Mackie's latest live mixer range, the Mix Series, is unashamedly affordable and primarily aimed at those situations where a convenient, low profile mixer is needed to blend a few signals. This could be in a simple live or basic studio situation, keeping the applications of this mixer pretty general.
The Mix12FX is the top Mix Series unit and offers a slightly different blend of functionality to its smaller brethren. First up, you get four mic/line channel strips all with three-band EQ, although this is augmented by a 75Hz low cut filter.
"The FX section includes 12 effects - ideal for a quick bit of monitoring or live reverb"
The remaining eight inputs are spread across four stereo channels and, although these are switchable between +4/-10dB operation, they have no EQ.
Mic preamps are said to be 'studio quality' but they are neither Onyx nor Vita, which are Mackie's two premium branded preamp designs.
The Mix12FX has one mono post fader auxiliary send per channel strip (FX), and this is hard-wired to the onboard FX processor with a dedicated stereo return level (FX to Main).
Alas, there's no way to patch into the FX return, but the FX Send is available as a mono send. There are independent Control Room and Phones outputs, but the level control is shared. Finally, the Main Mix output is on a 60mm fader.
The FX section includes 12 effects - eight reverbs (Small Stage, Small Room, Large Room, Warm Hall, Bright Hall, Classic Plate, Bright Plate and Vocal Plate), Chorus, Flanger, Slapback delay and Space Echo.
These are 'as is' with no adjustable parameters, however, they're perfectly serviceable, and ideal for a quick bit of monitoring or live reverb or effects.
Overall, Mackie's Mix Series mixer performs very well and at a budget price. With the Mackie stamp of quality, it should deliver reliable service for a number of years.
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