KVR Audio

huboldium · Post by **huboldium** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 2:50 am

i've just ordered my new monitors (adam a7's) and an echo mia soundcard,

rather than run directly out of the soundcard and into the monitors, i would like to have a small mixer on my desk between the monitors and card that i can control the volume with.

does anyone know any good quality 2-4 ch mixers that would work?

all i've been able to find are the behringer euroracks - which have horrible sound quality, and the samson s-mix, which doesn't have balanced outs

does anyone else run their system like this?

Clearscreen · Post by **Clearscreen** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:32 am

soundcraft compact4 or compact 10?
http://www.soundcraft.com/product_sheet ... uct_id=121
i love mine, but i don't use it quite that way... yet!

bluelife · Post by **bluelife** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:50 am

Hi,

I'm using a yamaha mixer like this, great value for money, even the preamps are acceptable:

http://www.thomann.de/gb/yamaha_mg164_1 ... chpult.htm

They also offer other sizes / modells of course:

http://www.thomann.de/gb/search_dir.htm ... xer&oa=pra

(bit further down)

blue

morphex · Post by **morphex** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 4:06 am

Clearscreen wrote:soundcraft compact4 or compact 10?
http://www.soundcraft.com/product_sheet ... uct_id=121
i love mine, but i don't use it quite that way... yet!

That's probably the best bang for your buck, and they sound decent as well. Just keep in mind that if you've done any mixing with software effects, sending your audio through a mixer will add some noise and will probably add some coloration to the signal. Sometimes that can be a sought after effect, especially if you're using a high-end console worth thousands of dollars. But you are after a small-format analog mixer, and although I think Soundcraft makes some great low-end and high-end mixers, the Compact4 (or 10) are constructed with inexpensive components to keep costs down and are likely to color your tracks...that could be good or it could turn out to sound crappy (you get what you pay for). Who knows, using the outboard mixer may become part of your mixing process, the 'british eq' sounds pretty good for the price. I would try it out, but don't use any of the mixer's eq's unless you want to add their sound to your signal. Good luck.

Peace - morphex

huboldium · Post by **huboldium** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 4:33 am

that soundcraft compact does look like a pretty good option, i've used their bigger mixers for live sound and found them quite good.

really all i need is a volume control for the two 1/4" audio channels, is there anything similar to the bluesky BMC for 2 channel systems?

Clearscreen · Post by **Clearscreen** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 4:47 am

huboldium wrote:that soundcraft compact does look like a pretty good option, i've used their bigger mixers for live sound and found them quite good.

really all i need is a volume control for the two 1/4" audio channels, is there anything similar to the bluesky BMC for 2 channel systems?

i can't remember what it's called, but there is a passive stereo volume control thats supposed to be quite good and made specifically for this purpose. from memory it's pretty cheap and consists of a single knob. if i can think of it i'll post it up...

EDIT - here it is http://www.smproaudio.com/index.php?opt ... view&id=24

i guess it depends on whether you need EQ or anything else in the signal chain.

huboldium · Post by **huboldium** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 5:40 am

Clearscreen wrote: i can't remember what it's called, but there is a passive stereo volume control thats supposed to be quite good and made specifically for this purpose. from memory it's pretty cheap and consists of a single knob. if i can think of it i'll post it up...

EDIT - here it is http://www.smproaudio.com/index.php?opt ... view&id=24

i guess it depends on whether you need EQ or anything else in the signal chain.

thats exactly what i'm looking for

i'm thinking that something without eq's is going to color the sound a whole lot less

thanks!

huboldium · Post by **huboldium** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 6:41 am

i've found another possible option - an alesis multimix firewire device which is a mixer/audio interface

anyone have experience with the alesis unit?

how would it compare quality wise against the echo mia/SM pro nano patch combo?

thanks for your advice

amarule · Post by **amarule** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 6:02 pm

DO NOT stick a cheap mixer between your DA and your monitors. It will only serve to color the sound, which is the last thing you want to do when monitoring, as the resulting mixes will not sound anything like what you were listening to while recording and mixing.

You need a monitor control station. There are many options, from the very expensive to the cheap but still good. Coleman Audio, Presonus Central Station, Mackie Bigknob and Samson C-Control to name a few. The Coleman is amazing, but the Samson is equally great at a fraction of the cost, and compared to the Central Station and Big Knob there is no audible difference like there is with the Coleman.

All have multiple inputs and outputs for various playback devices and multiple monitors.

opinions on a small mixer