16 channel / 16 preamp mixer for live recording

[NeckFace]

Hi guys first time poster here - its driving me insane the stupid marketing campaings that these companies use !!

Anyway im looking at recording a live 5 piece band

basically I use 7 Drum Mics, 2 EV Ravens, 1 EV Cardinal, 2 SM57's and 1x sm58 to mic the whole band - the only problem is I have no central recording setup.

I just purchaced a new 15" Mac Book Pro and Sonar 8 and now I want a recording interface and mixer to do the whole lot ( including running FOH ) - below are what I have found so far

PreSonus StudioLive 16.4.2 - around $3900 Aus - Out of Stock 3 month ETA

Phonic Helix 24 Mkii - $1500 Aus - Have been told this unit is no longer made and cannot obtain it ( same as the universal )

Mackie Onyx 1640 + FW Card $3800 aus - seems overpriced for features compared to the studiolive

Allen and Heath Zed R16 $5995 Aus - dont like the price tag

Are there any other options to the above? IS the Mackie now my only Option? I would love the studiolive but just trying to get one in Australia is impossible - seems the only distributor over here ( Rode Mics ) wants to put a 75% markup on the US retail cost then onsell to retailers at a very slow rate

[Murton]

There is the Yamaha O1V96VCM in the same price range.

A little more expensive and it's the LS9-16 with digital output card and an appropriate interface.

[headwerkn]

Our band still has a Phonic Helix 24... it does 'work' but I wouldn't recommend it... the preamps and EQ are weak, and the stability of the thing can be a worry. You'll spend the money and then be soon wanting something better (as we did).

You should be able to get a Mackie 1640+FW card for less... just a quick search and Kosmic are doing the 1640 for AU$2519 and the FW card for AU$899 (MACKIE ONYX 1640 DIGITAL MIXER - MUSIC TECHNOLOGY - MIXERS - Kosmic Sound Perth Western Australia: Online Music Store)... buy both together and they should give you a good deal on the card (AU$900ish is the RRP)... otherwise, consider buying the card O/S... US$399-449 seems to be the going rate and with the AU dollar doing better lately and the card itself not being particularly heavy, etc. to ship you could save a few hundred there.

I've bought from Kosmic before (got a Mackie TT24 demonstrator model for a mere $5K!) and they were good to deal with... if they don't give you no satisfaction send me a PM and I'll get a mate who's an official dealer for Mackie here in Hobart to get a quote, I'm sure he'd look after you).

I have a friend who uses a 1640 for location recording and he swears by it... certainly everything of his I've heard sounds great.

I can't think of any other 'new' options, but you could consider finding a used digital desk with enough inputs (Tascam DM24s, for example, seem to be quite cheap these days and have a good reputation) and lightpiping the tracks into your Mac. You'd need something like an M-Audio ProFire or Presonus FireStudio Lightpipe to interface between the two. Whether that would land within your budget though really depends on what you can find on the secondhand market, and if you're using the desk for live gigs too then obviously the analog mixer has a certain instant tactile advantage.

Let us know how you get on with it.

Cheers, Ben.

[aussie_techie]

I was looking at the studio live a couple of weeks ago it had only just come out of its box so if they were available then im very surprised that none are available now for another 3 months. I would get onto the supplier about it or even contact presonus directly because 3 months is not acceptable for a professional product.

A Zed R16 only has 4 sends so it wouldn't be enough for most live setups. All of the Zed range seems to cheap for what you get anyway i would be to nervous to dive into them without trying them in a real environment for awhile.

I never get a good reception in kosmic anymore and they usually only want to quote retail prices but anyway.

Where are you based?

[headwerkn]

Will send you a PM...

[Murton]

A Mackie TT24 demonstrator model for $5kAUD is a BIG steal. My LS9-16 is $6k for floor stock and I thought that was decent, but a TT24 for $5k is astounding. Only thing I don't like about the TT24 is the small screen and the need to get an upgrade to get full DSP for the second layer.

[headwerkn]

Yeah, it was pretty sweet... unfortunately now if we get a digital snake it will have cost more than the desk itself!

The small screen doesn't worry me so much... most of the time I run TTEdit on a tablet PC which makes accessing stuff easier... often I'll use the TTEdit system on stage (while playing) to manage monitor sends while the FOH guy does FOH... works quite well.

The only thing that irks me about the TT24 is that the V-pot behaviour is weird, makes it very difficult to centre a pan quickly. But it is a doddle to record a live show on... just 3 lightpipe connections to a 24trk HD recorder like an SDR 24/96 and press record... too easy.

Cheers, Ben.

[aussie_techie]

As i remember that TT24 was siting in the shop for a long time, they had to keep dropping the price just to try and move it. Hopefully you got it in good shape.

[headwerkn]

yeah it was fine, just a little dusty, as you'd expect.

i can imagine the market for mid-range digital live desks is pretty small... they're mostly the domain of the big guys who'll spend $20K+ on a super system, whereas most working bands and pubs either can't afford $7-$10K or would rather invest in a simple analog desk anyone can use. certainly we've had trouble finding other people who can drive our desk. it's not difficult, but it isn't as instantly intuitive as your traditional analog mixer.