Every Garbage Mixer Is An Awesome Synthesizer

[@BlackburnBigdragon]

I've made industrial music since the 80's and this is a technique that I've uses for decades to get harsh, insane, sounds. This technique is the absolute core of noise music as well.

[@AndreijRublev]

Great to hear another use of it in a different context! Using feedbacks is as old as electronic music itself and it is still something that continues nowadays.

[@Mr2it3881]

Nice!

[@TotalDec]

Sytrus is my go-to. You can basically start with a sine wave, and alter it to a mishapened wave for noise. Then, modify that with FX for whatever desired. Usually, EQ is the main change. Gets it done for me. My equipment is broke, rn tho.

[@princegobi5992]

Yeah this guy is just discovering noise music lol

[@athmaid]

What other "standard" gear can be used for generating such sounds?

[@synthmage00]

Something important I quickly learned about no-input mixing: Keep the tape running. Always be recording. Sounds *will* get away from you, and it's nice to be able to go back and clip out the cool stuff to put in your sampler. Also, old busted mixers are great for this because they make even crazier sounds when their components start dying.

[@AndreijRublev]

Very true! ❤

[@vprice509]

For sure. Same thing with modular and synths without presets. I have the Bastl Twins- the Kastle v 1.5 and the B Drum Kastle. I come up with new patches all the time that I will never hear again. The trade-off is endless variation. Sometimes I record a patch and a short improv jam. I can't wait to start shopping for dusty old mixing consoles. Ooh- "dusty" made me think of the Dust Collector effects unit. I'll bet pairing that with no input mixer hijinks would be fun.

[@zmoney1212]

Excellent advice!!

[@Notsram77]

Name checks out

[@tedcruzynski]

Noise musicians have been using this forever! Im happy to see someone cover thus technique so well!!!

[@masterpeace8539]

Arcane Device maybe one of the best examples.

[@binky777]

​@@masterpeace8539looked up the band, awesome.

[@leetshi927]

As well as Trentemoller :)

[@nonbinarybastard]

Ig that's why it kinda sounds like merzbo pulse demon

[@acheleg]

I started doing this because my synths are damn heavy, but still can't always hit resonant room frequencies

[@neaituppi7306]

I can't believe you found a Behringer mixer in the trash. That's some nice trash.

[@rommix0]

Not to mention Behringer is known to make good stuff. It's a waste to throw such things away.

[@verifiedpersonae7332]

Ha, I've definitely thrown out a behringer mixer in the past. Not sure about recently, but the early stuff was poorly designed and really noisy. They were so cheap that they usually weren't worth repairing so in the trash they went

[@rommix0]

@@verifiedpersonae7332 I see. I have one of their analog to digital devices (a UCA202 I believe) I've used to transfer tapes in the past and they are fantastic.

[@neaituppi7306]

@@verifiedpersonae7332 I found a Sansui 6 track recorder/8 track mixer at the recycling center today, which is essentially trash. It looks like I might be able to do some things like this mixer.

[@night_fiend6]

@@rommix0 they really aren't. I tried a Eurodesk and I got signal going from one channel to another where nothing was even sent to that channel.

[@Death_By_Media]

Used to do this at a music store . I’d set it up in the live mix room and run off as the sales guys would scratch their heads wondering what was happening 😂

[@jaxetric]

Very very interesting video. But.. to describe it as a "synthesizer" is a bit of an overstatement, isn't it? A very usable noise generator, no?

[@ryanc1451]

@@jaxetric anoise generator "synthesises" sound.

[@bobbylasers]

Simon and Andrei could be in a sitcom about them running a studio together.

[@AndreijRublev]

that would be great!

[@unsoundmethodology]

Great fun! I've got three mixers now - most expensive was $14, cheapest was a beast of a vintage TASCAM deck for $1 from a local science museum - and they all work very differently in feedback loops, so it's definitely fertile ground to explore.

[@domek.]

