[Neil Rutman]

Very helpful reply. Thanks Mike! Who's to say that on a different day I
might hear the same A B test and think differently??

Neil R

"Mike Rivers" wrote in message
...
Neil Rutman wrote:
I was recently in on a session where the engineer/mixer was mixing in the
box but sent everything to an SPL Mixdream XP - analog summing mixer.

I'm thinking I need to ad this type of mixer to my tool chest. Any
comments about what to get, what to look for in a good unit (what to
avoid) or any insights at all on the matter much appreciated.

I read an article a few years back where several "analog summing mixers"
were
tested against each other, all receiving the same tracks from Pro Tools,
and comparing
recordings of what came out of each. There were three or four units in the
shootout, with
one being a top-of-the-line analog summer intended for the purpose - not a
Dangerous
Music, but something along that line, and the bottom of the heap being a
Behringer mixer.
They all sounded different, not radically different from a Pro Tools mix,
and there was no
clear winner.

Be that as it may, I'd say that the two things that are important, which
are really pretty much
at opposite ends of the scale, are really high quality analog design - as
many stages as
are necessary, good power supply, good board layout, etc., and simplicity.
The Roll Music
Folcrom (http://www.rollmusic.com/folcrom.php) is passive, but uses very
high quality
resistors and switches, and it gets its "sound" from the mic preamp you
choose to put
after it to make up the loss in the resistive summing.

It's hard to argue with what you heard, but frankly, I don't think anyone
really needs analog
summing as long as you have an up-to-date DAW and understand how to use
it. But then
everything sounds different, so you can have whatever you can justify
owning or renting for
a project.



--
"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