I have yet to see any of the original iLive series consoles in any installation or with any touring show - but I have seen dozens of yammies in installs, with with touring shows, and with rental companies. After learning on the original 01V, I was am able to step up to just about any yammie digital board and learn it very quickly because the operating systems are so similar. Yammies are the standard, and I think that they'd be best for an educational installation.
I currently have an iLive going in a University project and that was after all their people, many of whom are familiar with most of the
Yamaha products, auditioned a number of consoles. The Digidesign
Venue was also in the running but the A&H had some advantages in
fitting the project specifics. And that is always a critical issue, not just what people may like but what works for the application.
I have to disagree a
bit on the comment regarding educational applications. Yes, it is good to learn the standard, but I believe that it is also valuable for students to work with other products and to learn and be able to apply the basic concepts in general rather than just learning based on one specific piece of gear. If someone thinks they know how to mix on a digital
console but can't adapt that to various products, then they really haven't learned what the probably should have.
I do understand the dilemma regarding familiarity and
ease of use and it is something I struggle with for applications such as community theatres and public facilities. I have come to believe that digital consoles are now common in most applications and if that is the best solution for the application, especially in the long run, then while it is a factor, familiarity should not be the controlling factor. As an old fuddy duddy, I learned to mix on analog and while digital did require a different perspective, the basics still carried through. And it probably won't be long before you might have to be more worried about people that have never mixed on an analog
console walking in and having no idea of how to use one.