analog mixer suggestions?

[Nathan1984]

I am thinking about going analog. I wanna get an analog mixer with usb to use for an interface. I have been looking around at a few different mixers, they don't have nearly the sample rates that I would like, but times are tough and I don't wanna spend over 700 for one. It must have at least 10 mic pres, usb or firewire I suppose, but firewire seem to be much higher in price for alot less. I am looking at a behringer, allen and heath zed-24, and peavey mixers with usb. Does anyone have any suggestions, any recommendations?

 

[Bobbsy]

Well, of your list, the Allen and Heath is streets ahead of the others in terms of build quality, sound quality and flexibility of routing. Even so, you'll be limited to feeding only two channels from the mixer to your DAW. At least with the A&H you can select from several options what you feed--Behringer forces you to use main outs only.

If you could live with 8 mic pre amps plus some line level inputs, the Alesis Multimix 16 USB2 (the 2 is important--the version without the 2 is very much more limited) will work up to 96kHz and gives up to 16 direct outs. Sonically it's not in the same league as the A&H though.

However, I think you should seriously consider whether a mixer is the right way to go. I wrote a FAQ a while back about whether or not a mixer is something to consider--you can find it HERE. At low budgets, mixers are not always the best way to go and can cause more issues than they solve.

 

[Nathan1984]

Yeah, I changed my mind, after reading into it. Your article is right, mixers with usb generally send the stereo mix only, how deceiving is that? Bastards, I am gonna just get a Focusrite Saffire pro 40 instead.

 

[Nathan1984]

Ok, so I did some more research on this, I am under the impression that if you have a pci interface set up, like a m-audio delta 1010, that you can basically take your mixer, and as long as it has the channel inserts for every channel, record all the tracks that are available on your mixer. Am I correct in assuming this, because if that were the case, I would like to use a setup similar to that. If anybody can help me figure this dilemma out, I would be very happy. I wanna have more hands on control with my levels, and such. I also was kinda wondering if say I did have a allen and heath zed-24, and it says the usb recording cabability is only 16/48khz and I send the channels to my m-audio delta 1010 pci interface with the inserts, and the interface is 24 bit/96khz, would I get that since I wouldn't be using the usb on the zed-24? Crazy questions to be putting in the beginner posts huh? lol

 

[Bobbsy]

Well, the interface is UP TO 24/96 but will work happily at 16/48.

However, with your plan to use the insert jacks and a multichannel interface, you don't need to worry about the digital option from the mixer at all since you're feeding an analogue signal to the Delta 1010. In practice, you'd probably feed from the insert jacks for the first 8 channels to the inputs on the 1010 and bring the outputs of the 1010 into the next 8 channels on the mixer. This would let you set up good headphone mixes via a pre fade aux on the mixer and, when playing back unmixed recordings, you can do a rough mix with the channel faders. You probably won't use the USB out of the Zed 24 at all. Don't forget you'll need to buy or make up a bunch of adaptor cables to feed out from the channel inserts. Some people try the "push the jack half way in route" but sods law dictates that a channel always gets pushed in or pulled out during the irreplaceable take!

Or, if you can consider a Firewire solution, have a look at the A&H Zed R16 which is purpose built for what you want to do--put the money saved on the Delta 1010 into the mixer and a firewire adaptor for your computer!