I have one of these compact 4-buss mixers and really like the layout
for my audio/MIDI home studio setup. I definitely use the 4-buss
concept - for tracking, I put reference tracks on buss 1/2 and switch
what I am recording to buss 3/4 - the buss outputs go to the inputs of
my Delta 66. I use Control Room output sent to a Samson headphone amp
to monitor, which mixes buss 1/2 and 3/4 so I can hear everything at
the same time.

I also like the small size (4U), lots of stereo inputs for my synth
modules and guitar effects.

I don't like that only Aux send 1 is stereo. I would rather have 2
stereo sends rather than 1 stereo and 2 mono.

I don't really care about the 3-band EQ as I find myself recording
everything pretty flat and any EQ usually takes place in the digital
realm. In fact the mixer is mostly for monitoring, or in the case I
want to print effects at the same time I record (which does happen
sometimes). But for actual tracking I tend to go straight from the
source to the sound card inputs.

The built-in mic pres are probably crummy and since they don't support
phantom power I can't use any of my nicer mics. I have two external
mic pres anyway.

Why am I complaining? Well I'm wondering if there's a SMALLER 4-buss
rack mt. line mixer, and perhaps with better audio specs than the
Samson and with 2 stereo sends rather than the L/R mono things. I
could probably live with 2-band or even no EQ.

There isn't much to complain about actually - this mixer has served me
better than that old Toa D4/D4-E, the Kawai MX-8 and the Samson 2422
(which was OK but overkill and took up too much space in the rack).

(Gary) wrote in message . com...
I have one of these compact 4-buss mixers and really like the layout
for my audio/MIDI home studio setup. I definitely use the 4-buss
concept - for tracking, I put reference tracks on buss 1/2 and switch
what I am recording to buss 3/4 - the buss outputs go to the inputs of
my Delta 66. I use Control Room output sent to a Samson headphone amp
to monitor, which mixes buss 1/2 and 3/4 so I can hear everything at
the same time.

I also like the small size (4U), lots of stereo inputs for my synth
modules and guitar effects.

I don't like that only Aux send 1 is stereo. I would rather have 2
stereo sends rather than 1 stereo and 2 mono.

I don't really care about the 3-band EQ as I find myself recording
everything pretty flat and any EQ usually takes place in the digital
realm. In fact the mixer is mostly for monitoring, or in the case I
want to print effects at the same time I record (which does happen
sometimes). But for actual tracking I tend to go straight from the
source to the sound card inputs.

The built-in mic pres are probably crummy and since they don't support
phantom power I can't use any of my nicer mics. I have two external
mic pres anyway.

Why am I complaining? Well I'm wondering if there's a SMALLER 4-buss
rack mt. line mixer, and perhaps with better audio specs than the
Samson and with 2 stereo sends rather than the L/R mono things. I
could probably live with 2-band or even no EQ.

There isn't much to complain about actually - this mixer has served me
better than that old Toa D4/D4-E, the Kawai MX-8 and the Samson 2422
(which was OK but overkill and took up too much space in the rack).

I'm not really aware of any product like you describe, the market for
mixers like this seems to be prety small.

I wish Speck would make a cutdown version of his mixer with EQ (and I
bug him about this every couple of years in a good natured way) but I
suspect he wouldn't make back his R&D budget for such a project.

One potential solution is the Mackie LM-3204.

It's not smaller (actually one space larger) but it might fit the
bill.

It's got two stereo sends, and two mono sends which can be switched.
the setup is kinda strange, basically 1/3 are stereo and 2/4 are mono,
so per channel you get a stereo and a mono send, but you can change to
the other pair with a switch.

It's not really a four bus though, more like 2 + 2. It sounds like you
could send out of the ALT outputs to your recorder and then monitor on
the channels.

It has 16 stereo channels, three band EQ, separate control room out
which feeds the headphone out. The headphone out does have it's own
level control.

Oh yeah, two mic pres (the old style Mackie pres...ok but nothing
special) but with Phantom power.

I bought one new in 1995 and liked enough to buy another one last year
for a separate synth rig...I could fit my keyboards and modules into
one unit, but they are physically separated and I didn't want to run
four unbalanced stereo long cables 30 feet across the room.

The LM-3204 has been out of production since about 1998, but you see
them used from time to time....usually they run about $450, I paid
$750 for my new one.

Analogeezer

p.s. My keyboard player has a Samson, a PL-1602...it was/is a total
piece of crap, had to get repaired after about two years of light use
mainly at band practice (maybe 8 gigs?). It's really ****** up because
the aux sends are PRE and can't be modified or switched to post.

While he had his in the shop I let him borrow my 2nd LM-3204 and the
difference in clarity and headroom was audible to everyone, and he's
ot that picky about sound.

I'm not knocking your mixer (I considered one back in the day) but
I've been generally unimpressed with the build quality and sonics of
the Samson stuff.