Mixer HALP

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Capt. Black
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Re: Mixer HALP

Post by Capt. Black »

If you have a bit of money to spend, Presonus StudioLive Ai range is pretty versatile. The 'Ai" range offers very good live mixing from and iPad, so you don't have to run a snake out to front of house which is handy for small gigs. You can park the mixer just of stage and cable up to it then wander out front with iPad to mix. That's something a lot of other mixers can do too. Plus there's quite a cool iPhone app to allow personalised monitor control.
EQ, comp, gate on all channels. Reverb and delay auxes. Full multi track record and playback built in so it can function as an interface in studio and... live. They're pretty comprehensively spec'ed.

Behringer has some quite good stuff that does a similar job for reasonable money too if the budget is tighter.

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Re: Mixer HALP

Post by Kris »

i had a tascam dp-32sd that was excellent.It was a SD recording device,but made a totally functional mixer with good onboard comp/eq/reverb.has usb out so it can be used as an interface for cubase.I sold mine cheap at 500,reatail was 8 something.dunno if thats way over budget or not

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Re: Mixer HALP

Post by JHorner »

Had a tascam all in one, was good, but when it broke I decided to go modular - interface, mixer, laptop.

In hindsight, mixer with usb would probably have been a lot cheaper.

Alto mixer was cheap as chips, but has survived years of negligence and abuse.

Next time I'd probably buy a 12 channel Alto.

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Re: Mixer HALP

Post by rickenbackerkid »

I recently borrowed/stole 3 rack mount digital mixers to test out and compare. All of them are recording interfaces with 16ish preamps and a bunch of outputs and all of them would be at home in a studio or on stage. I made a video about it which I haven't quite finished editing, but my basic findings:

1. Behringer XR18 - amazing value, easy to use, great apps for apple, iOS, android, PC. Shitty reverb and overall low headroom. $1300 though!

2. Soundcraft Ui24r - Best app in the class, app is HTML5 based so you can run it on almost anything. Really, really good sound quality, pristine and sparkly. Great FX and processing but for live use they missed a trick and there is no parametric EQ on the Aux outputs. $2K retail

3. A&H QU-SB - really 'analog-esq' sound, killer, killer processing in terms of compression types, FX, side chain gates, great EQ everywhere. Will ONLY work with a iPad for control though, but there is a very basic iPhone app which gives you access to some basics. No android/PC/Mac support so you have to have and be happy to use an iPad. $2K retail

I bought the Soundcraft for myself, but I'd highly recommend all of these, they are amazingly powerful for an affordable price. Like it's utterly ridiculous how much power you get for your money. I'd probably recommend the Behringer to most people, no real need to spend the extra $600 if your a new user learning the rope to coin a phrase.

If you're interesting in some analog stuff, I have an old mackie 16 input line mixer which I used to use in my studio. It's pretty good and I'd sell it for peanuts.

I'll link the video onto NZG when I finish it!

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Re: Mixer HALP

Post by rickenbackerkid »

Oh - one more thing. If you want a digital mixer with actual surface to control your DAW, it's very easy with the A&H QU series, or the Behringer X32 series. Both of which come in various sizes and price points. I personally think the X32 series is a bit of a turd rolled in glitter, but the A&H QU series sound great. Both will control a DAW using some sort of MIDI-USB protocol.

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Re: Mixer HALP

Post by bender »

+1 on the Soundcraft. Great units. We have the 24r.

There are a lot of options for hands on DAW control but I think you might be pushing it to get a live mixer, audio interface AND control surface in one unit without spending a fair bit.

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Re: Mixer HALP

Post by rickenbackerkid »

something that is a mixer, interface and control surface will start at around 3.5k for the Allen Heath QU16, Behringer ( :sick: ) x32 Producer, or Presonus StudioLive 16.


This: https://www.soundstore.co.nz/p-5205-pre ... mixer.aspx

Could be a good option as it's pretty cheap, has full multitrack in and out. But with no onboard processing and super basic EQ I would not want to do a live gig on it.

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Re: Mixer HALP

Post by Capt. Black »

bbrunskill wrote:I recently borrowed/stole 3 rack mount digital mixers to test out and compare. All of them are recording interfaces with 16ish preamps and a bunch of outputs and all of them would be at home in a studio or on stage. I made a video about it which I haven't quite finished editing, but my basic findings:

1. Behringer XR18 - amazing value, easy to use, great apps for apple, iOS, android, PC. Shitty reverb and overall low headroom. $1300 though!

2. Soundcraft Ui24r - Best app in the class, app is HTML5 based so you can run it on almost anything. Really, really good sound quality, pristine and sparkly. Great FX and processing but for live use they missed a trick and there is no parametric EQ on the Aux outputs. $2K retail

3. A&H QU-SB - really 'analog-esq' sound, killer, killer processing in terms of compression types, FX, side chain gates, great EQ everywhere. Will ONLY work with a iPad for control though, but there is a very basic iPhone app which gives you access to some basics. No android/PC/Mac support so you have to have and be happy to use an iPad. $2K retail

I bought the Soundcraft for myself, but I'd highly recommend all of these, they are amazingly powerful for an affordable price. Like it's utterly ridiculous how much power you get for your money. I'd probably recommend the Behringer to most people, no real need to spend the extra $600 if your a new user learning the rope to coin a phrase.

If you're interesting in some analog stuff, I have an old mackie 16 input line mixer which I used to use in my studio. It's pretty good and I'd sell it for peanuts.

I'll link the video onto NZG when I finish it!
Looking forward to watching that review when it’s done, B.B.

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