16 channel mixer for live

[steevio]

i've outgrown my soundcraft RacPac mixer for my live set, and used a Mackie Onyx 1604 for a recent live set, which was nice in many ways, good solid build, crisp sound, but as usual with mackies a little cool.

just wondering if anyone has recently bought 16 channel mixer they can recommend, A&H ?, Soundcraft ? etc... on a similar spec to the Onyx ( not sure if i need the firewire )

ive got to buy something soon, but it would be nice to hear peoples thoughts on recent purchases, before jumping in for a Mackie,

[lem]

I haven't bought one but I went to the A&H hq to check out the Zed and iLive range when they were first built.
I thought the Zed mixers are a lot better than the price point makes out.

Come down here for a weekend, (and bring your modular)

[oblioblioblio]

guess you're looking for classic mixer with associated functions and workflow, but this is my 2 cents that may or may not be valid.

I do all my mixing in modules, with 2 seperate stereo outs at the end which go into the club mixer.

The 2 main modules I use are Blacet Mixer Processor and Wiard Mixolator. You could add additional Blacet mixer processors to add extra channels if necessary. (or look into other analogue modules)

None of these have good overdriving capabilities like an analogue mixer, although the Blacet Mixer Processor has the ability to add offset voltage which will overdrive anything downstream from it. (this is how most transistor distortions that I've seen work, they add a bias voltage to the signal which causes the transistors to overload).

However, with these 2 modules I can get INCREDIBLE stereo patches going on, as well as alll the simple mono mixing and attenuation that I need.

I didn't feel like I would get anything from a good analogue mixer that I can't do with modules (the modules which I use sound perfect btw, clean no loss of analogue charm), and I got the impression that the analogue mixer market was hard to get into... nothing there was designed for me really, expensive with not major rewards.

[hydrogen]

my homies Moniker use the A&H mixwizard and say its the beesknees.

[steevio]

@oblioblioblio

yeah but i have other synths and outboard to consider, Moog / 909 / 303 / 2 MF101's / sherman / Mbase 01 and two lexicon reverbs.
i'm already struggling with a 16 channel board

the A&H would have been favourite 5 years ago, but i just dont trust the build quality anymore now that theyre made in china, my xone92 had only been used twice when i got a big electric shock off it, and had to return it. power supply had shorted out.

i'm really nervous about buying an A & H now.
i had a great A & H 20 years ago, built like a battleship in UK and sounded amazing.

[steevio]

one of the most important thing to me is overdrive characteristics.

an analogue mixer is no good to me if i cant get a smooth fat overdrive out of it for kicks and percussion, and synths without it breaking up.

i didnt get the chance to test out the Onyx properly, but i can borrow it back to put it through its paces.

[oblioblioblio]

"power supply had shorted out"

glad you survived that... I would guess that the mains or a high voltage used by the mixer was directly connected to the chassis? Not a very good way to do business, that.

[::BLM::]

either the zed 16 or the mixwizards would do the job nicely.