How to Choose the Best Digital Mixer on Any Budget

Shopping for gear has never been as simultaneously exciting and complex as it is today, and digital mixers are no exception. We should know: we have to keep track of so many! On the flip side, this allows us to get up close and personal with the gear we carry to help our audience navigate the seemingly limitless number of options. After careful review, Sweetwater’s studio scholar, tenacious technologist, and guitar guru Mitch Gallagher has crafted a comprehensive collection of the best digital mixers for any budget. Check it out!

00:00 — Intro
00:46 — Things to Consider
01:08 — I/O
01:40 — Channel Count
02:09 — Ease of Use
03:00 — Expandability
03:42 — Multitrack Recording
04:15 — Monitoring Options
04:41 — Sound Quality
05:06 — FOH Engineer & Location
06:07 — Weight & Size
06:23 — Price
06:43 — 11 Mixers We Carry at Sweetwater
06:50 — Behringer X32
07:44 — Behringer Powerplay P16-M
08:37 — Soundcraft Ui24R
09:45 — Midas M32C
10:20 — Midas DL32
11:06 — Zoom LiveTrak L-8
11:52 — Allen & Heath Avantis
13:00 — TASCAM Model 12
14:08 — TASCAM Sonicview 24XP
15:13 — PreSonus StudioLive 32R
16:20 — QSC TouchMix-30 Pro
17:15 — Behringer WING
18:10 — Behringer X Air XR18
18:55 — Outro


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[BSP]

Just picked up a wing for our church about a month ago. Love it!

[ShahabTolouieOfficial]

UI24r has been fantastic for our Trio. We use it the same as Mitch explained here. In a rack with splitters so we can either send each channel untouched, or just a main stereo with FX for smaller gigs. We record every concert multitrack to a thumb drive. Each of us has total control over their IEM. Our sound engineer walks around the room with his tablet and has everything under control, while we have hardwired LCD with mouse and keyboard as a backup in case of signal loss which by the way has never been needed within the three years we're using this system. The preamps sound awesome and we have spare channels and Aux's for guest musicians and possible future expansions. Awesome system indeed 😊👍🎸🎶

[revp]

Great video Mitch. Thx.

I’m an M32/C, XR/MR18 user. Couldn’t be happier with them for studio, band rehearsals, live mixing and tracking, audio interface for my key rigs and backing tracks. Excellent quality and ease of use.

Looking forward to upgrading to WING and it’s maybe future iterations.

[ScottsSynthStuff]

I have the X32 you show at the beginning of the video. It runs my home studio and acts as my 32 channel audio interface. I love it, I just wish they would either enlarge or get rid of the "cell phone holder" on the bottom right of the mixer, which is utterly useless, as it's sized to hold the tiny cell phones from 2012, when the X32 was released.

[RayR]

Good stuff as usual Mitch. Also your looking sharp in the suit.

[tubaguy]

Had a chance to use an Avantis the last cpl weekends. Visibility and workflow was super.

[obijuan]

My Presonus StudioLive 32SX is a beauty!

[karyn_davidcuellar]

Awesome video like always. Been using the x32 for years never had problems with it.

[TraneFrancks]

Really nice ad for Music Tribe. I do like Behringer and Midas stuff, but the video really did feel like an ad for their parent company.

[christopherjobe]

I’ve owned most of these and the M32C/S32 combo imo is the absolute winner here for most budget situations with demanding needs and travel & environment conditions. I am closely watching the development of the Wing rack that’s quite far along in its development but until it’s proven to be more reliable than the console version the M32C steers the ship.

[shawnja]

Our church just got a Behringer x32 compact....and it's a beast

[PeterLazar]

Rack mounted mixers on the stage, using iPad are amazing. BUT connecting a headphone to solo and tune channels is a real pain.

[Itaketoomanypics]

I’ve used the avantis it’s a beast and love it and using waves network expansion to a laptop for recording in logic was a breeze

[albertopalos]

Upgrade you all!! The best choice now is the Allen & Heath SQ series 😉 with a 96 KHz sample rate

[alanwherrera]

This channels is always a wealth of right information

[moss]

You might be interested in the 1010 Music Bluebox digital mixer & recorder. 12 Channels, effects, awesome routing, MIDI controllable, Compressor, 3 Effect sends. <600$, ultra compact, USB powered, 6 inputs. A eurorack version also available.

[Palvader]

I appreciate your using the X32 as a great example! Due to inflation, it is less expensive now then when it came out in 2012 (and the M32, in 2014)!

[TungTech_]

Good news, took your time. Now, when I'm introducing new techs to dante controller, they won't be so terrified.
Hoping for a zoom function or a less cluttered UI.
I'm looking forward to dark mode.

[InRoB-Music]

I‘m impressed in keith mcmillen k-mix! Why you don‘t show this amazing gear?

[cletuswa]

The LiveTrak L-8 (and the L-12, which I bought then returned) doesn't allow SD card multitrack recording pre-compressor (even though the L-20 does), which makes the compressors unusable during recording. Also no remote control, no pre-fader listen, and no specifying if aux mixes are pre-/post-fader (post-fader is very useful for a separate livestream vs in-house mix whereas pre-fader is best for monitor/headphone mixes).

Maybe they can fix some of those issues, or else hopefully Behringer, Soundcraft, or PreSonus will release something better in that price range. Right now the Allen and Heath CQ series seems to be the best for my use case, but I don't really want to give up physical faders.