b8bf6c9e81b29a8e6.jpg?resize=489%2C450&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhen I bought the AIRA MX1 Performance Mixer<\/a> I learned that it could mix USB audio straight out of Roland equipment – very handy. If you want to increase the number of analogue channels you could at one time attach small AIRA effects<\/a> that accept audio signals, add a whole bunch of programmable effects and output to USB. That sounds pretty sweet but (a) as with the MX-1 they’ve been discontinued really fast and (b) are now bloody expensive – if you can find one. (An aside – you can still use newer AIRA boxes such as this<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n They were housed as eurorack modules and released alongside the System 1m<\/a> and System 500 analogue modules. Despite the form factor they’re promoted as usable ‘pedals’ so I felt reasonably safe to trial a ‘hardly used’ Bitrazer<\/a>. (But I’ve started to respect that ‘hardly used’ sign. It means trouble). A Scooper or Demora would be much more fun but you take what you can eBay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Immediate problem<\/strong> – the module has eurorack sized sockets which need adapters for any usual studio cabling. Next problem<\/strong> – when I managed to get a sound into the box the USB output signal level to mixer was completely useless and no obvious way to raise it. Continuing problem<\/strong> – to reprogram the insides of the box needs the USB cable to go into the computer, not<\/em> the mixer. Or you could program it with your phone if it has a physical headphone out (which they now don’t) and the software is still available on the app store (it isn’t). Unsolved problem<\/strong> – nothing I do seems to change anything in the module. The PC laptop software reports that the box has been changed but no changes are audible. Conceptual problem<\/strong> – to get digital sound out of the box you need it to be your sound device, which using ASIO means the DAW sends the output back to the box<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All in all – if you’re using it in a rack, it makes perfect sense. But for many other users it doesn’t really make sense as an A to D multi effect unit, especially when things like Cardinal<\/em> exist. Which is probably why they flew briefly off small shelves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The AIRA period came and went in a dramatic black and green explosion. One moment a fantasia of new ideas, next a violent purge full of guillotines and dour retreat. Revolution produces monsters which have a special beauty. I feel unjust in reviewing these artefacts outside of their historical context – but it’s important to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[30,8],"class_list":["post-1494","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","tag-aira","tag-modular"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1494\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nilamox.com\/mancave21\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/bitrazer_front_gal.jpg?resize=250%2C300&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n