Industry standard

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Greg sieling

Freshman
Sep 8, 2012
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I am looking at a purchasing a digital mixer. I have worked as an engineer for over a decade but now most of my work is within education. The mixer is for that purpose. Mostly, we will not need more than 20 inputs, but occasionally we may need up to 32. The students are older teenagers/young adults so industry standard is important. Many students go straight onto production roles, obviously in a junior position.

5 years ago I would have gone for an ls9 without a shadow of a doubt. But the issue I have now is that the ls9 has been about for 6 years and we need our mixer to be as current as us possible for the next 5 years or so. With so many different models out there I wonder what the best choice is.

I recently engineered a show on the new Midas pro 1, which I thought was excellent and would personally choose over the ls9, possibly even the m7. In terms of the students, the colour coded digital scribble buttons would make it easier in light of their largely sequencer-based backgrounds.
If I were buying for myself, I would go with the baby Midas, I think the sound of the Yamaha is a bit clinical and cold.

My question is, is there a new emerging industry standard in this area?

Are we at a crossroads, and which way should I turn?

If I buy an ls9, will I find them for sale for peanuts on eBay in a couple of years when everyone else is upgrading?

I would appreciate your thoughts on this. I am off to plasa on Monday to see Yamaha, midas, A&H and soundcraft amongst others.
 
Re: Industry standard

I'm not sure we will have as stong a standard as Yamaha has been in the future. Yamaha was miles ahead in the low and mid ranges, and really only in the last 12-24 months have there been reasonable competitors for similar or less money.

Your budget seems to be $5k-$10k. In that range are the Soundcraft SICompact and SIPerformer, the A&H GLD, the Pro1, and I think the Digico SD11 at a bit more. If you add the stage boxes to the Behringer, that's probably in this range. Without them it's cheaper. I think there's a Roland option, but the M480 is more money. There are less conventional options like an IPad-controlled ILive, SAC, and a few others as well.

IMO, there are basically 3 workflow choices - the 1:1 model of the Yamahas, SICs, Rolands, and Behringer (though the Behringer also has scribble strips), the fewer faders with scribble strips model of the GLD, Pro1 and most of the larger mixers above this price range, and then full software control like a surface-less ILive or SAC.

Since you are buying just one mixer, I would try to focus on teaching transferable concepts like not assuming the jack on the back labeled "1" is always the far left fader, and trying to get people to learn how to mix rather than how to use a specific tool.

To answer your question directly, the LS9 is surely waning. If you can get a great deal on one, it might still be worthwhile, but until/unless Yamaha updates the lower mid market, folks will continue to stream away to the other better choices for the same or less money.
 
+1 to what TJ said.

What flavor do you like? I personally happen like the Pro1 and 2c a lot, and the GLD is pretty good if budget is tight and digital snake is needed. It is nice to have options to choose from.

Caleb
 
Re: Industry standard

Hey guys,

Thanks for your help. I went to plasa in London today and I reckon the new cl1 looks like the best bet. Simple interface with colour coding and digital scribble buttons as well as multiple layers. I'm going to have to see the budget holder to see if I can get a raise!
Thanks,

Greg
 
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