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Here's where there's a lot of confusion


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Posted by Silent Bob on June 30, 2000 at 02:32:05:

In Reply to: Digital vs. Analogue mixers posted by Juz on June 29, 2000 at 22:28:59:

When it comes to signal processing, analogue is unsurpassable when it comes to quality. Digital may be more precise but the sound is actually degraded more. The problems people associate with "analogue" are only enherant in analogue tape, not the format itself. Most professional mixing and mastering studios (I'm talking indrustrial here, not audiophile) use analogue processors and mixers. Take for instance, my cheap Mackie 1202 I use for small clubs. It's frequency response goes up to 100KHz while most digital mixers in the lower/mid price range will only have a bandwidth up to 22KHz or so (which will be extremely distorted from 11KHz up). With my mackie, distortion doesn't become a problem until the audio is well beyond audible range (by the way, this is why some people say digital is harsh sounding, it's dues to some ususual types of distortion in the high frequencies).
You can get a much better analogue mixer for the same price. You just won't have the same precision or bells & whistles.) Of course, when I record, I concentrate on basic quality, not the bonuses. Say for instance, I'd rather use a good mechanical reverb that can't be adjusted than a very bad reverb with lots of adjustable features on my recordings.
Now, on the other hand, if you can link all your equipment digitally (using lightpipe or s/pdif or another direct interface) then it may be beneficial to get a digital mixer to avoid more convertions. If you're linking your digital equipment with analogue lines like XLR or 1/4", then a digital mixer would be pointless IMHO. Or if you can even hook the output on the digital mixer to your mixdown deck digitally, then that may be worth it since you'll bypass an a/d-d/a conversion. Really, the worst thing you can do to your sound is switch formats. The majority of digital's problems are from the conversion itself and not the storage or processing all though that has a lot to do with it too. Another personal opinion (sorry to ramble, I know you've probably heard enough of my OPINION) is keep your audio to one or less format conversions. That is, if you start analogue and convert to digital, then stay digital. If you start digital and convert to analogue, stay analogue.
Hope I didn't consufe you too much.


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