ok so in the grand scheme of things this isn't that special but it's an idea that afaict doesn't exist on the internet yet so i'm just a bit excited to see how it will actually work out.
The core is an averaging mixer. This already exists in other modules, like the 3:1 part of Mutable Instruments Links or this passive equivalent. The circuit is extremely simple. you can see for yourself, here's a simulation!
Click on the switches to see what happens when new signals are plugged in or unplugged. the output is always an average of the signals that are plugged in. signals that aren't plugged in might as well not exist. The only difference between this and an active averager is that an active version would provide a bit of extra isolation using op-amp followers, but otherwise, they're the same.
Here's my "innovation". Usually, you'd normal each jack to ground. on my little mixer, I've normalled only the first input jack to ground, and every subsequent jack to the previous jack instead. Falstad doesn't have jacks so instead I'm going to simulate it using a more complicated switch:
So here's the trick here; each time you send the same signal across a parallel resistor (ignoring loading effects) you basically get a "copy" of that signal from the perspective of the averager. and each jack copies the jack above it. this means each jack actually behaves differently!
- plugging your signal A into jack one means you have three copies of A, which averages back to A. no change.
- if you plug your signal A into jack two, then jack one will be the ground signal, and jacks two and three are A. (0 + A + A) / 3 = 2/3 of A. this is an attenuator, and it's pretty precise compared to a knob!
- you plug A into one, and B into two. (A + B + B) / 3 results in a signal where A and B are mixed at a precise 2:3 ratio.
The real version of this I'm building is a 6:1 mixer. this gives me 2, 3 and 6 as easy ratios. (4 and 5 can be achieved using a dummy plug). I'm building this by hand which gives me less wiggle room, but i think you could easily make a 12:1 mixer in 4hp, which gives you even more ratios (+ a 12 channel mixer! imagine that).
so again! not exactly new, but definitely a bit of a weird and funky interface that saves space compared to using knobs or sliders to do the same thing
now i just gotta build the thing and see if it actually works as imagined. I'd do it now but it's super hot in my garage >.> so I'll wait until it's a bit cooler and a bit brighter out