You can do this with pedals too, by connecting a stereo splitter to the output and sending one line back to the input and one to your amp. With stereo pedals you can do it without a splitter. Gets really fun when you combine loads of different pedals into a big feedback loop. I haven't picked up my guitar for ages, I just play pedals now...

[@TouchSonic4]

+ graphic equalizer , + Voice Transformer

[@heggysarchive]

I used to do this but I plugged a lead from the input into the headphone jack and if I sort of half plugged it in itd make noise

[@maxwilson7001]

Gonna try this now

[@georgesimpson1406]

a whole pedalboard even. 'feedback loop' pedals are available. I also added a feedback switch to some drives i built and my Superfuzz sounds like a duck in 2 second intervals when thats on for some reason

[@domek.]

@George Simpson Duck fuzz sounds good! Yeah it's fun to mess around with whole feedback looped boards. The video on my channel homepage is a full no input board. Who needs guitars?

[@fakshen1973]

When creating the feedback loop, it's often better to use an aux in pre-fader mode. That way your fader move doesn't influence the point of feedback and you have more control.

[@AndreijRublev]

True! There are many tricks and tips that I didn't cover in the video for the sake of length. It's such a vast world!

[@Anaki_Rob]

I don't know about "better" to use, so much as an "alternative" to use. Personally I have used both methods and each has its own characteristics. Maybe one might actually want to influence the point of feedback in their synthesis technique. But apart my that pedantic use of language you are absolutely correct.

[@AndreijRublev]

@@Anaki_Rob Totally agree, it depends a lot on what you want to do and how you use the interface. Bytheway thanks everyone for sharing more tips and tricks!

[@Vingul]

@@AndreijRublev I like your name, the Tarkovsky films is an all-time favourite. Interesting video, by the way.

[@AndreijRublev]

@@Vingul thanks! One of my favourites too ;-)

[@jaysgood10]

Actually take this a step further and use several small mixers plugged into a larger mixer. The possibilities are schnitzeled beyond…

[@AndreijRublev]

Totally! I do it everytime!

[@Kettupaini]

@Jay Goodman I'm actually trying that right now! Even I can't do it actually like in this video, I can put my Yamaha Casio to my small mixer and add pedals with it to have one, large instrument to larger mixer. Whole point of the video is to give an idea for your own stuff. And I'm thankful :)

[@AndreijRublev]

​@@Kettupaini Super glad to hear that! I'm happy that our main idea (to give a glimpse into a world where you can start an exploration process) is coming through this video!

[@erichobbs4042]

Listening to this was a great aural reminder for why I no longer use psychedelics. Pretty trippy all on its own.

[@StephenMcLeod]

Oh God I am literally doing a video on a new mixer and was going to mention this idea. Perfect timing! I'll be sure to link to this video as it's an awesome explainer.

[@AndreijRublev]

Thank you!

[@SimonTheMagpie]

Hey! Link to the full video I had made for me instead please (in my description)😁 He deserves ALL THE PRAISE! Plus you can say I told you to, heheh. ❤️

[@StephenMcLeod]

@@SimonTheMagpie I'll do both!

[@matt.loupe.]

Related: a shimmer verb is made in a similar way. It’s a delay, a pitch shifter, and a reverb in a feedback loop like that. You’ve heard that sound all over the place.

[@AndreijRublev]

I'm looking at you with that face 😂! Jokes aside, thanks for having me! It's a pleasure to share some noisy knowledge with you all! Edit: since many people asked this question and I didn't mentioned it in the video I thought to write the answer here: yes, you can use active mixers but DON'T USE THE AMPLIFIED OUTPUTS to generate a feedback loop, because they will FRY your circuit. Use only the passive outputs.

[@albertoromero3431]

This was amazing! You do have the music of the bands you play with I Spotify or Deezer?

[@AndreijRublev]

​​​@@albertoromero3431 Most of the stuff can be found on Bandcamp! Only one Le Trou Electronique album is on Spotify but if you like that project our KZbin channel is a great place to start!

[@alex_montoya]

I just subscribed to Andrej's channel and to the one of Le Trou Electronique. Wonderful stuff.

