Meet the Hybrids

Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Rusty Cutchin

           

Four analog mixers with digital audio interfaces.

FIG. 1: Mackie’s Onyx 1220 requires an optional FireWire card for sending its 14 channels of audio to individual tracks of your recording application.

The nerve center of the recording studio, the audio mixer, has changed roles dramatically in the digital age. A marvel of electronic engineering, the traditional analog mixer has become for many people a mixer in name (or graphic image) only, because digital mixing is done by mathematical computation rather than by hardware wizardry.

But reports of the death of analog mixing are greatly exaggerated, and producers and engineers have come to appreciate the flexibility of hybrid systems that allow a combination of analog and digital processing. One obvious application is live band recording, where multiple analog sources (drum mics, instrument feeds, and so on) need to be mixed for the house while being sent to a digital recorder for processing later. Another application is submixing for the keyboardist who needs to assign several instrument and module signals to one or more recorder tracks.

The Playing Field

Several new small-format mixers make these tasks convenient. We looked at four of them: the Alesis MultiMix 16 FireWire, the Mackie Onyx 1220, the M-Audio NRV10, and the Phonic Helix Board 24 FireWire MKII. All have built-in FireWire interfaces to get signals to and from a computer for recording and monitoring. In addition to these four, Yamaha is about to introduce two mixers in this category (see the sidebar “Coming from Yamaha”). Although they are designed to sit on a desktop, you can also install any of these mixers in a rack. Each allows you to mix a group of analog signals for monitoring or rerouting while converting the signals to digital audio and passing them on to a FireWire-equipped recording system.

These mixers work well with newer computers. All require drivers to work with Windows, but two work immediately with the Mac OS X Core Audio system. Generally, you need to be using either Mac OS X 10.3 or Windows XP with SP2 and have a G4 or 1 GHz Pentium processor, 512 MB of RAM, and as much free hard-drive space as you can get. Check the companies' Web sites for detailed system requirements (see the sidebar “Manufacturer Contacts”).

Beyond the features just described, these units differ significantly. Input and conversion capabilities vary. Some units provide no digital features beyond the conversion and monitoring capabilities offered by the interface, whereas others come with onboard digital effects and recording software, making them a complete recording studio in a box. Their various capabilities and prices ensure that there's a mixer to fit just about any need, from solo singer-songwriter demos to 16-mic ensemble recording.

Bear in mind that except for the M-Audio NRV10, these units are best for front-end mixing; they aren't designed for final mixdown of digitally recorded tracks. Three of the units provide for only a stereo return from your computer — you can't route recorded tracks back through the mixer channels. The NRV10 is the only mixer in this group that can receive multiple previously recorded discrete tracks over FireWire. (The NRV10 EQs and faders process converted digital signals, whereas the channel circuitry of the other units affects the original analog signals.)

Mackie Onyx 1220

The Onyx 1220 ($689.99) is the smallest of the Onyx line and, like its siblings, is designed mainly for analog mixing. The 1220 follows the same design scheme as the other Onyx units (see Fig. 1) but has fewer input options. For computer connectivity, you need to buy an optional FireWire card ($519.99). The unit sports four of Mackie's very good Onyx mic pres (as well as two instrument inputs and ten line inputs) and offers convenience features — such as a talkback section and alternate stereo bus — that are familiar to musicians who grew up with analog mixers. The 1220 comes bundled with Mackie Tracktion 3 sequencing software.

The biggest convenience option may be the FireWire interface. With the Onyx 1220, the FireWire card allows you to stream up to 14 channels of 24-bit digital audio to a Mac or PC. (If you're working with a PC, you can combine two mixers and have them appear to your computer as a single 28-channel mixer. Mackie says Mac support is coming soon.) The 14 channels show up in your audio software as 12 individual audio inputs and a stereo L/R mix. You can also monitor two channels of audio from the computer through the Onyx's Control Room Source matrix. Those two channels can feed the phones, control room, or main-mix outputs. You can select alternate sampling rates for the card's A/D/A converters using the Onyx Control Panel on a PC and directly from your audio software on a Mac. Sampling-rate options include 44.1, 48, 88.2, and 96 kHz.

The A/D conversion process and routing to the FireWire port occur before the signal reaches the EQ section, so the 1220's channel EQ sections have no effect on them. However, if you really want or need to EQ a signal at the board before recording it, you can use an aux send or Mackie's Alt 3-4 bus to send a processed channel to an open one that can then feed the FireWire port. The unprocessed signal will still be available to your recording software.

Interface options aside, the unit is a formidable small-format analog mixer that can serve a variety of applications. You get mic pres on channels 1 through 4. Channels 1 and 2 have high-impedance instrument inputs and a switch to engage them. Channel strips 5 through 8 are stereo, but you can configure them as dual mono for recording. Channels 1 through 4 have individual 48V phantom-power switches and low-cut filters (18 dB per octave at 75 Hz).

All mono and stereo channels have fixed-frequency, low- and high-shelving EQs centered at 80 Hz and 12 kHz. The mic channels provide selectable midrange EQ (100 Hz to 8 kHz) with 15 dB of cut or boost, whereas the stereo channels have a fixed 2.5 kHz midrange control. The Perkins EQs are quiet and very usable — a staple of Mackie mixer designs.

Other traditional niceties such as a dedicated talkback mic input, stereo sends and returns for external decks or players, and switchable pre- and postaux master controls make this a solid and dependable board for live mixing. If you happen to have a recorder with Tascam-format DB-25 connectors, you're all set; the unit has built-in output connectors for those machines. Otherwise, you can use adapter cables to send balanced direct outputs from these connections to analog inputs on other devices.

Read more of the EM article on analog mixers with digital audio interfaces.

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