MG166C vs Phonic Helix Board 18

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Member Since: Apr 21, 2010

Hey guys,

A couple of year back I bought a Yamaha MG166C USB as my first mixer and at the time I didnt realise that you could only send one stereo channel over USB (big regret). I've since bought a M-Audio Delta 1010lt and a hosa snake so that I can record multichannel for live sessions with my band, however the problems with latency and background noise have been infuriating.

Also, as I move my computer between my bedroom and my "studio" every time I want to record, it's really irritating having to reconnect all the rca cables.

My question to you is, given that I will be using two condensers, a snare mic and a kick mic for my drum kit, and then a further 3 or 4 mics for vocals/DIs from guitars, would it be worth me getting one of these (www.dv247.com/mixers/phon...i-mixer--46830) so that I can use the supposedly zero latence and hopefully interferance free firewire interface rather than my Yamah and my Delta?

How do they compare sound-wise and is it worth me shelling out the extra cash?

Thanks a lot :)

Mike

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Uh, at least one more time . . .
Member
Since: Feb 07, 2007


May 08, 2011 06:33 pm

Shouldn't you be able to (perhaps, though, not want to) monitor off the Yamaha and eliminate latency issues? I'm assuming the latency comes from monitoring recording software, no? And what "background noises" are you referring to? Generated from the Delta 1010, the band, the mixer?
I used to lug my computer from home to the practice space (crazy, but what else could I do?) and back. We finally got a couple of used computers ($50.00 each, Pentium 4 Dells); one is set up at the space, with the old Behringer 2442A desk and, now, a Behringer Ultragain 8-in 8-out lightpipe ($150.00 on E-bay) into an E-mu 1616M (about $100.00, E-bay) for a total of 10-in, 10-out. It sounds quite good (we monitor through the desk's AUX outs, as always), and I'll never un-hook and re-hook cables again (I also invested in two patchbays and many cables (siesmicaudiospeakers.com). I bring an outboard hard drive-it's the only thing that gets hooked and un-hooked. Super easy. We get maximum flexibility with this relatively cheap set-up.
I guess what I'm saying is that maybe your current set-up isn't as bad as you think. However, that mixer you might get sounds and looks like a good deal, and will make things easier for you, with way more ins and flexibility.

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