Searching for a "compact" Audio Mixer (6-8 channels)

[paclos]

Hello,


I wanna to buy a Audio Mixer but I have no clue about which Brands are "recomended" or which ones are "noway".

My only limitation is space... but searching for something with max 6-8 channels (if it has more, it will be welcome).

Which one would you recomend? model? brand?

I search more quality durability than "warm" and "sound eqing"


Thanks!

[Barfunkel]

Is there something wrong (for your needs) with the typical choices, eg. Mackie, Soundcraft, Allen&Heath etc?

I'm getting 2 mixers in the near-ish future. One larger for home use + a smaller one for live gigs. Currently I'm looking at the DDA DM12 mixer, which is small, only 4kg, but has all the features I need from a live mixer. It's a bit rare as it seems though, so not many user experiences from what I've seen. It'd be nice to hear how it sounds, the EQ, the overdrive, etc.

[Lost to the Void]

I have a nice compact mixer for my live rig, a soundcraft efx 8. It has no busses (I don`t need any for live use at the moment), but it works well, the lexicon fx are pretty good, EQ`s are solid, build is good, very affordable, noise is not a big issue.
I`ve actually mixed some stuff released this year from the 2 buss to a stereo file and it sounds pretty good.

Not the best in the world, but for the price it`s a nice little mixer.

[terly]

I would vouch for Soundcraft mixers as well. I got a 12-channel from a friend who was a bit desperate (although in reality he makes much more than me per year) at a shocking price and it has served well.

Look on the 2nd hand market as there are almost always some decent mixers floating around at a good price.

[msl]

Get a used Mackie 1402, its tiny compared to most other mixers that was my main reason for buying one. No frills, but clean. It has 4 stereo channels which is handy for synths. They can be had for around €100-120 if you get a good deal, got mine for €95.


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[paclos]

Thank you for your answers. I see that the "main" options are Mackie, Soundcraft and Allen&Heath.

Allen&Heath scares me quite a bit because personal experiences about components quality...

Going up on prices but not on size, do we have other brands/options?

[Barfunkel]

Going up on prices but not on size, do we have other brands/options?

Yes. However, most high end manufacturers who make small sized mixers tend to mostly make summing mixers, ie. no EQ, no AUXes etc.


It'd be really great to have a 10-ish channel mixer that sounds great, has a good EQ, 2+ auxes, inserts and weighs like 5kg, costs about 1000€.

AFAIK, there is nothing like that though. The market for mixers like that would be small I think. People are either satisfied with their Mackies, Soundcrafts, A&H's etc or they need a large pro mixer like a Neve or they need a summing mixer.

I'm not an expert in the subject though, feel free to prove me wrong!

[WOLF!]

Allen&Heath scares me quite a bit because personal experiences about components quality...

What A&H stuff did you have problems with? The small mixer are not in the same league as the bigger models for A&H.
I guess that is normal as no pro studio uses such a small mixer (I'm not saying it's impossible to make nice sounding recordings with it). I see a lot of small A&H mixer don't use faders but pots for channel volume; that's something you should like when buying one.

I know a guy who works in the pro audio studio world and he really likes the ZED 4xx's (for home use).
Defiantly worth more then what you pay for, from his opinion.

I often ask myself the question if those really cheap mixer add something to the sound (besides of noise; and the workflow that comes from a mixing desk). Isn't it better to get some more IO's and mix ITB then?

[Barfunkel]

I often ask myself the question if those really cheap mixer add something to the sound (besides of noise; and the workflow that comes from a mixing desk). Isn't it better to get some more IO's and mix ITB then?

There are some older cheap mixers that add something nice (ie. Boss KM-series, Tascam M-series etc), but if have the option to mix ITB, that option is gonna almost always be superior to mixing OTB, in terms of getting something resembling a release quality track in 2016.

It's a bit different if you have something like a Neve or an SSL desk and 50k+ worth of high end outboard. But I think it's pretty safe to assume that most people in the techno land don't have that.

