Mixers/Consoles - Digidesign Venue

[Hughesie]

So the tafe that im doing a diploma at just bought a digidesign venue and i wondering if anyone has used it, or has an opinion on it. Although i am yet to use it i have done a fair amount of research and i think the ability to transfer the show to pro tools is an interesting prospect.

[DaveySimps]

I have used them on several occasions. In general, they are a good board, but not my favorite board by any means. They appear on a lot of riders, and many touring guys carry them. It would be good for you to get some face time on it. For me personally, I like other interfaces better than the Digi ones, and I hate dealing with plug ins. I can imagine if you were a studio guy who had a favorite plug in, it would be good.

I certainly would not pick a desk just based on its ability to to transfer to a type specific software. This not to say that the feature does not have a place in the market. I just think there are many many more important considerations to put in front of that. Of course every scenario is different. That is my $0.02


~Dave

[qu1cks1lver56]

I'm an analog guy myself, but I love the Venue. I haven't had much time to use one, just got to play with one when I was down at LMG in Orlando, Steve Mccael(sp?), who designed the desk and is managing at LMG showed us the whole setup he was bringing to the NAMM show. Looked pretty awesome.

[museav]

Since you already have the console, I'll skip comments regarding interfacing to other systems, etc. I have not used a Venue a lot, but I agree that it is not the most intuitive digital console, but it is not bad and if you use it often it would be pretty easy to learn to get around it quickly.

The plug-ins can be both an advantage or disadvantage. It is great for studio and production people that can use processing with which they are already familiar. But when you walk up to a Venue you never know what you actually have for processing other than what ships with it, so it is not always the best idea to plan on having anything beyond that unless it is your board.

The ability to direct connect to ProTools is nice if you are a ProTools user, although is is an option so that others do not pay for it. I believe that the only I/O options available for the Venue are analog, AES3 and A-Net, so not necessarily friendly to many other recording and interface devices. I have to say that flexibility in connectivity is one place that the Yamaha digital consoles seem to be ahead of anyone else.

Since the Venue uses an external monitor, that can have an effect on the usability. A large, high resolution monitor definitely makes operation easier, but also makes the console much more of a potential visual issue.

Overall, a very nice console and widely accepted, a real plus if dealing with riders or outside operators.