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-- Guide: How to add Master Cueing to your Behringer VMX200 Mixer (with pictures)

Guide: How to add Master Cueing to your Behringer VMX200 Mixer (with pictures)

(Master Cueing is the ability to hear the master output in your headphone cue)

I wanted to have the Master Cueing feature on my mixer, but didn't feel like buying a new one. The Behringer VMX200 is a great value mixer, but this is one of the nicer features that aren't included. I decided to open up my mixer and see what could be done about this problem. After a short time I found a way to add it.

In order for this to work, you will have to give up one of your regular cueing modes. By this I mean the switch in the middle of the mixer that lets you select between Stereo and Split cueing. I only ever used Stereo cueing, so sacrificing the Split cueing was not a problem.

A brief overview on the pros and cons of this mod:

Pros:
+ Master Cueing feature
+ Very low cost

Cons:
- You will lose one of your normal cueing modes
- If your mixer is still under warranty, it probably won't be afterwards


Before you go ahead with this mod, I would like to point out that this is meant for people with at least some experience in electronics and soldering. It's actually a very quick and easy mod to do with the help of this guide. However, I am not responsible for any damaged equipment, voiding of warranty, personal injury, unplanned pregnancy, loss of functionality, or any other undesired side effects from doing this modification.

Now, onto the guide:


Materials you will need:
-screwdriver(s)
-exacto-knife or equivalent sharp blade
-wire (22AWG solid recommended)
-wire strippers (the exacto-knife could also be used to strip the insulation off the ends of the wire)
-soldering iron
-solder (optional - you can probably get by with just the amount of solder already on the board)
-solder wick (optional - you'll only need this if you make mistakes on the soldering and need to remove excess solder from the board)
-multimeter (optional - only used to check if your soldering worked before actually using the mixer again)

Step 1: Unplug all the audio and power cables from your mixer. Your VMX200 should look like this:


Step 2: Remove all of the knobs and faders. Just pull on them and they will come off. The mixer should now look like this:


Step 3: Take your screwdriver and remove all of the screws on the top panel. The panel should come off easily. This is what you'll see inside:


Step 4: Go to the back panel of the mixer and remove all of the screws here too. Notice the "TAPE" outputs. This is the signal we will be able to hear in the headphone cue at the end of this mod.


Step 5: Remove the screws holding the three transistors to the case. These are a bit awkward to get at, but not too hard. They are attached to the bottom of the case because they get hot while the mixer is on, and the case will distribute this heat. It was harder geting a picture of them than actually removing the screws. You can see them here:


Step 6: Take notice of this switch (the Stereo / Split switch). We will be modifying the points that this switch connects to on the bottom of the board.


Step 7: Flip the board over and locate the bottom of the above mentioned switch.
The bottom of the board:


Closeup of the area that you'll be working on:


The six larger solder blobs are the points that the switch is connected to.

Step 8: Cut the traces that connect the switch to the 'Split Cue' signals. There are two traces for a left and right stereo sound. This is what the board looks like once these two traces are cut:


A multimeter would be helpful here to check these traces were cut successfuly. If you don't have one, don't worry, it's not neccessary to check as long as you are confident you cut the signal properly.

Step 9: Locate the row of 14 pins on the top of the board. This is where the TAPE signals are located. We will be bringing these signals over to the switch, where the Split Cue signals used to be connected to. Here's a picture of these pins:


Make sure you get the right row of pins. There is another set of these pins nearby that we don't want to get confused with. It should be fairly easy to find the right set of pins, just compare its location to the text on the board or other parts nearby.

Step 10: Solder two wires onto these pins. Counting from the right side, it will be pin numbers 3 and 4. By coincidence, these two pins are the ones that you can see traces going to on the board. Here's a picture with the two wires connected:


As you can see in the picture, you'll need to wrap the other ends of the wires around to the bottom side of the board. We will be soldering these wire ends directly to the switch's pins. Here's how it should look when done:


Make sure the solder doesn't bridge the two wires together, or connect to any of the other points nearby. The switch is the 6 larger blobs, and the 4 smaller blobs on the corners are ground.

