Road Tests

I’m not really sure if this is a review of a product or a phenomenon. Since it was unveiled at the 2012 Winter NAMM Show, the industry has been talking about Mackie’s DL1608, an iPad-enabled digital live mixer, to a level that hasn’t been experienced since the Alesis ADAT hit the streets some two decades ago. Part of this stems from the mixer’s impressive price/performance ratio and part comes from simply offering a cool — and convenient — way of working in the live environment.

“Innovative live sound solutions” and “World’s first smart mixing system,” they say. While a newcomer to the speaker/mixer market, Line 6 has a long history in technology, from its POD-enabled guitar processing to its respected family of XD digital wireless units. And with that in mind, I wanted to investigate these new speakers and mixer.

A potential game-changer for the industry, Behringer’s X32 digital console features 32 input channels (32 mic/line preamps), 16 XLR output buses (plus stereo XLR/TRS outs), multichannel digital I/O (AES50 Cat-5, FireWire, USB), 4-band parametric EQ and six aux sends on all inputs and eight onboard stereo multi-effects processors. Street price is $2,899. I tip my hat to the Behringer group for creating the board’s clean, feature-packed physical layout and intuitive onboard GUI.

Audio-Technica’s ATM510 cardioid dynamic handheld microphone is a rugged, full metal shaft mic fitted with a rare-earth Hi-Energy® neodymium magnet structure that is holstered in an internal shock mount to reduce handling and stage noise. The multi-layered grill provides a great first line of defense against the pesky “plosives” and assists in controlling distortion that may be caused from sibilant sounds and wind noise. MSRP is $169, with street pricing around $99.

For some years now, the Roland Systems Group has enjoyed a great deal of success with its M-series digital mixers. That said, I have never had the pleasure of mixing on one. Which is why editor George Petersen felt I was the perfect choice to review the Roland M-480 V-Mixer digital console. So, what you are about to read are my first impressions of this piece of technology.