PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Help! Tech S.O.S (Off topic) Deciding on a New Mixer, Which is Best?

<<< So does quantity trump quality? >>>

In the case of the XR12 and unless you intend or need to change the way you record, the answer this time is YES... The XR12 gives you more of Both....

1. All the used desks you found on Craigslist are big, bulky and heavy taking up a lot of studio real estate.
2. They are used and likely not from a studio environment and in every one of those models (and any others you find) are very suspect in regard to maintenance and dust/smoke and weather exposure. They require cleaning and Maintenance. Lots of knobs, buttons plugs, switches and faders (dust collectors!!!)
3. None of those models preamps are as clean and good as the XR12.
4. With the XR12, you have the equivalent of a studio having $10,000 or more of gates, compressors, eq's and Fx's. You can apply to each
channel and buss.
5. The Fx's Library is the same as their top of the line X32 and that is a desk used in commercial studios and pro tours. It would cost hundreds of dollars to purchase the library.
6. The XR12 is a digital mixer that does not rely on your CPU. Once you have Mute groups, Solo groups, digital routing, digital Fx and dynamics, full metering,
RTA, Auto Mix, pink noise, 12 graphic eq's in place to ring out your room and reduce or eliminate feedback, and scene, snippet and cue saves you will never look back. The XR12 is updating your gear and workflow, the analog mixers do not.

My current 'big' mixer is the Soundcraft Signature 22 MTK. It's a 22 out 24 return audio interface. I rarely use it. Each time I do, it requires quite a bit of setup time because I do not leave it out of its hardshell case. It requires too much space. I have tracked a 7 piece band with it. The preamps are clean, pristine sounding with a nice dynamic range and the Fx are top notch. It also has that 'WOW' factor when it's used and new artists come into my studio. But I rarely use it. 99% of the time whether in my home studio or field recording I record tracks with a Tascam DP24. It will record 8 tracks simultaneously. Only once in years, have I had the need to record more than 8 tracks at once using my equipment and that was with the 7 piece band. For live and recording, that band normally uses the Behringer X32 and on that one occasion, it was convenient to use my gear. I also have a Zoom H5 for field recording or as a 4 input interface in my studio. I have a Presonus 2 Channel Audiobox VSL interface and a single input USB Snowball mic I use for quick recording without the need of setup and syncing an interface. I could replace all my gear with the XR12 and have more studio gear 'in the box' (literally in the case of the XR12) than I have now.

Over time, I have owned the Behringer X32, a Presonus 16.4.2, a 32 channel Behringer, a 24 channel Behringer (true 24/32 input models), 12 and 16 channel Mackie's and several no-name boards. For a full time setup, any version of the Behringer X32 makes a great studio mixer. But it's big and bulky and needs to be permanently installed. If you use Studio One DAW, then one of their digital StudioLive mixers would be the best choice. The XR12 puts you in that category of quality. I will add also there are enough benefits and additional features between the XR12/XR16 units and the XR18 that from an investment in a studio upgrade and that you keep gear for a long enough period to get an adequate return on your investment, the XR18 (or X18 Desktop model) would be worth consideration. The XR18 provides a lot of additional digital software options, plus ultra net capability, plus additional physical Aux outs, and 18/18 audio interface. All in the same physical box size.... Each of these features alone are worth the upgrade price increase over the XR12/16.

To be honest, with your criteria in your first post, the XR12 is the closest thing to a no-brainer decision you will run into today in my opinion.