2023: A Year in Gear (What You've Bought or Want to Buy in 2023)

[elxsound]

Anyone have experience with Audient’s EVO SP8?

I can get one new for $399 to add more inputs via ADAT with either the 18i20 or Push 3.

[kritikon]

Just won at auction (although it was only me!) an Allen & Heath MixWizard WZ4 14:4:2 mixer in "excellent condition" for £400.
It's 8-9 years old, but cost only one quarter of its original price, sold by an ebay seller with very decent feedback (and more importantly returns are actually accepted for once!).

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As per the last sentence of my post on this page above, I had been eyeing up an Erika Synths Matrix Mixer (and there's a couple available in the UK for around £470 at the moment) as these look fascinating with their ease of routing options, and all reviews so far have praised their good build quality.
However, what I really wanted was a submixer unit (as a secondary attachment to my main Soundcraft MTK22) for dub productions etc in my studio - and so the ability to twist aux dials (of which the MixWizard has six aux per each of its 12 channels) will come in extremely handy.
Also, the Allen & Heath MixWizards have a pretty decent reputation (touch wood!) compared to some other similarly-featured mixers by other companies.

Hey Dark Water...out of interest, what quality does the MTK record at? I ended up buying a Behringer Xenyx22 recently (still waiting delivery), more for the extra features/channels it has at the price point, but it has USB recording (only stereo channel like most USB mixers). Not sure I'll use it's USB capability as it's only 44.1kHz/16 bit, makes more sense to carry on using my interface at higher quality. But I pondered over either the Tascams or Soundcrafts as being the only budget multitrack mixers. Is the MTK at 44.1 over USB, and 16 or 24bit? I guess I can still be happy at 44.1 but mostly record at 48 nowadays and I was a bit disappointed that most USB mixers seem pretty stunted in that respect...if MTK can go higher than 44.1 I could be tempted to upgrade already.

[cryophonik]

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Well, my patience paid off and I got great deals on both the RD-8 and RD-9, and the TD-3 (new/unopened!) and Volca FM were thrown in as bonuses! I already have a TD-3 MO, but wanted the standard one as well, so that worked out perfectly!

[DrGonzo]

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Well, my patience paid off and I got great deals on both the RD-8 and RD-9, and the TD-3 (new/unopened!) and Volca FM were thrown in as bonuses! I already have a TD-3 MO, but wanted the standard one as well, so that worked out perfectly!

Damn Cryo! What an absolute killer setup. I was actually playing around with the RD9 yesterday and within seconds I asked myself why I didn't use it more often. So much fun.

[DrGonzo]

POLYEND PLAY IS COMING WITHIN FIVE HOURS

[cryophonik]

8BD57520-AAB1-4E2E-B605-A95792CED52A.jpeg

Well, my patience paid off and I got great deals on both the RD-8 and RD-9, and the TD-3 (new/unopened!) and Volca FM were thrown in as bonuses! I already have a TD-3 MO, but wanted the standard one as well, so that worked out perfectly!

Damn Cryo! What an absolute killer setup. I was actually playing around with the RD9 yesterday and within seconds I asked myself why I didn't use it more often. So much fun.

Right?! I'm really loving the RD8 and RD9! Only problem is that I have no space or inputs for any of these new toys! I'll have to keep them in a drawer and swap out inputs when I use them (which I plan to do pretty often!)

POLYEND PLAY IS COMING WITHIN FIVE HOURS

Nice!!! That always looks like a really cool brain for a hardware setup to me!

[DrGonzo]

Move into the car.

[cryophonik]

Move into the car.

I might have to do that!

[WatchTheGuitar]

Only problem is that I have no space or inputs for any of these new toys! I'll have to keep them in a drawer and swap out inputs when I use them (which I plan to do pretty often!)

A cheap mixer solves input issues on a basic level. OK no discrete inputs like an interface, but a cheap fix temporarily. As for space, maybe check out some stands like these…

https://www.dv247.com/en_GB/GBP/Jaspers ... bAQAvD_BwE

One thing I found which helped with inputs, I use Behringer ADA8200s as cheap 8 input mic/line in pres via ADAT, but had them for a few years before I realised each input has two ports, a XLR and 1/4 inch jack and you can play signals into both and it will mix them so effectively you get 16 inputs. Means I can keep my TR-8S discrete outputs hooked up permanently to use when I’m not using hardware synth signals on the other channels, or I can if I’m not overly fussed about them ending up recorded together.

Of course if I had a Mac I’d just use the TR-8S USB Audio as an extra interface, but not so simple in Windows land if you need good latency.

[vurt]

2.5 hours and cosmos is mine!

[vurt]

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[Constructed Identity]

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Nice, we'll have to do competing instructional videos for their contest.

[vurt]

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Nice, we'll have to do competing instructional videos for their contest.

press record, turn knobs.

like and subscribe for more!

[cryophonik]

As for space, maybe check out some stands like these…

https://www.dv247.com/en_GB/GBP/Jaspers ... bAQAvD_BwE

Except that I have no space for a rack (pardon the temporary mess):

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One thing I found which helped with inputs, I use Behringer ADA8200s as cheap 8 input mic/line in pres via ADAT,…

I already have two UAD Apollos with their ADAT expansions maxed out by a Ferrofish Pulse 16. My (first world) “problem” is that I now have a total of more than 20 synths and drum machines, several of which have 8-12 outputs. I’ve considered a mixer, but that doesn’t really buy me any more inputs, and swapping things out works just fine, not to mention that I have no space for a mixer (and would need a very big one to accommodate my hardware). I just need to exercise more restraint.

[justin3am]

I already have two UAD Apollos with their ADAT expansions maxed out by a Ferrofish Pulse 16. My (first world) “problem” is that I now have a total of more than 20 synths and drum machines, several of which have 8-12 outputs. I’ve considered a mixer, but that doesn’t really buy me any more inputs, and swapping things out works just fine, not to mention that I have no space for a mixer (and would need a very big one to accommodate my hardware). I just need to exercise more restraint.

This is part of the reason I went with a Dante setup. Really easy to add I/O and easier to work with higher sample rates. Once the next gen Rednet PCIe card is available, I'll have 128 inputs and outputs on my main studio machine.
RME's UFXiii also seems like a good option if you need ridiculous amounts of I/O.

I frequently use outboard mixers when writing and experimenting with sounds. At that stage, I don't need individual inputs going into the computer. I can still process instruments individually or use sends and since everything is connected to patch bays, it's easy to change routing quickly.

Just some thoughts from someone who has also been frustrated by not enough I/O.