Yamaha MG166CX setup for monitor mix?

[StuartV]

Hi all,

 

I've searched around here for info on this mixer and can't find any. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

I got a Yamaha MG166CX mixer recently to use with my band (guitar, bass, drums, vocals x 3 - playing classic rock and blues). It replaced my Soundcraft Spirit E6, which I was only using for practice and was my first mixer ever.

 

The Yamaha is advertised as being a 6-bus board, so I was expecting to be able to setup 3 stereo busses, each with its own mix. My plan was 1 mix to FOH, 1 mix to stage monitors, and 1 mix to a recorder.

 

After playing with this board for a while, I cannot figure out a way to do what I want. The closest I have come is 1 stereo mix for FOH and the recorder, and 1 mono mix for the stage monitors.

 

The way I have this configured is:

 

- board Main Outs going to the FOH PA processor (dbx Driverack PA)

- board Rec Outs going to the recorder (Olympus LS-10)

- board Aux 1 Send going to the stage monitor feedback suppressor (Sabine FBX1020+)

 

This does satisfy my most important requirement, which is to have a different mix in the stage monitors, as compared to the FOH mix.

 

But, it has at least one negative aspects too, which is, the mix to the recorder is the same as the FOH. That's not terrible, but not ideal.

 

Further, regarding this board, I really don't see the purpose or use for the Group busses on the board. I thought I would be able to use one of those to control the stage monitor mix and one to control the recorder mix. But, I don't any way to get different levels from each input channel into the different busses. E.g. Channel 1 has Lead vocals. I don't see any way to have Channel 1 be "loud" in the Stereo (i.e. FOH) bus, but softer in the Group 1-2 bus or Group 3-4 bus. I have read the theoretical use - being that I could assign, for example, all the vocals to Group 1-2, and, say, all the drums to Group 3-4, the control the relative volumes more easily using the Group faders instead of the individual channel faders. But, on a board with only 16 total channels, how big a deal is that, really? It's just not that hard to adjust all 3 vocal sliders, if needed, or all 4 drum mic sliders. Not to mention that it seems like I need to adjust just one or two in the group at lot more often than I need to adjust the whole group anyway.

 

And I also don't see a use (at least for me) for the Monitor Out jacks. Other than that you have routing for the 2TR In (i.e. an iPod or CD player) so that you could run it to just the mains, and not the monitors, what is the point of them? Other than the 2TR thing, the Monitor Out jacks always have the same mix as the Main Out jacks, right?

 

Is this really just the way it is with this board? Or am I missing something (please, please, please)?

[StuartV]

All that said, it has occured to me that I could use the channel Inserts as Sends and patch them to other channel inputs. Then assign those extra channels to just the Group 1-2 and/or Group 3-4 busses, to get what I want. Except that I would need 2 or 3 times as many channels as I am currently using. And with 3 vocals, 4 drum mics, bass DI in, and guitar DI in, I don't have enough more inputs for that.

[GCDEF]

I think your problem is assuming that bus was equivalent to independent mix, which it isn't.

 

The groups allow you to control a group of channels with one fader. For example you could assign all the drum channels to group 1, then just use the group 1 fader to raise and lower the drum level with one fader instead of having to adjust each channel individually. There's a bit more to it than that, but the point is the mix in the group is the same as the master mix.

 

Monitors are controlled by pre-fader aux sends, not groups.

 

I'd spend some time going over the fundamentals of how mixers work and what the various terminology means.

[StuartV]

 

I think your problem is assuming that bus was equivalent to independent mix, which it isn't.

 

 

Agreed.

 

Other than that, I think everything you said was already covered, and I said the same thing.

 

In other words, if I'm interpreting you correctly, the answer to my question is, "yes, that's just the way it is."

[StuartV]

ps. Bummer. :-)

[StuartV]

Related question:

 

Is there a simple way to get the 2TR In signal routed to the Aux 1 bus?

 

The only way I have figured out is to route it to the Monitor Out jacks and then use patch cables to connect those over to a Stereo Line In input strip.

 

I know that probably sounds retarded, but for my band rehearsals, we only use the stage monitor part of my PA. And I connect my Olympus recorder to the 2TR In and Rec Out jacks. Routing the 2TR In back to the monitor mix allows me to record what would be the FOH mix, then play it back through the stage monitor setup so we can record, then listen to it immediately.

 

If I play it back *really* loudly and don't mute the input microphone channels, I get weird feedback effects. But, at the level we actually listen to it, it doesn't really cause a problem.

[samkokajko]

However it does have to pre-fade aux sends and one (assuming you don't use the internal FX engine). You have some routing options there for individual mixes, just not how you thought you did. Read through on the Aux sends and you'll find what you need to do is there.

 

On the 2TR issue if I needed routing that I couldn't find, instead of using the 2TR input and then routing out of the monitor and into a stereo channel. Just use a stereo channel. Forget the 2TR, I usually find very little use for these, sometimes there is one, but if it doesn't suite your needs, all it is is a feature-lacking stereo channel.

[StuartV]

Thanks, samkokajko.

 

I see what you mean about my current routing. I could do it the way you're talking about. I would have to buy adapters, since the line out on the Olympus is a 1/8" stereo jack and the Line In on an input strip is a pair of 1/4". When I hooked it up, I already had a 1/8" to RCA cable, and a pair of 1/4" TRS patch cables.

 

But, my real motivation for changing what I have would be to free up the Stereo Line In input strip. I'm not worried about trying to free up the 2TR In.

 

During a gig, do you not find the 2TR In handy for hooking an iPod to play music during breaks? I've got my first gig with this board this weekend and I was planning on using it for that.

[samkokajko]

I have never needed all my stereo inputs for other things so I've always had them. An iPod or CD player is a must in my eyes, even if it's just for having music during setup, but I rarely use my stereo channels much, especially all of them.

 

Your last two stereo pairs have RCA inputs as well as 1/4" so you wouldn't need adapters. Also they don't have XLR inputs, so unless you have another aux source (CD player, FX return), or stereo line level device (keys, electronic drums, etc) then I don't see another use for those two.

 

But looking at the board (pics on the yammy site) I don't see any special routing on the 2TR besides what you already found.

 

If you need the stereo channels but not one of your mono channels (kinda weird scenario but possible I guess), you could just run mono through that, or at least use that for your "monitor return"

[StuartV]

Thanks, again! It had not even registered that both of those channels have RCA Inputs. I was using them both for stereo line inputs from guitar pedal boards (with another band I was in that had 2 guitar players). But my current band only has the one guitar, so I could indeed use the RCAs on that other channel. And could plug the 1 guitar into 9/10 or 11/12, for that matter.

 

Thanks for helping me pull my head out and "see the light". :-)