i've got a mackie 24*4 and i use it for recording (and a couple gigs here and there in the past), and while it's not great, it does an acceptable job. the preamps are clean (just don't drive em too hard) and while they're not the epitome of depth and character, they're not without their merits (namely in that there's 24 of em
). i got my 24*4 for $450US, so it was a no brainer at $18/pre.
of course, for recording purposes, i tap the channel inserts and use them as direct outs, bypassing the board's eq and summing bus op amps. this gets around most of the inherent "weaknesses" of the board.
for headphone sends, the routing afforded to the aux sends does quite nicely. i rarely record with effects, and since i'm already tapping the inserts, the auxes are free to be used for headphone mixes (which i can then run into an eq, reverb, etc., as needed).
usually, though, i go from tapped insert to a compressor (just b/c i tend to like the flavors of some of my comps even if i'm not actually compressing), and from there into my Delta 1010. when it comes to mixing, i mix in the box rather than sending it back out to the 24*4--i tried using the 24*4 for mixing right when i got it, but i don't know about y'all, but *i* can sure hear the sound of the summing busses and the brutalizing that it inflicts upon an otherwise good sounding mix. oy vey.
still, on those occasions when i record a band live, i tend to get a decent mix on the board going anyway, and dump it to tape or cdr (or sometimes a laptop), just as a "stereo backup" just in case.
i suppose for the most part, though, my use of the 24*4 is as a collection of preamps and system for headphone mixes and not much more. i don't even run my monitors from it......
cheers,
wade
