Mackie SR244 or B248

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MichiganMan

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I record songs for demos and have been using a Roland 1680 for some time now. I record by myself and play several instruments. I like to keep 4 tracks of a Roland R8MKII drum maching hooked up, along with 4 for guitars (I run them in stereo), 2 from the computer and 4 for keyboards. I have decided that a 24 channel mixer is the best way to go for me. The only mixing I understand is from the Roland 1680. I can buy an older Mackie SR244 for $1,400 US and a B248 for $2,000. The B248 is from zzounds.com and is possibly slightly damaged.

I would like to know your expert opinions of these 2 boards. I see Mackie gets killed here quite a bit. Possibly the B248 is a step up in quality. Has anyone purchased slightly damaged equipment from zzounds.com?

I am very happy with my Mackie HR824 monitors. If either of these mixers gives me the same quality, I will be very happy.
 
I'm not quite sure I understand why you want to move to a 24 channel mixer. Will you be using it for routing & outboard mixing or would you be pre-mixing tracks on the way into the VS?
 
I want to hook up all my instruments into the mixer and have 8 outputs directly into the 1680. In fact I just bought the 32x8 Mackie this morning. I think it was a good price.

Is this overkill. Please let me know as soon as possible, maybe I can cancel the order. I want a good, clean sound going into the 1680, with decent preamps.
 
I think it may be overkill (IMO). If you're interested in the Mackie pre's, which are (arguably) very good, and probably better than the VS's, you're paying for a lot more tracks than you need.

Most folks (like myself) use channel inserts instead of relying on a bus. For one, the signal path is much cleaner, for 2, a 16 bus mixer isn't cheap ...hell even an 8 bus isn't cheap.

I'm using an old Yamaha 12 channel board going into the 8-ins of my C-Port. I believe you could get away with a Mackie 1604VLZ pro.
 
If I use a 1604 how would I be able to have all my equipment hooked up without plugging and unplugging the different guitar and synth instruments? I don't want to be wasting money, but I don't want to hook and unhook instruments all the time. I'll lay down a track and then pick up another instrument. I appreciate your thoughts on this. the 32x8 board is $2,400.
 
Maybe I misunderstood - I only counted 14 tracks worth of inputs that you could leave on all the time. Oh, wait a minute - does your VS record 8 at a time or 16? Now I get it (duh).

I guess it's a matter of preference then. Consider this though, you'll be adjusting the mixer to mute the unused tracks from each bus every time you switch instruments. This, coupled with the fact that you're sending each signal all the way through the mixer, and through more electronics, which does affect the integrity of your signal (how much is debateable).

A good patch bay would be much less expensive, and lower-budget on the signal path. I do, however understand the convenience of the larger 8 buss mixer - especially not having to adjust levels with each instrument change.

Now, after that big ol' ramble, I'll leave the Mackie 32x8 question to someone with experience with that particular mixer. I can only say that I've never heard any negative comments (my singer used to own one and loved it).
 
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