[@AndreijRublev]

Thank you so much! Happy you appreciated our project!

[@skeleton_craftGaming]

I think that it is super cool that every mixer [even mixers of the same model] will sound different just because of the analog nature of how the components interact with the noise that is being used to generate the [well] noise...

[@unduloid]

It's basically the old-fashioned dub technique but with the mixer's internal noise.

[@shaneallendunn]

The smile from this video is infectious now I'm going to have to rebuy a garbage mixer.

[@jacobtaves8471]

Figured this out with friends in high school 25 years back when we had no money for anything else. Still do it! Never found a “real” synth that was anywhere near as cool

[@AndreijRublev]

Same here ❤

[@june4135]

Korg MS-20

[@chinossynthesizer705]

Fm synthesis sega genesis ym2612

[@AjazoCat]

I thought the same lol @@june4135

[@nasor3675]

you must not have played many synths lol

[@johntait5141]

Once again Simon helps further open the doors to creative recording techniques by introducing to some of us this video on no input recording ; true musical communication, and also a huge thank you to the creator of the video. Ever expanding musical happiness to all.

[@SnarkyRC]

Nice. I made an album 25 years ago with a no input mixer. Good times.

[@mikeciul8599]

link please?

[@idrinktapwater6174]

​@@mikeciul8599took me a while to find it, but if you type into Google "Darude - Sandstorm" it should come up

[@bokajllensch661]

As an audio guy I always was afraid to create such an feedback loop on accident. Great to si that ist does not only not destroy your channel immediatly, but also is quite musical!

[@Tiger.Arcade]

This is hilarious and awesome! Soon we're gonna start to see Behringer mixer patch videos.

[@playpm]

Already loving it from the title! I also used my Zoom R8 multitracker to do some drone stuff during live show, learnt it from NIN, amazingly fun! Wow, I thought he's going to pair it with another synth, but this is completely another level!!! Thanks for sharing this crazy tech!!!

[@svenjansen2134]

Pre recorded drone sounds from the R8 or sounds from the machine itself?

[@jonugent42]

This is a very "everything is music" moment. Dope. Very dope.

[@emmaessex]

great video from Andreij and very excited to experience your "noise music" story arc!!!!

[@AndreijRublev]

Thank you! I'm curious too to discover what Simon will do with this new tool!

[@SimonTheMagpie]

Heheh boom

[@G.Man-]

Guys, it would be cool to see a sound comparison of two of the same model mixers... Btw Simon, your Behringer sounds amazing through the delay

[@diebygaming8015]

Out of all the band jams, i liked his playing solo on the mixer the best. You can't hear all the complex tones from the mixer with other people playing at the same time

[@KINZOisHERE]

It happened to me by mistake back in 1987 (naive DJ teenager) when feeding a tape recorder and turning on the input channel at the same time, it almost blew my speakers, but it was such an exciting and powerful sound that I recorded few seconds of it. what a shame I lost that tape.... however.... I still have that mixer... hmmm.......

[@G.Man-]

Do it

[@svenjansen2134]

Now!

[@zoeycassandra4291]

Flanger>delay>di20 compressor in link mode>back into flanger and into mixer (using 2 different outputs from the di20)

[@Anaki_Rob]

If using this technique one thing you might like to do is place a switch in the cable connecting the aux out to the input. Personally I salvaged some from a dead atari-compatible 9-pin joystick. This allows one to control note on/off more easily

[@sammilligan1534]

Always love no input coverage and tutorials, legit one of my favorite instruments.

[@dynamicphase8239]

My teacher showed this to us one day in class and it was so much fun. Also a nice tool to get weird tones for sound design!

[@AndreijRublev]

What a great teacher! ❤❤❤

[@ZERONETWORK0]

I've heard Richard Ramirez (noise musician, NOT the serial killer) talk about doing this but I've never heard it done in a demonstration. Thank you for uploading this.

