What mixer should I buy?

[MichaelAlan]

That's about it. What board should I buy. Oh ya...I have a teeny budget. Any idea of what is the best for the money? I hate threads that start like this...but now I'm on the other end and I understand.

Oh ya, I have a MOTU 828 firewire interface I would be willing to trade for a reverb unit or eq's also. Word


Mike

[Everybody's X]

define "teeny budget"

since I dont know how teeny you're talking, I'll just say that IMHO the topaz series boards from soundtracs is the best option right now under $1500

that is a purely BIASED opinion



and if you want to trade a Roland VM3100 pro for that MOTU, I'd be interested, its a 20 channel mixer with built in compressors,EQ and buttloads of effects including ddls and reverbs, Im using it in a side chain right now for outboard effects, but I could always use more I/O to go with my 896

looks like this

[KennyLusk]

"X" is right, define "teeny budget".

And then also, how many mic inserts do you Have to have?

What flavor outputs do you need? i.e., XLR, RCA, 1/4"?

[schnozzle]

Years ago I bought a pair of Shure M-68 mic mixers (4 mic & 1 line in, 1 out) and I use them ALL THE TIME. Really. $35 each. I love them.

[Piotr]

I imagine the Yamaha O1V is probably your best bet small format studio console...

[Spiderhead69]

small budget mixers where sound is no object - Mackie and Behringer

[Milkmansound]

you can snag the original 01V for cheap these days, they blow the poop out of mackie or behringer...

[MichaelAlan]

It's for a 16 track 1/2" Tascam.

[KennyLusk]

You guys are way out of my league if a Yamaha O1V falls under the category of "Teeny Budget".

[Piotr]

Mackie 1604...

[Milkmansound]

You guys are way out of my league if a Yamaha O1V falls under the category of "Teeny Budget".

my bad - a friend just got one for $300, I thought thats what they were going for now... I have been corrected thanks to ebay. Man it sucks to be wrong. Please accept my apologies!

[KennyLusk]

For low budget mixers I have to give prop's to Behringer's UB Pro series. Their IMP pre's are quiet, open and even airy.

Will the Onyx series by Mackie become the new rage though? Anyone heard reviews on the Onyx yet?

[Slider]

Analog or digital, and your budget would help you get better advice.

[puls]

Has anyone tried the Soundcraft notepad? They can be had for about $100 on ebay if you're willing to be patient & wait for one at that price. Haven't tried the notepad but I like my FX8, which has the same mic pres as the notepad. I thought they definetly sounded better than the mackie 1202 pres.

Just me 2 cents

JWP

[Keegan]

Will the Onyx series by Mackie become the new rage though? Anyone heard reviews on the Onyx yet?

Those boards look quite nice. In addition to those, I was wondering how their CFX boards sound. They appear as though they are quite robust, routing wise, and also very budget friendly.

For low budget mixers I have to give prop's to Behringer's UB Pro series. Their IMP pre's are quiet, open and even airy.

The first mixer I considered was a UB2442 since it had the routing options I was looking for, but I have heard various negative things about the UB series, everything form shotty power supplies, to noisy built in FX. But for the price, I can why the UB series is an attractive option for the newbie/home or project studio.