am I the only one who would like a "small" home studio mixer with many stereo inputs and not tons of mic inputs and mono channels taking space?
i dont seem to be able to find much, there was a Soundcraft mixer https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/soundcraft-compact-10 but its discontinued.

I mean, i dont ever need more than 3 mics at the most, but need to have ready inputs for stuff like macbook (stereo)
synth x2 (stereo)
iphone (stereo)
mpc (stereo)
dj setup (stereo)
ipad (stereo)
1 extra

electric guitar (mono)
drumpad (mono)
2 mics (mono)
2 extra (mono)

to get a sound card for all that isn't really convent since I would need to have the computer on to be able to make any noise.

my other problem is, I need to get the sound out from the same studio monitors when either using my daw OR my other instruments I dont want to need to turn on my computer for everything. this has shown to be kind of tricky to solve..

ideas are much appreciated

/regards

 

There are external soundcards that can work both in standalone mode, and with the computer. Like TC Electronic StudioKonnekt series. I agree that finding a mixer for the task would be more convenient, though. I use a SoundTracs Topaz 18 for my samplers, and even recording vocals, when I want more colour [always lol, my TC SK48 sounds quite clean]. They are *quite hard* to find, though. Regarding small format mixers check out Allen&Heath ones, Soundcraft, and Mackie VLZ series. There are no better small format mixers. You can get used ones pretty cheap.

Yamaha also makes nice 8-16 channel mixers.

But even with so many choices, it is hard to find the right one for you. I agree. If I didn't get SoundTracs, I would get Allen&Heath MixWizard, or Mackie Onyx. Both great mixers you can get for not much money second hand.

 

Last edited: Jan 20, 2019

mono channels are in most cases the majority to stereo tracks on mixer..

am i wrong when saying it could be have benefits to use 2 mono tracks for left and right ? dunno

 

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/soundtracs-mx-series/938602936-172-1853
https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s...alog-mischpult-studio-live/1026103685-74-5322
https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/analog-pult-soundtracs-rx-8/968456381-172-9434
last but not least...hating me for that but i need buy other stuff first
https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s...4-kanaele-soundcraft-yamaha/999070471-74-3059

 

https://tascam.com/us/product/mz-223/top

 

the tascam stuff goes for tiny money on ebay...always much cheaper then other...

why`?
i think its good company

 

That Soundtracs Topaz Macro [last e-bay link] is very similar to my mixer. My Topaz has 2 stereo unbalanced inputs, 10 mono balanced inputs with nice mic preamps, one tape in/out [cinch], and 2 stereo FX returns that can be used as additional inputs, too. Pretty good for samplers and for recording drums, even though I could use 2 more stereo inputs instead of ch 9-10. I really like the way this thing sounds. Rather noiseless. Everything is going through it before recording it in the DAW. I couldn't do that only with TC alone [8i/10o].

More channels usually means more noise, but that 24 ch. Topaz is really nice. :P However, my Topaz 18 is exactly what I needed...

At some point I was considering Behringer Eurorack Pro RX1602. Maybe that could help you EddieXx? It's very cheap even new, and doesn't take much space. Not noisy. Great bang for the quid. Study the specs and see.

 

Last edited: Jan 20, 2019

Tascam mixers are a bit noisy... Not bad, but noisy. Great for live gigs, though. If paired with a nice gate on the output, maybe it would be fine for studio usage.

 

boom

 

makes sense but never thought bout

 

Being the one who has posted the Tascam link I have to ask if they're noisy still. I remember they have been in the 1990 but most brands improved since then. Not so Tascam?

Btw: Wouldn't be a digital mixer be an option? There has to be an button in each digital mixer ever built to link two mono channels to stereo. If not I will lose faith in software engineers.
And, as you said, a standalone DSP mixer within an audio interface would work, too. Even with my 10+ year old Fireface I can do separate mixes for each output, offline.

 

Presonos 24.4.2 AI
much more expensive....

 

No space for a real desk here. My last one was like this:


16 mono channels, 16 inline to/from tape. 8 buses. Poor reliability, some noise, but I liked its sound.
Sold it 25 years ago, bought an audio interface, some unfashionable old analog synthesizers and a still quite expensive Behringer Mackie clone from the money I got for it.

Nostalgia could get me to the point buying it again (it's very cheap nowadays, even in some 80/24 configuration), but I lack the space and fellow musicians that could provide me human automation.

 

its not that big mate ...take a look

 

Is that a Studiomaster? :P [yummy]

Regarding Tascam mixers, I get to try one in the late 90's, so indeed they probably got better later on, too. Haven't seen them at the 2nd hand market much, though. Tascam probably got out of making mixers sometime in the '00s. [?]

 

It was a Mitec EX series, based on 4-channel modules. It had a quite clever routing concept. Each of the inline channels could act as an input channel, a tape return or a subgroup (that could be routed to another subgroup). German company, but you better don't think "Neumann" or "EMT". It was more on the budget side and unfortunately never really reliable. Today you can get even one of their larger format consoles for a few hundred Euros used. If I had the space...

 

Yeah, its looks reminded me of a Studiomaster, but the channel configuration looked weird to me, that's why the question mark. Mitec EX. Interesting. Thanks!

I'm also struggling with space, that's why I rather bought a small format mixer. These things rock for when you have many synths/samplers, and not enough inputs on the audio interface. And plus - you get the real analogue saturation and an EQ. And hands-on experience. Love it! Working without a computer can feel so refreshing...

 

Last edited: Jan 24, 2019