There are UA Apollos thtat have 16 outs. My friend has used those for film installations in the past. Expensive, though.
1 Like
How about RME Digiface USB + Ferrofish Pulse 16? The Pulse 16 is great in my experience, I use it with a RME UFX II.
The Motu 16A has 16 TRS inputs and outputs and supports USB and Thunderbolt (I was looking at it for a while).
Also, not sure on your use case, and not specifically a soundcard…but the SSL Big Six can support up to 16 audio inputs via USB (using the ‘from USB’ switches on the channels and ext in’s).
With the 2 stereo sends and Bus B output/switches there is quite a lot of flexibility in how the audio is then routed or summed out of it.
I love mine (got it instead of the 16A and external mixer).
When you add up the cost of a good mixer and decent soundcard it actually doesn’t seem bad value at all (or at least that’s what I tell myself to get over the sticker shock 
)
I have been collecting some small mixer on this are.na channel: mixer — Are.na
I mostly add mixer that are available for purchase, so the focus is a bit different, but maybe there’s one there that you haven’t seen already 
I really wish that they made “normal” SSL Six with the interface. The Big Six is overkill for me in both number of channels and price. Because as you say, for a combined mixer with all the SSL goodness AND an interface, the price is really not that off.
1 Like
That would have been cool. I just spent preposterous amounts of time and money getting my SiX completely hooked up to my interface with rack/patchbays/cables. And now my streamlined desktop setup is huge and clunky again.
so, with all apologies if this hasn’t been covered: why isn’t there a eurorack+skiff solution for this. in vcvrack land there are truly innovative modular mixer tools that let you do wild things like build a 4 input 10 bus mixer or a 20 input 20 bus mixer or a hybrid matrix/standard mixer.
Personally I need a 6 stereo input / 4 aux bus mixer which doesn’t exist. I don’t want mic pres, I don’t want mono ins, I don’t have a use for a mixer with a single aux—I need at least 4 stereo aux busses thank you. A dream would be for me to be able to build one out of modular components so that I could get just what I need… and ostensibly add/remove modules as needed.
3 Likes
If I had to make a guess, I think the main reason would be size and cost.
I don’t think anyone would want to pay what it would cost to make a mixer like that in eurorack. If you look at the WMD performance mixer and the Frap Tools CGM, both are large, quite costly and fairly limited compared to something you find in a virtual modular/digital environment or desktop mixer but are arguably the best euro mixers we’ve got, feature-wise.
One can only imagine how large and costly it would be to make what is effectively a 6 x 4 STEREO matrix mixer. at a certain point an outboard mixer just makes more sense than eating up that much HP
5 Likes
Agree. Sadly. In the meantime I use a dedicated MS Surface tablet + a KMix to do it, and it works well enough that I should not complain. One can want, though, no?
There’s the ADDAC807, which has 3 stereo aux buses; you could combine that with a pair of stereo matrix mixers connected via the direct outs and get 7 aux buses…
2 Likes
Not sure if this is the right place to ask but have been pondering something about mixers; let’s say I have an input on one channel and a ‘looper’ (I.e a device recording the input) on an aid send could I bring in the recording on a separate channel’s aux return?
Either you bring the audio from the looper back into the mixer with the dedicated return inputs, or you can plug the audio from the looper into another channel. The first case just lets you mix the original and looped audio, the second case lets you mix as well, but you can also apply the preamp and eq to the looped audio - or more interestingly feed the looped audio back into looper using the send.
3 Likes
Sweet. Exactly what I wanted to hear. Cheers!
Here’s my “minimal” mixer with Cubase integration and built in audio interface, 12 ins / 12 outs.
Built in reverb, and a compressor on each mono channel. Can also be used with any other DAW, but you loose tight transport integration etc.
Firewire based. MIDI included. Sounds pretty good (only used with headphones).
Should be good to carry around for gigs!
7 Likes
Hi everyone, I’m opening a new thread for this as the first post in Mixers and audio interfaces explicitly talks about
Currently I’m recording just a stereo pair with a cheap Behringer USB mixer that is slowly dying (almost all the posts are crackly, sometimes i need to reboot it as one channel stops working, some audio dropout from time to time…) and I would like to upgrade from it.
I’m not planning on multitrack recording so I just need a two inputs interface and I’m having a hard time deciding which one to get.
It seems like there are a lot of options in the 150-250€ range and then a bump to the 700-1000€ range for Apogee Duet / RME Babyface / Apollo Twin.
Is it worth to go to the upper tier or are the Motu M2/SSL2+/Audient iD14 “enough”? I have been researching this topic for a while and I read a lot of “modern cheap interfaces are extremely good” but also a lot of “when I switched from cheap interface X to expensive interface Y my music immediately sounded much better” and I can’t understand what is actually true and what is just buyer’s remorse (in a way or the other).
I’m not interested in DSP integration (like on the Apollo) and I don’t use microphones, just synths.
I’m currently recording into Reaper on Windows 10 but I might switch to a M2 Mac Mini in the near futere as my PC is also slowly dying so I should also think about compatibility and drivers and also USB vs. Thunderbolt.
Any recommendation?
Great question. We did some tests a few years back and determined that the 2nd or 3rd gen Focusrite Scarlett series were plenty “good enough” for people without golden ears. I’d say that the M2/SSL+/iD14 exceed that by a fair margin, so quite honestly I cannot, personally, suggest spending much more.
That said, there aren’t really many reasons to buy new, either. So many excellent interfaces exist on the used market - a MOTU Ultralite Mk4 or later are wonderful in the budget range and offer a lot of options to expand or reamp or integrate with a modular. If you’re dead set on a simple 2 channel though or a brand new interface, you’ll be very well served by any of the three you mention. Granted, you’ll have to look around a bit, and I suggest (personally) that you avoid Reverb and eBay these days as prices are getting just plain silly, but a local craigslist/kijiji/etc. equivalent would be a good place to start. There’s an 828mk3 rack unit for $150 going near me right now, for instance, in what seems to be good shape.
3 Likes
I have the SSL2+ and it is great for your purpose, I frequently recommend it to people who need something simple. it’s on sale for the month of March and also generally available used.
the + has a second set of outputs so you can have some fun with running audio back out through pedals, or external ins if your synths have any. I used to have the 2 (which I still recommend to more basic singer/songwriter types), but upgraded to get the extra outs for that purpose. using the second headphone out you can get it up to Euro level too.
I use more expensive stuff in my regular tracking/mixing setup, but this still gets a decent amount of use as a simple class-compliant/bus-powered utility problem-solver!
2 Likes
That’s a thing of beauty, Yamaha strikes again.
Yes, but this is already obsolete piece of equipment since is no longer being produced. Found it quite cheap on eBay for £120 plus had to purchase power supply separately.
Looking for some help on a mixer solution for live performances.
There are two of us who perform together, myself playing synths/eurorack and a drummer/octatrack player. We’ve decided to start using in-ear monitors, so what we need is something that can generate two different mixes, each with different levels of metronome click mixed with our main output. The cue out on the octatrack is being used as a pedal effect send so within our current equipment we have no way of generating two different mixes. The click track will come from a spare channel on a drumbrute.
How do you all deal with getting different monitoring mixes for different performers? (this is of course assuming it is not a venue where this can all be dealt with on the venue desk, we would rather be prepared to deal with this ourselves if needed as we’ve got some shows coming up in venues that are not usually music venues)