opinions of mackie desks

[Dj Dunc]

hi all.

 

just wondering, after a substantial rethink of my purchasing plans, I have decided to save up using birthday and christmas present money and other cash to buy a new desk next year, but I am wanting to do a bit of research before I commit myself. I think my budget is definitely under 1k but really I hope to spend around the £500-700 pound mark

 

Initially I was thinking behringer around a 32 channel, and had a mixer nearly bought, but it wasnt available as it was being used to mix monitors.

 

Now I am thinking of saving up for a Mackie SR32•4 VLZ PRO, but I feel that the price is a little overestimated :o , and am looking for other peoples ideas on the subject.

 

The use will be live bands, with some choral recordings, and live band recordings. I want this desk to last me a long time as sound is a passion and has been for years :o . I think that possibly an SR24•4 VLZ PRO would do but ill let you consider. The price for a sr24 is a lot more in my budget

 

Duncan

[StevieR]

Hi Duncan.

 

One word in your post jumps out immediately - Recording.

 

One of the important features on a recording desk is that the noise floor should be so low as to be imperceptible on the finished work. As such, budget desks such as Behringer should be completely ignored. Mackie have been known for having relatively quiet pre-amps but I don't know all their models and how this compares across the range. Certainly the ONYX series has proved good for recording by a number of people I know and it has the added advantage of firewire for connection to other studio equipment.

 

HTH

 

Steve

[Pete Alcock]

Dunc,

 

The Mackie SR is close on £1500 as is the Soundcraft "equivalent" GB4.

 

You can get similar (or far more) functionality is you look at far-eastern originated stuff - as you say the Behringer MX3282A - this has 8 subgroups and is a well laid out desk. There is always the argument that a desk like a Mackie or a Soundcraft will stand up to hard use better than a Behringer etc. and you ought to get better support if it ever goes wrong (?), but even the low cost stuff is very well engineered these days. Sound quality wise, I very much doubt there'd be anything in it. You'd cetainly be hard-pressed to hear differences. Your choice of mics will have a far greater effect on the quality of your live sound / recordings. If you are doing occasional shows, will transport it carefully and can afford to get a decent flightcase, a low cost desk should serve you well.

 

Picking up on Stevie's point, the 3282 has an Ein (equivalent input noise figure) of -129dB, which is close to the theoretical minimum and perfectly acceptable for recording. I've never noticed my Behringer desk being noisy even when recording quiet choirs in churches.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing this desk at Plasa this year - Inter-M new Maya desk. Inter-M is Korean and well respected for quality and value. I like the FX returns on faders (like a Midas Venice) and an hoping it'll come in at less than a grand.

 

Othe desks that will be in your budget yet have good features are these from Alto. The Typhoon is BIG desk though.

Alto Cyclone desk

Alto Typhoon desk

 

You're doing well to thoroughly research prior to purchase. I would definitely suggest a trip to Plasa.

 

All the best,

 

Pete.

[Bobbsy]

Frankly, in terms of both build quality and sonic quality I lump Behringer and Mackie in the same group. The difference is the price, with the Mackie one inflated due to their over-active publicity machine. At least the Behringer price is fair for the quality.

 

If you want to save up, I'd say it's worth it but the next jump from Behringer ISN'T Mackie...it would be Soundcraft or Allen & Heath.

 

Bob

[Rob_Beech]

I'm with Bob on this one,

 

Mackie boards seem a bit like marmite, love em or hate em. Sadly I'm not too keen on them. I've had them fail on me, this always puts you off but then to fail AGAIN on a different thing within 6 weeks of getting it back.

 

I've used behriner boards alot more (various sized ones) and never had more than a bit of a fader crackle on one.

 

I have also had a Heritage 1000 fail on me mid show, so it can happen to anyone. just look at that generator I was using yesterday (see elec and power section).

 

 

 

Rob

[dbuckley]

I have a small Alto board, and I have to say its the noisiest piece of electronics I've ever owned. Its a clone of a Behringer. Its a really useful desk (12 ch inc 4 stereo, 4 aux, 4 groups, direct outs, highly flexible) but hisses like a hissy thing.