[@ringsystemmusic]

oh HELL YES i'm so down for simon and andreij to make inscrutable droning noises together!

[@ryanmarren]

I did this on an analogue console once and the sounds you can get with just a few aux sends to some outboard gear is amazing

[@levicox9611]

This I such a fun video! I just stumbled across your channel and it's amazing LOL

[@theelectronicrat]

I love this! Wow, so inspiring. Thanks!

[@jamescorvett]

Ive been dying to try this! A couple years ago someone gave me a huge Yamaha MC1602 mixer that needs some work. Power cords damaged and it sat in the rain for a night but its all dry now. This seems way easier than i thought it would be. Thanks for sharing!!

[@bigkik]

Thanks for sharing ! I personnaly discovered the "no input" technique a few days ago with the release of the bastl bastie. Sounds really interesting ! And I love the approach of using what we have already or to give a second life to an unused gear !

[@BAHTY3_228]

Ive take old behringer mixer from my university few years ago, i wanted to fix it and sell, but i came up with using it as a noise machine so i keep it.

[@ManCalledMif]

Resonant noise and frequency modulation. Very cool.

[@bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

the amount of chaotic energy in this video haha

[@minimal_liminal]

This is such a fun and surprising hack! Can’t wait to score a dusty old beast and put it to the test.

[@bilbofloggins7713]

Pawn shops gonna have it.

[@mgg7756]

I do have some old mixer sitting around, will have to try this

[@ghosthavenmusic]

I really enjoyed what your friend do with mixers, especially collabs with bands. It's obvious that he master the no input technique. I share his vision of giving a second life to old things, (i do the same with tape players and 4T cassette recorder). Definitely have to sub to his channel

[@stickupcrewuk8473]

Love you so much, please never stop creating. my friends and I did a similar thing in the 90's also used a mic in a hoover pipe through a reverb peddle and fed back through the mixer on 2.

[@wince333]

40years ago i make the same experiment with tape recorder, rec the audio out / in and modul with level db = the big analog distorsion crush of life the base of electrosound ... add vcs gate and you have big roots synth ... hello from swiss,

[@DSZI.ShyHunterBB]

I have a Yamaha MG12XU mixer that was literally thrown out of a car, and yet it still works relatively albeit with a little noise from the power supply😅

[@hyperactivists9390]

OMG THIS MADE MY DAY!! Amazing that I never knew this SMH. His video is great and your comments are so fun too!!

[@brianharris7243]

The look of delight on Magpie's face is worth a double like!

[@theParticleGod]

I love the faces you make as you do this. You're directly synthesizing facial expressions.

[@g_niac]

this is one of the coolest videos ever! sound is funny!! it can also be terrifying, which is also great. liked and sub’d. i’ve been interested in sound design and science for awhile and just recently decided to mic my drum kit and start getting weird. who knows where it will go, but channels like this one are golden nuggets of inspiration. cheers. stay hydrated. godspeed

[@horse_dog]

i have a stereo reverb pedal, and most of the time i run it like this: guitar>left mono input>left mono output>right stereo input>right stereo output>amp. it makes infinite length reverb that stacks and get all distorted the more you stack

[@chrisnairn3658]

Well, F! Did Eno know about this going back to his early days? It seems like what he would get up to but I do not recall reading anything about him doing this. I LOVE it! Thanks, Simon!

[@42pyroboy]

This is so cool SImon! I have had a mix 8 sitting around doing nothing for a long time and now i have a new favorite toy!

[@fvcktv2933]

At First i thought that my Mixer was too trash to do It. But then i was Messing up and It worked. Just amazing. anxious to play with my pedals too.

[@SiliconBassist]

I had had some fun doing this a while back, but I stopped because I’m paranoid about my hearing. I should probably just use a limiter or something for piece of mind, because this is simply too fun to not get back into

[@eskee1]

"Peace" of mind.. js

[@JPBennett]

I've had fun doing this with a front-of-house sound system. Run some pink noise through the system, and unmute all the mics. Run the gain up to just below feedback, then sweep a parametric boost across the spectrum, getting rings at the various hot frequencies.

