Karaoke Forums

Hon,

All a powered mixer is ...is a mixer with the amp built in.

Get yerself the mixer you need that has all the mic inputs and other features you might ever want.

Then match a power amp to your speakers.

That's it, it's all over, you have what you need.

Well,....as with any mixer-powered or unpowered, you might need a few direct boxes or such it you plug in any electric devices, like keyboards or electric guitars.

But if you are running full acustic, then get a mixer with lots of mic inputs and go with it.

Lonman, I just did that.  :D  Here is what is now on the way:: (as soon as I take the behringer down to FedEx and send it back to them)

I had to pay $70 more for this one, but hey- I got a free mic along with it, though not a very spendy one, & Yamaha is a name I'm familiar with, and even the local stores I talked to here have said it would be a great choice. And I realize you CAN get a bad 'anything'..... there are duds of every brand of everything made. I have 4 kids and have purchased enough electronic gadgets at christmas to know that. (but SURELY "getting a dud" can't happen to me TWICE in a row?!?! Heaven forbid)

Cross your fingers this one works for me. And TY  :wave:

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Okay, I understand that. BTW...... I do have an electric bass, and would use that rather than a bluegrass style upright bass. (cause it's just kewler ) And my friend who sold me the guitar is now selling me a nice bass amp for it.

And my accoustic is an accoustic/electric- and I did use that guitar plugged in. And, I do have a sound hole pickup for my other accoustic guitar. That seems to get better sound than placing a mic in front of it.  

But- I see an upside to what your saying. Kinda the same reason I wont buy a DVD/VCR combo player- if one unit goes out, you still have the other. So if my mixer went bad, I still have the amp- and vice versa. And, no, this power mixer does NOT match my speakers. Atleast from what I am thinking. I need to get new speaks one of these days. But these are decent, and I don't have the $$ to replace them now anyhow.

Thanks Keith.

And BTW......... I'm running off with Steven's thread. He was asking about non powered mixers for comp use....... and I've taken the thread in a new direction. So I'll stop. I guess it's too late anyhow to change what I've purchased. No doubt I'll buy more later on, so at that time (BEFOREhand) I'll start my own thread.

Sorry Steven....... hijack over, hostages now released.  LOL

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

This is everyones thread, chat away... My hopes are that people can agree, or respectfully disagree; Realizing  that other's opinions are *their* individual truth... and we can learn something about how to purchase mixers.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

You GUYS just don't know the mess it can get you into by telling a gal "just chat away.....". Do ya?

Truth is, I'm all out of biotchiness for the day. I'm mellowed out, I'm getting over my bad mood.  You see, being a gal and all, I'm real likely to do that- just switch moods at the drop of a hat.

But be prepared, cause ya never know what's coming next. Atleast now I know you wont mind.  :shock:

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

This is a good little board.  The only thing I can see is the lack of power.  It only pushes 130 watts per channel into an 8 ohm speaker (which most PA speakers are).  I am afraid you may underpower your speakers & possibly damage them.  What kind of speakers do you have now?  What do you intend this mixer for primarily (and other projects)?

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Karyoker, that's exactly what my purpose is. Similar to what Charmin mentioned, having the option of multiinstrumental input applications. Can you make a suggestion as to mixer's that fit the bill ?  Quite truthfully, I don't know what to anticipate in this area "down the road" regarding expansion, since I really haven't even begun with the following-



Keith, Thanks for this.... I wasn't familiar with that term, so I looked it up, and this link is actually helpful
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_audio_workstation

This is exactly what I am looking to do..  Like Charmin, I was always one to just "play the instruments" and let other's with knowledge attend to the more technical aspects... with the advent of workstation technology, it's a "do-it-yourself" world, so even we musicians that didn't take an interest in tech aspects (as a result distanced ourselves from it) must have SOME amount of technical awareness...So while I might be slightly more adept than my parents (who couldn't possibly hook up components to an AV surround home entertainment receiver),  I've never even seen a "DAW", so truth be known, I haven't a clue whether I'd need a DI box for a weighted action keyboard controller, inputting my bass guitar, and whether or not one of the non-powered mixer's I interface with a computer might offer a compression, DI type feature onboard...as well as have the standard XLR input for the Shure SM-58 which is all one might need for JUST karaoke... I haven't a clue as to why a person would purchase an M-audio or Tascam type audio interface as opposed to a yamaha or mackie mixer loaded with features...I know Roll's makes DI boxes, yet there are many types of DI boxes, or AB boxes.... I just don't know...I'd really appreciate suggestions as to what to buy... specifically....Mixer OR audio interface  for a multiinstrumentalist and DAW setting...

