When using the isolator EQ mode on my Mixstream Pro, I’m having trouble getting clean transitions. Even with the incoming track’s low EQ fully closed, I’m hearing a muddy sound in the mid-range frequencies, as if some low-end (kick drum) is bleeding through, it gets clearer when it’s closer to the neutral position but requires cutting out the outgoing track’s mids earlier than I’d like to and the track loses its essence.
Current Configuration:
Track A (Outgoing): All EQ knobs in neutral position (12 o’clock)
Track B (Incoming):
Low EQ: Fully closed (counter-clockwise)
Mid EQ: Approximately 10 o’clock
Hi EQ: Approximately 11 o’clock
Filter: High-pass, with low filter resonance (2 or 3)
Question: How can I achieve a cleaner transition between tracks, preventing the mid-range from sounding muddy due to undesired low frequencies? What are recommended filter resonance and EQ mode (normal vs isolate) settings to achieve it?
That’s fair! Any recommendations for an upgrade within the same or slightly higher price range? I generally prefer standalone devices simply because I find it hard to use a laptop with a controller but willing to compromise on that setup if another device outperforms the mixstream pro in other capabilities in that price range.
I’d say don’t worry/stress about it and just enjoy the unit, scrutinising the ins and outs of sound quality on DJ units is vastly over stated and rarely ends in anything positive. Just turn the volume up and enjoy mixing.
I’ve done paid gigs with a Mixtrack Pro FX connected to a Behringer £30 sub mixer and nobody seemed to care.
One tip from me regarding the blending technique, don’t put your low end so far down (try 9 on the clock) and roll some of the outgoing track bass off as you bring the fader up, should make it more smooth.
I also rarely have isolate set for the EQ either, I’ve never really seen the need for it on a standard mixer setup, there’s barely much difference between -18db and full kill from what I’ve found.
Unfortunately, Mixstream does not have the EQ hi/low crossover point adjustment in the settings that would enable you to select how much of bass/mid goes when you cut low/mid knob.
That setting seems to be a product segmentation feature reserved for more expensive products in the Prime range.
There’s been claims of Prime’s digital mixbus not being great for some reason, particularly in the mids. Hard to understand how that could be the case considering how mixbus math is straightforward and easily usually excellent compared to any analog mixers, but maybe there’s a relatively minor quirk with it that when combined with the playback IMD & nonlinear harmonic distortion just barely rises to the audible level for some people, especially when two or more tracks are combined and especially in the midrange where your ear-brain is most sensitive to distortion. Maybe the mixbus is completely fine on all the Prime gear and it’s just the additive effect of multiple tracks’ subtle processing degradation. In your case, it could also be an issue of the firmware using low-order isolator filters that are letting a lot of bleed through of the adjacent bands, lack of midrange phase inversion on a Linkwitz-Riley 2nd-order type, undesirable Q on ‘normal’ parametric EQs, or maybe some combination of one of those three and the IMD stuff.