Which low end mixer?

[ajmuso]

Im in the market for a cheap mixer, I need a jack of all trades that I can use for basic home recording and occasional live use..

needs at least 8 inputs, FX would be useful as would USB.

I noticed that the Alesis multimix appears to have dropped in price, does anyone know how it compares to the Berhringer range?

cheers

[JAYDMF]

The Alesis stuff is damn good but to be fair most stuff is these days. If you dont want something brand spanking new have a look on Ebay for some of the old MTR mixers as they have miles of head room and sound really really clean. you get a lot more options with those sort of desks as most of them were designed to be used with tape machines and so you get all the options of a much bigger desk that you just dont get on anything in the smaller mixer range these days, things such as mix b(tape returns) as well as direct outs and insert points and you usually get 2 or 3 aux busses as well. You may not need all of that right now but it could come in handy later on. I dont know how much they fetch at the mo but its always worth a look.

I've used the MTR 12-8-2 and that sounded nice a clean and had plenty of options, just have to find one.

[sparky2305]

I have the 2442 fx and have used it for both live and recoding, the usb interface taht comes with it is fantastic! has loads of aux busses fantastic desk for the price and has 10 xlr inputs!

[glen_collie]

You don't say anything about "computer" use, but if you are a mac person, then have a look at the Phonic. It supports firewire and if you use something like Logic on a mac then it can record up to 16 tracks clean to the computer. I just bought one and so far it is great.

Cheers

Glen

[midikatz]

Hi Glen,
What operating system on the Mac are you using?

[StratmanNick]

Hi, there is soo much gear out there now which offers so much and at a good price.

My personal choice has been a Yamaha MW12 which is a USB mixing desk. Really solid build and with a choice of XLR/jack connections. I use it in conjunction with a PC. Its great, with no latency.

Check it out here http://www.dv247.com/invt/31434/

[waxxy]

yeah i agree the yamahas are excellent the behringers are good for the money but quality wise the yamahas beat them hands down also you get cubase ai4 free with the yamahas if you dont get it contact them and they will send you a free copy thats what i did..

[grab]

If your budget goes as far as £300-400, look for a used Behringer DDX3216 on eBay with an ADAT card.

Mic pres aren't fantastic, but you get 16 ins (12 mic, 4 line) and 6 outs on the basic kit. And the ADAT card lets you record too (RME 9632 for PC is fairly cheap). But the features you get on the DDX3216 are great - compressor, gate and fully-parametric EQ on every channel, 4 FX channels, 4 aux channels, 8 stereo busses. None of it sounds as good as expensive outboard, but having all that available in one package is simply great.

And then there's the other big benefit of digital mixers - recall. Got to soundcheck five bands? Save settings for each and recall them immediately. And you can build a library of "default" EQ and compressor settings for stuff you do often.

Behringer have a reputation for cheap flaky kit, but I've been gigging mine fairly regularly for a while and not had a single problem with it. I've not heard of anyone with a bad word to say about the DDX3216, especially at the price.

[Hog]

The thing with Behringer is that they have all the bells & whistles (usually from ideas they've nicked from the big boys) but they don't last. That being said, if you're using the mixer at home, it's not going to get many pints spilt on it. For example, Whereas a Behringer amp would last you a few years, a QSC or Crown would probably last you a lifetime.
Most pro's wouldn't touch them, bu they do have a lot of bang for the buck.
You get what you pay for.

[terminal3]

I'd look at Soundcraft - probably an M8. Much better than the Behringer both sonically and in build quality/reliability.

For a bit more cash, the Mackie Onyx 1220 is allegedly pretty good sonically too (I've never actually heard one in person), although it's got some glaring omissions on features (no EQ available on the direct outs, for example, and very poor ADC implementation on the optional firewire card).

[ecc83]

Here's an off the wall suggestion, buy two!

For home recording the Soundcraft Compact 4 or ten is the dogs' You could also get a Berry or Yamaha to expand you system and use for live work

One super job I bought new for £39.00 is the Wharfedale EZ-m 16X2. The downside is no phantom power but 4 balanced line ins, 2 mic/line ins with 2band eq, and they are plenty good enough gain/noise wise for the '57/8. The usual tape/cd i/o RCA' and, best of all the main outs and headphones are independantly controllable. Just the job for a kbd/singer. I have one and a Behringer Xenyx 802 which is great and having 2 wee mixers is definately more than twice as flexible as one.

Dave

[gilead]

ajmuso, just in case you have not yet been shopping yet ...

I would consider the Yamaha MG166CX (£255 at DV - and certainly more bang for the buck than just about any contender). This mixer comes with Yamaha's famous built-in SPX effects unit, six Yamaha one-knob compressors, a USB connection and Cubase AI4 (a joint Steinberg - Yamaha version which provides full integration between Cubase and Yamaha mixers - for PC and Mac). The only thing it does not have which you would probably find useful are direct outputs which are available on some Mackie and Behringer mixers, but that can be overcome by a bit of creative patching with the insert send-returns.

I hope this helps.
Good luck.

[tudan]

I own a yamaha 01x, got it 34 months ago for £300 on Ebay including the plugins, great value and is great as a DAW controller under cubase , fireware is stable on the PC, also the sliders are motorised so cool for mixing, 8 inputs but if you want more hunt down a i88x which adds another 8 inputs controllabel form the 01x.

a great home studio mixer

[dvdan]

Hi ajmuso
Can I echo Stratmannicks' idea of the Yamaha MW12. When it comes to budget mixers I think yamaha rules the roost. My favourite thing about them is the sound and quality of the pre-amps. I've had some incredible results recording drums with this little mixer (for a demo that eventually kept the drum track). Very punchy and three dimensional. And while a whole rack of outboard effects processors would be ideal, the included effects on this mixer get you in the ballpark and actually sound pretty damn good. And those one knob analog compressors are SUPERB on bass guitar.
The built quality of yamaha products have never let me down and the MW12 is no exception.

Hope this helps