recommend A&H Zed for sound bang for buck, IF you don’t need individual direct outs. i regret selling my zed, replaced with mackie vlz4 1642. will go back to A&H soon, for sure. just need to feel out if i need (or like the tone of) the mixwizard series just as much. the zeds just have this warm, gelled, slightly chilled out transients thing going on. really lush sound, but i guess that’s not for everybody either. the mackie is FINE, especially for the price (i think i got it for €350), but i’m really not feeling the preamps or the summing in general, i guess.
oops just saw this. hope it works out well for ya 
happy musicing!
I’ve heard some praise for the Midas small format analogue mixers. Good sound, cheap, decent enough build & features. I’d go with one of those or a mackie VLZ4 series one.
I would say Zoom livetrack 12 is a good option today. Good recording facility / and live usage combination. The thing i miss is only that there is no dedicated EQ knobs per channel, i.e. the EQ has to be set on the active track. Besides that really awesome device.
Thanks for your quick replies.
But I don’t understand why they all have only 2 or 3 stereo inputs?! And if I consider the options with more stereo inputs the mixer become very big!
They are primarily designed for live music performances with vocals, guitar etc, not for electronic music instruments with stereo outputs.
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Oh! so what is the good solution for the electronic musicians?
The good solution is whatever best meets your personal needs. There will always be a trade-off between the number of features and the size and price of the unit.
It depends, i had a qu pac which had many channels, i connected everything at the same time, but then realized that i am not an octupuss. If i see current live setups, a lot of them doing hybrid setup, a mixture of backing tracks & live playing.
I read a book about mixing, and somebody said in that book, that one should try to do a mix with faders, while the eyes are closed. So my current approach is, that i wanted to have some faders, for extended volume control.
you can always use two mono channels as a stereo if you have loads of stereo devices…
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Yeah, this is a good route. I’m using an old 18i20 as an 8 channel ADAT interface for my Presonus Quantum 2 Gives me 12 ins and outs and I could still add another 8 channels if I wanted.
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You might consider a rackmount mixer. This is one example but there are likely to be others:
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Hi guys, jumping in here since I’m keen to buy a small mixer as well. Trying to tie all my instruments together both for recording purposes and bedroom jamming too. So far I’m looking at the
Yamaha MG10 or Mackie VLZ4 Series 802VLZ4 8-Channel.
Any feedback on either choice? The Yamaha is cheaper but not by much, is there a good reason to go with the Mackie instead?
Also separate question but most of my instruments have fx built into them. Is there any reason to get a mixer with fx besides live vocals? Would you ever want to double up or get something with a compressor if it’s the last stop on the signal chain?
What do you want to achieve?
Basically to be able to play all my instruments together, a few synths and a digitakt + room for vocals, and mix it live to play everything through one pair of speakers; I’d like to record through it as well.
how many?
Do you need to plan for future additions?
I’ll mostly be using 2 as my core, plus one extra if I’m feeling spicy, plus a 4th in the future if I buy another. I figure an 8 channel will do the job with a little room to spare, and a 10 channel is more than enough room to grow with. Plus I can always selectively send some sounds in mono if need be
Key Largo!
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Fourth set of stereo inputs are digital but offers a lot of possibilities, plus true stereo fx send/return.