Mixer question - does 4 subgroups mean 4 monitor mixes?

relic245

Just seen a second hand Mackie CFX12 mixer. 

The spec says 12 channels and 4 subgroups. Is that the same as 4 individual monitor mixes? 

I've tried to find review etc but as it's a discontinued unit not able to find anything. 

Danny1969

No not really 

You need 4 aux sends for that.  

You can send a channel to a subgroup and then adjust  the overall level of what comes out the sub group

But the level of whats going there depends on the fader level whether an aux send is independent of the fader lever (at least for a monitor send )

Danny1969

Oh and that mixer is a bit bizarre in how it works.  You have to send things to the subgroups and then use the subgroups to patch to the main Left and Right.  I repaired a 16 channel version of the same mixer. 

Look for a Mix Wizard 16 ... that can do what you want 

Whistler

@relic245 , an example of where 4 sub groups come in useful is to put all the drum mics into one subgroup, all the vocals into another, bass into another and everything else into the 4th subgroup. That way it can be easier, once set up, to fade the vocals all at the same time or the drums as one kit.

As Danny1969 says, the number of aux outputs is what you are looking for for seprate monitor feeds.

As a generalisation I have noticed that 12 channel mixers often have 2 aux outs, 16 channel mixers have 4 aux outs and 18 channel mixers have 6 aux outs.

relic245

Thanks both, I get it now   Sometimes you just have to understand the terminology.