MOTM

--- In motm@y..., media.nai@r... wrote:
> The Crest doesn't have busses. 

Well, a mixer without (summing) busses wouldn't be a mixer, 
would it? :-) I count 13 (Mono, L, R, G1-G4 and 6 auxes). If you 
mean subs, submasters or subGROUPS, there are 4. The Crest 
is intended for live use, but don't discount the sonics - they are 
top notch - way beyond the price point and it's built like a tank.

>The Crane is more like an overpriced AD
> converter with faders, than a production mixer. 

We are talking about "high end" rack mixers and it does sound 
real good. Perhaps the most analog sounding A/D available 
(based on a proprietary dither scheme I heard was distributed 
based on Fletcher/Munson rather than the typical noise shaping 
curves).

>The Manley is extremely
> expensive and way too minimal.

Yeah, but it's a Manley, what did you expect? Hutch is an 
absolutely brilliant designer.

> Right now, I am leaning towards the Allen & Heath four bus 
>(WZ14:4:2+).

These are nice from my recollection, I almost bought one. I 
ended up with a CAD (perhaps the biggest of all rack mixers) 
that I eventually returned because of all of it's problems (mosty 
mechanical, it sounded incredible - straight wire with gain and a 
pinch of warmth - minimal caps in the signal path - lots of servo).

> The Midas 160 is another option...

Haven't heard it yet, people like the EQ a lot. It's probably a little 
warmer than the Crest based on their bigger consoles.

Barry