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Analogue Vs Digital Mixers
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Fingax
Cosmic Station
Started Topics :
82
Posts :
1235
Posted : Oct 7, 2004 11:13
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Hello israliens 
Im trying to understand, what are the main difrences and qualitis that nowadays studio mixers have. A analogue Mackie mixer its quite good and well known by its power, but what does it have better than the other digital ones dont? And so on...
If anyone wants me to find more questions and answers i'll be very apreciated! 
10x BoOoM |
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ZilDoggo
Started Topics :
4
Posts :
663
Posted : Oct 7, 2004 13:33
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mostly the difference is about EQ, distortion and summing.,
greets.
aka |
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Zoolog
Zoolog
Started Topics :
18
Posts :
783
Posted : Oct 7, 2004 13:56
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Hehe, sudio mixers!
Mackie makes great analogue equipment (and its expensive), so if you choose to buy this, instead of a digital mixer (where you pay the double) you can be sure, it will sound better.
As the digital mixer should not sound "bad" compared to its analogue brother, often it does it anyway, due to higher manufacturing costs.
Even if this is abit out of topic, i would like to point out that I dont use any mixer in my studio... Or thats not completely true: I use software mixers, and thats more mixers than i want, for now. If i should ever consider buying one, i think it would be analogue. |
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Hayez
Started Topics :
8
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393
Posted : Oct 7, 2004 20:39
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Quote:
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On 2004-10-07 13:56, Zoolog wrote:
As the digital mixer should not sound "bad" compared to its analogue brother, often it does it anyway, due to higher manufacturing costs.
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There is no 'good' and 'bad' in this debate. How do you know what is the manufacturing costs ? 
I know a lot of analog mixers that cost x8 times then similar spec digital mixers. Digital mixers usally have more features then analog ones like digital fx, complex routing and better visual feedback. But as always you should first ask yourself what you realy need from your mixer and then look for it.
 "a new art came into my mind which only you can create, the Art of Noises, the logical consequence of your marvelous innovations." Russolo, 1913 |
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micromusic
Started Topics :
2
Posts :
65
Posted : Oct 8, 2004 08:02
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don't forget about memory, automation, track delays, & digital I/O.
as far as sound quality, it depends on the mixers being compared. |
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psypox
Psypox / Bufo
Started Topics :
53
Posts :
768
Posted : Oct 8, 2004 08:25
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Kaz
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
90
Posts :
2268
Posted : Oct 8, 2004 10:03
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There are a few things you should keep in mind when buying a mixer.
1) Amount of channels needed. If you want 16+ channels to work with, analog mixers usually end up very expensive at this range and are harder to work with, as digital mixers have the advantage of being able to save mixer settings and the such. Of course, if you don't have any hardware and only 4 outputs on your sound card, you won't need more than a four channel mixer.
2) Effect work. People will say that effects on the mixers suck. This is wrong. EQs on mixers are far more accurate than software ones (less flexible though). Even a crappy EQ like one of those from an 80s home system will probably sound better and give better results than a software one... Why? Because software nowadays does nothing more than follow a rough mathematical model in order to immitate hardware EQ work (the proper mathematical formulas for digital EQing are never applied in software due to the fact that computers are too wimpy). Of course - each mixer's effects color the sound differently. In general, analog mixers can get you a fatter sound, but digital mixers are a lot more practical for this.
3) Dynamic control - take a track, output the bass elements to one file, the rest of the track to another, mix them via a good analog mixer, and you will see that all of a sudden you have 2db more headroom than the software mixer that comes with your sequencer. Why? Because hardware has a few decades of development behind it while software is really still in the 'work inside the box' phase.
