mixers and controler surfaces

[djburnone]

simple question, is a mixing board and a controler surface the same thing, if not whats the difference. was thinking about getting a mackie universal pro control surface, and was wondering is this the same thing as a mixing board.

 

[dfltchra]

Yes, but no not quite the same. Typically mixers handle actual audio, meaning they have preamps, filters, etc... The audio actually flows through them. Controls surfaces usually just control the computer programs via midi, or ethernet, some through USB and the actual audio never really touches it. They both can be used equally effectively, however some may feel that mixers and or consoles add a bit of color or warmth to the signal.

 

[Tim20]

A mixer and control surface are two totally different animals.

A mixer if analog will take the work from your DAW and then you can use analog outboard gear to adjust the sound. This was my old setup. A few years ago I felt it gave the best warmth. Things in digital are changing.

A mixer if digital will move the material from the DAW or recorder to the mixer where more digital mixing and adjusting can be done using the mixer's onboard EQ, compressors etc and then out to the analog world if required.

A control surface does nothing more than replace the work your mouse does in the host software. It does nothing to shaping the sound other than what you could do within the host software. WHAT IT DOES DO is make mixing more hands on and almost intuitive. Using a mouse to mix across multiple tracks in real time is tedious at best.