Understanding Rotary Mixers vs Faders (Pros and Cons)?

M

massivewolf

New member
Hi everyone, I'm relatively new to making beats and have been thinking about getting a 5-channel mixer for more thorough EQing. However, the ones in my price range ($300-$400) have been all knobs - what are the benefits to having one with faders?
 
a fader is a much better visual indicator of the level that a channel is set to than a rotary knob
 
Thanks for the quick responses guys. Why are there threads floating around the internet saying that rotarys are superior?

And Carnage- no I'm talking about making beats in Ableton either from scratch or sampling records, then using outboard gear for eqing (ie. mixer).

EDIT: Also sorry if this was posted in the wrong forum. New user here.
 
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a rotary knob is superior for dealing eq (you pretty much get where the 0 point is and turning one way or the other either boosts or cut on fixed freq eq) and input gain trim and aux/fx sends and on panning (same idea as eq excpt you know where center, left and right are)

final channel level is better seen from a slider rather than a rotary pot butb both will do the same thing

as for threads around the Internet - remember the internet is worse than old wild west: full of liars and braggarts and con-men as well as a few straight shooters; learning to distinguish them takes time
 
+1 to linear faders if you are just starting out. It has been the standard for a long time. However, rotary pots work fine, and you can learn to mix on either. Until the late 60's/early 70's, all of the big studios had rotary pot mixers, and I learned to mix working in radio (where a lot of the boards still have rotary knobs). So don't sweat it if you can't afford an SSL (lol).

GJ
 
The main advantage to faders is that you can move more of them simultaneously, which is why they are ideal for volume control, they also give you a good visual representation like BC said, just think of an EQ curve or an envelope.....however in my experience rotary pots tend to be more robust and easier to replace in comparison to faders and you can obviously fit more in the same space.
 
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