[@muddauberstudios8366]

Damn, Starting to wish I hadn't sold a few of the "Trash Mixers" I had laying around. This is cool stuff!

[@alexandrumihaibudes3852]

Really useful for me and would love to see more such videos about different experimental techniques.

[@philmunoz9269]

He opened a gateway into another dimension.

[@helldotsin]

I used to do this on my behringer mixer long ago until the sound bled through the faders at any position before it caught on fire!

[@LdotSdot210]

first person I ever saw do this was sarah belle reid. that was three years ago and I still haven't tried it for myself for some reason.

[@fabimawn]

The effects unit on my Behringer is broken so I could make a drum beat with it, since it makes clicky sounds

[@AndreijRublev]

That's great! This is what I'm talking about when I say that every mixer has its own unique sound!

[@koalemos1679]

Thank you Magpie, very cool 👍

[@Rr0gu3_5uture]

Cool, Andreij is giving off Count von Count vibes!

[@danielmcfarlan1035]

13:35 ITS SO FUCKING DARK IN HERE COME COME, FUCK APART IN HERE AAAAHHHHH

[@lifeworldmusic4855]

This and this dudes video just changed my life

[@raymosmookle9373]

Just call old shops and look for mixers with dead channels that have been abandoned. If you don't mind PA mixers, you'll get $75 (us) mixers all day long until they figure out what's up. Or email me if you're near Ohio, USA. There are hundreds of PA mixers with aux sends in people's garages, and a lot of those have amps. That's LOADS of fun until they make smoke (because then the fun is over).

[@foodstampz]

Love how you mentioned or the o.p did, explain the creative process. Kind of like.. knew that but great to know so many creative minds think that way

[@tonybeatbutcher]

In the 90tys Turntablist did this on their scratch mixer on Dj-Batles

[@urh8523]

Pour mixer. But a oscillator is basically an amplifier that is going in feedback mode. Then it will oscillate like an oscillator does. The mixer is basically bounce of a lot of amplifier outputs for mixing sounds.

[@matthew_thefallen]

I knew it was possible but never digged into it, it's amazing!!

[@RonCavagnaro]

This is freaking cool I have an extra behringer mixer maybe I'll do this too

[@MasterCrvo]

"I hope you find this video Useful and Inspiring," he says as Neo-Tokyo explodes in my Akira mixer mind

[@budaroddy]

I could never remember how was the name but there was an actual music genre made from trash/garbage music modulators, mixers etc

[@bulmus]

What the actual fuck this is the sickest most creative and entertaining vid I've seen here in a while big up Andrei!!❤❤❤

[@endless_arps]

This is amazing , thanks for sharing!

[@thechadbuddha]

the virgin synth bro vs the chad wrong hole enthusiast

[@flare242]

I did something like this with a simple doubledeck cassete recorder and a jack-cinch cable back in the day. It was more along the lines of AM/FM noise, but yeah, pretty amazing for a no-budget cellar performance thing.

[@Cage.Unlimited]

Guys, it is awesome! 🤘🤘🤘🤘🙌🙌🙌🙌 Brilliant idea! So simple, but so cool!❤

[@aaronstclair2423]

It works! I'm following along now! 👾

[@NullStaticVoid]

I've been doing this for years with pedals and cheaper mixers. These Behringer and Yamaha mixers are not great in my opinion. But they are bloody audiophile quality compared to old Radio Shack/Realistic mixers and similar. Those older junkier mixers distort much more interestingly. There is one thing that these newer mixers feature which the old ones lack, which is inserts. You can easily get several types of feedback loops going on at the same time in one mixer and still have the aux sends available for further processing, EQ reverb etc. Also, on all mixer with which I am familiar, the low cut will come before the insert and the EQ after. So you have some interesting control there. It's kind of funny, I got into doing that kind of stuff because I could not afford modular synths and fancy synthesizers. Now I have tons of modular gear and a not insignificant amount of analog and digital synths. But none of these can replicate a ghetto set up with a few guitar pedals and a mixer I picked up for $40. So I frequently reach for my crappiest gear to squiggle noises all over the pristine tracks I recorded with my best gear.

