Introduction to the MX10

Seeing the need for a high fidelity low noise mixer to be used with our micropower transmitters, we came up with this easy to build compact mixer. The small size lends to the small size of the transmitter for portability. You can easily fit an entire radio station inside of a briefcase, just try that with electronics of just a few decades ago! While designed to go with our micropower transmitters, the MX10 will work as well, if not better than most commercial mixers on the market today.

Mixers are used in all sorts of audio applications such as rock concerts, DJ booths in night clubs, weddings, radio stations, recording studios and so on. If you've ever looked at a mixer board for a concert, you would notice that they have upwards of fifty or so channels, and seven or more controls for each channel. Each channel has reverb, tone controls, delay, and more. Our MX10 has two inputs for line levels which may include a CD player and a tape deck, it also has one stereo input for a phono with RIAA equalization (boosts bass response of records). The MX10 does not have any tonal controls for each channel, but almost all users of this project will want a flat response anyhow. If they do not, they will run the output of the mixer directly into an equalizer to custom-tailor their sound. For example when a person makes a car tape, they may want to boost the bass to get over road noise.

We also included more than one microphone input on the MX10 which allows two people to talk at the same time. When one microphone is plugged in to the left channel mic, it exits the mixer in both channels. When both mics are plugged in, the left one comes out the left channel, while the right one comes out the right channel. This leads to a nice effect on a transmitter for a listener to visualize the DJs.

The MX10 was designed for simplicity, low noise, and low cost. Its small size makes it easy to carry around and store. Its long travel on the controls make it easy to mix audio signals smoothly and accurately. Now you can give those professionals a run for their money. We hope you enjoy building and using the MX10, we sure did at Ramsey!

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