Who owns a real mixing desk?

auan · Post by **auan** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:21 pm

Ok so I have a problem. I'm going the hardware route, for many reasons. Mainly because I've used software all my life and I'm just bored of it. Also because I had to replace my computer on the cheap last year and got a horribly bad model that can't run too many VSTs. And because hardware is just fucking sexy.

Anyway, I have some instruments and FX, which right now are going through a Tapco Mix60 which only has a stereo out. I'm going to be investing in some kind of 8-track machine. Not sure what format yet but I guess it doesn't really matter. Obviously the Tapco will have to go, but I'm not sure of what I need to buy to replace it. I don't have a lot of instruments, and the sampler only has a max of 4 outs, so 8 channels would probably do, 12 at most. So really I'm looking for a small mixer, but one that can deliver 8 outputs, rather than just a stereo mix. What would be awesome is a mixer that doesn't actually mix, just gives you 8 inputs, 8 channel strips with gain, basic eq, sends and 8 outputs. But I doubt something like that even exists.

Anyone know of anything, new or old, that fits the bill?

future producer · Post by **future producer** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:32 pm

I always liked the sound of the Tapco Mix 220

http://www.dv247.com/invt/37507/

auan · Post by **auan** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 5:38 pm

Yeah it does look sweet. The Tapcos sound awesome for the price, I'll be sorry to lose the Mix60. Not enough out on the 220FX though. The 260 is getting there with 4...

Sharmaji · Post by **Sharmaji** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 7:12 pm

lotsa mixers do that-- you just want 'em that have 'direct outs,' or you want 'em w/ assignable busses. I believe the blue series of mixers that yamaha put out a few years ago fit the bill. also sound pretty decent.

rane makes a few rack-mount mixer options, but not with channel strips.

i got this guy on the relative-cheap a few years ago: definitely no longer cheap (like 3x the price these days!):

linkage:

http://www.oram.co.uk/images/S100LIT-AES.PDF

beppingcat · Post by **beppingcat** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 7:30 pm

aaaaah yes
dessssskss
very liberating
i was always advised to go for nice fast flickable faders
ive never been able to replicate the feel with any contyroller
especially my sl 100 which feels like stirring porridge

beeping cat
(spelt my name wrong registering....sigh)

auan · Post by **auan** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 9:38 pm

TeReKeTe wrote:lotsa mixers do that-- you just want 'em that have 'direct outs,' or you want 'em w/ assignable busses. I believe the blue series of mixers that yamaha put out a few years ago fit the bill. also sound pretty decent.

rane makes a few rack-mount mixer options, but not with channel strips.

i got this guy on the relative-cheap a few years ago: definitely no longer cheap (like 3x the price these days!):

linkage:

http://www.oram.co.uk/images/S100LIT-AES.PDF

Yeah they ain't cheap are they? Neither are the Ranes.

The Yamahas are looking like a serious option though, if you mean this family:

Cheers mate, keep em coming.

FSTZ · Post by **FSTZ** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 10:53 pm

I have an alesis 24/4/2

it sits in my closet

if I ever thought I needed another audiodesk, I'd get an allen and heath

__________ · Post by **__________** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 10:44 pm

unklefesta wrote:allen and heath

knows it. premiuim cornish mixers

Sharmaji · Post by **Sharmaji** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 1:04 am

Auan wrote:
Yeah they ain't cheap are they? Neither are the Ranes.

The Yamahas are looking like a serious option though, if you mean this family:

Cheers mate, keep em coming.

yep-- those are the ones. not bad at all. mike pre's aren't stellar but def. workable and miles better than anything behringer/samson/whatever in that range.

FSTZ · Post by **FSTZ** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 3:43 am

when I was selling gear, I would sell the yamaha mixers to people who would come in talking about beheringer. much better product for the price range

Sharmaji · Post by **Sharmaji** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 4:05 am

unklefesta wrote:when I was selling gear, I would sell the yamaha mixers to people who would come in talking about beheringer. much better product for the price range

you are a prince among men for that

auan · Post by **auan** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 7:53 am

TeReKeTe wrote:
Auan wrote:
Yeah they ain't cheap are they? Neither are the Ranes.

The Yamahas are looking like a serious option though, if you mean this family:

Cheers mate, keep em coming.
yep-- those are the ones. not bad at all. mike pre's aren't stellar but def. workable and miles better than anything behringer/samson/whatever in that range.

I don't have any mics at the moment. I could always buy another pre if the wummin ever decides she wants to sing over a tune.

Soundcraft do a mixer, the M8, with 8 channels, each with a direct out. But it ain't cheap. And the more I think about it, the more I think 4 busses would do for what I'm doing. So I think I'm looking for a Yamaha MG12/4 now. Cheers festa and Terekete.

ekstrak · Post by **ekstrak** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 12:45 pm

I use a Mackie 24:4

I've had it since day and its the nuts. They do a excellent new series called 'onyx' though which can be linked to your PC/Mac via Firewire.

paradigm_x · Post by **paradigm_x** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 1:02 pm

Any mixer with inserts can be used as a whatever-bus mixer if you use a bodged insert lead.

not sure if thats pre eq tho.

maybe worth looking into

two oh one · Post by **two oh one** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 7:02 pm

I've had 3 or 4 mixers of varying sizes over the years.

Since I ditched a lot of hardware, I now prefer to just have a nice audio interface with lots of inputs on it and a MIDI control surface.

