What Digital Mixer to Buy?

  • Thread starter Thread starter 333president
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333president

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Hi Guys,
I am trying to pick a new digital mixer and here's what I am looking for:

* Something with at least 24 motorized faders/inputs.
* Something that works decently to control basic Pro Tools functions
* Something that offers some flexibility for live, studio and daw control use.
* Something between 4-7k if that's possible.

I want to be able to mix PT through the mixer. I am sick of using the screen to mix.

I looked at the X32, which looks awesome. But, from what I've read, you can only control PT using the 8 buss channels. Is that correct? Does anyone have a work around for this? I am not 100% opposed to this board and I've come close to buying it a few times.....I really just don't want to be limited to only being able to control PT mixes using 8 faders.

I also checked out the Studio Live, but no motorized faders so that's out.

I am thinking the Tascam DM 4800 seems to offer the most of what I am looking for. But it's also a little older and I am not sure if it's a good mixer or not. Do you have any input on the DM 4800?

Long story short, is there any other mixers on the market that offer what I am looking for? Thanks!
 
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How about a used Control 24? Unless I'm mistaken, you'd still need converters, but given your stated budget and what they're going for on eBay, that shouldn't be a problem.

I don't think there is anything out there in the new market that fits all your requirements.
 
That's actually a great suggestion John. I was just hoping for a digital mixer that I could take out to a live gig once or twice a year (to avoid all the outboard processing).
 
333president said:
I was just hoping for a digital mixer that I could take out to a live gig once or twice a year (to avoid all the outboard processing).
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I hear ya. That's exactly why I bought the StudioLive, but I didn't need the flying faders. Fader recall is fine for the few times when I need to save a setup.
 
I went with the Presonus StudioLive 16.4.2 about 3 years ago now.

Great for both live & studio use.

Love the scene save & instant recall function. Great for different repeat gigs after sound checks are completed.

Also, remote wireless mixing from an ipad, which means you can walk all around the room to check your sound.

And individual stage monitor settings for each band member via their iphones.

No motorized faders, but dollar for dollar otherwise a great board.

You should be seeing the prices go down on these 16's & 24's now, since they've come out with their 32 channel version - the 32.4.2, and partially to compete with Behringer X32.

Motorized faders are sure nice enough, but consider that that means a possible 24-32 additional things that can 'go wrong' & will need to be replaced.

Probably not something that you can replace yourself.

So if, after the warranty period, you had to send the unit in for repair say, 4-6 times for this over the years, what might that cost? $100-200 each time + parts - maybe a new motor each time?

Don't know.

Food for thought before you buy.

Many are waiting for the next release from Behringer, for the bugs to be worked out of this model, and because Behringer's reputation could be better - a lot better, since their track record has not been all that good.

So this could be considered a wait & see make up period for those of us that have Behringer products sitting in the closets collecting dust that aren't working and yet aren't worth sending in for repair.

Just sayin'.
 
jamusic said:
No motorized faders, but dollar for dollar otherwise a great board.
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I got to mess around with that exact board for a couple days at my house. For $2k (what he paid) I was disappointed it didn't use motorized faders or could even control the DAW. I wanted to like it. I have a digimax and think presonus xmax pres sound pretty good.

That said, if I was running a live setup that thing would be pretty fantastic. Totally dug the comp and parametric on each channel. I didn't think the verbs were all that bad either.
 
It doesn't have 24 faders, but I promise you the Allen & Heath Qu-16 is one of the best, most flexible mixers I've ever come across. If you can do with 16 faders, I would unequivocally say get it!

- 16 motorized faders
- DAW controller
- 18 x 22 interface (I think)
- live recording and playback from USB drives

The X32 is also good but honestly, for the footprint and power, I would go for the Qu-16 in a heartbeat. I think the Qu-16 is around $2500.

Cheers :)
 
Mo Facta said:
It doesn't have 24 faders, but I promise you the Allen & Heath Qu-16 is one of the best, most flexible mixers I've ever come across. If you can do with 16 faders, I would unequivocally say get it!

- 16 motorized faders
- DAW controller
- 18 x 22 interface (I think)
- live recording and playback from USB drives

The X32 is also good but honestly, for the footprint and power, I would go for the Qu-16 in a heartbeat. I think the Qu-16 is around $2500.

Cheers :)
Click to expand...

I must say, upon first glance, that does look really cool. I'm gonna check it out some more.

I don't think I'd sell my StudioLive 16.4.2, but I might consider adding this to my ever growing list of 'stuff' as my new toy. :guitar:
 
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