marque Posted July 2, 2006 Report Share Posted July 2, 2006 Ok so I'm working on putting together my new cart. I'm looking to upgrade to a more professional mixer but I'm amazed at the price jump. I mean a SD 442 is $2250 and a Cooper 208 is $14,000 (and the Miranda is supposed to be about the same). While I know the Cooper is worth the money does anyone make a good 8 channel field mixer that is somewhere in the middle? Thanx, Marque Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted July 2, 2006 Report Share Posted July 2, 2006 It sort of depends on how many inputs you want. The Yamaha digital boards have become very popular, are pretty cheap and very flexible with MANY inputs and outputs. The Mackie Onyxs are showing up on a lot of carts too. I have a AH MixWiz type board in the studio for monitoring etc, I've never liked its mic preamps. PSC makes a mid-priced board (M6) that is a real step up in sound quality and filmsound oriented features from the Mackies and AHs, but it is only 6 inputs and has rotary pots, while also having limiters, transformer i/o, multiple switchable outputs, talkback, runs on 12VDC etc., can can be cheaply modded to have prefade direct outs and a bus input to add more inputs from a 2nd mixer. I like it quite well, esp for the money, but will admit that it is an acquired taste. Another mixer to watch for used are Audio Developments boards. Cooper 106s come up used pretty often but are usually pretty expensive compared to the above. Are you doing multitrack? Are you doing multitrack w/ multitrack backup? If that is the case then the Yamahas seem like the way most people go. Philip Perkins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marque Posted July 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2006 I've got a Mackie Onyx and I'm really unimpressed. I didn't even realize PSC had M6. What I'm looking for is 8-10 XLR ins... I guess I'd love to see a 10 in 10 out high quality for about $7,000 USD. Thanx, Marque Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted July 3, 2006 Report Share Posted July 3, 2006 I've got a Mackie Onyx and I'm really unimpressed. I didn't even realize PSC had M6. What I'm looking for is 8-10 XLR ins... I guess I'd love to see a 10 in 10 out high quality for about $7,000 USD. Thanx, Marque Well--lotsa folks seem to likethe Yamaha 01v96. Nothing else I know of with that many i/o for that sort of money. PSC has a new mixer coming out soon, but might only be 8x8 (Miranda)--ask them. You could check in w/ Audio Developments, they make custom configs of their mixers in that i/o range. Philip Perkins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marque Posted July 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2006 Well--lotsa folks seem to likethe Yamaha 01v96. Nothing else I know of with that many i/o for that sort of money. PSC has a new mixer coming out soon, but might only be 8x8 (Miranda)--ask them.  You could check in w/ Audio Developments, they make custom configs of their mixers in that i/o range. Philip Perkins Miranda is 12 in and 8 out + 2 aux out which would be great but most of what I've heard is a price tag closer to the cooper... around $15,000. ~Marque Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Eric Lamontagne Posted July 3, 2006 Report Share Posted July 3, 2006 Why not an Audio Developments? They have a good price/quality position. The sound is quite nice and are usually very functional for on location recording via 12volts DC. This really is the big thing, get a mixer designed for what we do. Save yourself the hassle of converting or adapting to something thats meant for a home studio or live sound reinforcement. Look for the AD147 and AD 149 models. The Pico are less expensive because they do less, but they do sound good. www.audio.co.uk Keep the onyx for a backup and when you need an excelent reality mixer with f/w interface for metacorder/boomcorder. Keep the Sound Devices (excelent for what is does) for the portable gigs (or maybe for the direct outs or comp/limiters!). My $0.02 Eric Lamontagne PS. AD147 in action http://jwsound.net/SMF/index.php?topic=387.0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Eric Lamontagne Posted July 3, 2006 Report Share Posted July 3, 2006 Location Sound Canada makes a conversion on Mackie boards (http://www.locationsound.ca/). They even have a talkback and Tone setup as a mod. Eric Lamontagne working with Allen and heath wizard 14/4/2 - 1300 $ exellent what does it give you for the money if iam not mistake the the sound corporation Canada make dc power available for these ones , i guess that you can find some one in the states for that as well , the mixer has external power supply input ( aditional to its internal what make the power dc be very easy to add ( +17,-17 v and 48 phantom) the mixer is 35 w treu the ac power , what might be lower if you use direct dc ( dont know i still use inverter or ac until find someone local to build the dc to dc converter ) i use the 442 as preamp to feed the boom channels and the 442 mix bus for its output limiters + extended monitoring ( 2 returns - 1 from the wizard headphones and the second from the recorder)- you dont have it in that way since have quit alot of empty inputs to use as returns . you can also check Gotham sound site , they made fire wire from the Mickie onyx to work as stand alone unit what might be nice to add if you like run direct to computer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted July 3, 2006 Report Share Posted July 3, 2006 Location Sound Canada makes a