Looking for USB interface mixer that will separate channels digitally in DAW

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louisjamesbanks

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Hi

Looking for a digital mixer that will have at least 4 inputs for my hardware synths.
I want to feed that into able via an onboard usb interface and be able to individually separate the hardware instruments from the main mix so I can individually modulate and apply effects to each instrument.
I of course, cannot do this at present with my analogue one master out tapco mixer.
Do you have any suggestions for this?
And what do I look for on a product listing to achieve this? I see inputs but I think that applies to the amount of inputs on the mixer itself, not the digital channel separation.
Thanks in advance
 
The Behringher digital mixers do this - but I don't think any of the analogue ones have it a feature on any make I've ever come across? It's a sort of expensive and complex feature to put on smaller desks - stereo out is cheap, but as soon as you go multiple channels you move to a totally different market range?Second hand Behringhers on ebay might we worth watching for? You forgot the important bit - how much do you have to spend?
 
rob aylestone said:
The Behringher digital mixers do this - but I don't think any of the analogue ones have it a feature on any make I've ever come across? It's a sort of expensive and complex feature to put on smaller desks - stereo out is cheap, but as soon as you go multiple channels you move to a totally different market range?Second hand Behringhers on ebay might we worth watching for? You forgot the important bit - how much do you have to spend?
Click to expand...
Hi thanks for response.

Do you know specifically what feature this is called so I can check whether the behringer mixers do this or do absolutely all usb interfaced behringer mixers do this?

£150-£200 ideally is the range
 
You could try a slightly different approach, and skip the idea of conventional mixer but go for a multichannel interface instead.

For example you could get an interface such as the Behringer 1820. This will give you eight line level inputs, so you could take stereo out of each of your synths, feed them into the interface, then play with the eight separate tracks within the computer using a DAW such as Reaper.

What is more, you can also record each synth's midi, and play with that in Reaper.
 
rob aylestone said:
The Behringher digital mixers do this - but I don't think any of the analogue ones have it a feature on any make I've ever come across? It's a sort of expensive and complex feature to put on smaller desks - stereo out is cheap, but as soon as you go multiple channels you move to a totally different market range?Second hand Behringhers on ebay might we worth watching for? You forgot the important bit - how much do you have to spend?
Click to expand...
Hi thanks for response.

Do you know specifically what feature this is called so I can check whether the behringer mixers do this or do absolutely all usb interfaced behringer mixers do this?

£150-£200 ideally is the range
 
gecko zzed said:
You could try a slightly different approach, and skip the idea of conventional mixer but go for a multichannel interface instead.

For example you could get an interface such as the Behringer 1820. This will give you eight line level inputs, so you could take stereo out of each of your synths, feed them into the interface, then play with the eight separate tracks within the computer using a DAW such as Reaper.

What is more, you can also record each synth's midi, and play with that in Reaper.
Click to expand...
Thanks looks like a good solution. Bit pricey though. Any alternatives? Thanks
 
louisjamesbanks said:
Thanks looks like a good solution. Bit pricey though. Any alternatives? Thanks
Click to expand...

Thomann has the 1820 for £218 with free shipping and inc VAT in the UK according to their website. That's pretty close to the range you gave.

Its unlikely that you'll find a full mixer w/ separate multichannel USB output for that range of price. Things like the Tascam, ZOom and Soundcraft mixers will easily get into the 800-1000+ range.
 
Virtually all USB audio interfaces are designed to feed all their inputs as separate tracks to the DAW. I can't think of one that doesn't do that. In most cases of affordable mixers, the USB recording feature is included as a convenience, for making stereo recordings or playing stereo backing tracks. When you go from stereo to multitrack recording in an analog mixer, there's going to be a price jump. Stereo AD/DA conversion is a high volume off-the-shelf technology. Multitrack AD/DA conversion is a lower volume, higher cost technology.
 
The Behringher 1820 is the cheapest, best 10 (up to 20 w/ SPDIF expansion) channel audio interface you'll find. If this is too expensive... you're in the wrong hobby. You won't find any "Mixer" with USB that isn't just stereo (2 channels into the DAW)... you're talking about $1800-4000 devices that you want for $150-200.
 
I figured you probably had a bit more than that. Let's be honest here - decent twin channel audio interfaces will eat up this kind of budget. A mixer AND and interface that is reasonable audio in the mixer department is not going to happen, and a proper mixer with multitrack is going to be considerably more. The Behringer and doing the mixing in the DAW will be the cheapest workable solution. Do you really want a hardware mixer or not?
 
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