New Mixer, tips?

[monsterthompson]

If that Bébé Chérie had 1/4" inputs, I'd be all over that!

I have a bunch of converter (1/4 to 1/8) cables and find that I like the 1/8 much more for my personal “home studio.” It’s a small difference but it’s so much more convenient to move connections when needed. Most of my devices have a headphone out, and I don’t notice issues without a balanced connection at every jack.

Still. Keep your eyes peeled for

 

[el murdoque]

I have a bunch of converter (1/4 to 1/8) cables and find that I like the 1/8 much more for my personal “home studio.” It’s a small difference but it’s so much more convenient to move connections when needed. Most of my devices have a headphone out, and I don’t notice issues without a balanced connection at every jack.

Still. Keep your eyes peeled for

View attachment 7343653

That one's not monochrome pink/black.

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

I use Presonus ar16 mixers here at the university and also with our local jazz society. They make a smaller version called the ar8. On reading the OP, it seems to check all the boxes you are describing.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...3diLJu__PUdJgsM_UaFqqZGlfIYNl3-xoC_c4QAvD_BwE

 

[monsterthompson]

That one's not monochrome pink/black.

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Or if faders are required, there's the ar12:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...-ar12c-mixer-and-audio-interface-with-effects

I've been using these units for years, and they have been flawless for live sound and recording. The bluetooth is also very solid.

 

[el murdoque]

Or if faders are required, there's the ar12:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...-ar12c-mixer-and-audio-interface-with-effects

I've been using these units for years, and they have been flawless for live sound and recording. The bluetooth is also very solid.

I have just measured my available desk space, and surprisingly, it's only 13" deep. So I suppose faders are out of the question - unless I'm willing to sacrifice other things.

 

[el murdoque]

I’ve gone back and forth on those. Our intended applications might be different, but I see the attraction/decision here.

For me, it's actually a lot easier than I thought!
I checked the Onyx8 vs. the ProFX10 and in my mind, started cabling up everything, and that's where it hit me:

I said I need one Mono XLR in for pedalboard 1, one mono XLR in for pedalboard 2, one for a Mic and one spare, plus one stereo channel for the E-Drums and then the possibility to play stuff via Bluetooth.
This does sum up to 8 channels, four mono and two stereo (depending on how Bluetooth is implemented), but all the 8 channel mixers I was looking at actually have a similar layout. Trying to mentally wire up my setup to the Onyx 8, I quickly realized that if the pedalboards go to 1 & 2, I'll have to put the mic on 3&4, the E-drums on 5&6 and the Bluetooth is 7/8 anyway.
This leaves me with everything wired up, but without the spare channel. If I wanted to hook up the spare, I'd have to make it share the channel 3&4 channel strip somehow.


So all of a sudden, my focus shifts completely!
Here's the new short list: Mackie ProFX10 v3+ or the Allen&Heath ZED60-10fx, the latter lacking bluetooth, but having faders and being just a hair longer than 13".

 

[tothemax]

Just adding my 2 cents, I've had a Model 16 for about 6 months now and am very pleased with it. The Pre's are quite good and it's very clean, it works well as a studio mixer, standalone recorder, or USB source for my DAW (Cakewalk Sonar). I have a six channel snake that I use for connections in the studio. The only thing that would be a nice feature is additional Aux channels, but in the studio I don't really need to support custom monitor mixes.

It's a well made unit and works well...

 

[el murdoque]

Just resurrecting this thread, because I have yet to buy a mixer - my focus shifted for a while and money was needed elsewhere.
Now I'm back, I really looked hard at what's out there once more.

There is the Zoom L-8.
This one has the same channel strip workflow you got on the Behringer X32. You set gain and fader level with dedicated knobs, and have one set of knobs for the channel strip with LED rings. Some nice features that I have not seen in this size:
LED meter strip for every channel, right next to the fader. Faders. Multiple headphone outs, with their own mixes.
But it's a digital board and people are not blown away by their preamps and the sound quality. Also the the headphone out is specified to deliver 10mW in 60 Ohm cans. I doubt that this can drive my 320 Ohm Sennheisers.

Then I flipped back and forth a lot, looking at the SSL SiX again, arguing with myself whether or not I want to spend this much on a mixer, but at one point I found something that had completely eluded me: There's no USB interface in the SiX. You'd need the Big SiX for that - so the SiX is out.