conversion on Mackie boards (http://www.locationsound.ca/). They even have a talkback and Tone setup as a mod. Eric Lamontagne When I had this work done on a Mackie I used to have I found that Alternative Audio (Burbank) did a great job and was much cheaper than LS Canada. Fast turnaround too. Philip Perkins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marque Posted July 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2006 I got info on Miranda today they hope to release by the end of the year and it now includes two monitors and instead of switches and displays for the meters they're using touch screens. ~Marque Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProSound Posted July 4, 2006 Report Share Posted July 4, 2006 Wow the new design is very differnt. I think the 2nd video screen is good however I am disappointed in the loss of the actual faders. I don't really like the touch screen faders much. I find much better control wih actual ones. I am sure it is going to increase the price by alot as well. What do you guys think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Wexler Posted July 4, 2006 Report Share Posted July 4, 2006 Wow the new design is very differnt. I think the 2nd video screen is good however I am disappointed in the loss of the actual faders. I don't really like the touch screen faders much. I find much better control wih actual ones. I am sure it is going to increase the price by alot as well. What do you guys think? I think we need to change the topic name "Mid Price Range Mixer" if we continue to discuss the Miranda Mixer and some of the others. Also, I think there is some mis-information about faders and touchscreens --- I believe there has been 2 touchscreens added since the original design (these are primarily to display METERS and to access some settings) but I am almost sure that there is still a pull out "drawer" with real hardware faders and switches, like the original design. - JW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted July 4, 2006 Report Share Posted July 4, 2006 I think we need to change the topic name "Mid Price Range Mixer" if we continue to discuss the Miranda Mixer and some of the others. Also, I think there is some mis-information about faders and touchscreens --- I believe there has been 2 touchscreens added since the original design (these are primarily to display METERS and to access some settings) but I am almost sure that there is still a pull out "drawer" with real hardware faders and switches, like the original design. - JW True re: Miranda, but there are a lot of Audio Dev. mixers out there used of various vintages in a midrange price area, and someone mentioned a price for a AD146 new either here or on RAMPS that seemed mid-rangey. From what I see here and on RAMPS though, those who aren't ponying up for a Cooper or Sax seems to be going for the Yamahas and Mackies if they need 10+ inputs etc.. Philip Perkins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted July 4, 2006 Report Share Posted July 4, 2006 HY Philip do you have Alternative Audio email or telephone and the name of the person to speak with thanks Alternative Audio: 4545 W. Chermak St., Burbank CA 91505 USA; 818-563-6543 the main guy is Forrest. He has done hundreds of VLZ etc series Mackies, many Onyx series and some other boards too. He managed to fit his mod into a 1202 VLZ along w/ an AC/DC switch, a separate fuse for the DC and a 4 pin XLR. The mixer was quieter on DC than it was on AC, and it drew a fraction of the 12VDC needed to run the mixer w/ an invertor. Ask him about yr AH board. Philip Perkins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noah Timan Posted July 4, 2006 Report Share Posted July 4, 2006 Ok so I'm working on putting together my new cart. I'm looking to upgrade to a more professional mixer but I'm amazed at the price jump. I mean a SD 442 is $2250 and a Cooper 208 is $14,000 (and the Miranda is supposed to be about the same). While I know the Cooper is worth the money does anyone make a good 8 channel field mixer that is somewhere in the middle? Like others here have noted, the best "cheap" mixer is probably the Yamaha, and it offers a lot more bells, whistles, and features than designed-for-location boards like the Cooper. There are some sacrifices to make in terms of weight, size, and power requirements but on the overall it seems to be the best choice at the 2K price range (provided you don't need to go over the shoulder). Another idea is to buy a used Cooper 106 and add the stereo module for a second two channels (I think this can still be done). They're tremendously dependable and can easily still accomodate today's workflow (a one or two track mix and up to eight isos, dedicated feeds for the boom op, video village, private line, etc). While I've had to tweak, upgrade, change out, and fiddle with almost every other piece of gear on my cart over the years, I've had to do next to nothing with the 106 and I don't foresee a need to change it any time soon. The price on a used 106 will be considerably lower than a new 208. Regards, Noah Timan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marque Posted July 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2006 ok just to clear things up... the touch screen is NOT going to replace the physical faders... just a few of the function buttons and the meters will be displayed through the touch screens. The faders and nobs will remain. ~Marque Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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