Mackie, Soundcraft, or Other

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chris Fallen
  • Start date Start date

What's the best mixer overall (IYHO)?

  • Mackie

    Votes: 81 25.5%

  • Soundcraft

    Votes: 149 46.9%

  • Other

    Votes: 88 27.7%
  • Total voters
    318
I've been consulting on my project studio with the owner engineer of a great studio here in town. He has advised me that from the specs, the Soundcraft M12 would be a great board for what I', trying to do IF the direct outs are balanced. None of the Soundcraft literature mentions this. Can anyone clear this up for me....are they or are they not balanced?

If they are, I get to spend some money tomorrow!


Thanks in advance,

Chris
 
Chris,

According to my literature (pdf from their website), they are balanced inputs for the mono's and the stereo' in's.

Go buy it!;)
 
Paul,

Thanks, but it's the direct outputs that I need to know about. Anyone? Especially someone who owns an M series?
 
I called Soundcraft USA and spoke to the Tech Support function. According to Soundcraft, the direct outs are unbalanced.

Will this affect your choice, and why?

Glenn D.
 
Magpie99 said:
I called Soundcraft USA and spoke to the Tech Support function. According to Soundcraft, the direct outs are unbalanced.

Will this affect your choice, and why?

Glenn D.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I don't think balanced outs would matter unless you're running the lines from them over 15 feet or something.

Christopher
 
A&H

If voting with your feet (or dollars) means anything, I have an Allen & Heath. Not that I know enough about all the options that anyone should rely on that as meaning much .... What I have is the 20:8:2, which they don't make anymore. It's unusual in that it's really, really an 8-track recording board, unlike the other little A&Hs (which I'd consider approximately live mixers that can be used for recording) or the Mackies and Spirits (which I'd call hybrid live/recording tools).

8 mono mic/line channels (four band bypassable EQ, two sweepable; 6 auxes; reasonably long 100 mm faders) + 6 stereo line channels (two-band EQ; 4 auxes) + 8 mono tape returns that are switchable with the main channels individually or globally. You can use all 28 channels at mixdown, if you're so inclined. Eight-bus setup (in addition to L/R). Etc. Everythings pretty quiet and clean.
 
Sorry, I didn't read your post correctly but I just assumed you meant balanced ins cos balanced/unbalanced direct outs don't really matter. I can't see why they would put you off buying the M series.

But the A&H has a superb reputation also, as you can tell from posts in this forum. As ever, you pays yer money and takes yer pick.
 
Magpie99 said:
I called Soundcraft USA and spoke to the Tech Support function. According to Soundcraft, the direct outs are unbalanced.

Will this affect your choice, and why?

Glenn D.
Click to expand...


Actually, I was afraid it might, but it all turned out okay. I've got a package deal going which included all balanced cables to and from the 1224. Plus, the 1224 only accepts +4db signals, whereas (if I understand things correctly) the mixer will be sending -10db thru the unbalanced outs. The guy I'm consulting with here locally says that enough adjustment can be made with the faders to make up the difference, so I placed my entire order today: G4 800 , extra dedicated HD for audio, extra RAM, 1224, snakes, software, etc. I can't wait!

Thanks for checking.

Chris
 
Just a followup: I got my M12 and have been fooling around with it a bit, and I have to say that I really like the quality of the pres on this board. They sound round and full, yet still quiet and clean. How they can manage to make a board like this and sell it at this price point is beyond me.
 
Thanks for posting the follow up, Chris. Mine is coming soon, so its good to know the pre's are as good as their reputation.
 
Hi..
Just woundering if the allen & heath sl5000 is for live mixing only or does it work in the studio too??

If it does what "downs" does it have compared to other studio consoles??
 
I just ordered an M8, cant wait to see how it stacks up. I need it mainly for getting headphone mixes (isolation issues) and a few extra pres, you know the drill...
 
Midas Wins

Well just agonized over this for 2 months and landed on the MIDAS Venice. There are 3 versions starting at 3500 to 5300 for the 32(actually 44 channel) Mixer. Picked up my 320 for $3923.

The Venice has the same EQ as the XL3 an $80-100K mixer and the Pre-AMPs are the best available. The Pre-AMPs are very rich and we noticed an immediate improvement over our A&H Mix Wizard and it sound beter than my Digital 8Bus.

The board is compact and had a nice feature set and is easy to use. Very Road Ready ( Versy Sturdy)

www.midasconsoles.com Go to the Venice then go to details to get to the dedicated site on the Venice.

If you have not heard of MIDAS, this is an industry standard with touring professionals and many times EQ is compared to MIDAS sound.

"Got that MIDAS sound" Actually made by Telex and a sister company to Klark Teknik(spelling)

Good Luck
 
sjoko2 said:
Just a quick add-on, on the Odyssey website, under used consoles, look at the D & R Triton!! for under 14k, with full patchbay??
Click to expand...

Sjoko2,
Do many people like the D&R line? What about Audient?

Robert
 
I've worked on D & R's quite often in Europe, always have been very impressed with their sonic quality. You can find them in many studios accross Europe. You'll find some references on their website: http://www.d-r.nl/ In my mind....... that console is the best bargain available in the US, and this is only due to the fact that they have not (as yet) sold their consoles a lot in the US.

I would also consider a Triton to be a very large step up in quality from anything Audient has to offer.
 
i've heard from 3 of my friends that soundcrafts sound better than mackie......i have only used a soundcraft once and i don't really remember how it sounded..........what i do remember is that one time i had some trouble with the mackie i use........it had some talking in between channels.....i ended up with guitar in the overheads. it didn't hurt anything.....it was less than the bleed i've gotten while recording guitar and drums in one room at one time. i just don't think it should have happened.
 
what about that debate that was floating around that other threat.. can't remember the thread. that the mackies were better because they had a higher head room. 22dba, or something, as opposed to the soundcrafts 16dba. They said that 16 wasn't acceptable and that mackie was the way to go...

And the direct outs in the soundcraft.. ive been told that mackies have no direct outs until you get to the 1604, so the m4 would have 4 direct outs?

So i could use 4 microphones, and have them all going into a delta 44? And the unbalanced thing woudln't make any difference? If i got a mackie 1202 it would have no direct outs...

only problem is i can't find any m4's on ebay.
 
I'm pretty sure all the Mackies have direct outs.

As for the headroom issue, if I'm not mistaken, someone earlier in this thread said the opposite: that Mackies don't have enough headroom to power all those pre's and stuff. So, supposedly, as long as you use the direct outs, there's a marginal difference between the Soundcrafts and Mackies (just the pre's and EQ), but if you utilize the busses, then the Soundcraft spanks the Mackie.
 
hmm, but i've been told that the 1402 and 1202 mackies don't have any direct outs.. maybe the person that said that was wrong, i mean long and mcquade sales people don't really know anything anyways. (that wasn't sarcastic they actually don't know anything)
 
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