[Sean Conolly]

"adam79" wrote in message
net...
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.

Don't put a lot into how things are marketed. It's called 'marketing'
because they're trying to improve sales. It' about influencing the
perception of the potential buyers, which may or may not be truthful. I know
that I wouldn't reject either board for either role.


Anyone have ant experience w/ either unit? Suggestions? Also, if I
overlooked any other mixers in this price range, please tel. I'm planning
on using this mixer for my studio centerpiece.

I would seriously look at the Presonus StudioLive 16.4.2, which is a digital
board. You can buy them new at that price all day long, they have class-A
preamps with direct outs that sound great for recording, and they have a lot
of nice stuff built in like four band EQ (all four sweepable), comps and
gates. You can record and playback all channels over the fireware interface,
and you can even do things like patch effects from your DAW as a channel
insert on the board.

If you're not starting out with a lot of kit, I would definately add it to
your list of boards to consider. You can do a lot in your DAW, but sometimes
it's nice to not have to do *everything* in the DAW.


One important note for all of these firewire boads - pay close attention to
any notes about compatible chipsets. The Presonus manual lists specific
chipsets that are known to work and ones that are known to cause problems.

Sean