[Mike Rivers]

adam79 wrote:
I've been checking out Mixers. There seem to be a couple good ones for
$2000 or less. I've been reading that the Mackie Onyx 1640i was marketed
as a live mixer that works well as a recording mixer.. while the Allan
and Heath ZED R16 is the opposite; made as a recording mixer that works
well as a live one.

I'd say that was a nearly fair assessment. I'd say that the
ZED-R16 is a better studio mixer than the 1640i because it
offers more inputs and outputs than the 1640i (if you can
use them) and while it doesn't have motorized faders, it can
serve as a control surface for a DAW program.

Anyone have ant experience w/ either unit? Suggestions?

I reviewed the ZED-R16 in Pro Audio Review and I liked it a
whole lot. If it had 24 channels rather than 16 and a real
meter bridge, I wouldn't have wanted to send it back. I have
a Mackie 1640 with the optional Firewire card and I've used
that as a live mixer while recording the inputs to a
computer and it worked fine for that. The 1640i does that
and (like the ZED-R16) also can play all 16 Firewire
channels back into the mixer for real analog hands-on
mixing. I like the idea of working that way - use the
computer as a recorder, an editor, and exotic signal
processor (with plug-ins) but do the main mixing and EQ on
the analog console. It sounds better than mixing entirely on
the computer, but I think that's probably because I'm just
more comfortable working that way and I can do a better job
of mixing. Your experience may differ.


--
"Today's production equipment is IT based and cannot be
operated without a passing knowledge of computing, although
it seems that it can be operated without a passing knowledge
of audio." - John Watkinson