[PoppaDom]

Have to join in the hate them club, usually not the most friendly EQ, preamps that (personally) I dislike with a passion, usually a substational amount of bleed and know multiple instances of Mackie desks having faders fail after approx 12months. Added to this the (just slightly warm!?) inbuilt power supplies on some models....

 

My vote save the money, go for Allen or Heath. A few years ago I would have said Soundcraft but I haven't been keen on their latest offerings either!

 

Poppadom

[J Pearce]

Hate mackie desks (except the little 6 channel one).

 

Noisy busses

Hot power supplies

Useless EQ

Short stubby faders

Poor crosstalk

Wierd switch locations

 

Grrrrr

 

Also they're setup for recording and using them live thus causes all sorts of trouble.

[soundiesam]

all I will say is that the tt25 is really bad!!! I used one on a gig and the other engineer managed to loop an effect internally on the desk which caused a horrible feedback type sound! n the last thing I heard about the desk was that it was used on a huge gig at the demonthfort hall in leicester and there was two one for monitors one for FOH both went down in the space of two days one half way through the gig!

sam

[andy_s]

and the other engineer managed to loop an effect internally on the desk which caused a horrible feedback type sound! sam

 

all I will say (apart from the fact that it's "24".....as there are 24 channels( i.e. analogue inputs) - the TT25 I believe is a loudspeaker not made by Mackie - may be wrong about this) is that without knowing all the circumstances, sounds like operator error to me, rather than an intrinsic problem of the desk, and could probably be put down to unfamiliarity with the equipment. No offence meant, but there's always going to be a learning curve, sometimes long, sometimes quick, so the moral is don't use new unfamiliar kit on an important gig if you can possibly avoid it.

[Bobbsy]

Operator error indeed, but simply reading soundiesam's post gave me cold sweats as I remembered how bad the software was on the old Mackie Digital 8 Bus. The software on that made this sort of "operator error" really easy to do. GOOD software doesn't lead the user into dangerous areas...at least not often. Let's just say the Mackie stuff wasn't good...and it sounds like the TT24 might come with the same pedigree.

 

Bob

[Shaggy]

I sent an fx engines output to its input on an m7cl the other day (never went through the PA) and its easy to do if you aren't concentrating 100%, so I wouldn't put down a desk for that. I've never used a TT24, but having seen it at last years plasa it really does look close to the ideal small digital desk. Its a pity so many people seem to think it sucks, but I'd still like to see for myself.

[Dj Dunc]

** laughs out loud **. sounds like ill be putting the mackie website aside then. If I was looking at a soundcraft/a+h desk, which series would I be looking at etc as I havent had much experience of these, except using a mixwiz a couple of times and a soundcraft powerstation 1200

[jayselway]

I've been running a Mackie 24:8 for FOH for a while now, and it's always worked fine.

 

That means I like it.....

 

Wrong!

 

It has certain niggles, which just purely get annoying for me, and seem horrifying to any engineers who accompany bands! It's things like, when I mute a channel, it doesn't mute the Aux Sends for that channel. The Insert Jacks are starting to fail, and, is there anyone out there who does actually like the Preamps and EQ's?

 

Verdict: Good desk, but with niggles (which get more and more annoying per gig....). Must be time for a new desk soon - probably going Soundcraft Series 2 or A&H ML Series. Need to have a closer look at both really.

[Bobbsy]

It has certain niggles, which just purely get annoying for me, and seem horrifying to any engineers who accompany bands! It's things like, when I mute a channel, it doesn't mute the Aux Sends for that channel. The Insert Jacks are starting to fail, and, is there anyone out there who does actually like the Preamps and EQ's?

 

Verdict: Good desk, but with niggles (which get more and more annoying per gig....).

 

If this is what you consider a "good desk", I'd hate to hear what you consider a bad one! :** laughs out loud **:

 

Bob