MIDAS M32 Live Digital Console Mixer

In 2013, Midas approached me to create a new design language for Midas and with it a new mixing console.

Having designed for Bentley, I am intimately familiar with the challenge of transforming a brand while retaining the precious heritage – in this case the 40 year old iconic British mixing console brand Midas.

Representing the pinnacle of its industry, Midas is the Epitome of Excellence.

When it comes to ergonomics, performance and style, the aspects of a high-performance luxury car equally apply to a high-end mixing console.

I was given a blank sheet of paper for my choice of materials.

This meant considering lightweight materials such as carbon fibre and aluminum, while using a sophisticated steel construction, for high-impact structural areas.

High attention was paid to the tactile elements such as fader knobs and the illumination to work under all background conditions.

From the onset the idea was to break the mould! Hence the form study deliberately tried to break away from the static, bulky feel of today’s mixing consoles.

Instead making it more dynamic, ergonomic, yet luxurious. Colours, size, mobility and hardware were given equal importance to arrive at the M32 LIVE – a true projection of the brand, today.

I am very happy with the outcome of the M32 LIVE, and feel honoured to have my name associated with Midas.Rajesh Kutty

While the Midas M32 LIVE design, styling, and construction will surely turn a lot of heads, it’s the sound that matters most to engineers and performing artists.

And that’s where M32 LIVE shines even brighter – as the latest in a long line of pristine-sounding Midas consoles, it descends from a celebrated lineage that literally set the standard in electrical design and sound quality.

Ever since Midas consoles first found fame 40 years ago with acts like Billy Joel, Yes, The Beach Boys, Pink Floyd and others, the Midas legacy has always been about uncompromising quality and the ultimate in sound reproduction.

Backing the analogue input section are audiophile Cirrus Logic multi-channel 192 kHz capable A/D converters, which boast a 114 dB dynamic range, ensuring impressively low distortion and low noise performance.

The Midas mic preamp is considered by leading live sound and recording engineers to be the very essence of the famous Midas sound.

More than 40 years of design experience paired with the finest choice of premium-grade components lead to the acclaimed warmth and depth, bring out subtle ambience, maintain spatial positioning, and more effectively capture a precise image.

The acclaimed sound of the award-winning Midas microphone preamplifier has inspired generations of live sound engineers to their best work, creating sonic landscapes that have captivated audiences worldwide.

The Midas preamplifier design eliminates typical imbalances of gain-setting stages, thereby improving the common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) and harmonic distortion to an almost immeasurable level.

The constant high-frequency bandwidth topology assures excellent stability, RF rejection and noise performance at all gain levels, contributing to its transparent, open and dynamic sound.

But it doesn’t end there, over the years many mix engineers have found that this robust and overload-tolerant design takes on a whole new dimension of sound when driven hard, the pristine audiophile reproduction giving way to just the right combination of harmonics, a warm and organic sound heard by millions of concertgoers and recorded for posterity on countless live albums over the years.

Since pristine sound always begins with the microphone preamplifier, the first point where your signal enters the console, M32 LIVE features genuine Midas microphone preamplifiers which faithfully reproduce every sonic detail so no part of a performance will ever be missed.

Transparent and pristine sound, low noise and high common-mode rejection are all hallmarks of this classic design.

The microphone preamplifiers are the very same ones used in the industry standard Midas XL4 and HERITAGE 3000 consoles, which many consider to be the greatest analogue live consoles ever built.

Over the past decade, the XL4 and HERITAGE 3000 have been utilised by countless top artists including Bon Jovi, Alanis Morrisette, AC/DC, Coldplay, Kid Rock, Metallica, Alicia Keys, Foo Fighters, Christina Aguilera, Sir Paul McCartney, Pearl Jam, and many more.

The M32 LIVE draws from this same legacy to bring you an elite professional level of audio quality and performance