There is something nice about a nice hardware desk, though.

auan · Post by **auan** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 7:51 pm

two oh one wrote:I've had 3 or 4 mixers of varying sizes over the years.

Since I ditched a lot of hardware, I now prefer to just have a nice audio interface with lots of inputs on it and a MIDI control surface.

There is something nice about a nice hardware desk, though.

That's my next question, what's a nice interface with lots of ins AND outs

Ideally so that I can take individual channels from Ableton, patch them through the desk to tape, along with the outboard stuff. And then once they're recorded, run them from the tape back into the computer on seperate tracks for mixing. So at least 8 ins, though only 4 outs would probably do.

I've been looking at the E-mu family, just because the 0404 rocks so hard. They seem reasonable, but will never, ever ude their digital outs, so it seems like a bit of a waste. I know there's alternatives but haven't looked into them yet. They'll have to wait for another paycheque so this is all pretty academic at the moment.

I know, I hate "what should I buy" threads too.

two oh one · Post by **two oh one** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 11:02 pm

Auan wrote:
two oh one wrote:I've had 3 or 4 mixers of varying sizes over the years.

Since I ditched a lot of hardware, I now prefer to just have a nice audio interface with lots of inputs on it and a MIDI control surface.

There is something nice about a nice hardware desk, though.
That's my next question, what's a nice interface with lots of ins AND outs

Ideally so that I can take individual channels from Ableton, patch them through the desk to tape, along with the outboard stuff. And then once they're recorded, run them from the tape back into the computer on seperate tracks for mixing. So at least 8 ins, though only 4 outs would probably do.

I've been looking at the E-mu family, just because the 0404 rocks so hard. They seem reasonable, but will never, ever ude their digital outs, so it seems like a bit of a waste. I know there's alternatives but haven't looked into them yet. They'll have to wait for another paycheque so this is all pretty academic at the moment.

I know, I hate "what should I buy" threads too.

I'm using an Apogee Ensemble, but it's Mac only (yeah, I know) I don't know what you're running OS wise...

The RME stuff is also nice (Fireface) Always worth investing in good converters, especially if you're contemplating going out to a *real* Lexi and back in again.

You want that shit clean as possible, or else you may as well just stay in the box.

Sharmaji · Post by **Sharmaji** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 12:26 am

if yr on mac, i'm loving my metric halo interface. if i didn't have it, i'd be either RME or apogee; not sure apogee is worth the price--- though the ensemble is a really nice piece and quite a value.

if you want the all-in-one... yeah, the mackie onyx's aren't bad. you do have to buy the firewire card separate, though.

auan · Post by **auan** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 12:38 am

The Lexi is sorted already. It's got a spdif out so it goes straight back into the 0404 if I want it to.

I'm not tooooo interested in keeping everything clean though. Obviously I'll need decent ADCs, but if I didn't want a *bit* of tape grit etc getting in, I wouldn't be going down this route. I'm not trying to make things badly produced, just trying to find an older way of doing things. I still make a bit of dnb, and all the dnb I listen to is pre-2000, pre-DAW revolution. So I'm going for a very basic Midi sequencer setup (even thought of buying an Atari ST) and having mostly outboard 'sound makers'. I'd only be running things back into a sequencer because I shelled out for Sonalksis and some of the Kjaerhus compressors, and it'd be a shame to waste them. Plus I need to overcompress everything these days anyway, right?

Oh and running Windows btw. So the Apogee is out. The RME's do look sweet but would really break the bank. The MOTU's seem to go fairly cheap 2nd hand. Anyone have any thoughts?

two oh one · Post by **two oh one** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 1:34 am

Auan wrote:The Lexi is sorted already. It's got a spdif out so it goes straight back into the 0404 if I want it to.

I'm not tooooo interested in keeping everything clean though. Obviously I'll need decent ADCs, but if I didn't want a *bit* of tape grit etc getting in, I wouldn't be going down this route. I'm not trying to make things badly produced, just trying to find an older way of doing things. I still make a bit of dnb, and all the dnb I listen to is pre-2000, pre-DAW revolution. So I'm going for a very basic Midi sequencer setup (even thought of buying an Atari ST) and having mostly outboard 'sound makers'. I'd only be running things back into a sequencer because I shelled out for Sonalksis and some of the Kjaerhus compressors, and it'd be a shame to waste them. Plus I need to overcompress everything these days anyway, right?

Oh and running Windows btw. So the Apogee is out. The RME's do look sweet but would really break the bank. The MOTU's seem to go fairly cheap 2nd hand. Anyone have any thoughts?

Well, look at it this way - If you get nice, clean converters, you at least have a choice of whether you want nice grit, or pristine sound. You could even mix out the box and onto tape and be sure of just getting the dirt you want, not just shoddy clocking jitter bollocks.

I've got a pair of shitty old wires hooked up to my interface - They just go out of the box and back in again. If I want some magic muck, I'll send a softsynth out through them and when it comes back in, it sounds a bit more like hardware, or it could just be psychoacoustic nonsense.

I had a MOTU 828 mk I and it sounded very smeary and frankly kind of horrible. I don't know if I can recommend it. It doesn't do the right kind of degrading. Maybe the more recent ones sound better?

TeReKeTe - The Metric Halo is a great piece of kit. Those sound really nice indeed. I wouldn't have considered madly expensive Apogee were it not for the Ensemble.

That thing is just so nice. The mic pre amps and the dual headphone sockets along with that sound is just too good to miss at that price point. Like you say, quite a value.

Who owns a real mixing desk?

Who owns a real mixing desk?

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