Now this aside,  assuming a mixer is the more affordable feature filled and expandable route to take for DAW.... What mixer is the best bet that will have features I'd want ?  (as a home hobbyist and not a pro), difference being perhaps how much I can afford to spend now... I was thinking perhaps under $300  (not for everything, but JUST the mixer. I'm aware that I also want a keyboard -semiweighted action controller for MIDI-, and will have to expand the current 256 RAM on my computer, and will of course need software too)... Is $300 too little, and not a good start for the mixer according to what Karyoker, and you are mentioning regarding growth potential and sufficient features/ i/o  USB-2 options ? (Firewire is something I haven't a clue about...not sure my computer will even allow the option)...USB I assume is the route to take...  Tony suggested a USB interface... Assuming I go with a standard non-powered mixer, are there mixers that allow for USB connect such as the yamaha, or mackie types of standard mixer ? or will I need an adaptor for mixer---->USB ?  I assume mixer--->USB is preferable to mixer---->line-in ?

How about line-out of the Fender Twin into
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog-to- ... converters (using something like a stepdown transformer go into the computer)..  The more I read, the more confused I'm getting

Why would a person go "Audio Interface" vs "Feature-filled mixer" for around same price ?  Even for Karaoke vocals ?

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Stevie,
It look like what you really need is not a mixer but a good sound card. In your case the card must be able to take MIDI. And since you are basically a one man band the card need not have many input.

Then there are 2 type of card, USB/fire-wire and PCI. If you want to do recording with a lap top and or mobile, then you will need USB/fire-wire card. But since you are using a PC and basically at home then a PCI card is want you will need. They are  cheaper. Get one with a break away box so that you don't need to always look behind your PC when changing input.

The candidate is a 1010 from M- Audio, price at around $590, The best in its class.

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Delta1010-main.html





Then, you may need a good pre amp and  DIs

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

Thank's BadSinger.  That would be advantageous over the M-audio blackbox because I should have a better soundcard ?  I see that offers MIDI, Balanced, and unbalanced 1/4 i/0 yet for XLR I'd still need a mixer correct ?  Also increased RAM on my system (currently only 256),  Currently I have the Dell standard basic audio driver that comes basic with the Dimension P-4...Integrated AC-97. I suppose it makes sense that regardless of the quality and features any inputting devices I use have,  if my soundcard/audio driver is limited, that would be too limiting a factor in my mix ?  or is the mix and audio quality more of an aspect of software I use ? and those with a better soundcard on their systems would still hear a high quality mix assuming the recording hardware, and software I use is sufficient despite the quality of my own soundcard ? What I'm wondering, is whether or not a soundcard with better features actually affects input to the computer (doesn't USB-2 circumvent line-in to soundcard?).  Just curious,  thanks

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

A sound card is nothing but an A/D, D/A converter (analogue to digital converter), may be more . PCI card are always better than a USB card (for the same price range). And on the top of that latency is less of a problem.

If what you are doing is recording there is no need for a mixer; in fact you have enough channels to record a drum set.

The quality of any recorded tracks have very little to do with the program it is recorded with. It has more to do with the quality of the input sources and the quality of the hardware the audio signal pass thru. And the shorter the route the better.

You may need to up your RAM by2x


Cheers

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

Thank you Badsinger,  I'm learning load's of new things from all of you... I appreciate all the help, and advise. It appears that it's best to spend more than what I anticipated for just the audio digital interface aspects of the DAW....Yet if that's what's best for my application, I have no problem with doing so....

I would rather find out beforehand what I should have, spend more where it's important to spend more....I don't want to go into this new area unprepared, therefore unhappy with wrong purchases, and expectations......It appears first things first....

M-audio 1010
increase RAM


                                                                      thanks again...

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Peavey has a new FX series mixer I'm waiting to see close up....I'm thinking I may try it.

LONMAN::

Here are the specs for this NEW mixer *the Yamaha*

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... sku=630192

Here's the info on my speakers::

Accoustic Studio Monitor
Max Pwr-  125 Watts Program
Min Pwr Handling- 5 Watts
Nominal Impedance- 8 Ohms
Frequency Response- 35-22 Khz
Sensitivity- 92 db per Watt
Digital Ready
Made in USA

That's it, hope that gives ya some idea. Cause I'm  pretty clueless about most of it.

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Between the M-audio1010, Expanding RAM, and a semi-weighted keyboard, and DI box and cables...I'm looking over 1K...  Than there's software.....  Maybe it's time to find a more affordable and appropriate hobby for a 50 year old... clutzy fart...

Maybe I'll just take up a nice affordable interest, something like getting a pair of roller-blades, and put myself out've my misery.... put you folks out've your misery too..

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Behringer - I purchased the PMX2000 powered mixer awhile back.

1st One :  One of the channels was DOA
2nd One: 3 channels came down with a bad BUZZ/HUMM - Had to send this one back to the factory only to be told it could not be fixed and I was offered a new replacement.
3rd One:  Working flawlessy ever since and is a nice small and liteweight unit for some of my smaller gigs.

Like many I've read many conflicting reviews on BEHRINGER some love them some hate them.   I'll admit that a few months ago I went out and bought one of their NON powered Mixers 122FX.  So Far SO Good (knock on wood -fingers crossed)
I liked the PRICE , liked the fact that it was rackmountable - Liked the on board effects over the Mackie DFX12 I was using.  I guess if you're a gambler and get lucky you can't beat the price and features that the Behringer products offer.
If you like a sure thing you'll need to spend twice as much for another brand.

Anyone want to buy a used MACKIE DFX12 ???