Required help on External Mixer with FX

Yep, I’d say the AG06 ticks all of your boxes, with the added bonus of having a USB interface.

BTW, the FX on the mixer are limited to the Mic channels, just to be clear. But then again, you want to add FX on your controller for anything you play in your DJ software anyway.

One point I noticed I missed is that gain question.
Not having gain/trim knobs on your controller can not be countered by getting an external mixer. Only your master out from the controller will go into the mixer. You’d either have to use autogain in the software or use a program like Platinum Notes to get all your tracks on the same level.

I have not been able to figure out how the aux works exactly on my AG03. It seems there is no separate volume control for the aux. You would have to control the volume of your mobile phone on the phone.

If you buy the AG06 you will have an extra stereo channel (5/6) with RCA input and volume control on the mixer.

So I would think the AG06 is the best option. Again, you might need to get some new cables.

If you don’t want to use the mic fader on the mixer everytime you use the mic, you can get a mic with a switch and thus leave the mixer channel open.

1) Depends on the laptop. You would have to try.
2) The mixer has two buttons per mic channel (1 on the AG03, 2 on the AG06), labelled comp/eq and effect respectively. In the software on your laptop you set the compressor and eq values and the effect with the parameters you want to use. Once set, you can just hit one of the two buttons to activate the comp/eq and or effect.
3) You can power it independently, but you will lose FX, comp/eq I think. It COULD be possible that it remembers the last settings and you can use those, but I am not sure as I don’t use these features yet.

Just to confuse matters, I’d like to throw the Allen&Heath ZED10FX’s into the list for consideration… Around here you can get them within your budget on the second hand market, and actually the non-fx version new for that price.

The Yamaha’s are quite limited in some ways – maybe adequate for your specific setup right now, but think the A&Hs will allow you deal with a lot more situations more easily and allow for some growth too.

In brief a few points that jumped out that made me think of it:
– EQ on all channels: as well as being able to eq mics, could set some basic room EQ for your controller rather than having to adjust for that while mixing
– low-cut switches to get rid of mic rumble
– more and better effects (yamaha doesn’t have reverb/delay that you want on the mixer itself)
– standalone operation – can still use your phone/cd etc when your pc crashes and you reboot
You may need to get a few adapters, but don’t think your current cables should be the final deciding factor in choosing a mixer anyway. Basically its more along the lines of the behingers you’d mentioned first, but has a reputation for being of better quality and somewhat more “pro”… IMHO for the small price difference I’d be tempted to step things up a little, the A&H seems like it has the potential to be useful for many years (and still maintain some kind of resale value) while the others you would likely want to replace as they either break or you outgrow them.

As a sound engineer I am a fan of AH consoles. I was very close to buying the iLive when it first launched. It’s good gear for live sound situations. However …

… comparing ZED10 to AG06 is not even apples and pears, frankly.

To begin with the ZED is way bigger than the AG06/03 which you can put in an out of the way place. I actually have mine sitting on my desk next to my MBP and use is as my sound card when it’s not on the road with me.

The FX version of the ZED10 is a whopping 289 euro new, while the AG06 is 139 and the AG03 is only 119. So at least twice as much. And he was clear about not having a (big) budget.

Room EQ is highly overrated. I even seriously recommend DJs to NOT mess with room EQ unless they are (very) experienced in the matter. Bad EQ with the wrong skills and/or tools will do more harm than good. And 2- or 3-band EQ (parametric or fixed) like on the ZED is TOTALLY unsuited for room EQ.

You CAN use the AG03/06 standalone with an external power supply, which the ZED would need to play as well. Only thing I haven’t tried out is if the FX are in the box and only settings are made in PC (in which case your favorite settings are available in standalone mode too) or if the FX are actually done in the PC (USB sound out – processing in PC – USB sound in). The latter I find unlikely, but I may be wrong. You can most definitely play music from aux while rebooting your PC.

Update: Just took a quick peek at the manual. Now I love the AG03 even more. If you press the comp/eq button, you activate (default) the low filter EQ and a compressor with settings suitable for vocals. The DSP software allows you to customize all those settings. You get full parametric EQ, FX and all can be set with either simple options or with advanced options (about the same as you expect to see from DAW plugins). Your personal settings remain in the mixer until you either change them in the PC or return the settings to default which you can do without a laptop attached. Of you hit the FX button, default setting is vocal reverb, that too can be tweaked to professional standards within the DSP software and saved to the mixer.

Low filter on mic (can be set in EQ software on PC if I am correct) is nice for serious singers, but I have NEVER found it something I miss terribly on my controller. And I would most definitely not care if I added a small PA mixer. But it’s there if you need it (see previous Update).

So while I gladly support the ZED10FX for serious small live PA setups, I think it’s total overkill in this case as it’s way beyond the OPs budget (I know you can buy used), it has way more channels than he needs and it frankly doesn’t offer all that much extra. For occasional phone use the 3.5mm aux input is great and you can still hook up your own iPhone for backup.

Just my 3 cents as usual.

Yeah, the pricing wasn’t the main concern I had. ZED’s are awesome mixers and true to A&H quality. No dispute there. As I read the OP’s post (and the fact the question is even raised here in this form), it seems clear he’s not a veteran engineer. Having played around with the AG03 for a while now (and having owned an MG16 as my “go-to” quick console for a long time) I can positively state that the Yamaha build quality is extremely good, particularly when looking at it’s price/performance ratio.

The AG03 effectively has 4 inputs. 1 Mic, 1 stereo line/1 guitar, 1 stereo line, stereo aux and USB in/playback. I agree that for weddings I’d like the 06, giving me 1 extra mic port and 1 stereo RCA port for a total of 7. This would give you enough flexibility at a very nice price and in a very compact package. I happen to know the compressor settings (the low EQ is standard 75 or 80Hz off) of the Yamaha mixers and it’s a pretty good allround setting frankly. As for FX, we are talking mic channel only. At weddings or other gigs the only time I would even consider reverb is when someone is singing. Echo and filter are imho useless for that purpose, unless you want to be gimmicky. As reverb is not beat dependant, having a tap button adds nothing to the mix.

I personally think the one-touch option on the AG-series is pretty clever. If you know little, you can still go into the software and tweak things a bit to your personal taste. If you DO know what you are talking about the FX can be set to a T, just as you would in a DAW. I believe that gives you way more options for setting your FX then on the ZED. The parameters can be set, but not very intuitive. It takes some getting to know the console to be able to quickly and “live” adjust things to your liking without it being trial and error. The software setting on your laptop at least gives you solid visual feedback.

So I’ll think I’ll stay with my original suggestion of the AG06, mainly because I agree that for 20 euro more you get the extra stereo channel, leaving the AG03 as a totally feasible alternative. In both cases it’s a very easy to operate solution. It fits OP’s purpose and budget.