Which brings me back to the usual suspects.
-Mackie ProFX 10 V3+
-Presonus StudioLive AR8c
-Allen & Heath ZED 10

The Allen & Heath is basically out of the question. It lacks Bluetooth, does not have mute buttons and is the ugliest of the lot.

AI told me the audio quality of the Presonus is supposed to be higher than that of the Mackie, so my focus rests there now.

 

[Krisfield]

The SSL Big Six is a Summing Mixer. Another really good option is the Tascam Model 2400, which is a 24-channel hybrid mixer that combines an analog console, a multitrack recorder, and a USB audio interface. Has Bluetooth.

Just resurrecting this thread, because I have yet to buy a mixer - my focus shifted for a while and money was needed elsewhere.
Now I'm back, I really looked hard at what's out there once more.

There is the Zoom L-8.
This one has the same channel strip workflow you got on the Behringer X32. You set gain and fader level with dedicated knobs, and have one set of knobs for the channel strip with LED rings. Some nice features that I have not seen in this size:
LED meter strip for every channel, right next to the fader. Faders. Multiple headphone outs, with their own mixes.
But it's a digital board and people are not blown away by their preamps and the sound quality. Also the the headphone out is specified to deliver 10mW in 60 Ohm cans. I doubt that this can drive my 320 Ohm Sennheisers.

Then I flipped back and forth a lot, looking at the SSL SiX again, arguing with myself whether or not I want to spend this much on a mixer, but at one point I found something that had completely eluded me: There's no USB interface in the SiX. You'd need the Big SiX for that - so the SiX is out.

Which brings me back to the usual suspects.
-Mackie ProFX 10 V3+
-Presonus StudioLive AR8c
-Allen & Heath ZED 10

The Allen & Heath is basically out of the question. It lacks Bluetooth, does not have mute buttons and is the ugliest of the lot.

AI told me the audio quality of the Presonus is supposed to be higher than that of the Mackie, so my focus rests there now.

 

[el murdoque]

The SSL Big Six is a Summing Mixer. Another really good option is the Tascam Model 2400, which is a 24-channel hybrid mixer that combines an analog console, a multitrack recorder, and a USB audio interface.


View attachment 7380939

I'm pretty sure it is!

Let me remind you of my demands:
I need three mono channels with XLR input and two stereo channels, one for e-drums and one for playing music via bluetooth (Bluetooth in the board would be a bonus, but one could of course get a BT dongle and hook that up to a stereo channel), and a USB connection to the computer for recording.

It needs to somewhat resemble an analog board - I want to see where the important things (gains, channel volumes) are set just by looking at it.
On my Behringer Flow 8, the gain is hidden, you need to use the channel fader while holding down the gain button.
I've managed to clip the input multiple times and troubleshot my pedal board and gain structure for several minutes before I thought about checking the gain on the mixer and found that was set too high. A simple clip indicator that works better than the multi use LED's on the Flow 8 would have helped here.

Furthermore, and that is the hard bit, my space requirements. I got more or less exactly 13" from the edge of the table to the back wall.

If push came to shove, I could make do with two XLR inputs and two stereo channels.

Another thing on the mandatory list is analog style knobs (not those endlessly rotating ones) for gain, master volume and headphone volume.

I'd love faders for the channels, but given my size restrictions, I'm already accepting that this is something I most likely cannot have.

Bonus points would be:
-Visual metering per channel
-Mute buttons per channel

...in all things bass, I'm a gear snob, so I'd be naturally attracted to something with a reputation for high audio quality.

 

[Krisfield]

Good luck! Hope you find what you'll looking for.

I'm pretty sure it is!

Let me remind you of my demands:
I need three mono channels with XLR input and two stereo channels, one for e-drums and one for playing music via bluetooth (Bluetooth in the board would be a bonus, but one could of course get a BT dongle and hook that up to a stereo channel), and a USB connection to the computer for recording.

It needs to somewhat resemble an analog board - I want to see where the important things (gains, channel volumes) are set just by looking at it.
On my Behringer Flow 8, the gain is hidden, you need to use the channel fader while holding down the gain button.
I've managed to clip the input multiple times and troubleshot my pedal board and gain structure for several minutes before I thought about checking the gain on the mixer and found that was set too high. A simple clip indicator that works better than the multi use LED's on the Flow 8 would have helped here.

