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Zoom L-12 v Zoom L-8


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Who said that the virus means one necessarily should be saving? I'm thinking of making a purchase.

 

Anyone have any experience with these units? I'm looking for views about which makes most sense for me.

 

Here are the pages describing both:

 

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/L12--zoom-livetrak-l-12-12-channel-digital-mixer-recorder

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/L8--zoom-livetrak-l-8-8-channel-digital-mixer-recorder

 

Essentially, both allow mixing and recording directly onto an SD card. The smaller one has 8 channels, and runs on batteries. If I were to buy that, I would probably take it to gigs (rather than an even smaller Yamaha mixer I now use). Not sure I would do the same with the 12 channel unit.

 

The main function for either would be to record rehearsals at my home, without having to hook up an interface to a computer (which I just find kind of cumbersome). Most of the time I am playing jazz and the instrumentation is basically acoustic. Occasionally, I play organ with a guitarist. I currently own just 2 mics, but have some aspirations to buy additional mics and see if I can make somewhat decent recordings. For the immediate future, though, I'm just recording myself and rehearsals with no bigger than sextets.

 

Here is a comparison chart my friendly salesperson at Sweetwater made. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/compare.php?item1=L8&item2=L12

 

Most of the differences exceed my limited technical understanding.

 

Can anyone make a recommendation which is best for me?

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I own and love the L12. My old Tascam 428 blueberry died a horrible death due to Windows 10, so I chose this as a replacement. Works great as a stand-alone recorder (just need to get used to somewhat bizzare file names), and can interface with computers and iPads (dedicated back panel switch for that). I haven"t used it in a live situation, but the recording I"ve done with it is way above its price level. The L8 wasn"t available when I purchased mine, but if it has the same specs I"m sure it will do what you need.

When you rehearse why not go directly into the L12? The L12 has 5 separate monitor outs which would give everyone a tailored feed and still have a pure mains out to speakers ( I don"t know how many monitors the 8 has). Use the 2 mics for overall spread and line in for the instruments.

 

Here"s an example of me just fooling around after getting my fretless Jazz bass - forgive the exuberant slides.

 

[video:youtube]

 

Jake

1967 B-3 w/(2) 122's, Nord C1w/Leslie 2101 top, Nord PedalKeys 27, Nord Electro 4D, IK B3X, QSC K12.2, Yamaha reface YC+CS+CP

 

"It needs a Hammond"

 

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I picked the L12 up from SW for $100 off when it first came out in 2018. The L8 wasn't available at the time. I agree with everything lightbg said about the L12's capabilities for recording and as an audio interface.

 

I would add that I've used my L12 6 - 8 times live to mix a couple of bands I play with. IMO for live sound mixing, the L12 is clean sounding, user friendly, and I've never had any problems with it.

Gigs: Nord 5D 73, Kurz PC4-7 & SP4-7, Hammond SK1, Yamaha MX88 & P121, Numa Compact 2x, Casio CGP700, QSC K12, Yamaha DBR10, JBL515xt(2). Alto TS310(2)

 

 

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I've read that People are liking the low latency of the UAC-2 but there are problems

with sysex interference causing MIDI corruption. Haven't seen anything on the L12.

Triton Extreme 76, Kawai ES3, GEM-RPX, HX3/Drawbar control, MSI Z97

MPower/4790K, Lynx Aurora 8/MADI/AES16e, OP-X PRO, Ptec, Komplete.

Ashley MX-206. future MOTU M64 RME Digiface Dante for Mon./net

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