Advice on a set up please: Mixer? Mic Pre?

[oli]

I'm about to invest in a little setup for my home studio that I in the
process of building up. I am in the research phase still however have
decided on most of the components. Although pretty close to dropping
the check I have a few questions. Here they are.

Would acquiring a mixer improve my workflow or complicate things?
Would acquiring a mic pre to my setup be worthwhile to add some
punchiness to the synths?

Here is the gear:

2 synths (12 outs 2 ins)
1 compressor (2 outs 2 ins)
1 eq (2 outs 2 ins)
1 effects box (4 outs 4 ins)
1 AD/DA converter (16 outs 16 ins)
1 surround controller
1 Sound card

All the ins and outs of these components will be connected to a
patchbay (apart from the sound card)

The AD/DA converter will be connected to: my soundcard and directly to
a surround sound monitor for output to my monitors.

Any opinions would be great as I am kinda new at all this. Thanks.

[Abemeister]

I like to use a mixer. Especially when connecting to and from the
computer. You may be able to get around it if you are not using mikes
for vocal and instruments.

Believe me that you will want to use sound modules. Computer based VST
and that Proteus X stuff will frustrate you. I find that the computer
is great for audio and midi sequencing with limited use of software
synthesizers.

I use the computer internal mixers for my Cubase applications and VST
instruments/effects

I like the Mackie series of mixers. Yamaha and Behringer are OK but
Mackie is great quality,

On Jan 23, 1:23 pm, "oli" > wrote:
> I'm about to invest in a little setup for my home studio that I in the
> process of building up. I am in the research phase still however have
> decided on most of the components. Although pretty close to dropping
> the check I have a few questions. Here they are.
>
> Would acquiring a mixer improve my workflow or complicate things?
> Would acquiring a mic pre to my setup be worthwhile to add some
> punchiness to the synths?
>
> Here is the gear:
>
> 2 synths (12 outs 2 ins)
> 1 compressor (2 outs 2 ins)
> 1 eq (2 outs 2 ins)
> 1 effects box (4 outs 4 ins)
> 1 AD/DA converter (16 outs 16 ins)
> 1 surround controller
> 1 Sound card
>
> All the ins and outs of these components will be connected to a
> patchbay (apart from the sound card)
>
> The AD/DA converter will be connected to: my soundcard and directly to
> a surround sound monitor for output to my monitors.
>
> Any opinions would be great as I am kinda new at all this. Thanks.

[oli]

Do the Mackie mixers color the sound at all. I was looking at the VLZ
line. Could they introduce more noise into the signal path compared to
say more expensive mixers?


Abemeister wrote:
> I like to use a mixer. Especially when connecting to and from the
> computer. You may be able to get around it if you are not using mikes
> for vocal and instruments.
>
> Believe me that you will want to use sound modules. Computer based VST
> and that Proteus X stuff will frustrate you. I find that the computer
> is great for audio and midi sequencing with limited use of software
> synthesizers.
>
> I use the computer internal mixers for my Cubase applications and VST
> instruments/effects
>
> I like the Mackie series of mixers. Yamaha and Behringer are OK but
> Mackie is great quality,
>
> On Jan 23, 1:23 pm, "oli" > wrote:
> > I'm about to invest in a little setup for my home studio that I in the
> > process of building up. I am in the research phase still however have
> > decided on most of the components. Although pretty close to dropping
> > the check I have a few questions. Here they are.
> >
> > Would acquiring a mixer improve my workflow or complicate things?
> > Would acquiring a mic pre to my setup be worthwhile to add some
> > punchiness to the synths?
> >
> > Here is the gear:
> >
> > 2 synths (12 outs 2 ins)
> > 1 compressor (2 outs 2 ins)
> > 1 eq (2 outs 2 ins)
> > 1 effects box (4 outs 4 ins)
> > 1 AD/DA converter (16 outs 16 ins)
> > 1 surround controller
> > 1 Sound card
> >
> > All the ins and outs of these components will be connected to a
> > patchbay (apart from the sound card)
> >
> > The AD/DA converter will be connected to: my soundcard and directly to
> > a surround sound monitor for output to my monitors.
> >
> > Any opinions would be great as I am kinda new at all this. Thanks.

[Scott Dorsey]

oli > wrote:
>Do the Mackie mixers color the sound at all. I was looking at the VLZ
>line. Could they introduce more noise into the signal path compared to
>say more expensive mixers?

It's not noise, so much as coloration. Also the VLZ equalization is
somewhat unpleasant to use, and the EQ controls cannot be bypassed.

You can do a lot worse than the Mackies. You can do a lot better, too.
The better a console is, in general, the easier it is to work with.
It's harder to get a good mix on a Mackie than on an API, but you can do it.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[hank alrich]

oli wrote:

> Do the Mackie mixers color the sound at all. I was looking at the VLZ
> line. Could they introduce more noise into the signal path compared to
> say more expensive mixers?

