Review: Yamaha MG10XU 10-Input Stereo Mixer with Effects

Yamaha MG10XU 10-Input Stereo Mixer with Effects

I recently purchased the Yamaha MG10XU 10-Input Stereo Mixer mainly for use at home to do vocal music practice sessions with my daughter who typically accompanies me on the keyboard. 

I must say, I am very pleased with the Yamaha MG10XU Mixer's ease of use and the quality of the effects processor providing a range of effects you can play with for your specific song situation. Different songs require different vocal ranges and feel and the appropriate sound effect is a required enhancement to make the experience truly come out for the listener. 

Since the time I purchased this unit, I have had several social gatherings at home with friends including Karaoke parties, impromptu singing sessions with visiting guests, and home chamber concerts with local talents. All of these gatherings were served well by the Yamaha MG10XU mixer unit. 

I also recently used the unit for recording the mixed sound into my computer using the provided USB (2.0) interface. It worked like a charm with my Garageband software, feeding in crisp clear sound and the mix of instruments. The usb interface sends in 24bit sound, with sound frequencies captured 192 Khz 

The most significant features for this unit are 

• Input and Output sockets:  10 inputs comprising of 4 XLR+Line-in sockets and 6 line-in (L+R for stereo, individual for mono) sockets.  One socket for connecting to a foot controller based effects handler. 2 line out sockets (L+R) and 2 XLR sockets for stereo out to loud speakers. 2 line-outs for monitor speakers and one for headphone monitoring. 

Yamaha MG10XU 10-input Stereo Mixer Top Panel View 

• The Effects Processor can be enabled with a single push of a button. Effects cover a large range as you can see in this picture to the right. There are 24 effects in total and in my experience all of these work convincingly and seamlessly. 

Yamaha MG10XU 10-input Stereo Mixer Effects Panel View

• The first two input channels have Compressor knobs to control how lively or punchy or mixed-in the sounds from those channels need to be on order to have better sound dynamics in the environment where the sounds are being played. 

Yamaha MG10XU 10-input Stereo Mixer

• One can also add 48 Volt Phantom power for the channels 1 - 4 mic XLR sockets, to maintain electrical charge for  dynamic microphones. 48 V phantom power also has current limiting to prevent damage to the mics if the cable has any problems, such as a short. 
• The built-in low, mid, and high equalization knobs for each channel (upto channel 4) and low and high knobs for remaining channels provides excellent range of controls for each channel enabling you to manage the mixing dynamically as a performance moves from song to song. 
• There is also individual channel level control for effects through the FX knob. 

All in all this is a very good value for the home or small orchestral group setting such as a quarter or quintet and vocals.  I highly recommend the Yamaha MG10XU 10-Input Stereo Mixer as a good mixer for that use case. 

Yamaha MG10XU 10-input Stereo Mixer

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Logitech Z-2300 Review - Among The Best Computer Speaker Systems

Contextual Background

For a really long time, and I mean reaaaaally long time :-) - about 7 years, we have had Yamaha's dimunitive computer speakers that have defined our music and video watching experience on the desktop computer sitting in the second bedroom. The experience, expectedly, has been so-so and ho-hum with nothing to write home about. Our nearest comparison benchmark for sound systems was the 2 year old high end speakers in our TV room hooked into a high end receiver, so our bar was set high. Having recently bought a widescreen 1080p capable LCD monitor, we were on the lookout for enhancing the audio experience for movies, games, and music we tend to watch and play more these days on the computer.  We looked at several sites and one speaker system kept coming back to us as the best PC speaker based on our research and that was the Logitech Z-2300 THX Certified 2.1 Speaker System with a Subwoofer

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Picture this - Your innermost desire for a long long time has been to produce a professional recording at your home recording setup. You have been wanting to showcase your talent to the world, be it family, friends, or relatives or to a recording label or to popular TV shows like American Idol. You have frequently put off that purchase of a high grade microphone as it typically had a high price tag and perhaps have had to settle for a cheap microphone with average sound quality. You are now absolutely ready to take that plunge and make that investment in an affordable high quality Microphone for your home recording.

But you end up spending enormous amount of time looking for a good value but high quality microphone for your hard earned money.

If this is you, this blog entry is intended to help you look at nicely priced microphones that really shine with quality and help you make a more informed decision quickly and acquire a good quality microphone at an affordable price. I hope this article helps you cut to the chase.

I have compiled a list of the Five Best High Quality, Reasonably Priced Microphones (including USB microphones) in the market based on their popularity, ratings, and preferred buying patterns on various websites.

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Blue Microphones Inc. does not manufacture a microphone stand other that the desktop stand that the Blue Yeti USB or Blue Yeti Pro microphone comes with.  But it does come with a standard threaded mount socket where standard microphone stands can be used. The options include tripod boom stands and desktop swivel stands.

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Although I did not purchase it (given that I already had Yeti), I gave the Blue Microphones Snowball USB Microphone (White) a few tries to judge its quality and fidelity.

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Up until now, my trusty Shure SM58-LC Cardioid Vocal Microphone without Cable, a dynamic cardioid microphone has worked well for my Home Recording needs. My need was for finer sound capture like a professional singer/voice over artiste, through a wider frequency range microphone.  I also needed the digital sound  to come directly from the microphone and not be converted from analog on the computer.

I had choices : a professional microphone or an external audio interface that would send in digital signals directly with a high quality output. However, good quality audio interfaces can cost quite a bit and my budget was limited.

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Blue Microphones Inc have come up with two high quality multipattern Condenser microphones called Blue Yeti USB and Blue Yeti Pro Multipattern Condenser Microphone that make you love your voice, and your musical instrument sound unlike many other conventional microphones out there in this price range.

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