Small mixer suggestions

[moosik]

My son's current setup consists of an Ibanez SR-706 and an Ibanez Promethean P5110 combo and P110C extra cabinet.

He's now at a stage where he needs to start hooking more gear into the amp. Ideally, he'd use:
1) A drum machine
2) A macbook with backing tracks
3) A multi-effect unit (and later some single pedals)
4) A vocal mic

It appears to me that we'll need to find a small mixing board to accommodate all of these inputs. The Ibanez amp currently has 1/8" aux input and (I believe) an entry for effects.

My goals for the mixer are:
1) portability - both in terms of size and weight
2) good sound quality

I'll probably need an adapter between the mixer and amp too.

I'd really appreciate recommendations how to set everything up.

(By the way, for a while I've wanted to find an intuitive drum machine software for the mac that would have lots of built in standard rhythms. This would have alleviated the need for a real drum machine, and would have saved one input. But I'm not having much luck.)

Thanks.

 

[bongomania]

Well, I don't know about "intuitive", but there is plenty of drum machine software for the Mac. If he has a creative bone in his body, get him Ableton Live. This is an awesome and fun tool for looping tracks, and it makes a very good drum machine.

For mixers, check out these:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/402VLZ3/ (Mackie)
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MG102c/ (Yamaha)
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MultiMix4USB/ (Alesis)
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MM8USBFX/ (bigger Alesis)
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Notepad102/ (Soundcraft)
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PV6/ (Peavey)

If it was me, I'd buy the Yamaha, as having the most functionality and decent quality at a low price. For a smaller size, I'd lean toward the Mackie.

 

[moosik]

Bongomania, thanks for the many mixer suggestions.

About a virtual drum machine. There is no shortage of sophisticated software (e.g. Abelton) for creating loops. But we need something else ... a SIMPLE dial-a-beat kind of software, something with lots of pre-programmed standard beats. If you know of such software, please let me know.

 

[MNAirHead]

Drums...

There are websites.. just dial them up...

Some multi effects (digitech, korg, zoom) have a built in drum machine....


--------

I do exactly what your son is trying.. I've had a behringer Xenix for a few years.. has worked flawlessly... I think I paid about $25 for it... I own several mixers... this one is small enough to be convenient.

There are some mini rackmount mixers that may also be of use.

 

[Footbutt]

i understand the desire to route everything with a mixer into his amp, but wouldn't using a PA be better for the vox, drum tracks, and pretty much everything else?

then again, keeping it simple for him to play around with, mixing everything into the amp is the quickest, simplest way to go.

i would personally either have a separate amp (divide and conquer all those inputs), or run stuff through a PA. MY take, not yours, i know. many factors come into choosing the best setup, so make your checklist.

 

[scottbass]

It seems you are aiming for a one-man-band setup. I would echo the advice of others and suggest a powered mixer (amp & mixer in one unit). Then add a guitar amp simulator to get the guitar sound you want. Paired with decent full-range PA speakers, this will give you far superior vocals, IMHO.

As far as mixers go - both powered and unpowered - just look for the features you want. My current powered mixer, a Yamaha, has compressors on some of the individual channels. That is a very nice feature for vocals. I currently own the Yamaha, an unpowered Mackie and an unpowered Peavey mixer and have had no reliability issues with any of them. However, one of my bandmates recently had a Mackie mixer fail.