Q's about Yamaha MG mixers

  • Thread starter Thread starter cstockdale
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cstockdale

cstockdale

supafly killa homey
I am looking at the Yamaha MG series of mixers, either a 12/4 or a 16/4.

The website, and their manual is fairly cryptic, and there are no closeup photos of the sections of the board, so I have a few questions here.

1) Can the inserts be tapped to provide a direct out?

2) it is unclear (to me) how many independent sends this board is capable of. There is a "stereo bus", a "main out" and a subgroup, can all of these be used independently...like 6 outputs? Or is anything going to the stereo bus also going to the main bus?

3) one of the aux sends is pre/post switchable, so there is one more send

If the inserts can function as direct sends, it looks like this board (12/4) should be able to send:

4 direct outs from inserts
1 out from pre-switched aux send
2 sends from Bus 1/2
2 sends from Main 1/2

total 9 discrete sends.

Is this right?
 
Don't know that I'd consider it useful for recording, but I use an MG10/2 for foldback.... seems to work, I can hear the talent in the studios when they're talking!!! :p
 
Fair enough. I am stuck right now between the $$ and the functional place. Really don't want Behringer gear, but can only afford to go so deep into debt. Seems as thogh the Yamaha is better than Behringer, but I suppose I am fooling myself thinking I am getting much improvement. I have used a Mackie VLZ Pro, but here on the Canuck side of the boarder I have been quoted $1675 for the 1602VLZ Pro, the 1202 would be the minimum I could go for, but even that one pushes the $1K envelope after taxes.

Seems I have already pissed off Chessrock by spending too long on this conundrum, but it doesn't take much to bring out his inner cynic. I think the pendulum has at long last settled more towards the Souncraft Spirit E8, or wait another year for the $$ to get an M-series mixer. I just can't help but think that even that one won't make me happy. Stuck in indecision....
 
If I were shopping for a budget mixer I would take the Yammies over the Behringer anyday!!!

But if you already have a Mackie, I don't know that you're going to see any significant improvement in performance between it and the Yamaha...!
 
Unfortunately i do not own a Mackie, I just rented one for a week when I took some time off work, and I liked it quite a bit, but it will be some time before I can sock the $$ away to buy one. I am stuck paying off two guitars and an amp right now .... a Tele, a Strat and a nice little 7W Garnet tube amp.
 
cstockdale said:
Fair enough. I am stuck right now between the $$ and the functional place. Really don't want Behringer gear, but can only afford to go so deep into debt. Seems as thogh the Yamaha is better than Behringer, but I suppose I am fooling myself thinking I am getting much improvement.
Click to expand...

I don't know, but the smaller Behringer gear isn't really done for recording either, in that they usually don't have inserts and tape returns and stuff like that.

So if you have to buy without testing, I'd go with the Yamahas, no doubt.
 
Dude, there's only one real answer for your dilemma, and I can empathize - know it well... it's this:

Increase your income. Get more money.

Get a second job. Start a part-time business. Steal cars. No not really. Sell an internal organ. Find a rich girlfriend who wants to buy you stuff.

You already know you won't be satisfied with cheap stuff, but you're going to get it anyway. So, whatever cheap stuff you buy, have an eye toward being able to sell it later or at least being able to throw it away without feeling bad. Yamaha would probably resell better than Behringer...I doubt it would be any better, but it would most likely have more future value. Buy a good used mixer on ebay or in a hock shop. If you buy something you hate, you're just going to be wringing your hands till next year anyway.....till you get your M12. Just practice your new guitars very very diligently for a year until you're the baddest picker around. Then in a year, when you're ready to record some killer guitar tracks, get a good mixer, recorder, or whatever. Just some fairly useless thoughts to add to your stew of mental turmoil.
 
Appreciate the comment on the M12. My biggest dilemma right now is more or less this:

My current recording productivity is mostly limited because I do not have connectivity: I have to unplug everything and rewire all my connections any time I switch from singing to acoustic guitar to electric guitar to going through an amp to the J-station to bass guitar etc etc because I only have two inputs to my PC soundcard (as dictated by my mixer).

The Audiiphile, however can take 4 ins (which is the most I currently would ever use at one time as I do everything myself) if I have a mixer that can send more outs, and a digital converter. Because rewiring is always such a pain in the ass, I tend to NOT do it very often, and hence I frequently play something and say "fuck, I wish I had recorded that". I just have so little actually recorded because it is a pain to switch everything around.

If I had a mixer with minimum 4 discrete outs, 4 pres and allow me to basically leave everything plugged in, all I have to do is pick up an instrument, and hit R.

Today I can afford a Yamaha MG12-4, which has the connectivity I require. Add to that an ART Di/o and I can then route two outs from the Yammie through the A/D and straight into the S/PDIF ins of the Audiophile. Bang, lots of recording will get done because everything is connected and easy to use. BUT, I know I will want to redo alot because the pres aren't great. But with this setup, I could just rent what I need when I need it (ie. retrack all vox one weekend renting a Neumann and an Avalon, redo all acoustic parts another weekend renting the ideal stuff for that).

Sounds like the M12 is a great unit, and that the pres might well be all I would desire, plus it has the S/PDIF out. But, that baby will take me a good while to afford. The M4 has enough connectivity for my needs, but even that baby takes some time to save for. Still leaves me stuck without the connectivity today.

How much lower quality is the SPirit E series vs the M series? Because I could afford an E6 and the Art Di/o within another month. I have read all the threads I could find about it, and there seems to be little concensus on the level of pres in the Ghost/M/FX/E series mixers.
 
I'm doing a lot of plugging and unplugging now too. 'bout sick of it. I'm back and forth among my RNP, mixer, and V-amp. Takes like a million dollars to get enough stinkin TRS cables to hook all this junk up. Sounds like your plan for the present will work. I'd go for it.

As for the difference between the E-series and M-series.... I don't know. The M-series pres are "reputed" to be the same pres as in the Ghost. If so, they would probably all you'd need. But....I don't know. I'd like to have one eventually to try it out. May have to do that. I'm using a Soundcraft Spirit Powerstation to mix with now and it does a pretty good job. Good eq. The pres aren't bad, better than a Blue Tube (IMO). I've gotten some pretty good recordings with them. I'll bet the E-series are at least as good as mine.

Sounds like you've got a pretty nice dilemma to me. At least you can't get a mixer for a good reason...namely, you're paying for 2 great guitars and a great amp. Good luck with your purchases. Hope it works out well for ya.
 
Yeah, the Soundcraft mixer pres are a big mystery, they sure like to use the "similar to" , "Based on.." words describing the mixers pres and which ones are the Ghost or which ones are cheaper.

I have driven a couple of people crazy with this dilemma, as I just go in circles, and seem to answer my own questions, but I think I am going to lean to the Yamaha mixer. I can afford it right now, and that gets me connected. My main project right now is arrangement and writing: taking songs from the one vocal/one acoustic stage to a full blown song, which is why connectivity is the biggest thing for me right now, I need to be able to seamlessly work between multiple instruments/amps/devices. IN reality this is a good year's work.

Then I will face the dilemma of what to upgrade to! Maybe by then I will ahve a few more dollars to spend (but being the idiot I am, I likely will be paying off more new guitars and amps).
 
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