surprising brand... any opinions?
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Posted on Jul 20, 2005 10:44 am
DigiDuzer
Member Since: Aug 24, 2004
Hi all!
due to the newbie nature of my home studio, I'm always impressed when I can introduce some new features or fill some gaping void for a good price.
Though I haven't heard much about the brand, a lot of "ALTO" gear began becoming available through my local music store.
looking for a cheap analogue mixer for routing playback and providing some mic pre's, I picked up an S-8 board about a year back.
when looking for a compressor for a live gig, the Alto BK2.0 comp/limiter/expander/gate did wonders.
when a clearance sale came along, I added an AlphaVerb A/D/A digital reverb unit at half price.
packed with features and really clean.
I still know little about the reputation of this brand, but all I can atest to is that it has impressed me at every turn considering how much coin it left in my pocket...
just curious to hear what other ppl think about it!
thanks in Advance
and keep on trackin
A.D.
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BeerHunterwww.TheLondonProject.caMember
Since: Feb 07, 2005
Jul 20, 2005 11:18 am Hi DigiDuzer,
I've had the Alto S-8 for about a year and a half. I needed something cheap, and this filled the bill. When I first bought it I didn't even know what to look for in a mixer. All I knew is that if I was going to record the drum kit, I would need to reduce 6 mics down to 2 tracks. Now that I have a separate pre-amp and new soundcards, I use the mixer for feeding my PA.
It has a lot of features, has never let me down, and seems to be overall good value. My only complaint is that the knobs/pots seem a bit cheap. I don't think I would trust it in a gigging situation. But for home studio it works great.
Jul 20, 2005 11:29 am i can say, i've never heard of this company before, and i've reasearched alot of gear, but i looked it up and that processor seems like alot of features for very little money....the specs say it has a 98db Signal to Noise ratio....and considering 24bit audio has about 120db's of headroom ( i think )
holy ****!!
i was just reasearching and found one of the MOST informative website!
www.proav.de/index.html?h...ata/levels.html
back to the subject...ยง=o)
that's about 30db's of *estamated* noize.....which would get burried if it was on a track that's not as up front or ever on it's own (think just vocals for a second, when the music stops and the singer says a line or two) that would be the weak spot.
BUT!
if you're learning the art of recording, and really can't afford roughly $100 USD per channel, this thing is a damn good value and you can surely learn on it, just don't use it on EVERYTHING and you should be alright.
check into Behringer @ www.behringer.com/
i never thought i'd say that, but in your situation, it might be a viable solution.
Cheers
Jul 20, 2005 04:02 pm thanks for your feedback!
wyd00, that site is quite extensive!
can't believe you just stumbled accross it.
and beerhunter, surprised you actually opted against the s-8 for live..provided you're gentle in transport, the s-8 has served me well as a drum submix board in a live app. The preamps stay in a low-gain range with the high SPL's comin into the drum mics, so it's pretty silent. We generally get a better quality FOH mixer anyways...but I agree the alto knobs aren't as rugged as mackie's for e.g.
once again, thanks!
A.D.
Jul 20, 2005 04:05 pm Quote:
provided you're gentle in transport
Just idle curiousity, have you gigged much?
