Recording Mixer Board VS Audio Interface

[ivanyoung]

I see that some company combine a recording interface with a mixer board, like Mackie Onyx or Alesis Multimix......

with audio interface, we only got few I/O channels, the more channel you want, the more money you need to spent, and sometimes we still get a mixer board and hook it up to our audio interfaces......
with this new recording mixer board, we get a mixer board that can be use as a recording interface itself, and it cost cheaper than when we buy it separately
(Mackie Onyx 8 channels cost only $399 while M-Audio Fastrack Ultra cost like $340)

so, I wanna know if anyone ever use those and whats the pros and cons ??

 

[chrisharris]

You seem to recognize the pros. As far as the cons go, that Onyx only has 3 mic preamps...that may be fine for what you're doing, but you can get a TASCAM 10 channel interface (with 8 mic inputs) for $300.

GENERALLY speaking, the cons of recording through a mixer instead of through an interface is that your preamps from a lot of boards are not going to be that clean. I'm not speaking to either of the 2 units you described, but in the past, the board preamps I've dealt with were not all that awesome, but again...those boards were meant for live use more than recording, so it may be a non-issue. I have a Mackie board of similar size that I used live for an acoustic duet, and it was fine for live use...but I did try to use it to record in a pinch once, and it was not suitable for that.

The other con (to me) is that when an interface has EQ (or Tubeness or Reverb or any other thing on it) people tend to use it while recording. For things like vocals, I think that's a bad idea. I think you end up with more options and higher fidelity if you start off with an unadulterated track. That top end boost that sounded good in your headphones when you were tracking may sound like rancid ass after you put a compressor on it.

I also like audio interfaces for the monitoring options they provide...but those boards may have the same. I'd be sure, though...I like having a "mix" knob and 2 sets of outputs so I can send one to the mains and one to a headphone amp.

I'm probably not helping.

 

[Bobbsy]

Well, as has been said, you've identified some of the pros and cons. If a two channel interface costs the same as a 16 channel audio board, it's hard to see how the mic pre amps can be as good in the mixer!

That said, once you get to a certain quality level, the differences in the pre-amps aren't that startling. You tend to need really good mics (or even better specialist pre-amps) to hear THAT much difference.

The other thing to watch is the routing options in the mixer. A good many claim to be X channel mixers but only route the main L/R outs to the USB interface. Similarly, we had a thread a couple of weeks ago from somebody who found that the DAW output was also limited to 2 channels--and routed automatically to the main L/R of the mixer, making it useless for recording while you're recording.

Having said those things, I'm a fan of using a mixer but for a couple of reasons you may not have thought of.

First, if you buy the proper mixer--one with one or more pre-fade aux channels--you can use it to handle your monitoring needs. The ability to easily set up exactly the right headphone monitor mix can really improve performances, especially vocals. However, as noted above, this depends on having a mixer with the right facilities.

Second, when setting up to record, I find it more tactile to adjust levels using a proper fader than trying to grab a mini knob on an interface (or, even worse, using a mouse to do things one step at a time).

Bob

 

[ivanyoung]

Thanx guys !
so basically, I miss out the law of "higher price, better quality".
When a multi-function mixer board cost only a bit more than a single interface with same channel number, then it must be some cons in it.....hmmm.....

One thing I don't like with audio interface is, some of them combine the input with XLR+TRS
like my M-Audio Fastrack Pro, it got 4 inputs, but they are combine in 2, so I have to plug it on and off whenever I wanna switch instrument.....
And when I saw those recording mixer board, they really get into my attention.....cuz I can just plug all my instruments and mics in all those channels