OTO Bébé Chérie is a new portable analog mixer created for dealing with electronic musicians’ best friends, the mini-jack signals.
The Synthesizer market has literally been flooded with small, portable, inexpensive synthesizers in recent years. And we will see many more. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Many of them share an absurdity, they have mini-jacks as outputs, which can quickly lead to problems in classic setups.
If you want to record or integrate them into live setups with regular-sized gear, you are almost forced to buy various cables and adapters because most mixers use big 6.3mm jacks. The French boutique manufacturer OTO, known for their well-known effect boxes, has now introduced a mixer that focuses specifically on such mini synth setups. Welcome the Bébé Chérie mixer.
OTO Bébé Chérie
Bébé Chérie is a new portable analog mixer with 6 channels. Unlike classic mixers, it comes with 6 stereo channels on mini jacks.
Four of them have variable gain up to +34dB with a built-in asymmetrical soft clipping and a tilt EQ. The other two channels have a Baxandall 2 band EQ and a 0/+10dB selectable input gain.
OTO Machines also have integrated into its colorful mixer a 3:1 ratio one-knob compressor and a bliss enhancer on the master bus. They promise a high sound quality thanks to audiophile film capacitors used in the eq circuitry, low noise, and low distortion op amp on the audio path, and THAT Corporation© VCAs.
Backside
On the backside, the terminals are labeled upside down for easy legibility from above. You get here the 6 inputs for your channels which can optionally also work with mono signals.
Next to this, you have a main output and alternative output, giving more options for signal routing. For example, for monitoring the signals. The unit is powered by a 24 volts internal power supply for pro audio dynamic range
Bébé Chérie’s front panel is very easy and classic: you have dedicated controls for each channel, an individually controlled headphone output, and, let’s say, minimal metering for the channel.
First Impression
At first glance a very cute designed mixer that can be very helpful in setups with mini jack gear. I would have liked it if the device had had two large jack outputs with which you could send the signal to large equipment. As well as an FX send option with which you could also route effects into the channels. Maybe we’ll see a Pro version from Bébé Chérie in the future.
OTO Bébé Chérie will be available for 625€ excl. VAT in the second quarter of 2023
More information here: OTO
Nice but I would expect a tinier overall size if this is to be used with miniature beasts even if it meant smaller knobs.
The Bluebox is a good example of what is expected in this mini (jack) world. I don’t mention the Teenagers’ branded mixer as it costs 4 times the price of the Bluebox.
I think the Bluebox and the OTO are two different things. The Bluebox is a neat digital mobile recording solution, while the OTO is an analog mixer focusing on sound quality.
At least it proves that mini-Jack is not equal to bad quality of sound as many think for some reason. Some even believe it does bad MIDI quality as well… 🤔
Btw the Bluebox does have pretty good sound quality, it would be interesting to compare.
Interesting take on a mixer! We never had more choice for synths yet there’s not a lot of mixers geared for synth setups.
It’s great this mixer focused on sound quality and it bring something a little different.
Hoping for a bigger version. Most mixers don’t have more than 4 stereo inputs and more than 2 post-fader auxes.
A basic DJ style filter would also be a useful addition. I’ll wait for PRO version as you mentioned above with the send/return…. perhaps with another channel or two.
Those are 6 mute buttons for each channel below the knobs I guess.
No stereo panning is an odd choice. That really limits the device’s usefulness for creating usable tracks.
its a fully stereo so whatever you want to do you can do with the drum/synth. Im happy its not there it will just make it bigger and i never use it anyway.
Btw, with stereo channels its called “balance”
It’s a costly Boutique style mixer for the coffee table, nothing wrong with that. Imagine the OTO Bébé Chérie standing next to Roland SE-02, MFB Dominion Club or other little friends, it will look and probably also sound interesting.
If you are looking for a feature-rich performance mixer and don’t care about the analog vs. digital discussion, I can recommend the Roland MX-1.