They can be run very cleanly if you do a good job of gain staging. The
Onyx line has much better EQ, which is also bypassable, and two very
good DI's. It is well worth the difference in cost, IMO.

--
ha
"Iraq" is Arabic for "Vietnam"

[oli]

Ok but do you think I need a mixer at all?

I hear you about the Mackie. I would like to go the easy route.


Scott Dorsey wrote:
> oli > wrote:
> >Do the Mackie mixers color the sound at all. I was looking at the VLZ
> >line. Could they introduce more noise into the signal path compared to
> >say more expensive mixers?
>
> It's not noise, so much as coloration. Also the VLZ equalization is
> somewhat unpleasant to use, and the EQ controls cannot be bypassed.
>
> You can do a lot worse than the Mackies. You can do a lot better, too.
> The better a console is, in general, the easier it is to work with.
> It's harder to get a good mix on a Mackie than on an API, but you can do it.
> --scott
>
> --
> "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[oli]

Thanks EQ wise I am set I think as I'll be relying on some outboard
gear for that.

hank alrich wrote:
> oli wrote:
>
> > Do the Mackie mixers color the sound at all. I was looking at the VLZ
> > line. Could they introduce more noise into the signal path compared to
> > say more expensive mixers?
>
> They can be run very cleanly if you do a good job of gain staging. The
> Onyx line has much better EQ, which is also bypassable, and two very
> good DI's. It is well worth the difference in cost, IMO.
>
> --
> ha
> "Iraq" is Arabic for "Vietnam"

[Scott Dorsey]

oli > wrote:
>Ok but do you think I need a mixer at all?

I don't know. I can't imagine working without one, and I don't know why
anyone would want to.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[oli]

Any recommendations for my configuration?



Scott Dorsey wrote:
> oli > wrote:
> >Ok but do you think I need a mixer at all?
>
> I don't know. I can't imagine working without one, and I don't know why
> anyone would want to.
> --scott
>
>
> --
> "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[hank alrich]

oli wrote:

> Ok but do you think I need a mixer at all?

Whether or not a mixer would best suit your style comes down to 1), your
style (only you can answer that), and 2), whether or not your interface
has enough inputs to handle all the synths, etc., at once.

> I hear you about the Mackie. I would like to go the easy route.

> Scott Dorsey wrote:
> > oli wrote:
> > >Do the Mackie mixers color the sound at all. I was looking at the VLZ
> > >line. Could they introduce more noise into the signal path compared to
> > >say more expensive mixers?
> >
> > It's not noise, so much as coloration. Also the VLZ equalization is
> > somewhat unpleasant to use, and the EQ controls cannot be bypassed.
> >
> > You can do a lot worse than the Mackies. You can do a lot better, too.
> > The better a console is, in general, the easier it is to work with.
> > It's harder to get a good mix on a Mackie than on an API, but you can do it.
> > --scott
> >
> > --
> > "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."


--
ha
"Iraq" is Arabic for "Vietnam"

[hank alrich]

oli wrote:

> Thanks EQ wise I am set I think as I'll be relying on some outboard
> gear for that.

I almost hate to say this, but you'd need a pretty good outboard EQ to
better those in the Onyx. It's no match for my NSEQ-2, but it's better
than my A&H GL2200 or the Soundcraft I 200B SEQ I used to have for live
sound. Cal Perkins did a really good job designing that Onyx EQ.

> hank alrich wrote:
> > oli wrote:
> >
> > > Do the Mackie mixers color the sound at all. I was looking at the VLZ
> > > line. Could they introduce more noise into the signal path compared to
> > > say more expensive mixers?
> >
> > They can be run very cleanly if you do a good job of gain staging. The
> > Onyx line has much better EQ, which is also bypassable, and two very
> > good DI's. It is well worth the difference in cost, IMO.

--
ha
"Iraq" is Arabic for "Vietnam"

[thepaulthomas]

hank alrich wrote:
> The Onyx line has much better EQ, which is also bypassable, and two very
> good DI's. It is well worth the difference in cost, IMO.

I'll second that. I haven't recorded with the Onyx mixers but I have
used them in various live sound settings and they are indeed
significantly better than any other Mackie mixers I've ever worked with.

[Ty Ford]

On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 13:59:28 -0500, oli wrote
(in article . com>):

> Do the Mackie mixers color the sound at all. I was looking at the VLZ
> line. Could they introduce more noise into the signal path compared to
> say more expensive mixers?

not necessarily, but in my experience, they do brighten the sound. Not
always a good thing.

Regards,

Ty Ford




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