Best Mixer for Live Band

monkey42

So, hopefully at some stage this year we begin the return to gigging

my trusty Dynacord has served the band well for over a decade now but been holed up for over a year...so lord knows how she’ll cope upon start up. In all honesty we were talking as a band to upgrade as we like to update every few years.

its live band that puts all back line though the PA, including (already sub mixed) drums, bass, guitar backing tracks and vocals.

what is the best out there

current front runners before lockdown were

behringer x-air
Allen heath qu-sb
Ask touchmix

i suppose a key factor is road readiness and ease of use

thanks in advance

Stratavarious

I did some weddings just before pandemic with a Line6 unit..

very impressive, intuitive UI..  no ipads or wireless dependency.

https://uk.line6.com/stagescape-m20d/

Danny1969

If budget is an issue then the Soundcraft Ui range is pretty good. Amazing features for the money, we have 2 of them.
The A&H QU-SB is basically the QU16 with the faders removed, highly recommended bullet proof tech. We have the QU16 and 24 and it's well proven over the last 6 years, no issues in hundreds of gigs. 

mike257

I'd say best on a budget is the XR18. Mine's proved to be incredibly useful as both a mixer, a recording interface and used with XLR splits to run an in ear monitor system. I wouldn't bother with the smaller models, it's worth jumping up to the 18 both for the extra inputs/outputs and the multichannel USB interface facility as opposed to the stereo interface of the lesser models. 

I've had bad experiences with the Soundcraft Ui16 and wouldn't touch another with a ten foot pole after one show stopping issue too many, although the UI24 was apparently drastically redesigned internally and people say it's a much better unit. 

The A&H stuff is great. I have an SQ5 myself, which I'm very happy with. The QU series are solid and straightforward to use. They're a good intro to digital mixers - all the important stuff you need, but don't have some of the advanced routing/configuration options that can make bigger desks hard to get your head round if you're new to them. 

Only used the QSC a handful of times, a friend of mine has one and runs all his function band gigs on it. He loves it but I find the interface/layout a bit of a faff. 

I'd add the caveat that for any of these tablet controlled mixers, you need to factor in a decent external router as the on board ones are, invariably, utter pants. I have a little TPlink router permanently mounted in the rack case with my XR18 and it's vastly more stable than the slightly iffy built-in effort. 

Musicwolf

Another recommendation for the XR18.  As @Mike257 said, don’t rely on the built in Wi-Fi.  Since we’re usually ‘mixing from the stage*’ I use a laptop which I connect to the XR18 via Ethernet for mixer control and USB for multitrack recording.  If we need Wi-Fi then I have an Airport Express left over from a previous digital mixer.

When we get back out playing again I’ll probably treat myself to a PM16 personal mixer for my in-ear mix (because I’m worth it ).

*for stage read corner of pub

Roland

Like @monkey42 we put everything through the desk. We tried the X18, and replaced it with the XR18 to take away the need for a stage box and snake. I firmly believe in simplicity. We carry both the X18 and the XR18, the first time we’ve been able to have a backup mixing desk.

It’s a pity that the Behringer internal wifi router is so poor. Using an external router sorts things out, and also provides better security, including hiding the network.

The selling points, which aren’t unique to Behringer, are that we can each have our own monitor mix, and adjust it from iPad or ‘phone. We can save the desk settings for each venue, minimising soundcheck time. We also take a multi-track recording from the desk, mix to stereo and listen back to identify where we can improve.

monkey42

Thanks to everyone.

This piece around internal WiFi router...what external routers are preferred and do they just plug in line. Sorry for such an analogue type question, lol...

Handsome_Chris

And also , can a Mac Book or lappy be plugged in via USB to bypass the need for Wi-Fi?

Musicwolf

Handsome_Chris said:

And also , can a Mac Book or lappy be plugged in via USB to bypass the need for Wi-Fi?

I think, well at least this is the way I do it, you need to connect laptop to XR18 via a network cable (cat6 thingy).  This is the same port that you would use to connect your external WiFi if you were doing it that way.  The laptop to XR18 via USB is for recording (the XR18 is acting as an audio interface).

maltingsaudio

Die hard Allen and Heath fan here, I’m not a fan of any mixer which doesn’t have physical faders for two reasons,.1 in a panic or a WiFi problem you can still function 2 Battery life on a tablet.
I do mix remotely on my iPad with my QU and iLive and it is a very handy feature but there are functions not available in the app. As to battery life, remember to keep the iPad charged, I find mine will do about 5 hours which is fine for a show not good for a festival.

As for routers I use airport express and AirPort Extreme, the express is better for range,in my opinion but both have been rock solid

Legionreturns

I have 2 XR18s. One in my studio and one in my gig rack case. Outstanding value! 

The only thing I'd consider changing it for is the Presonus Studiolive 32, which there are a few variations of, as I use Studio 1 as my DAW, and it has on board recording and fat channel fx 

You could also consider getting the XR18 and an X touch controller, which makes it more like a traditional mixer with faders. 

onyir

We have used an XR18 for a couple of years with just a couple of issues with the internal Wifi. You can't really go too far out front to mix, but it's been generally good enoguh to mix out front. I think you can also mix with a laptop connected via usb

Handsome_Chris

There's certainly a lot of love on here for the XR18.  It's helped make my mind up when this becomes a thing for us.

robinbowes

I bought a PA for my band about three years ago, and I went with the Yamaha TF-Rack, plus the TIO1608 Dante stage box, giving me 32 inputs and 24 outputs. It wasn't the cheapest option, but I perceived it to be better quality. It's been absolutely rock-solid and sounds superb.

I'm actually in the same camp as @maltingsaudio and if I was mixing other bands, I wouldn't get a mixer without a control surface. But, for my own band, when I'm often engineering from stage (while playing guitar!), the Rack-based mixer with an iPad app makes total sense.

R.

koneguitarist

Another fan of the Allen and Heath range here. Love their sound.