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Sound:
The helix 24 is an amazing product. There are a log of great effects, and the sound is very good. I am always hearing about the quality of Preamps on the Phonic products. I have tried quite a few different pre's on this by using the insert connection thus bypassing the on board pre's, none sounded any better, most worse. I would be happier if these preamps would produce more gain. I haven't found any specs about the actual gain on of these pre's but I estimate them to be somewhere around 50 db by comparing them to the other preamps. The sound always comes out very clean as long as you adjust the ASIO parameters with enough buffering to fit your situation. Overall, the mic and room are the only limiting factors in my getting amazing tracks with this thing, not the board or pre's If you want really great recordings go out and buy a couple of great mics, and treat your room acoustically. You can afford a lot of acoustic treatments if you take what you saved buying this board/interface instead of any other product which even has a fraction of this ones capabilities.
Feature:
Nothing else even comes close. I use this in a live as well as studio environment. Having a full fledged mixer to record through is just the best way to go. I have used a friend’s firepod. The problem with the firepod is monitoring and small capacity. Sure you can connect headphones to an output and use the control panel software to set up monitoring inside the pod, but then you don't have any effects to provide to your singer. (singers love to hear themselves with re-verb). Or you can turn on monitoring on in the DAW software, but the delay really isn't acceptable in many situations. Even 5 milliseconds is audible. With the Helix you can just monitor through the mixer part and apply effects as you want with no noticeable delay and pure untouched audio dumping to the PC. Also, if you want you can switch the helix into a mode where the sound goes through the mixer (eq, faders, and effects) before it is dumped to the firewire on a per channel basis. I have found this to be unnecessary and not the best way to go but I can imagine needing this feature. So to all of those who are out there thinking about using a firepod or similar interface, I say buy this!!! .Having a mixer/firewire interface is definitely the way to go for me. If it was easier to do everything totally inside the computer, they wouldn't make control surfaces.
Ease of Use:
I have to gig this a little. I love that it is rack mountable, and use it all the time in a roll around rack. The problem is that when you put 16 channels into a rack mountable board, things get pretty close together. Some of the buttons ie group 3/4 send, main send, etc can be difficult for my fingers to get down to. I keep a pencil handy and use the eraser. Other than this.... awesome.
Quality:
I have had 2 Phonic boards and have not had a lick of trouble. This one is solid as a rock. I love it!
Value:
nothing else is even playing in the same game.
Manufacturer Support:
Very good. I had to ask a question to tech support once and I used email. I got a quick accurate response.
The Wow Factor:
I wish it was some color other than brushed steel
Overall:
Till it breaks. If I need more than simultaneous mics I will buy another and chain them.
14 of 14 people
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Sound:
Very transparent preamps. Many of the effects are good as well, but I do not use them (have another source) so we can use all of the aux channels for personal monitor mixes.
Feature:
Pretty much does everything a MixWiz will, but this has the added option of Firewire I/O.
Ease of Use:
It's a mixing board. Know how to run one? Then this one is a piece o cake.
Quality:
Time will tell. I've had this board for 6 months running the show in a rack, and had no problems. I have an old Phonic board I've used for about 15 years, and had a scratchy pot. No other problems. I don't expect any,
Value:
This is a steal. Look at a Presonus firepod and it's limited capabilities then look at this.
Manufacturer Support:
Never dealt with them.
The Wow Factor:
LOL. It looks like a mixer.
Overall:
This thing is great for live use. We've used it with great results in the 'studio' as well. The drivers worked perfectly and everything worked great with a desktop. Had limited luck with a laptop. This board is worth every penny.
24 of 24 people
(100%) found this review helpful. Did you?
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Sound:
This mixer does'nt really have a sound, its clean and transparent. The sound you'll hear will be that of your microphones, speakers and of your performance. Lots of headroom. I've used all sixteen mic inputs for live performances and it worked perfectly.
Feature:
The mixer came with a firewire cable, power cord, mounting rack ears, Cubase LE, and the operators manual. The Cubase software is limited to 4 simultaneous channels at a time. If you plan on recording a band live you'll need to upgrade the software or use something else. I use Mackie's Traction 3
Ease of Use:
The mixer is easy to use, however because you have 16 channels worth of controls in a 19" wide space, the knobs are close to each other.
Make sure you get a goose neck lite so that you don't adjust the wrong control accidentally.
Quality:
The mixer is well made. I recommend you put it in a case if your going to be moving it around (common sense).
Value:
This mixer blows the competition away. I was originally going to get the Mackie 16 channel Onyx. Well by the time you buy the firewire card your gonna spend around $1600.00. This cost less than half the price. Did I mention this mixer fits in a standard 19" case and the Mackie does'nt? Sounds like a no brainer to me.
Manufacturer Support:
Called Phonic to ask them about using other software and they answered all my questions.
The Wow Factor:
It's cool.
Overall:
The only reason I would replace this mixer is if I needed more channels.
16 of 17 people
(94.12%) found this review helpful. Did you?
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Sound:
Good transparent preamps. Has sweepable mids which is a plus. It's pretty easy to get a good sound with this board. Needs onboard Main EQ's. Enough decent effects as to avoid having a rackmount DSP processor for live use.
Feature:
This board has everything - except for the Mains EQ! Every possible routing option is available. This is perfect for my band as we can have 6 possible monitor (AUX) mixes out to our powered cabs. Everybody is happy. Oy! The best thing of all is that this machine is like a Presonus Firepod with the ability to use Live. Using a Laptop, I can now stream sixteen (yes, 16) simultaneous tracks at zero latency. Wow! Now I can sell the ole Tascam MTR to the pawn shop. Oh yea, it has 4 separate group faders, so the drummer (moi) is happy too!
Ease of Use:
It's as easy as any complicated and feature-packed board would be. However, this thing connected to my laptop (via FireWire) without complaint. The drivers installed automatically, and everything else finished on autopilot. Easy as a snap. Cubase LE sux, so upgrade or go get Audacity or Kristal (GNU Freeware).
Quality:
Built like a tank. All of the Pots and Faders seem like they will hold up. I've had a Phonic board in the past, and it was a workhorse, surviving many Gravity Checks and third world voltages.
Value:
Good luck finding a equivalent board to this on at nearly any price. The FireWire capability alone is worth the price of admission.
Manufacturer Support:
I had a question about the DSP on the unit, and the Techie was johnny on the spot.
The Wow Factor:
This board exudes geeky sexiness. As a gearhead computer nerd, I have to fight off the desire to bring this thing to bed at night. Heh.
Overall:
I believe that this is the kind of gear that you can use for a few years, and still sell for what you have in it. I had a FirePod, and have found this much easier to use, and of course its a MIXING BOARD too! It's made in China, so what - Behringer is made in Germany. This ain't a car.
25 of 28 people
(89.29%) found this review helpful. Did you?
Sound:
I do not own this board. I do own the 16 Firewire input predecessor and and have had no trouble with it. It primarily sits in a home studio but has also been used live. The pre/post firewire I/O feature on this board is a huge improvement over the three year old Helix I possess. I would highly recommend this based on my experience. Firewire is the way to go.
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