Rane MP24
A rackmount club mixer that treats DJ routing like a small broadcast console. It has four assignable stereo buses, three phono inputs, and two mic channels with their own EQ and insert.
Overview
The MP24 is a rugged, high-performance, rackmountable mixer built for mobile DJ work or any installation that needs a multi-source mixer with phono preamp capability. Rane's own distributor literature lists it at a manufacturer's suggested price of $1,299.00. That is well north of the small club mixers it was sold against, and the feature count explains where the money went.
Most DJ mixers of the period gave you a fixed set of channels and a crossfader. The MP24 gives you nine stereo inputs, three phono and six line, assignable across four input mixing busses. Each bus carries its own 4-position selector switch and an Alps studio-grade 60mm slider. Crossfade is fully assignable, run off another 60mm slider plus two selector switches, and it can be defeated entirely when you want a straight mix. The hardware is Alps 60mm studio faders and sealed rotary pots throughout. Sealed pots matter in a club mixer, because spilled drinks and cigarette smoke are the two things that kill open-frame controls.
The mic section is unusually complete for a DJ mixer. Two microphones can run at once, both contoured by a 3-way mic EQ, with a microphone channel insert jack for outboard processing and a full effects loop. The program side gets its own 4-way EQ and two master effects loops. Outputs are split three ways: separate booth, zone, and light trigger outputs. A working club needs that kind of routing, and a bedroom mixer doesn't bother with it. The headphone section is described as flexible, with headphone cueing across the sources.
Contemporary coverage treated the MP24 as serious club infrastructure rather than a DJ toy. Recording-Engineer (December 1987, p.75) ran Rane's pitch describing the MP24 as a "Stereo Program Mixing Console" loaded "to the gills with features," and highlighted the four stereo mixing buses, the 4-position selector switches, the Alps 60mm sliders, and the fully assignable crossfade. The same copy ran in Studio-Sound (February 1988, p.10) and again in Studio-Sound (November 1986, p.7). This is manufacturer advertising placed in the trade press, not an independent bench test. Nobody in the available record measured the MP24's noise floor or crosstalk.
What the period copy does establish is the design intent. Rane built the MP24 to break down what it called the limiting barriers of previous mixer designs, working from input supplied by figures in the nightclub market. It reads more like a routing matrix than a crossfader box. The spec list is four stereo input mixing channels, six stereo line inputs, three stereo phono inputs, two mic inputs, 3-way mic EQ, four-band program EQ, two auxiliary outputs, and headphone cueing. The distributor description of the period calls it a giant step forward for night club mixers.
Some caveats for anyone buying one now. The MP24 is rackmountable and built to take abuse, but it is a 1980s analog mixer, and the consumables are the faders and pots. Alps parts are the good news, since they're serviceable and the design is straightforward. The light trigger outputs and zone routing are only useful if you're running a multi-zone room. In a home setup they're dead weight. The phono stage is on three inputs, but it is period phono, so expect it to be competent rather than exceptional by modern standalone-preamp standards. No independent measurements, current market values, or documented failure modes are available in the record, so treat any seller claims about "known issues" with skepticism.
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