Anyone have an idea on building http://www.broadcasttools.com/view_product.php?pid=201
at 160.00 it seems worth it, but it also seems to be uncomplicated enough to build..
bump
nothing from the electronics geniuses?
I'll say something until the geniuses get back from lunch.
The price of the device is fair and it can be a very good addition to a production room, controlling mics and monitor speakers.
To build one one's self it would either take some engineer design skill or a schematic... their online maual has the schematic clouded out.
You already understand that it is not a mixer, but is intended to work alongside an audio mixer... thus "Mixer Buddy."
so.. the simple part is that it is really a select switch. no big deal there.
the problem is not hearing a "POP" when you flip said switch.
True, you would want a clickless mic on switch which, with one push, also turns off the monitor speakers to avoid feedback.
Probably it would need to turn the monitor speakers off a few milli-seconds before turning the mic on to avoid a momentary feedback.
It also might have a volume control onboard for the monitor speaker, but that's a guess. It looks like a rotary control for something.
MINUTES LATER. Oh good, there's still time on the clock for these after-thoughts.
Years ago I built an audio mixing board for my recording studio and installed many of the features now more smartly built into the Mixer Buddy. In those days I used relays, which can be noisy when they switch.
Another important issue is in the way in which the speakers are turned off or on. Instead of just disconnecting the speakers from the power amp, which would leave the amp's output unterminated, the switch needs to move the load to a loading resistor of sufficient power handling capacity.
If the monitor amp's input is switched in and out of the circuit instead of the speakers, pop control must be thought about because a switching burst can damage the power amplifier.
There are really quite a few issues and I would say the Mixer Buddy is probably worth the money.
.. Some Vol. pots and a preamp. Do it the 'ol fashioned way... LOL
I would guess it's using 4066 CMOS analog gates or similar to control the audio that passes through the system.