Pretty much what sockofgold and justin said. I dithered about last year and finally got a one of the bigger sized Behringer Xenyx. They are packed with way more features than any competition for sure, but quality is a bit ho-hum. Build quality is fine for me, but they're still too noisy imo. I thought they'd improved that, but no. But great KlarkTeknik fx, direct outs, more inserts and aux than all equivalent competition, even have 1-knob comps on most channels that are surprisingly good.
Still worth considering imo as they are superb value. You get way more but questionable quality. My caveat is - great for general duties, sketchpadding ideas and I don't regret buying it for exactly that, but I wouldn't record through it...too noisy. I considered mixer/interfaces but you have to really do your homework. As sockofgold mentioned, most are only 2buss, not multitrack. Many are severely limited to 44.1khz and even 16bit. Nowhere near as good quality as a dedicated interface. Bert mentioned interface with multi in/out - I still do that but it doesn't give you the flexibility and function of a mixer.
Ultimately I still do what Justin says. Patchbays/interface/mixer. Patchbays are for all the connectivity and for recording into the interface direct (and/or through outboard processing). Mixer is for playing, scratch mixing, dicking around with ability for multiple instruments before you finalize and record. Interface because it's better quality than any mixer I could afford at the time. Imo you can go the integrated mixer/interface route or the digital mixer but you need to double the budget from any budget mixer. In my language that would have been NZ$3 k bare minimum. Probably nearer to $5k to get the quality I'd be happy with. Whereas a decent interface can be had for 300-400 easy. A budget mixer was $800 (Behringer 22 channel) and Behringer patchbays were sub $100.
Patchbays. You would not regret buying. They are INVALUABLE studio gems, often ignored, neglected. Please consider it. I lived for years with patchbays/dedicated interface after going from big studio with 24channel in-line mixer (I had patchbays even then). And it didn't feel too constraining. Yes I did miss the mixer, and I'm relieved to get a mixer back finally but patchbays + multi in/out mixer is easily and happily doable. Now I've got a mixer I only need a simple 2 in interface so that keeps the expense way down.
Behringer Ultrapatch - cheap as chips, build quality is no less than far more expensive pro studio ones I have had that failed, will even do balanced and the standard 3 routing options that are actually easier than many. I had patchbays that needed physically taking out and turning to route, whereas Behringers have a simple switch on every channel. You will not get balanced option patchbays for 3x the price. I wish I'd found Behringer patchbays yrs ago.
My opinion is:
1. Multirecord mixer is nice to have but too constraining. A decent one puts the price up to other better options.
2. Big quality mixer with simple interface. Good but price of mixer bumps it up. Should use patchbays with this setup.
3. Small but quality mixer with multi interface. Better option but interface bumps up price and patchbay still required.
4. Cheap mixer with multi interface. Better option, cheaper, still need patchbay
5. Cheap mixer simple interface. Good option, cheapest, absolutely need patchbay
6. Big digital mixer. Very good option but expensive. Could omit patchbay if mixer big enough, don't even need interface.
I chose big cheap mixer + simple interface + patchbays. You don’t yet know it but you need a patchhbay or 2. The more gear you have the nore essential it becomes. You can use the mixer for everything but recording, then you use the patchbay to get noiseless quality direct recording into your interface.
Having said that, if I had the budget and more importantly, the space then I'd go back to a big f**k off quality mixer at the centre of studio. Possibly even a big f**k off digital one. But that's piein the sky, if only for space...I can afford the studio but not the bigger house that I'd need to put it in.![:hihi:]( "HiHi")
Sorry for the essay...
Still worth considering imo as they are superb value. You get way more but questionable quality. My caveat is - great for general duties, sketchpadding ideas and I don't regret buying it for exactly that, but I wouldn't record through it...too noisy. I considered mixer/interfaces but you have to really do your homework. As sockofgold mentioned, most are only 2buss, not multitrack. Many are severely limited to 44.1khz and even 16bit. Nowhere near as good quality as a dedicated interface. Bert mentioned interface with multi in/out - I still do that but it doesn't give you the flexibility and function of a mixer.
Ultimately I still do what Justin says. Patchbays/interface/mixer. Patchbays are for all the connectivity and for recording into the interface direct (and/or through outboard processing). Mixer is for playing, scratch mixing, dicking around with ability for multiple instruments before you finalize and record. Interface because it's better quality than any mixer I could afford at the time. Imo you can go the integrated mixer/interface route or the digital mixer but you need to double the budget from any budget mixer. In my language that would have been NZ$3 k bare minimum. Probably nearer to $5k to get the quality I'd be happy with. Whereas a decent interface can be had for 300-400 easy. A budget mixer was $800 (Behringer 22 channel) and Behringer patchbays were sub $100.
Patchbays. You would not regret buying. They are INVALUABLE studio gems, often ignored, neglected. Please consider it. I lived for years with patchbays/dedicated interface after going from big studio with 24channel in-line mixer (I had patchbays even then). And it didn't feel too constraining. Yes I did miss the mixer, and I'm relieved to get a mixer back finally but patchbays + multi in/out mixer is easily and happily doable. Now I've got a mixer I only need a simple 2 in interface so that keeps the expense way down.
Behringer Ultrapatch - cheap as chips, build quality is no less than far more expensive pro studio ones I have had that failed, will even do balanced and the standard 3 routing options that are actually easier than many. I had patchbays that needed physically taking out and turning to route, whereas Behringers have a simple switch on every channel. You will not get balanced option patchbays for 3x the price. I wish I'd found Behringer patchbays yrs ago.
My opinion is:
1. Multirecord mixer is nice to have but too constraining. A decent one puts the price up to other better options.
2. Big quality mixer with simple interface. Good but price of mixer bumps it up. Should use patchbays with this setup.
3. Small but quality mixer with multi interface. Better option but interface bumps up price and patchbay still required.
4. Cheap mixer with multi interface. Better option, cheaper, still need patchbay
5. Cheap mixer simple interface. Good option, cheapest, absolutely need patchbay
6. Big digital mixer. Very good option but expensive. Could omit patchbay if mixer big enough, don't even need interface.
I chose big cheap mixer + simple interface + patchbays. You don’t yet know it but you need a patchhbay or 2. The more gear you have the nore essential it becomes. You can use the mixer for everything but recording, then you use the patchbay to get noiseless quality direct recording into your interface.
Having said that, if I had the budget and more importantly, the space then I'd go back to a big f**k off quality mixer at the centre of studio. Possibly even a big f**k off digital one. But that's piein the sky, if only for space...I can afford the studio but not the bigger house that I'd need to put it in.
Sorry for the essay...
Statistics: Posted by kritikon — Fri Jun 07, 2024 10:58 pm