I have a regular small sound job that I handle with an XR12 controlled from a 10" Android tablet running Mixing Station X Air Pro. The only challenge with this job is that I get very little time for get-in and get-out so any problems in setting up could be disastrous. I carry a spare 7" tablet, backup access point and an OTG adaptor for wired Ethernet but I don't have much time for trouble-shooting.

I have long thought it would be good to have basic control via MIDI in case I lost my normal user interface but I did not want a large and/or expensive controller. I did want the controller to have feedback for mute states and fader levels. I have achieved this using the XTouch Mini.

The XTouch Mini, in common with most small and reasonably priced controllers, is a USB MIDI device and the XR12 requires DIN MIDI. This can be resolved, though, with a USB/DIN MIDI converter. The Kenton MIDI USB Host would work but is rather expensive. The HobbyTronics MIDI USB-DIN Converter is much lower cost but looks a little fragile (*) so would need to be repackaged for life on the road. I took the low-cost route by using HobbyTronics USB Host Mini (preloaded with MIDI firmware) plus a HobbyTronics MIDI Breakout. These two boards are mounted in a small box along with a connector for 5Vdc power. The converter and controller only draw about 100mA so I can run it for over twelve hours from a 2000mAh phone powerbank if there is no convenient power outlet or spare USB-A port.

Using the XTouch Editor, I have programmed eight encoders and eight buttons to control the faders and mutes for the critical channels and buses using the published MIDI messages. The encoder LED rings and mute LEDs follow the XR state when controlled by both the MIDI board and the normal network UI. When first turned on, though, the XTouch does not reflect the state of the XR. The quick solution to this is to load an XR snapshot which gives instant synchronization so I programmed one of the spare XTouch buttons to load my default snapshot. As another handy shortcut, I use the encoder press functions to set default fader levels for their respective channels/buses. This is another way to get the faders synchronized without loading a snapshot.

So I have achieved what I set out to do: I can take control of the basic mute and fader functions of the XR if my tablet and/or network fail. I hope that I don't need this capability but it's in the mixer's gig-bag just in case.

(*) HobbyTronics have improved this product. It should not now need repackaging. See HobbyTronics USB/Midi Converter.XTouch Mini.jpgInside.jpgConverter.jpg

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