Soundcraft M series pres?

[jeff0633]

Hi folks. I have been reading some about the M series Soundcraft mixers, and I must say that it has all been very good reviews. They say the pres are better than Mackies, and that the EQ is really nice. I see the M4 for $479, and I am thinking that 4 pres and 4 channels of good eq is a steal for that, am I right?

Can anyone tell me more about the character of the pres? Anyone with any sound samples of the M series? How do these compare with the new Mackie boards?

How would the quality of these compare with an RNP? These are the same price and you get two extra channels and EQ.

Jeff

 

[distortedrumble]

basically the thinking is that the soundcraft m series and the allen and heath mixwizard are the best boards you can get under $1k. the pres are the same ones found in the soundcraft ghost boards that are in bigger studios. 4 pres and 4 stereo channels for $479 isnt a steal from my bank account's point of view. but if i walk around with that kind of pocket change then hell yeah its a steal. try noisedude....i think he should have some samples.

 

[xstatic]

With the RNP you get a nice little step up in fidelity and depth. If you compare the Mseries preamps to the old Mackie, and VLZ and VLZ pro preamps, I like the SOundcraft quite a bit more. Really it is the EQ that stands out more, the old Mackie preamps aren't actually all that bad, they just don't do anything for you. The new Onyx however is right up there with the Soundcraft in both the preamp and the EQ department. They just sound a little different. The Souncraft sounds a little "thicker" and the Mackie sounds a little more "open". When deciding between a Soundcraft and a Mackie Onyx, I would tend to make my decision based on the features and prices of the two.

 

[Chris F]

I own an M12, and I think the pres sound nice. I like the DMP3 pres a little better, but then I only record acoustic instruments, and they're more "open" sounding than the M12 pres, if that makes any sense - more "air" in them somehow. The M12 has a nice EQ section, and the direct outs are a great feature. If you're looking for 4 pres alone, a couple of DMP3's would be a better and cheaper choice (IMO, of course). But if you want the increased routing capability of a mixer, the M-Series boards are excellent.

 

[noisedude]

They are most certainly a steal ... even if Rumbley would have to 'steal' to get one!

I love mine, much better than the others around this price range I've tried. Really good value. And they have the coolest feature I've ever come across in a mixer - the 'Direct Pre' switch. You can switch the direct out to either pre or post fade send, which means you can shorten the signal path and use the faders for a monitor mix, or you can have the direct outs follow the faders and so take an exact copy of the mix you are creating with the faders!

(just pasted that paragraph from a post I made a day or two ago)

I haven't used a DMP3, so I can't compare to that, but I would say that I'd be happy enough to mix down through this board (if my interface had enough I/O) and be confident in the sound imparted to it. In fact, I tend to run my final mixes through a stereo channel or two anyway just because it seem to produce slightly nicer results than just mixing down out of the software. YMMV, of course!