When it comes to recording ‘live’ as is playing live and recording the sounds rather than sequencing, one thing I’ve found invaluable is having a physical mixer with knobs for volume and pan. It just makes it much easier to finely tune the relative level of the different sources I’m recording rather than having to manipulate the software mixer for my interface.

Currently I have the Meeblip, Animoog (ipad) and iMaschine (iphone) hooked up :). The mixer I’m using is a tiny Behringer (Xenyx 502) 5 channel mixer. The output from the mixer goes into my Scarlett interface and from there I record ‘live’ into Ableton.

I highly recommend this little guy if you are looking for a really compact mixer. The only drawbacks are that it doesn’t have a power on/off switch and it can get a little bit on the hot side if you keep it plugged in and going for several hours. Not so much that I think its a problem, but worth knowing. Also, the power adapter that comes with it is a little bit on the bulky side. It’s actually heavier than the mixer it self. But for the price its great value.

Also, one of the reasons we got this mixer was to route sound from iPods/iPhones into the interface so that we can listen to them via the Adam monitors :).

Behringer Xenyx502

You can pick it up at the following URL if you want to support this site :) Behringer XENYX502 5-Channel Mixer (amazon).