Having a hard time deciding Mackie or Allen and Heath...

[ncmail]

I have read A LOT of reviews on these products and was wondering if anyone on here has had any personal experiance with either of these products.

I am stuck between a Mackie Onyx 1640i Firewire mixer
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Mackie-Onyx-1640i-FireWire-Mixer?sku=583340

And an Allen and Heath ZED 420 USB mixer
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Allen-&-Heath-ZED420-Mixer?sku=630352

If I understand correctly, please correct me if Im not, I can record multi track simotainosly and be able to edit each track individually with the Mackie? Like run the whole drum set (8 mics) through the mixer and have control ever controls on each mic? If I understand that correctly the Mackie is my choice If not the debate continues haha.

I like that the A&H has DI's built into it and I like the grouping on it as well. Reviews on both are awesome.

And as far as system compatiblity that does not matter, I am building a ground up computer for recording and video production.

Any help with my decision would be awesome! Thanks guys!!

 

[moresound]

A&H no doubt about it, with no questions asked.

 

[ncmail]

any specific reason?

 

[moresound]

Well for starters .... the preamps, and the EQ section.

Wait a minute I said no questions asked!

 

[ncmail]

Well for starters .... the preamps, and the EQ section.

Wait a minute I said no questions asked!

Ok, cool. I was kinda leaning Mackie for firewire, but I got a few questions about the A&H (more questions i know haha ) But When I use the USB can I control each mics "effects" and EQ and what not on a DAW or do I have to play with the whole mix as one track? From what I understand from reading reviews and watching demos on youtube I can control each channel on the mixer as its own track in a DAW. My overall goal is to be able to tweak the drums individually instead of as a whole.

Shit I guess you did haha

 

[ncmail]

Anyone else have any input to add??

 

[zazz]

My overall goal is to be able to tweak the drums individually instead of as a whole.

well of course you can do that on the computer screen with either and many others besides but the mackie is the one where you can tweak each track from the computer via usb using the same physical channel knobs on the desk.

 

[freddy_cash]

most of theese come with cubase software.i have a alesis 16 usb 2.0 because didnt have funds for anything much better.i looked at alot of mackie and allen and heath boards and if i could get what i wanted it would be the a and h board.
all the a&h boards i looked at came with the cubase also.it records from the board multi track with the usb.