Re: AW: Alesis Multimix 8 Line. 1u mixer for looping.

[andy butler <akbutler@tiscali.co.uk>]

hi Luis, (and loopers everywhere suffereing the "mixer problem")

I had a really good look at the Alesis 8Line.

The chips used are the cheapest op amps available for audio.
The construction is good enough, but not better than Behringer
( held together by self tap screws).
The "tech support" on the website never replies at all.

As it's a line mixer though, the cheap chips only have to do  1:1 
amplification, which means the sound quality doesn't suffer too much.

I wouldn't consider it for studio use, but for live work I think it's
going to scrape by.
As for noise levels...less than the EDPs.

I was able to successfully mod the 8Line so that the mic input, and
one other, are sent to the FX send without going to the main mix.
That's a very easy hack to do which makes the mixer loop friendly,
just clipping a few wires. (plus of course the 3 days to work out
which wires to clip because Alesis won't provide docs).
I also added switches for that, which is a bit harder, but 
allows a bit of flexibility.
I reckon it wouldn't be hard to do other mods to the 8Line, luike 
re=routing

I don't know the Rolls stuff at all, don't even know if
there's a European dealer.
...but I mailed their tech support to test them out on your behalf ;-)



Anyway, those 2 mixers have very different feature lists,
surely that's the first consideration?


andy butler















L.Angulo wrote:
> hey Andy,
> Still investigating this.
> Which one do you think is better in terms of sound quality between this 
>and the Rolls RM 65B?
> 
> specs here for both
> 
> http://www.rolls.com/pdf/DS_RM65.pdf
> 
> http://www.alesis.com/multimix8line
> 
> anyone?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> Is this the ideal small mixer we've
>> all been looking for?
>>
>> Alesis Multimix 8 Line. 1u mixer for looping.
>> http://www.alesis.com/multimix8line.
>>
>>
>> Feature list and mini review.
>>
>> features
>>
>> All connections on 1/4 unbalanced jacks unless otherwise
>> noted.
>> 8 stereo/mono input channels,  vol, balance, fx send
>> *Stereo* FX send ( works with channel pan/balance, for each
>> channel)
>> stereo FX return (with vol control)
>> Channel 1 switches to a mono microphone input, XLR, no
>> phantom.
>> Main outs on balanced jacks with master vol.
>>
>> ..and some additional connections on *stereo* 1/4 in jacks
>> Monitor out...after master vol
>> Mix out ...before master vol
>> Input to main bus.
>> Input to fx bus.
>> (those last 3 are officially for daisy chaining 2 or more
>> units).
>>
>> Comments
>> 1) stereo fx bus....that's very useful
>> 2) seems well built, and sounds ok. Not noisy.
>> 3) none of the controls has a 0dB calibration, which makes
>> set up that much harder. ( the cheap Behringer
>>  stuff often has this). Not really a problem.
>> 4) the mic input sounds good enough for live work with good
>> full range response. Not for studio though, there's
>>  a distinctive quality/color to the transient response, and
>> no 48V.
>> 5) Mic pre-amp doesn't have an insert, and there's no way
>> to make fx send pre fade. In simple terms
>>   this means you can't EQ the mic, or compress it.
>> (and can't use my Vortex patches!)
>> 6) the additional connectors  available give some
>> scope for  extra routing, as long as you
>>    don't mind using Y-cables.
>> 7) neither of the 2 additional outputs has an independent
>> vol control, (such as would be useful for
>>   sending to Zoom H2 for recording)
>> 8) there's no mixer schematic in the manual, it's printed
>> on the top of the unit. Obviously
>>   when you rack the unit you no longer have the
>> schematic which is the only way to see
>>   the mixer features at a glance.
>> 9) Balanced outs means that you only need a couple of jack
>> to XLR converters and
>>   you're able to say " I have my own DI box" to any
>> sound engineer you encounter when playing live.
>>   This reduces their anxiety about how to deal with
>> your complex setup to zero.
>> 10) no official way to make sends pre-fade, which would
>> make the unit much more usable.
>>
>> Conclusion
>> Very nearly a neat way to route your looping gear, and add
>> a microphone
>> with just a 1u unit.
>>
>> If you don't need to use the mic-pre there's no real minus
>> points to the mixer,
>> apart from lack of pre-fade sends.
>> Sound quality is easily good enough for live work.
>>
>> Big disappointment is the implementation of the mic input.
>> There's no way to
>> eq the mic, so unless you want a flat response, and have a
>> dynamic mic that
>> will give that you can't really this mixer. Using with an
>> SM58, for instance, will
>> just give you that unclear boxy sound which is normally
>> filtered out at the desk.
>> So, probably ok for announcements that no-one understands.
>> I'm ok, I have a Sennheiser 421 which works very well for
>> feeding assorted
>> acoustic sounds into the loops (on the fx send), but those
>> aren't exactly
>> cheap.
>> Generally, anyone looking to add a mic to their setup ( or
>> to remove a mic-pre
>> to save weight/space) is going to be frustrated.
>>
>> Further investigation.
>> It must be possible to mod this unit so that there's a way
>> to eq( or Vortex)  the mic.
>> but no service sheet available.
>>
>> I emailed Alesis tech support, US *and* UK and was sent a
>> pair of automated responses
>> promising a reply within 2 days....about a week ago.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> andy butler
>>
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> 
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