IK Multimedia MixBox

Testbench | Reviews
89
What’s in the Box?
With IK’s experience in modeling
more than just compressors and EQs,
MixBox comes with more than 70
effects to put into your chain of eight.
Nine Amp selections have choices
from basic Preamp to British Tube
Lead types; three types of delay
include Tape Echo, Digital Delay and
the interesting Reverb Delay;
distortion like Distortion, Lo-fi ,
bitCrushing, Overdrive and tube
screamer; a large choice of EQs are
available in the EQ and Channel Strip
categories; ten types of fi lter take in
legendary options such as Moog-style,
formant fi ltering and wah pedal
models; the modulation category
includes a huge number of creative
effects from fl angers to rotaries and
plenty more in between; nine types of
reverb take in almost all the
algorithms you could possibly dream
of; and the three saturators include
some interesting vintage options.
Testbench |
Reviews
89
What’s in the Box?
With IK’s experience in modeling
more than just compressors and EQs,
MixBox comes with more than 70
effects to put into your chain of eight.
Nine Amp selections have choices
from basic Preamp to British Tube
Lead types; three types of delay
include Tape Echo, Digital Delay and
the interesting Reverb Delay;
distortion like Distortion, Lo-fi ,
bitCrushing, Overdrive and tube
screamer; a large choice of EQs are
available in the EQ and Channel Strip
categories; ten types of fi lter take in
legendary options such as Moog-style,
formant fi ltering and wah pedal
models; the modulation category
includes a huge number of creative
effects from fl angers to rotaries and
plenty more in between; nine types of
reverb take in almost all the
algorithms you could possibly dream
of; and the three saturators include
some interesting vintage options.
Standalone version >
MixBox also comes as a standalone app,
with the software intended for live mixing
duties. Running MixBox in this mode gets
you not just one rack but eight, helping you
route multiple interface inputs into
processors and then back out. Switching
between the different racks is easy, and you
also get a back view where you can quickly
select new units for every single slot,
quickly mix your different channels, and
bypass and audition entire racks too.
Bus compression >
What’s missing? Some SSL-style drum bus
compression! Dialling in a fairly fast Attack,
a medium Release and a gentle Ratio of 2,
we have a subtle impact on our drums, but
one that helps to emphasise their transients
while giving the whole mix of sounds a
better sense of cohesion. Setting the
Sidechain Hi Pass to 150Hz keeps the kick
from taking over the compression action,
while activating the Grit light switches in
some extra saturation to give things even
more character – use it wisely.
< Backside controls
We can fl ip the entire mix rack around to
reveal a few more controls hiding at the
back. Here, along the bottom, every effect
has its own Dry/Wet slider to control its
depth. Though we’ve already set the
Reverb to 20% Wet, the slider here acts as
a second blend control, remaining 100%
Wet itself. Here also, a sidechain control
appears at the back of our Bus
Compressor module, offering a way to
reduce/disable the sidechain signal if one
has been routed to MixBox in our DAW.
< Drum bus processing
Now to build a channel strip for use on a
drum bus. Start with a Sat X device on a
subtle, clean distortion setting, and make
light adjustments with MixBox’s generic
Parametric EQ unit – warming up some
low-mid frequencies and backing off some
highs. Next comes a Room Reverb unit,
for the most essential reverb controls. You
can load up a preset on any device from
the bottom strip, but you must activate
this bottom strip fi rst by using the button
in the very bottom-left of the interface.
FMU372.rev_testbench.indd 89FMU372.rev_testbench.indd 89 14/06/2021 14:3614/06/2021 14:36