Thoughts on Studio 32 or 16 mixers?

[Dark Fader]

Has anyone ever used the Studio 32 or Studio 16 recording mixers by alesis? I am looking for a board with at least 8 really good preamps, something that will give me a good foldback, and at least 4 busses, for under $900. The Studio 32 is $900, and, as I have heard, fulfills the rest of the criteria, too, with 8 extra preamps. I also might need to use the console for some live sound reinforcement, too, and, though it may be clumsy, I think it will work. Any thoughts? Anyone know where I can get one CHEAP?!?!? Also, (slightly off topic) does anyone have any comments on which boards have the best preamps? Are the Berringer ones any good? I have heard that the mackies are good, but how do they stack up to the specifically-designed recording preamps of the Studio 32? Oh, and BTW, are the direct outputs on the Studio 32 balanced or unbalanced? I know I have a lot of questions, but I need to really know what I'm getting before I buy something, and all I can find anywhere on the net isn't helping me really compare sound quality. Thanks a lot.

-Matt Good.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

No comment........

...actually, one comment - try a search on the word Behringer... and I'd take a Mackie over the Alesis any day...

(ok... that was two comments...)

Bruce

 

[MISTERQCUE]

The only positive thing about the 32 (and I own 1) is the direct outs for ADAT's which eliminate the need for re-patching.

 

[Wallycleaver]

Your not Mathew Good, of the Mathew Good Band are you?

 

[Dark Fader]

Um, I am truly Matthew Good, I mean, that is my real name, but no, I am not THE Matthew Good of the Matthew Good band. (Unfortunately) Someday, I'm gonna get some royalties over that or something... Anyway....

Blue Bear Sound, have you had experience with both mixers, or are you just speculating that the Mackies are better? I mean, Mackie really has a big add campaign going to promote those VLZ preamps.

Misterqcue, is that really the ONLY good thing that you have to say of the Studio 32? I do not use adats, so I have no need for the connection.

I think I can get a Mackie 1604VLZ Pro for about $800 (brand new in the box) and I just got an offer on a 2 1/2 year old Studio 32 that I can get for $400. If the preamps are not TOO different, and assuming the old Studio 32 won't die on me anytime soon, I think I might grab that and then spend the rest on some new higher-end mic preamps or mics or something that will REALLY affect my sound quality. Any thoughts? If I wait and debate this too long, it'll be too late.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

As I said, do a search - many people, including myself, have posted comparison threads between Mackie and Behringer....

MQQ has an Alesis mixer, so they must be reasonable-sounding... on the other hand, I think he's looking at something else....

Bruce

 

[MISTERQCUE]

I mean, the Alesis are O.K., a slight step up from Behringer. Their pre's are middle of the road,eq is half ass,it's a decent but not a solid mixer. Both the 24 and 32's have buttons SOOO small that you can't tell if their depressed or not. But $400 for a 32 is not bad at ALL!
Sammy's has a used 1 for $650 so you're getting a great price. I'm gonna' upgrade to a Ghost in the next week or 2 (as soon as i find a way to get out of paying the mortgage this month!).
All in all, you'll do fine with a Mackie VlZ series. Just don't get it confused with the Mackie CFX series.
VlZ's have Hi-Z pre's, the CFX's don't.

 

[Skyline609]

I purchased a Studio 32 exactly one year ago, so here is my one year of use review. I paid 800 new. Good price cosidering its use and value. I LOVED the fact that repatching wasnt ever nessecary. It really saved a lot of time and extra hastle. The buttons were kinda small, but I didnt stress over it. The preamps arent really as noisy as i think everyone tends to state. They get a bit noisy in when turned up quite a bit, and probably are a little noiser then the next level of mixers, but its really not that much of a problem considering the board was 800 bucks. The control room volume knob started making a little noise in the monitors when i turn it, but it doesnt effect the recording. Its still a pain in the ass. Everything is still in working condition and the board sitll sounds fine. Id say look into it, you can probbaly get it really cheap

 

[RWhite]

I'm going to copy this in from another post of mine, cause I type too damn slow.

*****
Well here's my 2 bits -

When I was shopping for a mixer about a year ago it came down to the Studio 32 or a Behringer MX3208. I have a Gadget Labs Wave 824 card (8 ins and 8 outs) so the Behringer with its 8 subouts seemed ideal. I went to Guitar Center and took a look at the only one they had, it was sold and was being packed up. Couldn't try it out for obvious reasons. Decided to wait for another one to come along...
....and two months later bought the Alesis because there were still no Beheringers available. It seems they have a very strange production policy, they ship out product to Guitar Center based on what they feel like rather than what product has been sold or ordered. So the cheaper mixers are in plentiful supply but the high end stuff is spotty.
I liked Mackies rep but the lack of tape returns on their mixers unfortunately ruled them out. I wanted to be able to have 16 inputs plus 16 tracks of playback without repatching and that ruled out any affordable Mackie.
Anyways I like the Studio 32, I have no complaints with it. I am using the direct outs more than I thought I would and the sub outs less. The mic pres are decent and its very quiet.
And later on I decided I wanted a small mixer for my upstairs computer room. Bought a Behringer 802 for about $130. Works fine, it is quiet and is amazingly compact. And MUCH cheaper than a comperable Mackie.

My only problem is that I appear to be under a curse - I buy Gadget Labs and they go out of business. Now it looks like Alesis is going down too. I just bought a Rode mic - can they be next?
*****

And yes, virtually everything on the Studio 32 is balanced.

I bought mine new from Guitar Center new for $760. It was selling at Mars for $836, then Mars had a 10% off sale but was out of stock. So I went to Guitar Center and forced them to match the price.

 

[rflagg]

I've had a Studio 32 for about 8 months now and now that I'm starting to use more of the features I'm noticing alot of small problems.

The main problem I'm seeing is bleeding between channels. Especially when using the Control Room. IE.. tracks that I'm playing back are bleeding into tracks I"m recording. This usually occurs when I try to overdub to prerecorded tracks, or try using disposable click track to laydown the drum tracks.

Also, I've noticed that even when nothing is selected in the Control Room, I can still hear (although very low) sound from the active channels.

Has anyone else had similar problems with this mixer?

Thanks!

 

[MISTERQCUE]

You know something rflagg,that's 1 problem I have never experienced with the 32 and that is track bleed! Even when bouncing,bussing and monitoring thru the control room section of the board.
I guess that the 32 is good for something!

 

[rflagg]

Thanks for the info MISTERQCUE.

I'm begining to think that there might be something wrong with my 32. Unless it's my setup, which is basically,

Misc Mics (Sure 57's, 58's, AKG) >
Studio 32 >
Delta 1010 >
Dual PIII 500 >
Cubase

I'm using the s32 direct outs to feed the delta and using 2 of the delta outputs to monitor prerecorded track's using the s32. Could it be the patch/mic cables? I'm just using the standard guitar center grade?

 

[MISTERQCUE]

Rflagg,I'm old school! I record to ADAT's. I should have stated earlier that I use several Behringer comps,a RNC
and Presonus connected to each channel's inserts AND
auxes. Since my Behringers have a limiter function,I incorporate them when either mic'ing drums,vocals,acoustics,horns or mic'ing an amp for guitar. The limiters allow me to record cleanly w/o signals running over to anutha' track,even when bouncing to the "GRP" busses.Since I plug my bass and keys into board the their is never any prob with signal bleed!