Okay, I'm not putting a hit out on Fran but I'm not sending him a cheese steak either. Just got it last night so haven't had a chance to really put it through any meaningful paces. I'll just summarize first; for $125.00, not bad, for the original street price, naaaahhhh. I would possibly use it on a gig, but not to record in a studio setting. Why? See pros and cons below.

PROS:
price
size/weight
clean sound, though somewhat thin and 'digital'; probably very mediocre A/D's
dual inputs on 9/10 (front and back panel) with signal mixing
power switch on front panel
super simple operation w/good manual
48v on 1/2
Hi-Z available on 1
coax and optical for SPDIF out
Built-in FX and on-board compressor

CONS:

No EQ on 7-10
Can be very noisy at medium to high volume
Along the same lines - requires careful gain staging
'verbs are mediocre at best
no AUX return
Multi-purpose dials
Small LCD with even smaller graphics
No direct i/o to computer, i.e. Usb

You get what you pay for, not a bad unit for the money. You could easily use it on a gig if your needs were moderate. Would be perfect for Arranger + singer. Didn't try the RAC but liked the frequency graphic. I have to hear this on some good-quality powered speakers; unfortunately, I only have the Podium 802's. For the record, my old VM3100 Pro sounds better and has more features and IS clean enough to use in the studio. To be fair, it was way more expensive at the time. But it's been flawless and I still use it. Anyhoo, I'll find a use for this thing. One can never have enough dials and buttons. Keep 'em coming, Fran. I just sold my Akai DPS24 so I have a few extra bucks just burning a hole in my pocket.

chas

Thanks Chas for the mini review. The feature that most interested me was the RAC. I'm concerned about the noise however... I use a midi accordion with the Limex mics - 13 condenser capsules - that are noisy with most mixers with FX. I specifically would like to hear how the M10dx enriches the Bose compact and hopefully the Phantom power on ch 1 will help reduce the mic noise.
Ciao,
Jerry

Well, I took one to the job tonight and set it up. It sounded very good to me. I couldn't hear any noise at all, just music.
I just ran it flat, and used effects and mix from the Audya.
After the night was over, I tried "shooting" the room with the RAC thing, and it made it sound tinny and metallic. I probably did it wrong. Then I set it to the "Natural" preset and it sounded very good, but I couldn't say that it was better than it did before, just different.
I will fool with it some more when I get a chance. I need to re-read the manual about the white noise and all that. Back to the porcelain library.
It's a good little mixer though, especially since they seem to be dumping them at really low prices.
DonM

Here's a good example of how differences in mains power can have a trickle down effect. Got plenty of headroom in your PA, you won't NEED to run the mixer's op amps very high. Just have your power amps at full on. But if full on is only 30w or so, you are going to have to drive it harder. And then the noise might creep in.

I been using this mixer for the last month and all I can say is I love it!!You really have to go out in front of your system and take the White noise readings feature before you perform using the RAC mixer mic in back of the unit and let it READ the room acoustics so it can generate a perfect EQ setting once you do that and Master Finalize you pretty much will have a great sound for that room....I have also been using Mic channel 1 and it has really good Digital EFX for vocals, this unit has excellent vocal efx with so many adjustments. Super bang for the buck & I have now incorporated it into my main stage rig......highly recommended...thank you again Fran!



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 05-15-2010).]

I don't mean to squash anyone's hopes for the RAC, but I've owned many real time analyzers, and to date, NONE have been able to EQ a room better than I can ... at least to my ears. "Flat" is almost never right, and anything else is a judgment call - and I have been very happy with my sonic judgment as far as live sound goes. Now, my life choices .... hmmmm, not as successful. lol
My advice - LISTEN. Try to EQ the room with your eyes closed. Don't look at knobs - just make it sound the way YOU hear it. Define YOUR sound, and your following will decide if it's for them. I've been blessed with an educated following for my entire carreer, and they have always loved my sound....as I do. Be happy.