M-audio Nrv10 - Good Choice?, To buy or not to buy NRV10 Options

[ruczaj]

Hi all
I'm about having firewire interface and mixer in one case. Would M-Audio NRV10 be a good choice?
Has anybody it? How about sound quality? I use iMac C2D.
cheers
Ruczaj

[chools]

Hi Ruczaj,

I had the pleasure of using a NRV10 for a couple of weeks ( I am a Logic user). I was impressed with the overall sound quality, especially the pre amp side, and as with all M-Audio devices the set-up was easy.
The only downside (to me) of this mixer was the on board effects which seemed to be low in quality - I would say 'live' rather than 'studio' effects in terms of when you might want to use them. I liked the supplied front end software which allowed software plug-ins to be inserted and saved. For anyone who takes their computer on the road and is in either a live or rehearsal studio situation this software is ideal as much tweaking can be done, and if required settings saved for each song/track.

My overall view is that if I was setting up a studio this unit might not be my first choice if it was to be my only mixer, however if you are in a band or are a live artist this is a really flexible firewire mixer (especially if you have a laptop) which I would be happy to cart around (small, not too heavy) which will give a very good front end for recording as well as being an excellent live solution.

Build quality was good with enough LEDs to make it usable in poor light e.g. onstage!

Regards

Chools

[ruczaj]

Hi Chools!
Thanx a lot for quick and reasonable answer. You made me one step closer to NRV 10
I' am Propellerhead's Reason user.

Generally, I don't trust the all-in-one solutions. But I'm tempted to try this one, I like M-Audio and their drivers policy (support for every Mac OS version, including Intels).

I almost never use onboard effects, usually poor and added just to broad "features list". So I plan to use external effect devices hooked via insert ports.

Once again, thank You Chools,
cheers
Ruczaj

[Jim Hoyland]

If you're not going to use ProTools M-Powered, I'd suggest you take a look at the range of Mackie Onyx mixers with FireWire. You're limited to 2 channels of audio back from the computer, but the build quality is much higher than the Nrv10 amd the EQ is really impressive. Plus, you get a lot more Hardware Auxes for FX.