I'm in the market for a new mixer. I recently sold my old analog table, which sounded great but was inconvenient (whenever I had to remix a project, I had to reinvent the wheel). I've been doing the usual surfing and I've found that everybody says the mixer they just bought is great ... following one such recommendation, I checked out one "hot" digital mixer and perhaps the model I got was defective but it sounded terrible: very high noise floor and the most unnatural sounding bass I've ever heard. Boosting the bass simply made the signal distort. Now, I've read a lot of good things about the DA7, but I'd like to hear from some real users what they think about it. Specifically, is it quiet; when you boost the EQ does it remain natural throughout the spectrum; is there a sense of "air" in the sound? Any tips (good or bad) about the unit would be appreciated. I have a budget that would allow me to get a Mackie DB8, but if I can get away with a great sound for less money, I'm always happier. Anybody have any suggestions? -- Max
P.S. Most of the projects I do are for TV and film, so I'm more interested in something that sounds clean and quiet rather than something "semi-pro" that has a lot of bells and whistles.

The forum archives are practically bursting at the seams with praise for the sound of the Da-7...Do a search, then check out the Mackie forum for the D8B. They are PISSED OFF! They have all been recording 16 bit on their $10,000 mixers for the past two years!
When I sit here listening to a great mix on my tandem (24Bit)Da-7 /Nuendo setup, I just have to shake my head and laugh at those poor suckers who bought into the HYPE and marketing blitz of Mackie(I know, its wrong to laugh at the misfortune of others, but....). Use your EARS!

mr attax,

Well, the DA7 is not a bells and whistles board on first glance -- that is, it has no reverb, no effects cards, no touch screen, and only 8ch of phantom power.

However, the mic pre/converter combo sounds really good. If you are using board automation (as opposed to DAW mixing), the automation is hailed by other posters here as being as good as Neve's Flying Fader package (sounds too good to be true, eh?)

Here's my story. I was using ana analog board and a PreSonus Digimax stright into my MOTU and was pretty happy. But, when I heard a DA7 I heard a -dramatic- difference in transients, and the high and low frequency response/definition. The PreSonus had top end, but I think the converters might have been decimating some of it. The DA7 gave drum hits more punch, air, and improved imaging.

The pres are quiet.

The EQ was a tad weird, at first. Others have said that it is hard to get used to because it so transparent. For sure, it is definitely NOT like analog EQ. I mix in software so I don't use it on mixdown, but I do use it when tracking for a hi-pass filter and generally to reduce odd resonances from my so-so room.

The compression is similarly transparent. Again, not phony, but just hard to hear at times. I find myself cutting more deeply with the 7's EQ. The comp has modest gain reduction, but can also be cascaded to good effect.

The custom/MIDI layer has some neat applications (read Craig Anderton's article on how to turn it into a wah-wah "pedal").

But, for me it comes down to two things. A mixer should have a clean signal path and should be easy to use.

That it is.

I can set up a second headphone mix as quickly as I could with an analog mixer. Put one hand on the aux level control, the other on each channel selectors and go! You can even set up a scene for this, I believe.

Go play with one when you get the chance. You won't believe the sound. Especially for the money.

Not to get into board bashing, but the D8b has known architecture problems that will be solved only by releasing another model.

Notice the lack of technical problems raised on this board as compared to Mackie's message board. Also, we have a tight little community here, frequently visited by an engineer from Panasonic (maric, Carl Marinoff).

Good luck in selecting, hope my post was helpful.

JM

------------------
Give me the %$#%^$# keys, $%#^sucker!

WOW!! I didn't know the Mackie mixer was recording at 16 bit. That would really piss me off. I mean that's like ... man, that sucks!

Is that fact?? Do you know for sure?? Does anyone have the scoop?? (sorry to get off topic, but jeez...thats unbelievable)

I would be totally pissed off and demand my money back (sort of like the time I ordered the Tyson/Holyfield fight on Pay/per view -where Tyson bit Holyfield's ear off -- I was on the phone to the Las Vegas boxing commission for the next 2 days demanding that Tyson's purse be w/held and refunded to those who ordered the fight.) But I'm kinda' weird.

*******
Anyway - I love my DA7. It isn't as flashy as the others (its about as unflashy as they get), but it sounds great! I mean it really sounds great! That's what's important to me. I bought mine 2.5 years ago. Today, I would do the exact same thing.

Honest to God, if someone gave me 50K to spend on my studio, I still would keep the same board (maybe I'd buy another one).

Nothing but quality. It is one of the few things I've ever bought in my life I can say I'm TOTALLY satisfied.

Max. Make no mistake.Do you want bells and whistles or a board that just plain sounds great?.When you buy a digi miixer most of what you are paying for is ad da conversion.You can see for yourself the problems people are having over at the Mackie and T -word sites.And why would a third party company like Apogee make a converter package for a mixer (Yamaha 02R)?Let your ears be the judge.For me the choice was the easiest I have made because Panasonics converters in the SV 3700
and 3800 have made these master recorders industry standard.And really, I checked them ALL out before I made a choice and would encourage anyone to do the same.Good luck and hopefully welcome aboard.

