No BEhringer or Mackie
for some strange reason, everyone here thinks Mackies are "built like tanks". I sppose that if you are going to war and need to use your mixer as a shield, that might be good. However, I have mackie mixer and I wo uld not buy another mackie product at this point. Oh yes, I have a 24-8 mixer, allegedly one of thier better analogue models. First problem, some of the channels have intermittent problems. Push the gain up and the channel might eventually come to life. This, by the way, is in a mixer less than a year and a half old that has recently been serviced for this very problem. Yet the probelm persists. Also, the Aux send and returns have the same intermittent problem. I was told that the original ribbon connector for the aux send and return was crappy but that Mackie knew about the problem and was offering a free upgrade. The catch, I had to pay some #$%^ to transport te mixer to the fix-it shop (I live in New York city where we do not, as a generaly rule, own CARS). Also, the fixit it shop was a rip-off operation (recommended by Mackie by the way) in that they advised that I would wait some indeterminite period of time for my mixer or pay $100.00 for the expedited one day service charge. This was out and out bullshit. They were just looking for a way to charge people for what was supposed to be free work under the warranty. This, by the way was not the worst of the problems with that fix-it shop and i anyone wants to know the name, I will be happy to respond in a private e-mail, I just don't feel this is the place to publisize thier name with regards to MY personal gripe. Maybe others have had better experiences. I don't know. I do know that the alleged knew and improved ribbon although an improvement in some ways, seems to have done little with regards to the initial problem. I still get intermittent signal on the aux send. I assume it is not on the return but I have not done a full test since to me the aux circuit is the aux circuit and whether send or return I only care if it works - period.
My advice, after all this amount to the following. Some people have Mackies with no problem and bully for them. I have a Mackie with problems. Therefore, they are not as "bullteproof" as many would have you believe> MORE IMPORTANTLY, in my humble opinion, Mackie mixers do not sound all that great. The sound is NOT terrible, however, it is also less than stellar and for top quality recorded sound, you might want to consider other options. First of course would be if you are using the mixer in a home studio for a DAW, you should evaluate whether you even need a mixer in the first place. If not, why degrage your saound with a cheap, consumer quality mixer. I am currently evaluating that decision myslef. The only reason you might want such a thing is for the purpose of recording live musicians, a few at a time for that matter, or for doing mixes. If you plan to mix in a larger commercial studio, you don't need the mixer. I realize that is an expensive lux¨ry but one that should ultimately be part of you decision.
Well, that is enough drivle for now...later...