Digital Mixers

T

the_man

New member
I've been recording with n-track and a Presonus TubePre for about two yesrs now, and I think I'm ready to take the plunge and get some serious recording equipment to do demo-quality stuff for my band and a few others around here. I'm pretty sure I'll be getting an Alesis HD-24, and obviously I'll need a mixer as well. I'm leaning towards the digital stuff because I have no outboard gear at all; I really like the idea of compression on every channel, built in delays and reverbs, etc, etc. I don't pretend the compressors are going to compare to an LA-2A or an 1176 or anything, but they should still be perfectly usable, no? I had some questions about digital mixers in general:

1. Let's say I used the analog channel outs ot connect to the HD24 instead of the built-in ADAT outs. Would the extra D/A/D conversion adversely affect the sound? What about if I wanted to use one of the mixer's outs to go to an outboard compressor or effects unit and back into the board?

2. How does the DM-24 compare to, say the Yamaha 01V? Are there any other models I should consider?

3. A lot of folks (well, some folks) talk down digital mixers in general. Why is this? Especially since people don't seem to have the same issues with mixing "in the box" on a DAW. Are there serious drawbacks I'm not considering?

Any other comments would be appreciated.

Thanks for the help.

Kevin
 
Regarding your questions:

1. Yes, it would adversely affect the sound. The rule of thumb I follow is that if the units can be connected digitally, then I do so. However, in the case of analog outboard, which I do use, I generally feel that the benefits of using analog compression and eq outweigh any detail that might be lost in the DA/AD conversions.

2. I own a couple DM-24's and like them. As far as digital mixers go, I think they are a great value.

3. or some people I suppose digital mixers aren't the answer. I personally would like someone to come up with an affordable digitally controlled analog mixer, but I kind of doubt that will ever happen. There are advantages to using digital mixers over "in the box", and advantages to mixing in the box over hardware digital mixers, and advantages to mixing with analog mixers. A lot depends on what you doing, how you like to work, and what market your music will be in.
 
Thanks, SonicAl.

Since you own them, what can you say about the onboard processors? How good/bad/in-between are the EQs, compressors, and reverb?

Kevin
 
I don't use the reverb, I have outboard rack units for that. The eq is actually pretty good. It's clean and uncolored, gets the job done. As far as compressors, I also use outboard rack units for that, just my preference. The compressors on the DM-24 work well (if a little blah), but don't give me the tone colors I get from my outboard units.

Between the eq, compressors, and reverb, I use the eq the most. I actually don't hesitate to use the eq at all, it works fine for me. The reverb and compressors are okay, I just have a lot of outboard units and prefer to use those. If you don't ahve the outboard units, you could certainly get a lot of use out of the processing built into the DM-24.

Hope this helps.
 
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