Hi all!
My first post here. I have just read the entire thread and that took about two days...
I come from a slightly different perspective than most here. I got the N12 primarily for use as a live mixer. I know that it isn't really designed for such use but I tried anyway. I got tired of bad sound and decided to replace all hardware we used in the band. I was a little nervous that the extra AD/DA would corrupt sound compared to a 100% analog mixer chain but the N12 blew our previous mixer out of the water. The main attraction was the built in compressors and ease of use. Getting the same functionality and quality out of traditional euipment would have resulted in a rack full of compressors and a larger investment. This is so easy to use and considering the permanent lack of time for set up and sound check on gigs, this is much better in practice.
However ...
For large gigs, I need to use up all the N12 channels just for the drum kit. The drums can really use the compressors so it's very convenient to allocate the N12 for this. I really only have one stereo input to spare, which means two channels of external mic preamp. I don't want an extra desktop mixer so I need rack mounted equipment. (One expensive, custom built rack case for the N12 is enough - thank you.)
I could go with some external micpres + rotary rackmixer and bring the analog signal into N12. (suggestions?)
Then we have the MR816, which is intriguing.
Being anal about sound, I would prefer not doing AD/DA more than once. However, using a computer during live performance is a big no-no unless it is strictly for recording. I can't say I fully understand what MR816 can do standalone without a computer. It seems to remember the settings so perhaps it could be setup once (with a computer) and be wired together with N12 to get me the extra inputs.
Will it route sound digitally over FW to N12 in standalone mode ?
Is there a clever solution to getting faders etc. on the MR816 channels without using a computer?