Latest update: Got a quite old and cheap 6 channels mixer, a YAMAHA-KM602 in a relatively good condition, within 6 dollars. I was so happy and very confident on this piece of hardware as it is branded as YAMAHA, but got a serious lesson after its delivery!

SHOULD NOT TRUST AN ANCIENT AUDIO HARDWARE!!! ESPECIALLY THE ANALOG ONE!!! (Unless tested as 100% of functionality by yourself before buying it)

I can't say this piece of shit is completely a disaster, but extremely troublesome and annoying, tons of problems such as not fully functional, bad connecting problems on the ports, knobs and slide bars, strong em interference caused by its over aged hardware and circles....

There are cheap things with nice prices for sure, but "NICE THING COSTS MONEY" is an eternal rule u should think a lot before risking yourself into a kind of extreme adventures...

Sorry to hear that.

Did you google the model before buying? It seems to be from 1984...and close to no hits on popular pro audio gear websites that describe a good experience.
It may be worthwhile to open it up and clean out the contacts. Yamaha units that age are more or less notorious for badly responsive controls due to dust getting under the buttons (guess what withholds me from buying certain classic Yamaha drum machines?).

Well, I'll tell you how it works out for me when I get my rack mixers in the mail (not from Yamaha though). I already saw I screwed up on one of them because it's missing the bus part of one of the TS output jacks (probably unscrewed itself and dropped out).

Got an older PC that you can turn in to a mixer? Put in a few sound cards with line-in and use the "listen to this device" to mix them together?

I am pretty sure that some electronics cleaning spray will do wonders with that yamaha mixer, you need to get the spray inside the sliding parts and connectors - meaning you'll have to open and disassemble the mixer - but the end result might worth the investment in time !

keropi wrote:

I am pretty sure that some electronics cleaning spray will do wonders with that yamaha mixer, you need to get the spray inside the sliding parts and connectors - meaning you'll have to open and disassemble the mixer - but the end result might worth the investment in time !

It's rather likely that's the case, yes. Most of this kind of gear was build to last, audio professionals often still have gear in use that's 30-50 years old.

Also be sure you set the gain switches properly for hooking up consumer gear to professional audio gear. That can sometimes make the difference between bad and proper sound.

Try this: 4CH stereo active mini mixer
Not that expensive and straight from Japan.

I wrote I would report back once I had received my mixer(s). So here goes:

I received the first one of my two Kawai MX-8SR's today. This is a analog mixer with 8 stereo input channels, 2x effect ins/outs, headphone jack with separate volume control, and both 6.3mm & XLR main outs. It's a 19" rack mount, 2 height units high (it's approx. 48 x 9 x 24 cm). Each stereo channel has panpot adjustment, volume fader, effect 1 volume, effect 2 volume, and gain adjustment (L, M, H). Output volume is adjusted using the two main volume faders.
It's fully functional with very little noise, despite being second-hand and having been manufactured in the early 1990s. 😎 One of the input buses is a bit wonky, but it doesn't influence the sound. I cleaned it before testing.

It was part of a lot consisting of a 4 height unit 19" portable rack, a Kawai RV-4 multi-effect unit (which I still need to test - I know it powers on), and the mixer. I bought that lot for 3,500 yen on Y! Auctions Japan, described "AS-IS" (or as they say on Y! Auctions Japan "NCNR - No complaints, no returns"). With middleman costs it came to about 60 bucks, with shipping to about 200 bucks.
Expensive? Meh, not really. The mixer goes for over 100 bucks alone on Ebay, and the effect unit for even more. A comparable portable rack would cost me about 80-90 Euro...I probably saved about 100-200 bucks overall.

Of course, I did the research before buying, by looking at opinions on professional audio sites and reading the manual. Kawai makes quality gear that tends to be underestimated (quite a lot of their synths are cult). My Sound Canvas feels like a flimsy plastic Chinese knock off compared to this stuff.

On the other hand, I'm starting to get rather pissed off at the middleman service I use. I've been using them for years, yet lately they seem to be dropping the ball when it comes to packing stuff properly - minimum amount of bubblewrap + ignoring the specific packing instructions I gave. 😠 It makes me dread receiving the other package with the other mixer and a Kawai synth, because those don't have the benefit of a rack protecting them...okay, turned out not to be packed as asked, but decently enough for only a bent rack ear as damage...

Edit: Mixer #2 is also fully functional, despite one of the 6.3 mm output buses having had half the bus part broken off (the contacts are there) and looking somewhat beaten up. So thumbs up for Kawai's 1990s mixers.