The bigger the studio, the more practical a digital mixer is. The more you work in hardware, the more necessary a mixer becomes. If you want things to sound as good as they can get, well, you'll just have to go and listen to mixers and compare for yourself.
http://www.myspace.com/Hooloovoo222 |
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Zoolog
Zoolog
Started Topics :
18
Posts :
783
Posted : Oct 15, 2004 09:53
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No good or bad? You must be kidding me !? Right? Of course there is big variety in both quality price and sound. Digital Mixers are often fitted with less good components to make it cheap, so they can compete with the analogue ones... I know this because i looked inside several and also i know ppl. who know..... |
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Spindrift
Spindrift
Started Topics :
33
Posts :
1560
Posted : Oct 15, 2004 11:22
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Spindrift
Spindrift
Started Topics :
33
Posts :
1560
Posted : Oct 15, 2004 12:35
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For anyone deciding between a digital and analogue it is really like hayez said, there is not good and bad.
An analogue mixer with automation, recall, compressor and flexible eq on each channel would be my preference if I was still into using a hardware setup.
Unfortunally those cost about $100 000.
Sure a analogue mixer in the same price range as a digital mixer will sound better. The EQ's especially.
The compressor on the digital mixers i've tried is hardly worth using, but you have to go very high in pricerange to get a analogue mixer with a compressor on each channel.
So if you are a real hi-fi fanatic, and only use the studio yourself, you should probably go with analogue.
If you share studio, it can be really awful and annoying to not have recall. If I would use it for live I would for sure like to have recall and automation.
In those circumstances chances are that your mix will sound better in the end even with the lesser sound of the digital mixer.
And if your mixer have fine sounding EQ, but only treble and bass contols and maybe a semi parametric, it can be hard to make a good mix with them, no matter how good they sound.
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Wizard
Started Topics :
1
Posts :
9
Posted : Oct 15, 2004 18:36
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circuit quality??
I am styding as an electronics engineer and believe me there are 1000 factors or more when we are talking quality in both analogue and digital gear of any kind.
Even the PCB itself acts in different ways.
And what about AD converters, buffer sizes, samplerate? Not to mention the tolerances found in all components!! OP amps with same specs but from different manufactures doesn´t act in the same way!!
My advice is to use your ears.
I prefer digital mixer (my computer+delta 1010) because of the flexibility and memory options combined with analogue outboard gear of any kind and quality, even guitar pedals.
Don´t worry too much about noise, distortion etc. it all ads to the sound and in the end making it your sound
bom
you know the sound of water hitting a surface .. what is the sound of water? |
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Hayez
Started Topics :
8
Posts :
393
Posted : Oct 15, 2004 22:57
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Quote:
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On 2004-10-15 09:53, Zoolog wrote:
No good or bad? You must be kidding me !? Right? Of course there is big variety in both quality price and sound. |
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not kidding at all. of course there is a variety, but you can't say digital is better then analog and vice versa. like Wizard said, use your ears first and then read the specs and reviews. I use analog mixer just for monitoring, the real mix is done in my computer. |
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Zoolog
Zoolog
Started Topics :
18
Posts :
783
Posted : Oct 18, 2004 11:11
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Ok use what you like, thats what i do! As my country fella wiz' i have also been studying electronic engineering and where are you from... Spindrift we seem to be generally disagreeing in/on everything....!? |
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Spindrift
Spindrift
Started Topics :
33
Posts :
1560
Posted : Oct 18, 2004 12:25
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Well, if you care to explain how you compare circuitry quality on a analog and digital design you might convince me of your view.
If you read my replies in the threads we disagree, you will notice that i try to go in to pros and cons of the different options.
To simply go and say "motu is the best... pulsar is a toy" or "Digital Mixers are often fitted with less good components to make it cheap" does not seem to be an attempt to help someone asking for advice.
If you care to elaborate more about the subjects than how you "known and heard" a product for a few years or what your field of study is, I would have at least a chance to agree with you.
So far I can only see you spread loose disinformation for people who is asking for some advice on how to spend their hard earned cash.
(``·.¸(``·.¸(``·.¸¸.·`´)¸.·`´)¸.·`´)
« .....www.ResonantEarth.com..... »
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http://www.myspace.com/resonantearth |
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