I have a dark trinity and am looking for a small mixer for these three boxes. I guess an extra channel or 2 would be a good idea if I decide to add more to my setup. I don’t need a built in sound card.
Any suggestions?
Depends on your definition of small I guess.
I’d suggest the Mackie VLZ range, the 802 is pretty compact (or 1202 if you want more room for future expansion).
Maybe I should add a few requirements: I would prefer channel faders and I also need channel mutes.
The small Behringer mixers sound perfectly fine for this purpose and there’s a lot of variation in features. Take a look at the 1002B if you want faders on a really compact unit.
The Mackie VLZ4 range is great if you want something a little nicer. The 1402 is the smallest one with faders.
Then there’s the K-Mix by Keith mcmillen. A versatile little buddy.
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Then there’s the K-Mix by Keith mcmillen. A versatile little buddy.
yes agreed, but for the moment, if you are not related to Apple, then this is not the right thing
i would also vote for the mackie vlz4-series
I hear what you’re saying. It’s frustrating. I don’t know how far off they are with the Windows drivers. Perhaps a few months? But it is a stand-alone mixer too, you know. So it can be used without any computer involved. Until the Windows drivers arrive. If that’s of any interest to you.
I own a K-Mix and I think it’s absolutely brilliant. It might however be a bit overpriced and overfeatured if you’re only going to use it to sum 3 stereo signals.
Windows support is in the works, and you can use the unit stand-alone as a mixer perfectly fine, but please note that you will need the (currently Mac-only) editor to link two channels into stereo pairs.
I’m also looking for a simple compact mixer with something like 10 stereo inputs. The form factor and size of a Novation Launch Control XL (with 2 or 3 sliders extra for the 2 additional channels and the main output) would be perfect!
The inputs/output jacks could be stereo 3.5 mm jacks to save space. I do not get it that this is not on the market already?!
What you are looking for does not exist. There are 19" units that do what you want and there have been some compact desktop stereo line mixers in the mid-to-late 90s, but a cheap compact Behringer or a slightly more fancy Mackie really is the most reasonable choice in the current market.
Why do you insist on sliders instead of knobs, by the way?
I use a Mackie 802VLZ3, it’s perfect! The space saving far outweighs the lack of faders.
Anybody have experience with the mackie profx series?
Good question, I guess sliders are easier to work with to throw in multiple channels at the same time? And they give you a quick visual overview of what is open and closed?
I have been thinking about buying a DJ mixer with 6 channels, but all of them are way too bulky, expensive and designed for DJ-ing (I do not need a cross fader). The new model 1 looks very nice, but again, bulky and expensive.
The K-Mix is innovative but why mono channels…
I always thought the Zed mixers sounded a little better better and are built much better than the Mackie stuff.
This is what i read all the time about A&H vs. Mackie. The AH sound better everybody says. But i think you need ears of a specialist to find a significant difference between the vlz4 and the AH small-format mixers. You have less EQ on the AH stereo-bus and less stereo-inputs compared to the vlz4.
Yes, ProfX have a very good sound.
There might be a difference between the preamps of the Profx and VLZ series, but I don’t know, if that is importan for the intended use. The built quality is high and the desks reliable. A nice feature of the ProfX 16 is that it provides 4 busses.
Edit: I should mention that the onboard FX should not be the reason to go for the FX. It’s okay to have something onboard, but the quality does not compare to outboard gear like specialized pedals or rack units for FX.
I have a small Mackie Mix-8 and a Yamaha MG102c ( 10 channel compact mixer ) . Both very good and relatively compact , tabletop. Yamaha has clear clean main outputs Both have one AUX send - I use for outboard effects. Never really use the EQ’s much. Mackie VLZ range is very good -better pre-amps and electronics- all analog traditional mixer. Don’t get PRO-FX line by Mackie , not as good a quality / consistency as VLZ ; trust me I have one now, it’s OK but 1st one made noise and had to be replaced ; colleague has one- records ass aliasing noise via USB ; note price difference as well .
Check Alesis MultiMix 12R ; 12Ch , two Aux sends and could mount on small tabletop rack. Seems like smart choice for live rig.
I’m on the fence about getting one. some questions if I may:
- Can you run it with a USB battery pack?
- How’d you rate the onboard eq & comp? on par with contemporary plugins?
- How’s the headroom when connected to a (balanced TRS) PA?
- Hows the UI like during live use? Easy enough not to make mistakes with fx dubbing/eq/mute tricks on the fly?
If I only could connect a novation mixcontrol xl to use it (without computer), it’d be a dream to use live no doubt!
The K-Mix power adapter reads 5V 1.5 mA.
EQ not magical, but useful.
Compressor seems pretty good. I’m no expert on compressors.
The output is fairly low, line level. Compared to analog mixers usually in the +22dB output it might seem a little low. But as long as the PA is good I can’t see that this would matter. It requires a little more gain, that’s all. Do you mean mixing headroom? Input headroom? I’m no expert here, but I think if you’re not mixing at overly loud levels it’s probably good. I’ve mostly used it as a audio interface, with only light mixing.
I’ve only used it live once so far. During the live show I was using mute/ unmute, and some midi control mode. It felt good. But for live EQ tricks, and live faders I’d feel a bit less confident live, with the current firmware. The controls are absolute. For live tweaking I’d feel more safe if I could put them in relative mode… The possibility of accidentally brushing your hand over a strip scares a me a bit. If I just set the mix and do simple stuff it’s fine. But for extensive active live use I would prefer a tactile mixer, or a dedicated controller for it.
But… It could still be used this way. Just like an iPad can. I just find it a bit scary 
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Sorry for jumping in unasked. 
I managed to run it fine on a generic USB battery pack. I did use a bigger one with a higher power (“for iPad”) output.
Onboard EQ & compressor sound good to me. They don’t have much character and they’re not of the “analogue modelled” type, but they also don’t sound clinical at all. They’re musical and work well on voice and DI-ed instruments.
Not entirely sure what you’re asking for in terms of headroom. Ouput levels seem fine too me, and the dynamic range of the unit is impressive overall.
The UI is ok for live use, but I would recommend a traditional desk if you need to see the current setup at a glance or if you do a lot of tweaking. Having said that, it is fully programmable and switching between presets you prepared could be really convenient in a live context.
You should be able to control everything from an external MIDI controller without a computer if you get the KMI MIDI Expander.