If your relying on the random available kid, or trusted bystander to run sound for your kids band, I would consider the transaction a little more seriously..... While I am in firm belief that anyone can pretty much walk up to the desk and provide information on how to make it sound better, I will be damned that many could actually create the magic if I walked away and said go for it : )
What I really mean is that when your going to rely on an unknown level of talent to play with your multi thousand dollar investment, you may consider usability and reliability. It takes a bit of time for even a seasoned operator to wrap their heads around a digital desk. Although there are some with the wysiwyg ( what you see is what you get ) layout, it doesn't mean that they get it...... What I have come to find is the level of accountability falls pretty short when shit hits the fan in a group situation. Who blew that speaker up; " it wasn't me ", comes to mind.
I am a huge supporter of the go digital route, but in your case you are bargaining a large investment on something that you and likely anybody else knows little on how to use it. Not that they can't be trained, or learn, but that takes time. It's how much time you can get out of a person for free that is the question? And still you are at the whim of talent. Just because they know how to get to the correct page and make an adjustment, do they know why they are making it and is it actually the right one? At least with analog it's all right in your face and you can quickly do something if stuff starts to go downhill. With most digital desks it takes at least two button pushes to get to the place you need to be. On an analog desk all you need to know is where to look.
It's definitely a moment of pride when you got your kid on stage and he's showing the girls what he's got : ) It isn't so much fun when you have a lot of problem caused by lack of knowledge on how to run the equipment, or solve issues in general. 9 out of 10 times I would say go Digital, in this case I say K.I.S.S................ Keep It Simple Stupid..... I can say that I don't know many bands that run their own sound that also sound really good. Myself included ( I'm the one doing sound ) and I actually have a good idea of whats going on. They can't hear what they need to hear other than what sounds good to them. The mix your own monitor feature is great until the MORE ME thing gets out of control. This is where a centralized guy that knows more about what is going on than the band does is a good thing. The voice of reason you might say. I feel a digital desk will impede the making it simple and easy, being actually a higher learning curve with greater pressure and confusion. Food for thought.........
