Which sound console ?

Which sound bord do you like best


  • Total voters
    12
The Presonus Boards are pretty easy to use ( I have a Presonus 1602 and I'm using it in my home studio and live) Even if you have never read the manual, it's "quick and dirty" to use ...and the sonic quality is really outstanding in it's price-range.... Built like a tank, and with the free Capture Software you can easily record multiple tracks unaffected from the live-situation....my personal weapon on choice.


cheers,
Andy from Red Bull Country
 
Have you looked into the behringer x32. It has really won alot of people over. Lots of great features and flexibility. I have mixed on the presonus and its ok...not been on the soundcraft or alan and heath offerings, but nothing about them really appeals to me....
 
Been looking over these offerings for a while and doing a lot of reading.

I have no 1st hand experience, but it seems like Behringer X32 is still the king of digital mixing ATM.
 
I haven't considered the "B" word for a wile but will give it a look see. When the PreSonus first came out I was looking at it pretty hard. I just saw the Soundcraft a few days ago and wondered if it had anyone had a chance to touch it. I personally like the layout of the PreSonus, looks like a traditional board with all the fancy things layered in. With Soundcrafts reputation I wondered how it would fair against the PreSouns given the price point.
 
I've just got the new Allen & Heath Qu-16 and it's utterly brilliant :encouragement:

For our needs, it ticks every box:

  • 19" Rack mountable - we have one rack case with everything permanently wired so we roll up, take the lids off, plug in a few multicores for mics, keys, drums triggers, PA & lighting feeds and custom built guitar & in-ear hook ups and we're good to go
  • Enough I/O - every single input and output is being used
  • The onboard processing (Gate, Comp, EQ & FX) is excellent
  • 12 outputs gives PA / FOH feed and individual in-ear mixes for each band member


...and the real bonus is the Qu-Drive multitrack recording and playback from a USB hard-drive. What a boon that is for tuning mixes etc

It's an outstanding all round package and is the first digital desk with all the right features to draw me away from our old skool Mackie 1642. All the other options to date were tempting, but always fell short of requirement in one way or another

There may not be enough channels for some people, but I believe there may be expanded versions released in future

The only caveat I would add at this point is that whilst this is cutting edge stuff, it's also on the bleeding edge too so initial bugs won't have been ironed out as yet. Also, some nice features (such as iPad integration) aren't available in the first release firmware, but that wasn't a deal-breaker for me. So even though it's thrown a couple minor wobblies (controls freeze but audio still passed unaffected) whilst I've been messing about and finding my way around it, it's now done two gigs and performed flawlessly

I could not be more happy with it :eagerness:
 
The Behringer Stands for "Bang for the Buck" but you still get what you Pay for.
After using several "B"-Gear years ago, i won't ever buy a bigger Mixing Board from this Company....thinking of my Old B-8bus Console.....no, Sir.
If a Channel Strip dies, it's better to put a stripe of gaffa Tape on it and forget about it than repairing it.
Don't want to offend Annone here... Just my Personal experience and opinion.
 
I currently use a Yamaha 01v96i but I'm very interested in the x32 rack when it's available.
 
I've used the presonus 16 and 24 channel boards quite a bit, but for the last 20 shows or so, it's been a behringer x32. It's leaps and bounds better!

You can't change the gain via iPad on the presonus, you can on the x32, the routing is much better, the musician stage app is much easier to use, tons of stuff that simply make it king.

The only bad thing is the board will not play mp3's off a USB drive. Apparently, the mp3 format is owned by some company and behringer would have to pay a massive fee to allow their hardware to play it. Easy fix, load up your drive with .wav.

Keep in mind that this board was actually designed by Midas. When B bought them, they changed the logo on the x32 and shipped it.
 
Maybe no one has actually used those boards. I used to use the Sound Craft Ghost 32-8 board. I loved it. But it wasn't a digital board. And friends don't let friends buy Behringer.
 
you guys bashing a high end pro product you've never tried, because you have an opinion on their low end consumer budget products need to stop. Ignorance is Bliss........
 
Man, cool Down...
Just watch it go for a while, if the Return Quote in the Music Stores is lower than expected, you'll See, whether it's pro stuff or Not. B's 8bus Console was advertised as "Pro" - and - it was Shit. The Digital Console from B was called "pro" and got discontinued.
At the Moment B will Take advantage of Midas's Good Reputation. But only Time will Tell the Truth. But Real quality has it's Price ...that's One of the reasons, why you can't get an Axefx for the Price of a V-amp....
 
It's only been out a year so it's hard to say, but the x32 series is based on a different mentality than pretty much anything else they've ever made before.

I've had only positive experiences when using my friend's x32. We used it for the first time on a huge multi-band festival - the built-in I/O was a huge benefit instead of running ADAT etc, and the iPad control worked flawlessly. The board sounded good too and gave us the myriad FOH, aux fed subs, and monitor mixes we needed.

He's planning on getting 1 or 2 of the digital snake stage boxes as well. Great system, as long as it continues working well (of course).
 
you guys bashing a high end pro product you've never tried, because you have an opinion on their low end consumer budget products need to stop. Ignorance is Bliss........
I don't bash low end stuff because it's low end. I bash Behringer because they steal other manufacturers stuff. They've been in legal battle after legal battle - and lost, because they have no pride. They build crap but try to make it look and seem like XXX. They might next try and sell and cheap lame version of the Axe Fx. t'd look the same, advertise the same features, be made of the cheapest parts, and not perform as advertised. I just believe in supporting the actual designers and innovators, you know? I think Behringer is crap, and that's why. Nothing more, nothing less.
 
I've had the PreSonus 16/4/2 Board for awhile and really like it. I'd recommend it and records well too using capture or any other DAW
 
#1. Behringer didn't steal the X32, nor did they steal the design.
#2. The X32 is not made from the cheapest parts, in fact it has some of the highest quality components available.
#3. The X32 does EVERYTHING it advertises, easily confirmed.
#4. Behringer has never lost any lawsuits, ALL of them were settled out of court and dismissed, and again, easily confirmed.

Having an opinion about something does not make it true. Additionally, I'm not pushing to support a company or not, I am saying though based on research and fact, that the X32 is the top digital solution right now over ALL the other companies that are late to the digital game.

Anyways guys, this will be my last post about this. I can see you are hard set, no matter the facts prove otherwise.
 
To the OP, I have used the Presonus board weekly for almost 2 years. It is reliable and roadworthy, and the remote functions are equally reliable.

To the others, I have spent a very little time on the X32, but what I have seen has been quite impressive. The first one a friend bought didn't work and had to be returned, which did bring on the lack of faith in the brand, although failure of a new unit is hardly exclusive to low end gear. The second unit received has been in near constant service for about 6 months and is fairing well, although most use is in a studio as opposed to the live show use the Presonus 24 has seen. If it proves as reliable, it easily "out features" the Studiolive on both top of desk features, and remote functionality.

Time will tell.
 
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