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greetings. i'm an 18 year old musician, and i don't have much money to spend on equipment right now. considering the low budget cost of this mixer, and the needs of mine that it meets, i'm turned onto it. i just wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions or feedback.

my needs:
- i need an interface that will function digitally. IE, if I've got my guitar plugged into hardware track 1, and a mic into hardware track 2, I'm going to want to be able to simultaneously record them into their respective tracks in my DAW. i cannot do this with my current straight-to-soundcard's-linein setup.
- i want low-latency for live effects monitoring. my current setup is incapable of this.
- i want individual track EQ.

i'm thinking of buying the Behringer XENYX 1204FX.

http://www.Behringer.com/1204FX/index.cfm?lang=ENG

here's my current setup.

P4 3.0ghz P4 with HT
1gb DDR RAM
20gig drive for software
80 and 100gig scratch disks
Sony Acid Pro 6
Edirol Midi Keyboard Controller PCR-M50
Radioshack SSM-60 Stereo Sound Mixer (POS that i'd be replacing)
Gibson SG Electric
Guild Acoustic
2x Electro-Voice Dynamic Model 674 Dynamic microphones

basically, my main question is: is this hardware worth it? any other recommendations?

Comments

anonymous Mon, 04/02/2007 - 12:40

The thing with the xenyx boards, and I almost bought one until I learned this, is that they don't have digital built in at all, they're only mixers, and it's an adapter box that lets you run from the stero mainouts into your DAW. So, like HansAm said, you're only going to get a stereo mix, not separate channels. You can workaround that, if all you need are those two channels going into your computer, and you get an OK mixer out of the deal too, but if you want something better or more built for what you want, then just go to musiciansfriend or sweetwater sound and look up a firewire interface, something with a couple of XLR inputs and a couple of 1/4 jacks. Those usually come with the software too, and they'll do whatever you want. Shouldn't cost more than 150-200 bucks. Good luck!

RemyRAD Mon, 04/02/2007 - 21:31

Actually, you can separate and record individually, both channel 1 and channel 2 line inputs. That function is controlled by the audio software that you are using, not the sound card. That is, when you're dealing with most built-in/blaster type sound cards and real software such as Adobe Audition, Sony Vegas, etc..

So you really have to determine, how many microphone inputs you actually require? If you believe that 2 will do it? Then you have quite a plethora of available 2 Channel USB/FireWire audio interfaces. Some starting as low as $80 without microphone preamps and about $200, with microphone preamps. Look into the M-Audio devices, if you believe you should ever want to try ProTools? Don't worry about the audio quality, since all of these companies, use many of the same chips, by the same manufacturers, in this price range. It is underwhelmingly adequate for your purposes.

If you believe that at some point along the line, you might need numerous simultaneous inputs and the use of a mixer, you might want to look into the Phonic or Mackie FireWire enabled mixers. These devices are more expensive but they serve a double duty purpose. Both as a mixer and as a multitrack computer audio interface. Save your birthday $ a little while longer and you have a better than crappy system.

Regarding the microphones, I absolutely love, use and endorse, ShureSM57/58 (although I'm not paid for my endorsements) microphones over virtually anybody's cheap condenser microphone. Those microphones are the workhorse of the industry and you can never have too many. For those who are not in the know, they actually make a great replacement for Neumann U87 condenser microphones! So don't bother with inexpensive studio condenser microphones. Buy yourself a bag full of SM57's. You'll thank me later.

Major award nominated and know what I'm talking about
Ms. Remy Ann David

anonymous Tue, 04/03/2007 - 07:47

Being the trigger-happy guy I am, I went ahead and ordered the Xenyx. I regret this, though before I went and shot myself over the mistake I looked up MusiciansFriend.com's return policy. I can get a full refund or credit granted I sent it back within 45 days (I'm sending that back ASAP, no prob here).

I'm thinking of taking the refund, and ordering the Phonic (unforuntately they don't sell it at MF.com)

Anyone who has experience with mixing: For a new yet passionate producer who dreams of a career in producing, is the switch to the Phonic Helix worth it?

Again, I'm only 18, and this would serve primarily as a hobby device until I start saving more. I need something affordable that can get the basic job done for now.

Being able to use this mixer as a digital interface is a major plus to me. Could I do without it though?

HansAm Fri, 04/06/2007 - 10:27

The phonic board is OK untill it breaks. And i get the felling they all do. I'v had two of them. The phonic Helix 16 the old one with 44khz/16bit and a Phonic Helix 18. They both lost their left channel to stereo mix connections. Its possibly bad karma or something. but the buildquality is pretty much the same as behringer. I hade the USB version btw.
Just thought i should mention that.
-
As my needs have shifted i now save up for the Mackie Onyx 1640.
Im like a little kid on x-mas.

RemyRAD Sat, 04/07/2007 - 20:00

Well multoc, if you look for "Remy David", you'll find me lurking in just a few places. And btw "multoc" (if that's your real name?) Remy Ann David IS my real name. I just happened to not be as famous an engineer as others and only in years recently, have I started to include my middle name. This might be partly due to my less than overly inflated ego and spending nearly 20 years engineering talking head TV shows at NBC-TV Washington, DC. That's free money! And if you are the prostitute like I am? You'll know, a girls got to do what a girls got to do.

I know I sound like a commercial for Shure microphones but in no way am I a paid spokesperson (although I wouldn't mind doing that). I just happen to really like SM 56/57/58/7 etc., etc., SM 81, the 300 series ribbon, the classic 55 (my birthdate). I can make marvelous recordings with any of those and I don't need my gaggle of Neumann's both tube and transistor to do so.

I generally keep a low profile in spite of my editorializing
Ms. Remy Ann David
a.k.a. Remy David