Once this is done, you can check your soldering job with a multimeter if you have one.

Now start putting everything back together. It's important to put the screws back on those 3 transistors so your mixer doesn't overheat. A good way to put everything back together is to read this guide in reverse order. It will bring you back to the start. Once it's all closed up and you have your knobs and sliders back on, you'll be ready to try it out!

Setting the switch to "Stereo" will act just as it used to. Setting the switch to "Split" will now let you hear what the master output is on your headphones. No need to remove your headphones to hear the main speakers.


I will answer any questions you may have about this mod. If you are going to try it, let me know how it works for you.

Ahaha...thats a crap mixer...my djx700 has control over the main output & cue song

Great tutorial though

quote:

Originally posted by Ken_Allen Ahaha...thats a crap mixer...my djx700 has control over the main output & cue song Great tutorial though

in the same breath, the djx700 would qualify as a "crap mixer" as well. It would seem that the VMX series was actually more reliable than the djx.

Anyways very nice tutorial. Its great to see this sort of thing.

Just because I'm too lazyto go downstairs to check.... this is the same as my master cue mix on my VMX300, is it not?!

my buddy's gonna love this mod!!! thank you!

hey where'd u find out about where to make the changes on the PCB??

While not remotely useful for myself. That was a very informative post and its nice to see some effort. good job

quote:

Originally posted by SgtFoo Just because I'm too lazyto go downstairs to check.... this is the same as my master cue mix on my VMX300, is it not?!

Yes, it is probably the same.

quote:

hey where'd u find out about where to make the changes on the PCB??

I just winged it. Basically I just followed the TAPE output from the back and found a spot on the PCB where I could connect a wire to it. The Split signal was found by working backwards from the switch, and seeing which signals it connects to by moving the switch slider.

Good luck to your friend if he's going to try this.

see this is the kind of stuff i like to see instead of all this "which TTshould i got?...which CDJ should i get?" crap... and it was a really nice read i must say though i have a DJM600 myself but its good to see some new stuff around hear to read then post from people who dont know how to use the search button...

I just want to say thank you for posting this

can you do the mod the other way? as in get rid of stereo cueing and split cueing the master + cue track?

Thanks for all the nice feedback. Hopefully someone will actually try this and post their results.

quote:

Originally posted by tu_face can you do the mod the other way? as in get rid of stereo cueing and split cueing the master + cue track?

Yes, you could do this just as easily. The only difference would be which traces you cut, and where the wires connect to on the bottom. If you're interested in doing this, I could label the pictures for you.

Need Photos!

I would love to be able to do this, my kids bought me this mixer recently for my birthday and this is the one feature that it�s missing that I would like.

I probably don�t have quite the electronic skills that you have, although I have certainly done more than my fair share of soldering over the years!

My problem is that your photos along the way are missing from the post and I�m not confident enough to try this without them. I don�t suppose you still have them available somewhere, do you please?

Thanks!

Dude, you realize that you're bumping thread that is probably far older than your kids?

Sadly not... my youngest is 15! LOL!
Yeah, I knew it was a long shot to reply to this, but I REALLY would love to be able to have this feature on my mixer and I didn't know where else to turn, to be honest. C'est la vie...

To be honest, the descriptions should have enough info to do the mod. Sure the pictures would be helpful but I read through them and there's enough to do it right if you're careful.

quote:

Originally posted by grahamengland Sadly not... my youngest is 15! LOL! Yeah, I knew it was a long shot to reply to this, but I REALLY would love to be able to have this feature on my mixer and I didn't know where else to turn, to be honest. C'est la vie...

Is she hot?

Not certain!

DJ Rann - thanks for your reply. I'm just nervous about steps 8 and 9, without a picture of what I'm doing. I've not opened the mixer yet but I don't want to bite off more than I can chew.

