Mixer for beginner (P-515 Digital Piano)

ShigeruKawai

What's a good basic and easy to use one you'd recommend a beginner who's hoping to do piano playing on Zoom or Youtube videos?

David B

Hi and welcome. What do you need a mixer for? Beyond piano, what else do you want to mix into your playing? Will this be live playing with other musicians?

God Bless,
David

ShigeruKawai

David B No other musician. Just for me, at home, to combine piano sound (from line-in) and my voice (from mic/laptop mic) and feed the sound together to Zoom or Youtube recording.

David B

ShigeruKawai You might want to consider a Focusrite 2i2. I use one. It would accommodate your needs and give you the opportunity to record as well. USB powered, small, mic/instrument inputs, 1/4" outputs and as an audio interface you can record with it.

God Bless,
David

MacMacMac

I use a Shure SCM262. It's much simpler than the usual mixer. Just three inputs with volume and tone controls.
The cables are hidden in the back, out of sight. And the control scheme is very simple.
They retail for $250 (or at least they did when I looked at one), but I got one used on Ebay for just $45.

In contrast, I find that this type of mixer is far too complex for my basic needs.
And it's too ugly for the music room.

Frédéric L

The P515 can be recorded without hardware (just an Audio/USB link), the laptop mic, without hardware too. Then a virtual mixer like Banana Voicemeter may do the job.

The audio interface may be useful with an higher grade mic. But if the mic is only used to introduce piano-solo records, the laptop mic will be fine. A USB mic like the Behringer C-1U may be an option.

Note: for piano/voice record, a DAW may be useful and such a software use one audio interface at once. Then a 4 inputs interface may be handy. (Focusrite 4i4, Steinberg UR44…) The P515 is stereo: 2 inputs. And there are no 3 inputs interfaces !

dore_m

Frédéric L The P515 can be recorded without hardware (just an Audio/USB link), the laptop mic, without hardware too. Then a virtual mixer like Banana Voicemeter may do the job.

The audio interface may be useful with an higher grade mic. But if the mic is only used to introduce piano-solo records, the laptop mic will be fine. A USB mic like the Behringer C-1U may be an option.

That's exactly what I was thinking. No mixer or audio interface needed at all, unless you want to upgrade your mic.

CyberGene

If you’re on a Mac, then macOS has an embedded capability to create an aggregate audio device from two or more audio interfaces, e.g. the P515 audio interface and a USB microphone (or another audio interface with the microphone plugged into it) and record simultaneously from them.

Koobenot

I'd recommend Mackie ProFX6v3, nice and clean preamps, low noise as well.
https://mackie.com/en/products/mixers/profxv3-series/ProFX6v3.html

Johnstaf

I use a cheap Mackie Mix 5 for my synths. I bought it as I could't afford the mixer I wanted, but it's very good for the price. The SSL SiX is fantastic, but it's 17.5 times the cost. 🙄

SouthPark

With USB mics, just make sure to read up on certain issues (eg. latency/delay) that people can possibly encounter --- for piano plus vocals that is.