Sonic LAB: Roland GO:Mixer Pro-X Smartphone Audio Interface

US Compact and class compliant audio 26/07/21

Buying Choices

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The latest and most featured in the Roland GO:MIXER range is the GO:MIXER Pro-X. Designed to be portable and plug and play. The range provides an easy way to get audio into your computer, phone or tablet.

It's a class compliant audio input device with a stereo send to the destination device.

GO:MIXER Pro X - now offers up to 11 inputs with level control for some.

These are:

Combi XLR or 1/4 jack for a mic (with +48v phantom)
2x 1/4 inputs for a stereo instrument
Headset input for a gaming type mic/headphones
Instrument (guitar or bass) with pad for active inputs
2x Stereo minijack line inputs (no gain control)
Smartphone in/out using the special mic/headphone triple ring connection
USB return - with loopback switch for feeding to the output.

Thats plenty right? Cables supplied are a USB-C to Micro, iOS lightning to Micro and a Smartphone triple minijack for analog connections - though this would only give you a mono feed on most smartphone inputs, assuming you have a headphone connector.

Power is via 4xAAA batteries (not supplied) or from the Micro USB - this wont allow you to use 48v unless you have a high capacity power bank with USB-C PD connection.

So first impressions are of a fairly light construction with somewhat wobbly knobs, a slot to mount a phone or small tablet means that you can hook this up and stream or record using the audio interface - this is pretty neat and will suit many people as a simple way to mix multiple sources into their device.

Gain - there's a decent amount of gain on all the inputs (stereo instrument, guitar, mic) I was pleasantly surprised at this. I also found the stereo minijack inputs (without gain control) also had a decent amount of headroom meaning I didnt need to send it full volume from the Korg NTS-1 for instance.

The main volume knob acts as a master output level which feeds both the USB master out and the headphones which meant that I couldn't quite get enough gain to my headphones in a noisy environment.

Would have been nice to have a dedicated headphone out level and port for this. But there was plenty of gain on the inputs.

Who's gonna use this? Very useful as a small compact sound input for your tablet, phone, laptop or desktop Though it is billed as Audio for your Smartphone, you can use it with other devices.. We can imagine a live stream with multiple inputs directly from a phone will be very useful.

Downsides: A bit flimsy and not enough headphone gain - plus the use of a Micro USB for the connection is a bit disappointing - USB-C at the very least would make it more robust and less prone to connection mangling. Would also like to have seen a camera thread mount for tripod or other options, nothing a hot glue gun cant cure though...

Priced at around UK133/$149, it's not the cheapest, but it does work pretty seamlessly, the sonic quality is pretty good, it's not noisy and could be just the thing for your mobile rig.

https://www.roland.com/uk/products/gomixer_pro-x/

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