The circuit board on dj mixers are pretty easy to figure out.
In the end, analog mixers are actually pretty crude devices, and
what companies really were putting the money into, was making sure
the stuff was durable.
Just look at this:
http://www.electroschematics.com/wp...r-schematic.gif
http://members.shaw.ca/novotill/Ref...Pig/circuit.png

Even the circuitry of a basic refrigerator is more advanced than a 3 channel dj mixer. And all that has to do is monitor temp, turn on cooling element if temp goes above set temp. The light that goes on when you open the door isn't even part of it. That's just a mechanical off/on switch.

And yeah, my point being, seeing as a mixer is just a big plastic board with controllers on it, there's basically nothing but dead space. Seeing the lines that go from the different things is easy. You'll be allright.

Now, answer my question.

Re: Not certain!

quote:

Originally posted by grahamengland DJ Rann - thanks for your reply. I'm just nervous about steps 8 and 9, without a picture of what I'm doing. I've not opened the mixer yet but I don't want to bite off more than I can chew.

I could figure it out if the mixer was in front of my but I can't really help without.

What I did find is the original guy who figured this out, and El-Zapo who posted here seems to have got the idea from him.

His email is also listed in the thread and at least in 2003 the pictures existed on two people's hard drives so you may want to drop him a line and see if you can get him?

Here's the thread:



http://www.futureproducers.com/foru...eing-now-35229/

Tried that, but... you've given me optimism!

DJ Rann - Thanks for taking the time to look this up and make the suggestion. Unfortunately I have already tried emailing El-Zappo and didn't get a reply.
However, prompted by your optimism, I figured that I probably know enough electronics to work this out just from the description, so I will give this a go when I get some time (although I've got a cooker to fix first!), so sometime in the next three weeks I'll jump right in. I'll let you know how it goes!

Please do! Just in case, I would reference both threads; the future producers one has a bit more explanation how the OP figured it out and got there in the first place.

Good luck!

It's dead Jim...

So sad... I screwed it up somewhere along the line. Seriously I spent 9 hours on this and now it's worse than I started. I'm so bummed because my four kids bought this for me as a birthday gift for me and I've only used it twice.
The problem was trying to figure out which tracks to cut without a picture. The circuit board is so difficult to try and follow, with tracks on both sides of the board. I used a meter to do continuity checks and found four places where there was a connection to the "Split" side of the switch that didn't seem to be effected by the switch position. I am confident that I wired the tape out to the "Split" side of the switch, that was the easy part, but I think I must have cut more than I should have done, and there's no room to even get my soldering iron in to where I think the problem could be.
The end result? The switch now does what I want (Stereo outputs the PFL mix as before) and the Split does output the live output, BUT... it's only playing out of one side of my headphones now. Now I've voided the warranty, so I guess I'm stuck with it like this. Perhaps I'll buy a stereo to Mono adapter plug and just live with listening to one channel =(

haha bummer dude. but stereo-to-mono jack seems like the solution. You don't really need stereo monitoring for cueing anyways. I mean, most dj's only cue with one ear anyways.

That's true, but this is what I use at home, it's nice to have the option to put on headphones and crank it up. I guess I can always do that through the amplifier instead. I've got a friend who's promised to take a look tomorrow though and see if he can fix the mess I've made. I do hope so... =/

Trash that shit homeboy and get a brand peice of equipment!

Aha! Dunnit

Well, it may have taken a total of 13 hours, but I DID eventually get it working. How easy would it all have been if I'd had the one photograph of where to cut the board! LOL
Long story short, I wired directly from the middle of the mix switch over to the input pin of the headphone volume pot and VOILA! I learned a lot along the way though.

Re: Aha! Dunnit

quote:

Originally posted by grahamengland Well, it may have taken a total of 13 hours, but I DID eventually get it working. How easy would it all have been if I'd had the one photograph of where to cut the board! LOL Long story short, I wired directly from the middle of the mix switch over to the input pin of the headphone volume pot and VOILA! I learned a lot along the way though.

Congrats Graham! I was going to suggest that the reason you're only getting one side is that you;re probably only getting on side of the switch (I had this issue once when I re-wired a tonearm for someone on their 1210, and none of the colors of the wires matched each other and I was only getting one side until I realized that I needed to swap two of the wires but I drove me crazy until I figured it out).

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