Furthermore, and that is the hard bit, my space requirements. I got more or less exactly 13" from the edge of the table to the back wall.

If push came to shove, I could make do with two XLR inputs and two stereo channels.

Another thing on the mandatory list is analog style knobs (not those endlessly rotating ones) for gain, master volume and headphone volume.

I'd love faders for the channels, but given my size restrictions, I'm already accepting that this is something I most likely cannot have.

Bonus points would be:
-Visual metering per channel
-Mute buttons per channel

...in all things bass, I'm a gear snob, so I'd be naturally attracted to something with a reputation for high audio quality.

 

[tothemax]

I have a Zoom L-8 that if you can believe it, is still in the box.

I was in one of my favorite used gear stores and saw this one in pretty good shape and marked down quite bit (I had trade credit so I figured I'd take a chance). Turned out that the PC board was damaged, USB connector port. Since I couldn't connect to my PC / DAW I set it aside. After a week or so contacted Zoom, and amazingly enough, they sent me a new one - the unit I purchased used was still under warranty. I ordered a soft case for it, and it's still in the box.

Anyway while I was trying to get the original working I watched quite a few YouTubes on it. While it doesn't compare to my Tascam Model 16, it may what you are looking for (seems to check a number of your boxes). I've been busy with my band and haven't had much time in the studio lately. I bought this one to use for small gigs (with a pair of powered speakers). It seems to be a nice unit, sans the USB connection (that is not well designed).

The L-8 is a cross between an analog and digital mixer. It has a few physical controls (Gain, Arm, Rec., and volume sliders) for each channel, for EQ there is a single channel strip that is shared, same with effects. Not as easy as having full controls for each channel, but makes the unit compact. There are a lot features in a small unit, it can save up to 7 scenes or full mixes.


Cheers

 

[DirtDog]

Just resurrecting this thread, because I have yet to buy a mixer - my focus shifted for a while and money was needed elsewhere.
Now I'm back, I really looked hard at what's out there once more.

There is the Zoom L-8.
This one has the same channel strip workflow you got on the Behringer X32. You set gain and fader level with dedicated knobs, and have one set of knobs for the channel strip with LED rings. Some nice features that I have not seen in this size:
LED meter strip for every channel, right next to the fader. Faders. Multiple headphone outs, with their own mixes.
But it's a digital board and people are not blown away by their preamps and the sound quality. Also the the headphone out is specified to deliver 10mW in 60 Ohm cans. I doubt that this can drive my 320 Ohm Sennheisers.

Then I flipped back and forth a lot, looking at the SSL SiX again, arguing with myself whether or not I want to spend this much on a mixer, but at one point I found something that had completely eluded me: There's no USB interface in the SiX. You'd need the Big SiX for that - so the SiX is out.

Which brings me back to the usual suspects.
-Mackie ProFX 10 V3+
-Presonus StudioLive AR8c
-Allen & Heath ZED 10

The Allen & Heath is basically out of the question. It lacks Bluetooth, does not have mute buttons and is the ugliest of the lot.

AI told me the audio quality of the Presonus is supposed to be higher than that of the Mackie, so my focus rests there now.

Just be aware that the Presonus is 8x4 audio interface - meaning 8 inputs and 4 (digital) outputs over USB. If you can live with this constraint, this is a decent solution.

What I don’t like about these small form factor mixer is limited AUX for either effects inserts and/or monitoring. Again, if you can live with that constraint, it’s a decent solution.

I’m a Presonus 16R user for rehearsing/recording.

 

[el murdoque]

Just be aware that the Presonus is 8x4 audio interface - meaning 8 inputs and 4 (digital) outputs over USB. If you can live with this constraint, this is a decent solution.

What I don’t like about these small form factor mixer is limited AUX for either effects inserts and/or monitoring. Again, if you can live with that constraint, it’s a decent solution.

I’m a Presonus 16R user for rehearsing/recording.

I can actually live with the mixer only sending a single signal.

While hunting the Presonus, a Mackie ProFX10v3+ popped up on the used market. Mint condition, for quite cheap.
I did not hesitate and got it. I's been here for three days now and so far, I'm quite happy.
It drives my Sennheisers properly, the metering is much better than on the Flow8, and everything is quite intuitive. This one does not even have aux channels, which I realized after setting it up, But I don't really need any at the moment.