Are these things worth it?
I currently use a Soundcraft mixer (Signature 12) - its 12 channels (6 mono and 3 stereo) but was actually bought for home primarily - its a 12 in 14 out interface.
But - Im looking and the XR18. The upside is its smaller (will give me desk space back at home and easy to transport live) AND has a lot of stuff I dont have for live (31 band GEQ, 4 band para, compressors, limiters, de-essers etc - 6 monitor outs v my current 2 etc).
The down side - no control surface in its own right. I can use my PC at home - but would need to get used to needing my PC on whenever I play (which it is most of the time at present, but not always). It would connect via Ethernet in this context. Live Id need to buy a tablet (as I dont have one) so that ups the cost - or I have an old laptop I could re purpose (battery isnt great, would need to be mains plugged at the time). Adding the Tablet means I could use that at home as well - taking up less desk space than the mixer does currently.
I could keep the sound craft as a hardware backup, or option or could sell and recoup some costs (enough to cover the tablet as long as I go android plus a little more probably).
So - is it work changing? What I have works fine, but it does take space, and does lack those "plug in" processor bits. Recording/mixing is fine as I have Studio one 4 plus other plugins - its just for practice, as an interface and possibly for live.
Comments
Obviously not if I use the laptop live as I could use Cat5, nor for home use as the tablet would be directly in front of the XR - with the PC via Cat 5 being used 95% of the time - but yeh for walking out front and mixing for a tablet not great news.
It's about £200 more than the Behringer but spec wise pisses all over it
Gives you a lot of capabilities that you can't get in a small analogue setup without spending a lot more money. Been very pleased with it for the cash.
external router is needed if you are using wifi, other than that it’s great, what surprised he after upgrading is just how much better it sounded than our old analogue desk
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Phablet-Android-Support-Bluetooth-TYD-107/dp/B083GXTJY4/ref=sr_1_13?keywords=10%22+Tablet&qid=1582401968&sr=8-13
or should I go for something better from Samsung? (over twice the price though).
a surface for the XR would be the only thing its used for.
something like this in the middle ground:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TECLAST-Processor-Acceleration-1920x1200-Bluetooth/dp/B07Y51KL5Z/ref=pd_sbs_147_13?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07Y51KL5Z&pd_rd_r=073e2b32-34fb-4afb-b4b9-e52219fbe762&pd_rd_w=AMNix&pd_rd_wg=jWFSq&pf_rd_p=96cae456-8d7a-4bc1-91c7-9b20b4dfd7c9&pf_rd_r=W16073QCN28VAHKBTBBQ&psc=1&refRID=W16073QCN28VAHKBTBBQ
There's been a couple of times I've come unstuck recording wise so the ability to record 2 multitrack's of the gig is quite appealing
I did look at the X18 as it's only for running our monitors onstage and the X18 is nice and cheap but there's no way of getting five stereo mixes out of it ... as far as I can tell which is what I need. Plus 16 channels is a bit limiting when I need 8 for drums minimum then got 4 keyboards, 2 guitars, bass and 4 vocals