Buchla and Friends 2026: Boredbrain unveiled Xcelon SL, a new dynamic analog performance mixer designed for electronic musicians.
Everyone in the studio or on stage has a mixer for mixing signals. It’s a must-have for equipment. Mixers can also be sound-shapers and live-performance tools, especially those that add analog warmth and color to the signal.
Boredbrain, known for their modular mixer system for Eurorack (video), has now unveiled Xcelon SL, their first standalone analog mixer at Buchla and Friends 2026, specifically designed for electronic music performances.
Boredbrain Xcelon SL
Xcelon SL is a new analog performance mixer, or in the words of Boredbrain: a dynamic analog mix performer.
It has eight channels that can be used in mono or stereo (SC switch) packed with hands-on control. Each channel has a dedicated volume fader, and buttons for mute and cue.
Per-channel gain control with switchable drive, EQ with a mid switch, and a compressor give you on-the-fly sound-shaping options. Flip the switch next to the compressor to give your track an extra punch.
More advanced sound shaping is possible with the two return and send FX, accessible via dedicated knobs per channel. Plus, there is a “pre-mix” option for each FX. Also onboard is a cross-fading feature (xfade)
The center is the main hub for all eight signals entering the mixer. Here, you have an A/B mixer with a DJ-style analog filter with independent lowpass and highpass resonance.
Alongside this, you have a sidechain compressor with frequency, threshold, and decay parameters. In the top section, you can control FX returns, phones, and the master section. Old VU meters on the channels and in the center give you visual feedback of your signals.
Connectivity
Interesting: each channel of the BoredBrain Xcelon SL offers a mini jack output on the front panel, along with a mini jack external stereo input, an AUX in, and a record out. A headphone socket is on the bottom. Don’t worry, there are big jacks, too.
On the back, you’ll find a stereo input with two 6.3mm jacks per channel, a TRS mic input, two stereo send/return sockets, and a master output section. I don’t see the other sockets. I’ll add them later when I find out.
Also, here is a power supply input with a dedicated power on/off switch.
First Impression
That’s definitely a black beauty. I’m certainly not the target audience, but plenty of live musicians are looking for an analog mixer that goes beyond classic mixing duties.
Here, you get an exciting feature that’s very hands-on, analog, and menu-free. I’m sure the Xcelon SL will be of very high quality, since BoredBrain’s modules are already excellent.
Boredbrain Xcelon SL availability and price TBA.
More information will follow here: Boredbrain
Been praying for something like this. More usable than the TX-6, more functionality than the Bébé Chérie (although I do adore this box), and less than half the footprint of the Xone96 or some other DJ mixer. Can’t preorder this thing fast enough.
Seems nice, but only one Switchable eq band is a bit lacking in my opinion
I’m a fan of BoredBrain and I’m excited that someone is trying to address the giant market hole that exists for a live PA mixer but BB seemed to have missed the point here entirely. If someone was willing to deal with the large footprint of this mixer they could just buy a larger DJ mixer and get a crossfader and digital FX built in. For those of us loading a bunch of bulky electronic gear into venues, something of this size is gonna be an automatic “no”.
The perfect live PA mixer is going to have FX sends, a crossfader, built in digital FX, MIDI tempo/transport controls, and the tiniest footprint possible.
But it isn’t big at all,they said 14×8 inches. Thats really compact. Two stereo effects sends and returns, plus another two stereo effects inserts on the extra submix busses.