That said, many people like OTB workflow and many people also play live and don't want to take a laptop and an audio interface with them to gigs to mix their tracks with. So those people are often looking for a good hardware mixer.

[borg]

http://www.toftaudio.com/atb08m.html

well, not €1000, more like 4k, but if you want a nice and small mixer...

I have a Mackie 1402VLZ Pro here as well, although it died on me a year ago. Coincidently, I took it down a week ago to have a look at it, but didn't have time yet. Very convenient format, I think. I took home an old TAC Bullet from work, but it's heavy, bulky, separate PSU, broken meter bridge, and needs a very big inside cleaning job, as every fader or pot you touch will crackle. Unusable atm.

A mate is very happy with his ZED.

[Barfunkel]

http://www.toftaudio.com/atb08m.html

well, not €1000, more like 4k, but if you want a nice and small mixer...

Yeh, I know Toft. It's not THAT small though, like 60x50cm and it weighs 30kg.

I don't doubt it's a quality mixer, but it's not suitable for typical techno live gigs really due to it's bulk.

[Barskiniov]

have a nice compact mixer for my live rig, a soundcraft efx 8. It has no busses (I don`t need any for live use at the moment), but it works well, the lexicon fx are pretty good, EQ`s are solid, build is good, very affordable, noise is not a big issue.
I`ve actually mixed some stuff released this year from the 2 buss to a stereo file and it sounds pretty good.

Not the best in the world, but for the price it`s a nice little mixer.

I know it´s a tiresome topic, but how does it sound if its pushed hard, is it comparable to that sound which those old mackies can give to a kick?

Thanks

[Lost to the Void]

I didn't like that old mackie sound. It was cheap and crunchy to my ears. Lots of people liked it though, it certainly defined a subgenre of an era.

I have no idea if the soundcraft drives well, I've never tried it, I have a compressor on my output and I drive in to that.

I'll have a listen when I rehearse my pa this week and see what happens when I drive the channels.

[Barskiniov]

Yeah I want to use this pushing the desk sound occassionaly but I need a small mixer to have a dry/wet control of my overdrive, distortion pedals...

Thank you for testing that.

[paclos]

I forgot to mention that I have on my Audiocard an ADAT Input for up to 8 channels.... would it be better to search for a Mixer with ADAT output (totally noob question, I know)

Actual setup:

Scarlett18i8 to PC via USB

What I would like is to get somehow more inputs. One option would be to use the ADAT from the Scarlett18i8 to get 8 additional channels, and it would be perfect if it is a Mixer and not just "inputs", in order to be able to make live jams and record each instrument on the DAW on different channels.

[paclos]

Should I sell the Scarlett18i8 and get a ZED12FX for example? the ZED12FX can send audio via USB to the DAW (this is just an Idea)

[paclos]

No suggestions? Or do I'm totally wrong lol

[kertikristof]

Should I sell the Scarlett18i8 and get a ZED12FX for example? the ZED12FX can send audio via USB to the DAW (this is just an Idea)

Bad idea. These small mixers have usually really noisy recording options. With zeds I have personal experience, its a big time naaay when it comes to usb tracking.

[paclos]

Should I sell the Scarlett18i8 and get a ZED12FX for example? the ZED12FX can send audio via USB to the DAW (this is just an Idea)

Bad idea. These small mixers have usually really noisy recording options. With zeds I have personal experience, its a big time naaay when it comes to usb tracking.

ok! thank for the info.... then I will forget about the Idea of buying a mixer to record sound.

Any other Idea of best use of the Optical ADAT input of my Focusrite 18i8? with what?

https://www.thomann.de/de/behringer_ada ... ragain.htm ??
https://www.thomann.de/de/focusrite_oct ... e_242382_0 ??

[paclos]

I will take this topic up again....

I´m also taking the option of buying a mixer with USB/Firewire/whatever in order to connect it to my PC and be able to control also each channel of the mixer on my DAW. For that I would not need the Scarlett18i8 anymore I guess...

Any suggestion/opinion?