STILL confused about Reloop Mixon 4 USB cables

DJ Hardware
1

This topic was discussed at length here, but I’m still finding myself rather confused about how to connect my older iPad (with a lightning connection rather than USB-C) to my Reloop Mixon 4. Especially because every other reply in the above thread seems to have gone missing for some reason.

Per Rakanlam’s tip, I bought a $35 8-pin Mini Din to lightning cable from Sweetwater, only to find out that there are actually two kinds of 8-pin Mini Dins — you need to make sure to buy the kind that does not have the black square pin in the middle. I contacted American Music & Sound (who essentially function as Reloop USA) directly and found out you specifically want part #238094 for the right mini-din to lightning. This particular cable, however, is at least $65 from any retailer in the US.

At this point, (a) I want to specifically call out Reloop for this absolute disaster of a situation, this is a massive failure to make their products accessible and easy to use when they really specifically ought to be doing that. And (b) I’m thinking to hell with this dumb 8-pin situation. I’m considering upgrading my iPad to a model that would use USB-C in the near future, so I don’t want to spend $65 on a cable that will be obsolete to me, especially after already sinking $35 into the wrong cable.

So I’m back on trying to figure the USB thing out, and I’m just so confused about what I need to do and if it is possible to power the iPad simultaneously. What I can’t seem to get a clear answer on is if I can just connect the mixer to the iPad directly with a USB-B to lightning cable? A lot of people in the above thread are talking about hubs, so I’m guessing you can’t go direct. Should I be looking at a lightning hub like this to connect to the iPad, and then go USB-A from the hub to USB-B on the mixer?

What a freaking headache on Reloop’s part, I can’t understand why you would go with 8 pin mini din and USB-B as your port options for the life of me. Obviously they addressed this with the Mixon 8 and that’s great, but still quite annoyed as someone who only recently acquired the Mixon 4.

2

I’m pretty sure it’s a custom cable. By the time this machine came out it was not a bad solution at all. Remember we are talking about 2016. Both Apple and USB came a long way since.

As for how to connect to an USB-C iPad; I’d recommend going the external powered hub way. I’m pretty sure that’s what Reloop recommends too.

Edit FAQ FYI: Mixon 4 - Reloop

Looking at https://www.reloop.com/media/downloadable/ipadpro_usbc_mixon_mixtour_beatpad.pdf it seems you can can power the Mixon from a HUB. I thought there were issues, but maybe I’ll try it later…

1 Like
3

nice, this is potentially super helpful, but i’m unsure where this leaves me with my non-USB-C iPad. curious where you found this image and if there are other versions of it for other iPad models?

4

And I take your point re: 2016, but almost every other mixer manufacturer in the world manages to avoid using proprietary or insanely difficult to find cables. Still think it’s a bit of a failure on their part.

5

In the FAQ I also linked to.

6

And as far as I know there are no other comparable controllers that powered the iPad. :wink: Works both ways.

8

Hey, has anyone tried using this official Apple adaptor to connect the lightning cable to a USB-C iPad? According to Apple it will charge and transfer data and audio.