Need help finding a good mixer

**alhcitkane** · 03-06-2011, 07:44 PM

So I am looking to upgrade. I currently use a Yamaha Audio gram 6 which basically only allows me to hook up my guitar (gibson j45) and mic (Shure SM57). I record using abelton live 8. I am looking to record me and my friends playing. So a Guitar, Bass, Mic and my electronic drum set would be nice as well.

I have looked and firewire/usb mixers have a huge range. I have looked at Alesis: Multimix 16fx, Master control Yamaha: N8, mw12cx and others but cant decide. I would really like it if it had motorized faders but that seems to bump the price alot. Some of them already have preamps built in so you can connect directly into the mixer. That would be nice, but I am not sure if that is best. Also many of the products out there seem old. They came out years ago and come with the light versions of very old versions of software.

Some of the higher ones work as mixers on their own so I could buy some speakers and have a PA for live playing. However, I am not sure if I should really look into something that has that feature.

I really don't want to spend more than $400-500, but it looks like I might.

If someone could please give me some suggestions that would be great.

Thanks,

**Boswell** · 03-07-2011, 03:41 AM

For that sort of money, you are not going to be able to get much in the way of a conventional mixer that is worth having. I would look at an 8-channel computer interface and a low-cost DAW such as Reaper and take it from there. In your price bracket, something like the PreSonus FireStudio Project is a reasonable entry-level interface unit with 8 microphone pre-amps and a FireWire interface. It comes with Studio One Artist software, but I think you will find Reaper is considerably better.

An interface such as this would allow you to capture 8 tracks of audio and mix using the computer. If you really don't need the equipment for live gigs at present, it does not seem worth spending a large part of the money on the mixing functions that can be done in the computer.

**alhcitkane** · 03-07-2011, 07:46 AM

Thanks for the reply. I'll check that out and see if it will work for me.

If anyone else has any other suggestions that would be great as well. I am starting to get really into this and any information would be good