[@werewolf74]

this is actually a lot like that tube sound loop machine you made.

[@mk1st]

Wow. A new world just opened up.

[@crush3095]

6:07 omg I haven't had a synth knob in my fingers for YEARS the frequency sweep here made my hairs stand up all that potential

[@TockTockTock]

Toshimaru Nakamura is practically a virtuoso of the no-input mixer. Y'all should totally check out his stuff when you get a chance. EDIT: Ngl this video inspired me to incorporate feedback in a performance patch I'm working on and I made some decent headway! It's much more versatile now compared to what it was before.

[@AndreijRublev]

absolutely a master ❤

[@AndreijRublev]

@@AboveTheTrees00 He is amazing, I love his work.

[@mf8145]

Yes. Absolutely. It is always super frustrating to me that all these people make no-input mixer videos without giving any credit to the man who coined the term and mastered the instrument.

[@AndreijRublev]

That's great! Super happy it inspired you Rogo!

[@stuartchapman5171]

He is truly inspiring. I've been using no input as a performance you'll for years, I build large passive matrix mixers, I yse delay and motivation pedals and gor mixer channel strips, I use dirt pedals. I combine this with tape loops and a backing tape.

[@bintangdomena]

Well the title is a BIT misleading,however, using a piece of gear to make sounds is a blast- everyone should try it sometime just for fun if nothing else....I think that's all this really is. It's so cool watching the people playing together.

[@musiccellarmillerton]

Forget the oscillations, please tell me where u got that hoodie!

[@GillamtheGreatest]

i need to live someplace where i can find gear in the garbage

[@humdingermusic23]

Me and a mate got effects like this from a NAD amp back in the early 80s with a mic and a sound system, awesome video thanks.

[@bryandraughn9830]

I'm absolutely amazed! It makes sense though. Very cool stuff! Thanks for the information.

[@scarlet93]

I tried this a few weeks ago of my own volition. It's so fun

[@jreign]

Scratch Perverts used the feedback loop at dj battles in the late 90s. Sounded awesome

[@AndreijRublev]

That's great! Didn't know that, I'll definetely check if I can find some examples!

[@jreign]

@Andreij Rublev kzbin.info/www/bejne/ooWvl4KIqbp8fM0 from the 3 to 4 minute mark he's mixing it with records, then all feedback.... and around the 5:12 mark.

[@MichalSada]

@@jreignThx❤

[@gltchy971]

Bro this video really changed the way i think about my mixer!! Imma be addicted to this now!

[@theodoreiakovidis838]

I have been dealing with sound equipment for many years. The noise level of this behringer mixer is really good. You have to be there in the 90s where mixers felt like a tornado was around the mix. They say its garbage because of its price. One thing,... they dont get my money.

[@thejmac69]

This just pushed my horizon way out - I love it - thank you!

[@d_vibe-swe]

The phantom power takes some time to 'unload' (or what the correct electrical term is) so that's normal. Although, I believe you need to use xlr connections for the phantom power to be distributed?

[@AndreijRublev]

Yes. So it's very difficult to screw that up, but still worth a mentioning.

[@dallas-cole]

Passed 3 minutes I already stacked 3 reasons for not doing this, and learned how a Behringer mixer can blow up my whole studio. Really cool video btw. Really cool.

[@SimonTheMagpie]

The more we learn the less we do something something😅

[@TheEudaemonicPlague]

The guy I bought my house from left behind an old Behringer mixer, which I think was the first consumer digital mixer. It's supposed to have some little thing wrong with it, that would require sending it back to the factory to fix, so he just gave it to me. It's been gathering dust for fifteen years, and I've been trying to decide what to do with it--I'm not a musician (though I own instruments), so I can't imagine any normal use I could get out of it. This is perfect...I'm nuts about synths.