[This message has been edited by vincoprod (edited 04-29-2002).]

http://www.musicplayer.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=17;t=002206;p=

TheTruth
“i am NOT someone that praises something just for fun… we had several consoles in our studio rooms… Our main room uses a Soundtracs digital console… Our 2 postpro suites are equipped one with a little Oxford, and the other with 2 DA7s… Before we decided to go with panasonics, we had a big testing-phase, with side-by-side working tests in our rooms. 02r, Spirit, d8b, da7 and the tm-d8000 had been candidates. Ramsa won… when the DM24 came out, we thought that we maybe should upgrade the one room also to a 96Khz option…So we got one and tried it out…We returned it 3 weeks later… It was simply...the sound… the DM24 may be a nice choice for a home recording setup, or a small project studio, a Panasonic WR-DA7 can even help when your big-buck console fails… The Ramsa twins won again…”


[This message has been edited by Leslie (edited 04-29-2002).]

That's a good point, chrisg. If I were to expand I would also get a second DA7 instead of migrating to a larger console. It just sounds too good and is too easy to use.

If I were in the market, right now, for another board, I would buy another DA7.
Jim K.

OK, so everyone is talking about the AD/DA conversion, cool, I haven't tried that yet. My little '7' is used for playback and mixing, I have about thirty pres for the front end, My rcorder has great converters.

I would rank the '7' up with the 'big' digi consoles as far as ease in the way it works and the way it sounds.

H. you dog.

Chrisg,

It's not exactly that simple. What it is, is the tape outputs only output 16 bits when the tape output control is set to unity gain. Move the control a little bit more or less and it outputs 24 bits. This problem started when they first released their version 3.0 software for the board. I think Mackie is very embarasses about this. As many defenders of the D8B as there are on the Mackie forum, there are so many people that are upset with one thing or another (check out the polarity issue). If you take a look at their forum and then come over here, it's like night and day.

i bought a tandem setup when they first came out and lets say i know my digital. these boards had there share of problems. panasonic sent me the first pair of modified aesebu cards to make up for it. they never fixed the aesebu outputs as the promised. this was from the albino looking guy with long hair and someone else in charge, it's been so long that i forgot there names. i presently purchased a new aesebu card and am having trouble finding out if the fixes are built into the new card without installing and testing"not an easy task" the card has no dauther board mounted on it like my others. all in all though it is clean 24 bit for the most part no phase and latentsy problems. and most of all what you put in is what comes out. the pres, eq, and dynamics are very useable although i use outboard pres.there tech support is there but in the past my experience was that all the real thinking happened in japan. i still have noisy fans but they sent me replacement ones. they still look like a bitch to put in.my guess is that if 24bit 48khz is your game in this price range than these are the boards to buy. i would be remiss in not looking at the new 02r96, you get less channels but 96khz converters do a better job on 48 or 44.1 .
please excuse my spelling
dallek

We recently replaced our fan and it was simple. You need 2 people to do it - 1 to hold up the ADDA board and the other removes the old fan and puts in the new one.

Wow, I did it by myself, an assistant would have been nice. It was easy and the best part was looking inside, it's a really cool board.

I flew solo on the fan thing as well and it was quite easy. I cant wait to change out the noisy one in the other board....it will be blissful (relative) silence! And to get back to why someone should by a DA-7...Total kick ass customer support. They do things like send you parts for free that would cost alot of money and downtime to have replaced at the service center.

I guess that means they appreciate us after all.

Hi Maxattax...

you won't go wrong with the "7"... the only thing us europeans need to get sorted out is
WHO IS DOING THE AFTER SALES SERVICE AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT.

My board hasn't had virtually anything in over 2 years, now, but I wouldn't now where to go to - here in Switzerland - to get spares, etc.

How's the situation up there in Belgium?

Cheers,

JingleJungle
(a.k.a. Paul)

I am in a similar situation to maxattax, looking for a new digital mixer. I have been reading this message board, so I am aware that most DA7 users seem happy with this unit. My problem is that I have not had a chance to do any real work on a DA7, or even hear it in a ?pro environment.? I have been to several local music stores including GC, but no place is set up with a combination of good monitors, good source material and a quiet room. I am hoping that someone on this list can point me to one or more commercial releases that have been done on the DA7. If none exist, perhaps someone on this list who is proud of their work would write me a CD. I would gladly replace it with a blank. A third possibility would be for me to visit one of your setups if any of you are located within reasonable driving distance of central NJ.
Since my setup revolves around DP3 and a 2408II, any recordings using a similar setup would be perfect, but basically I want the hear the sound quality for myself. Thanks.

Hey, I will gladly upload a tune recorded on my DA7. I use 2408 and Nuendo. I am always afraid of "giving out" copies of my client's work, so it will be a tune from my personal band's CD (not done yet!) Look for it this week in the uploads section.

Meanwhile, there are three tunes in my upload folder that have overdubs recorded on the 7. But, my drum recordings sound dramatically better with the 7, more detail, depth, and focus -- they were recorded before with a DIGIMAX.

JM

JM and list.
Thanks for your speedy reply. I have checked out several of the MP3 files in the User File Archive, and I must say that many of the members of this group seem to be doing excellent work (JM put me on your list for your finished CD.) I may be overly fussy in my decision-making, but judging audio equipment solely on MP3 files seems unfair to the equipment as well as musicians, engineers, etc. That’s why I was hoping to hear a CD or a full resolution file.
GL

Hiroshima's Between Black&White Windham Hill Jazz. Recorded and mixed on tandem DA7's.

[This message has been edited by vincoprod (edited 05-13-2002).]