Recommendations for USB Mixer?

Hi all

I'm going to be using Sonar 7 and/or cubase for recording mostly keyboards, but occasionally vocals.

I'm totally blind so won't be able to make use of the virtual mixer, so I need a hardware version, preferably one that'll sit on the desktop.

Price really isn't an issue as I can claim it back through a governemtn scheme for blindpeople.

So, something reasonably sized, USB connected with an onboard dedicated sound card would be great.

Over to you guys.

Cheers
Darren

ORIGINAL: ohhey

There are lots of new ones out.. if it were me I would go with the Allen & Heath ZED-14. However, if you need to record a lot of channels at once like for a full band the Mackie Onyx series are worth a look. However, they are firewire, not USB.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Allen-Heath-ZED14-USB-Mixing-Console?sku=630271&src=3WFRWXX&ZYXSEM=0&CAWELAID=81282141

Wow that's pretty impressive for the price. Frank, I had a question about that mixer. I currently have a Yamaha MG12/4 and it has an alt bus called group 1-2 in Yamaha speak that I use to route signal to the MAudio 2496 sound card inputs. I don't see the physical alt bus on the Allen and Heath but does their USB function serve the same purpose?

"USB audio flexibility Getting audio to and from a computer easily is now a common requirement for live sound and music production. The way we have implemented this on ZED is super-flexible and super-easy! No longer do you need to fiddle around the back of your PC to get to the soundcard inputs, only to find that the levels are all wrong and noisy. Just plug in a USB lead to your ZED, select the USB routing on the mixer and the device on your computer and that's it! Quality audio to and from your PC or Mac. Three switches provide different send/return configurations for recording, playback and utilizing external FX."

So are they using USB to get to the sound card inputs? I thought USB wasn't the greatest way to do this. I see it has inserts which was a great feature of the MG12/4. One final question. Would the ZED-14 be an appreciable upgrade from the Yam MG 12/4?

Thanks for your help.

PS I will only record 2 live mikes at once into my 2496 panned hard right and left in mono.

Built in sound card? That's a first for me. I wonder if their AD/DA would be a noticeable upgrade from the 2496? Would I remove the 2496? Or use it for other basic audio needs? There's always a question of drivers. Hate to be the first to try it but it looks so new it's unlikely there's any reviews out. I'll check when I get time.

Thanks for the information.

ORIGINAL: HumbleNoise

Built in sound card? That's a first for me. I wonder if their AD/DA would be a noticeable upgrade from the 2496? Would I remove the 2496? Or use it for other basic audio needs? There's always a question of drivers. Hate to be the first to try it but it looks so new it's unlikely there's any reviews out. I'll check when I get time.

Thanks for the information.

Yes ! that's exactly what all the computer connected mixers are. They just have a sound card built in, that's all it is. Or you can think of them as a USB audio interface with a LOT of extra featues on the box LOL ! . Most of them just have a stereo sound card in there and you pick what signals you want to show up at the inputs, and then select that input in your software. It a neat idea because you get rid of all the extra cables and stuff.

Mackie took this a step further and put a slot in the mixer so the sound card is an add-on option. They also made it a 16in / 2 out interface so you can record a bunch of channels at once. However, it's only available in firewire right now. So you would need a firewire card for your computer also.

As for the AD/DA quality that is to be seen. You would have to run a test and see what you think. However, I think all the major brands are using good converters now, they are not going to do "soundblaster" quality inside a pro mixer. You do need to check the specs so make sure it will do the sample rate you use. Some of the built in cards inside the mixers might be limited to 44.1 and 48k. If you like using 96k or have projects already recorded at that rate then those won't work. It might be a trade off where you get a little less quality on the AD but lower noise. As long as it sounded OK I'd take lower noise. I don't think you would hear a huge difference between the 2496 and the ZED. Now, if you were going from a Lynx Two card to the ZED you might but lose some quality but the 2496 is not exactly a high end card.

If converter quality is a big deal to you then a USB or Firewire mixer is not for you. Get a Lynx card and a analog mixer (or preamps). What I did was spend all the money on the Lynx Two and then got a cheap SoundCraft Compact 4 to go with it. The Lynx has balanced I/O as does the SoundCraft so I got rid of all the noise, got a decent (quiet) mixer for cheap, and if I want to upgrade the mixer later or use external preamps I don't have to replace my sound card. However, I do have at least 4 wires to deal with between the Lynx and the mixer.

There are no mixers that have a $1000 sound card inside so it is a bit of a trade off.

I just bought a ZED-14.  I'll use it for live sound at our church and it is great; nice and quiet.  At home is a different thing.  I tried connecting the usb to my pc (2.8 ghz 4 gig of ram running Sonar 6 with a Delta 1010 LT card) and it did not recognize it.  So I downloaded some drivers and finally got Sonar to set it as its soundcard.  I could not get anything to record.  It would start recording and then drop out.  And the ZED did not out any sound from Sonar either.
So I tried using the 'inserts' on channels 1-6 as direct outputs.  I can get th 6 channels into Sonar simultaneously but there is a high whine as tho I need a ground lift switch (ZED does not have one).  I had wanted to send Aux 1 & 2 from Zed to pc using the USB and then the main xlr from Zed to channels 1 & 2 on the Delta 1010 (also xlr).  Sonar wouldn't let me use both.
I love the mixer by itself but I'm pretty disappointed with the pc set up.  Looks like I'm not going to be able to record until I get rid of that whine.
 
peace,
Terry

ZED-14 Review

Interesting .... According to the Review at MF, 

As an extra bonus for PC users, Allen & Heath has bundled Cakewalks SONAR LE audio and MIDI application, so you can turn the ZED-14 into a PC-based digital audio workstation. Given the amazing variety of audio processing features found in most of the popular music applications on the market, the ZED-14’s USB audio effects connection is like buying a new car, and finding it comes with a free yacht.


Terry, It sounds like your Free Yacht sank ????