Garfield: Oh, you mean one of these?: O0YAAOSwQnpezCL2" target="_blank">https://www.ebay.com/itm/Soundcraft-Vi6-digital-mixing-console-mixer-upgraded-w-racks-church-owned/133599376656?hash=item1f1b24b510O0YAAOSwQnpezCL2 Well, this one's going for $13k, so the prices on the large-format DIGITAL stuff is coming down...ish. Give it another ten years and my bet is that these will drift down toward the $3-5k range. And how did I find that ML3000? Years of Nashville experience gets you in that super-scrounger groove, baybee. You haven't LIVED until you've dumpster-dived (in ACTUAL dumpsters!) the alley between 16th and 17th Ave. S. and pulled out "obsolete" gear (by early 1980s standards) like Altec "Birdcages" or CBS Volumaxes. Being able to parse German helps, too.
Nickgreenberg: Yeah, I learned on large-format. I'm used to it. Plus, I tend to create elaborate 'composite' sound sources that can necessitate having a pile of "hot" faders, plus I'm running a 32-channel Antelope Orion32 which allows me to use the FIVE in a huge split mode...24 ins feed to the Orion via directs, and the other 8 ins are from the groups. Then 24 outs from the Orion32 have their own strips, with the last eight being capable of direct out via the routing patchbay. But another nice thing about large-ish format desks in a more normal electronic studio is that users can normalize their setups...each instrument gets its own strip, and the user can keep that configuration more or less permanently, which cuts down on all of the connecting and disconnecting business.
Now, my studio isn't set up like that...mainly because my workflow needs TOTAL flexibility, as different works require rather different setups. Also, there's some "subsections" in here...modular/patchables are all in a "sandbox" environment with its own small mixer (original Mackie 1202), then there's a "classic studio" rig that uses test gear and this also has a stereo submixer (Alesis Studio12R), plus a set of shortwave receivers that ALSO get their own very basic stereo mixer. Everything is routed here via two MASSIVE patchbays, so if I need to change configurations, it's super-easy. And as if that's not enough, I have a pair of Rane SM26B mixer/distros (one in each patchbay cab) and a Studio Technologies 1-in/8-out stereo distro amp that lets me do parallel routing for FX send/returns. The total patchability paradigm is actually based on how a certain studio at Syracuse U. is set up...and given that that setup was designed in collaboration with Dr. Bob, the usefulness of it was VERY apparent just on a cursory examination. Originally, I had this with a Topaz-24 at the mixing position, but that desk was just not up to the task, given where my composition skills have gone over the past 20 years...it only allowed 4 AUX sends in post-fader, the EQ had some irritating limitations, and I never liked the sound of the FX return channels. The FIVE, otoh, gives me a massive amount of sonic control, and lets me entertain sound creation methods that would've been utterly horrific to try and suss out on the Topaz.