My choice is APB or Soundcraft, followed by Midas, and there will always be a time and place for a high quality analog console.
+1 Mr. Leonard!
Before we become too enamored w/ being thoroughly modern technocrats we should remember how digital mixers work.
Take some pristine ANALOGUE sound and chop it into millions of bits. Now re-assemble those millions of pieces BACK into ANALOGUE sound. Now believe it's better because hey, it's Digital, it's NEW and it's Hi-tech.
Soundmen! Do you have enough headaches and problems? No? here's your chance to add buggy software, compatibility issues and hard drive failures and software crashes to your list. Don't miss it! Did I mention this is all available at only 3 to 10 x the cost!? Yippee.
Of coarse you will be able to save scenes with variable results and spend 3 days with a manual trying to figure out how to patch a 1/3 octave eq across an aux out. Fun. fun. fun.
One of the most positive results of all this is when you realize that if you have the network skills to get a tablet wi-fi'd into a computer/mixer software working dependably you could probly get an I T job that pays about 5 times what being a soundman does. Hmmm. scratch, scratch.
Maidson lives in Haiti which is a tropical climate. His sound systems move at parade pace on a big flatbed truck through the crowded streets of Haiti during Carnivale powered by a big ass generator. Not sure that's the kind of environment I'd recommend a big digital mixer for.
The day will come when digital mixers are solving more problems than they create. Still too close to 50/50 on that for me.
I understand with many situations "cool factor" is paramount and in a large metro area you gotta have a digital desk. In smaller market areas of America and out on the frontiers of the third world it's a little different. Analogue consoles like Maidson mentioned still sound wonderful and dependability will likely not be an issue until looong after the mixer has earned it's investment back! Buy a digital board if you want but if you listen carefully you might hear laughter from corporate types who know what planned obsolescense means. (It means they'll have a good bit more of your money soon for the upgrade) Ha Ha. (end rant)
Oh yeah, my choice for mixer. #1 APB unsurpassed dependability.
#2 Midas. Mixed on a Verona for 3 years in a Casino. Never a single problem. lovely feature set. -and the prestige of a Midas. I heard NO better sound from any of the 3 or 4 acts that brought in whatever big new digital desk they were traveling with. #3 A&H Great sound, great feature set, dependable and reasonable price. #4 Soundcraft Great sound, great feature set, sexy looks, reasonable price. Happy sailing!
