Mixers 2020

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

My home rig is growing to the point of thinking I may want to add a mixer. Driving myself a bit nutty comparing stuff.
I’ve looked a lot at the Soundcraft MTK stuff, but the 12 seems a tad small a the 24 is possibly a bit too big for my space. The Tascam Model 16 is interesting and could be great for recording live shows and mobile recording, but I just don’t know about the audio quality. My converters at home are a Lynx Aurora (n) 16 TB, which sounds terrific, but I think I’d rather patch all my synths/samplers/eurorack into a mixer if that makes any sense?

Are either of these mixers ‘pro’ level, or do I need to save up for something else?

Looking for mixer advice
#2

I’ve heard nothing but good things about the Tascam Model 16

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#3

Just cruise craigslist and pick up a Mackie or Yamaha MG or whatever you find cheap for $50-$75 USD, make sure it has at least two aux sends, 12 inputs, and use it for a while while you dial in how you want your routing and setup to be in an ideal world. Then buy a really nice mixer with everything you want and use the old mixer as a nice little sub-mixer. Win! Unless you have plenty of cash to splash and just want to go all in on something badass!

15 Likes
#4

This, sage advice right there.

If you mean will the recordings sound as good as the with the Lynx? Not a chance.

If you mean will the sound quality satisfy your particular needs? see Hawks advice above.

In any case analog mixer+Lynx will outperform these all-in-ones, which are great value for what they cost, but are not really high end.

2 Likes
#5

The Soundcraft mtk are nice. But you have to take into account that they do not have aux returns, so you have to use ins instead.

I looked deeply for mixers recently, looking for a mixer with small desk use. I found nice options: Soundcraft UI, Behringer XR, and Allen & Heat& Heath QU-SB or PAC.
The Behringer and Allen & Heath can be extended with additional ins & outs. I guess that there are other options, especially if you look into digital mixers.

I ended keeping my Soundcraft 22 mtk and hanging it to the wall to save space!

#6

I’ve got a soundcraft efx 12. It’s similar to the mtk, I think it’s a bit more entry level. Overall it’s a very nice mixer, well put together, very robust and it just sort of works. I’ve had it quite a long time and never had any issues at all.

1 Like
#7

I always had a question regarding AUX sends. Most mixers (mine included) have mono AUX sends but stereo returns. If I wanted to use a stereo pedal or route audio to my samplers, how could this be done with mono AUX sends?

#8

Radial Key Largo has a true stereo send/return.

3 Likes
#9

These are actually 3 different questions:

  1. Most effects are totally fine using a mono send and a stereo return. The difference in most real-life situations. is minuscule to non-existant. Stereo returns matter a lot.

  2. Where you do need completely separate processing of your L and R source ou probably want your effect in-series or inserted, not as send-return where you mix dry and wet sinals on separate channels.

3.Sampling: if you want to sample in stereo either use 2 mono aux sends (from 2 mono channels! stereo channels will sum your signal to mono on the aux bus). otherwise don’t use an aux bus for stereo sampling.

3 Likes
#10

Oh, I wouldn’t have thought so. I had to really extend myself to get the Lynx last year and I don’t regret it. It’ll still be my primary converter for most things. Really, I’m just looking for the best way to get my electronic gear into Logic with separate inputs for each instrument. I know I could just patch everything into the Lynx, but it’s pretty messy :slight_smile:

#11

Anything you recommend?

#12

Solid advice! I’ve done that with a cheap Mackie in the past :slight_smile:

1 Like
#13

If your on a tight budget, what Hawk said before: Mackie or Yamaha MG, try a small used one second hand and decide then if you want to buy a big one. You said 24 seems like too much but I would buy something with a few spare inputs so that you don’t need to do this reasearch again in 6 months when you have bought more synths and they m=no longer fit.

If you want something more you would need to set a budget and a space limit as the options can get really big and really expensive for analog desks.

One I can easily recommend is if you can find a mint condition Midas Venice that was used in a studio (most were live consoles and you probably don’t want those). It is a reasonable size, 6 auxes, 4 sub-groups, great EQ and pre-amps (in case you need them).

2 Likes
#14

The 16 channel Peavey MD III has a ton of aux sends, stereo returns, and you can use the inserts to pipe everything into your Lynx. I bought a mint one for $20 locally. There’s cheap gear everywhere.

3 Likes
#15

when the insert cables way more than the console…nice one.

though sssuming you don’t find a mixer for $25, beware of old live-sound mixers, most of them looked like this before they went on ebay
s-l640

2 Likes
#16

Haha oh so true. I bought mine locally from a church, I think it was their backup or something cus it was like new.

1 Like
#17

This

#18

You might have a 2nd master out that could be used for sampling (my setup with a Midas Venice 320).

#19

Korg seems to have their word in the world of hybrid analog with the MW 2408.
Had not seen this one coming.
Who has heard about it?

#20

that’s cool. I like the USB to DAW business.

can that send each channel to a track in the DAW? or is it just sending a summed output?