What mixer is right for me?

[SpeedKing9]

Hey all. I'm in the market for a mixer, and I've been looking into some Mackie mixers. I'm recording w/ Cakewalk, and I'm soon going to buy a really nice soundcard (once I find out what will be best for me!) What mixer would fit me best? Basically, I want to be able to record my band live, and use the mixer for home recordings. Would 16 channels be sufficient? (I'm looking into the 1642 VLZ PRO). Should I go for a digital mixer? What's the difference? Thanks for any help guys.

(PS..in my band, there's a singer, bassist, guitarist, keyboardist, drummer, and 2 backup vocalists which are incidentally the guitarist and the drummer). 16 would be sufficient, right? One for the singer, bassist, 5 for the drummer, 2 for the guitarist, and one for the keyboard?)

I'm looking for something that will enable me to get VERY GOOD recordings, and I want to make sure I get the right gear for this.

Thanks.

 

[Track Rat]

Now when you say you want to record live, do you mean you want to use a mixer to create a stereo mix of your band playing your songs and recorded as a stereo mix? Then yes, you could do worse than a Mackie. You might even be able to do better.
Now if you want to do multi track recording where instruments are recorded on seperate tracks you need to think about a sound card with lots of inputs. Most of the basic ones only have two.

 

[pglewis]

I've been using a 1604-VLZ for a while, it gets me by. For around the same money or a little more, you can probably pick up an Allen & Heath Mixwizard, too. I've never used one, but I've heard good stuff through 'em and nothing but love from their owners. Maybe check e-bay.

 

[SS454]

I'm not sure, but I think the 1642 is only a 12 channel console with 4 stereo inputs. I wouldn't think you would want this for recording or live. I'd go with the 1604