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homeworking/gaming setup product hunt

Hi,

looking for a bit of direction.

I'm currently borrowing a Allen&Heath QU-16, and I'm using it for the following:

Generically: I use a physical input for my microphone, and I route the output at full volume (PRE) to a mix-channel ('stream channel'Wink, and route (POST) using the fader to headphone out - as otherwise I don't hear my own voice well enough and start talking louder and louder. (my headphones have good isolation, and better noise cancellation)

(my 'stream channel' is really just my voice, but sometimes to annoy my colleagues I pipe background music for them)

Music: I have another mix-channel that only has music routed to it, so it doesn't get chat or game coming out of it, occasionally i might route work calls to it so that I can listen and move around my office a bit more.

I also have a chromecast-audio input, that is handy.

Gaming sessions: I use ASIOPro to separate Game, Music, Chat (discord), other, using the USB interface. I also use ASIOPro to route in the mix-channel for my 'stream' as the input to discord.

Work: I use a physical line in and a line out (the mix channel) to link my work laptop.

I love this setup, It's so easy to re-invigorate a meeting with some background music. and using the gate/compressors I can eat and drink without anyone hearing me slurp etc. Physical access to the faders is all the time great, but especially whilst gaming I can make quick adjustments on the fly if I can't hear my team, or can't hear footsteps in the game.

the problem is, I do have to give the QU-16 back, and it is deserving of more serious work.

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So I need to find something more appropriate to replace it. and I'm stuck because these products are not really for people like me, they are for more serious or aspiring musicians, recording artists, sound engineers, etc and thus find the information I need isn't so easy. Like,

Ideally though, if there was a solution to:

  • 1x MIC with control over feedback to headset
  • 1x guitar input
  • 2x physical stereo inputs (work laptop, chromecast-audio)
  • 4x digital USB stereo pairs
  • 1x Headphone out with volume control
  • 2x stereo out for (music-mix volume, stream-mix volume)
  • Linux (just needs to be seen as an audio device by ALSA, I can configure jackd to do the rest)
  • some mechanism of controlling the faders, could be an app on phone/tablet - but this requires a unit with network connectivity which I haven't found either, could be midi - but i don't know how that would work.
  • Decent audio quality, I'm in meetings pretty much all day, so a clean signal would reduce the fatigue.
  • I don't have a decent MIC, but wouldn't see it as a waste of money if the unit can drive a decent mic
  • Price, max £500. Happy to shop second hand.

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The closest I have found is Keith McMillen K-MIX.

but i would have to separate my requirements into profiles (work/gaming). and in the gaming profile I would have to drop a digital USB input - which isn't unreasonable to me.
This assumes that I can use profiles to reconfigure the inputs (from physical to USB). and it assumes that I can switch profiles from the unit it's self.

Roland studio capture caught my eye, but unsure if I can do what I want to do with a legacy Midi connection. Like stereo pairs?

Roland MX-1 looks good, but a lot of buttons I don't need. any not much on the physical inputs. I guess it has ARIA USB for inputs - which I can't see how I would be able to use them.

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I've already been burned by MOTU 893MK3. That didn't go well for me. Will be moving that on soon.

any direction would be really helpful. Otherwise I might just take a punt on the k-mix and hope the returns process isn't too painful if it doesn't work out.

Thanks and sorry for the long post!

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