Yamaha 01V to replace Mackie for live sound

[Kris]

My buddy who owns a local club told me that the music store is trying to talk him into buying 2 Yamaha 01Vs to replace his old Mackie 24x8. Pros and cons anyone?

[David R.]

If the same band and or same sound person was there every night, sure. Doubt that is the case. Everyone who has touched a board knows how to run the Mackie. I remember many years ago, touring across the country with a band, we used the house system with my rack in all the clubs. It varied from nice 32 channel boards to 8 channels with two broken. I knew how to work and trouble shoot all of them because once you know signal path, you can track down the problems. With a digital mixer, you are dealing with software issues and when you have half an hour to get your band set up and sounding good, you want to deal with as little else as possible. And of course the music store wants him to buy a new system, that's how they make money. -David R.

[Kris]

Yes good advice... and they are always looking for another sound guy!

[DaveWalker]

Well: Con: Sound persons will need to learn the mixer to use it, and it is not as simple as a Mackie.... and that is a big con. You cant have your sound person flailing on the board durring shows..... however.... Pro: The ability to recall all settings is .... way cool, and for the money the O1V and a power amp is like having... 2 SPX units 18 to 20 compressor expanders (One on each channel, and auxes, and mains) Fully parametric 4 band EQ on each channel.... Up to 10 busses (with the expansion card, 4 analog busses by default) So it is an excellent Price vs Perfomance piece of gear. It also lends new meaning to "Sound Check", like they might really work becuase your sound check can be recalled when you start playing. I just replaced my 1604 with an O1V in my PA live rack... my live rack is just an O1v and a power amp (No outboard at all!) ... smaller, easy to cary ... recall presets for each club I play, and rehearsal, and remote recording, and recording at rehearsal... it really rocks. I mean, total recall of all paramiters, including monitor mixes... sweet! If the sound person knows, or learns the mixer, it will sound better becuase instead of starting from 0 each night, they can build on the sound and save changes, recall presets for regular groups that come and play, make presets for standard things like 5 piece band with Kick and snare and overheads, keys 3 vocals, 2 monitor mixes... Press a button... recall .... soundcheck ... tweek it ... save ..... done .... Of course .... I own 2 of them so I have to justify it to my wife and stuff .... [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img] [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img] [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img] My 2 cents..... ------------------ Dave Walker QA/Tech Support Manager [url=http://www.rocketnetwork.com]Rocket Network[/url] http://www.mp3.com/dbwalker Rocket Network user name: Dave

[fantasticsound]

The preceeding post outlines the ideal situation for justifying the purchace and use of a digital mixer for small, live applicatons. Unfortunately, this only applies to individual owners who operate the system themselves and venues that have a professional tech staff, which means large clubs only. Most small clubs use a variety of mixers, have makeshift mixing areas which are prone to equipment damage, and have poor to adequate power taps. The varying staff issue is, by itself, insurmountable for small clubs. Most can't afford one staff tech, let alone one who will babysit every guest or new mixer at the helm. Equipment damage is self explanatory. How many clubs have a dedicated mix position that's protected from customers, bartenders, waitresses, food, drink, and irresponsible mixers who place lit smokes and liquid refreshment on or near the equipment? Power is of paramount importance in this situation. Usually you get a few circuits that are not properly isolated from other equipment. Anything with a compressor (refrigerators, etc.), light dimmers (stage or house lighting), and other equipment can effect the power feed to the sound gear. Apply this mess to an analog board and you face noise problems, but little else, usually. Apply this to a digital board and the chance of system crashes multiplies. As stated, most mixers have no clue what can be done, if anything, on the fly to fix these problems. This is not the case with most mixers and analog boards. I'd love to have a digital mixer for the reasons stated in the previous post for my own system. In the end, a club needs to weigh ease of use and reliability higher than bells and whistles of high technology. Caveat emptor! ("Let the buyer beware." See, the Brady Bunch DID have some redeeming value in life. [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img] ) My 2 cents... more like a nickel's worth! Hope this helps. ------------------ Neil [b]Reality[/b]: [i]A few moments of lucidity surrounded by insanity.[/i]

[Kris]

[quote]Originally posted by fantasticsound: [b] The varying staff issue is, by itself, insurmountable for small clubs. [/b] Definately the main problem in this situation [b] Equipment damage is self explanatory. How many clubs have a dedicated mix position that's protected from customers, bartenders, waitresses, food, drink, and irresponsible mixers who place lit smokes and liquid refreshment on or near the equipment? [/b] not a problem in this case... there is a dedicated mix area that is up a ladder and above a bar... good for the safety of the equipment, but terrible for actually "running sound" since it is way of to the side of the stage and sounds like mud from there. [b] Power is of paramount importance in this situation. Usually you get a few circuits that are not properly isolated from other equipment. Anything with a compressor (refrigerators, etc.), light dimmers (stage or house lighting), and other equipment can effect the power feed to the sound gear. Apply this mess to an analog board and you face noise problems, but little else, usually. Apply this to a digital board and the chance of system crashes multiplies. As stated, most mixers have no clue what can be done, if anything, on the fly to fix these problems. This is not the case with most mixers and analog boards. [/b] no problem here... a previous owner had dreams of setting up a studio here by day and made clean power available to all the sound equipment. [b] I'd love to have a digital mixer for the reasons stated in the previous post for my own system. In the end, a club needs to weigh ease of use and reliability higher than bells and whistles of high technology. Caveat emptor! ("Let the buyer beware." See, the Brady Bunch DID have some redeeming value in life. [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img] ) My 2 cents... more like a nickel's worth! Hope this helps. [/b][/quote] Thanks much... definately helps keep the wheels spinning.