Let's start off by clarifying digital consoles are pretty expensive. You can buy 24ch analog consoles for have the price of low end 16 ch digital consoles.
Could you be a little more specific about your needs and apps. You say your mixing lavs, about how many? Mixing lavs is a pretty hecktic duty, even on a digital
console. Just because yesterday's
level was good doesn't mean today's
level is good. In professional theater it's not so much an issue because the actors project (it's a major skill) enough so a lav will pick them up beautifully. Which really lowers the amount of reinforcement needed, thus improving the entire
system's
gain structure. Just imagine an actor decides to work a scene a
bit futher
downstage than normal, and right before the scene you
cue up the
console and it throws up the lav, and you suddenly get
feedback. Another thing to be careful with digital consoles is you have to learn the interface, if a
monitor suddenly begins to
feedback most likely you'll have to dig
thru some menu to turn it down. Most digital consoles require a
bit more training than normal, the average HS tech cannot mix a digital
console well.
My guess is that your organization is a public high school. Like everywhere else in the world, your equipment is not determined by needs but by budget. I'm guessing you can't afford a Digico D5, or even a
Yamaha PM1D (or it's little brother, the PM5D). These consoles are currently the most popular touring consoles, and they're choosen for usually the most advanced sound reinforcement applacations. For example, the PM1D is currently being used on broadway to mix a full musical in 5.1 surround sound. Imagine figuring out all the panning needed to mix an
orchestra pitt in 5.1, and realizing what works and what doesn't. The Digico D5 is currently being used on Eric Clapton's tour, it was also used all summer on Ron Stewart's tour. Anyways, I think you get the
point. BTW, let me know if you can afford these consoles. If so, I'll see if I can move to attend your school.
I personally really like
Yamaha's digital consoles, I think they make the best ones out right now.
Mackie, ehhh, I have not used one yet, too early to
call anyways. They have not even shipped yet,
mackie has a history of shipping products a good century after they launch them. Hell, people are just barely getting the onyx now. Many SR companies are waiting for their TT24s that they paid for probably 6 months ago when it was launched, and they are pissed. Anyways, I think the
Yamaha 01V96 (V2 if you want all the packages and new software stuff) is your best bet. It has surround panning, built in effects/compression/gating/processing, cueing, and just about everything you could want from a 16ch
console. Beautiful digital 24bit/96kHz sound, you can even down grade if you want more channels. If I had the cash, I'd personally buy one. Check out the 02R96 if you have the dough.
Another great digi
console is the Soundcraft 324 live. It has an incredible small footprint it's 32ch does it all design. It's been used for years, so it's one of the more reliable digital consoles. Many engineers (most notable Jim Warren, Radiohead's
FOH Engineer) use it in large scale sound reinforcement apps to submix effects (fantastic for heavy outboard processing) and various
midi devices. It has so many routing options, it's fantastic.
Digital consoles have insane routing options, they have so many options you'll honestly question why the manufactuer even made it possible. Tons of them have expansion cabablities. You can actually
purchase modules seperately and
throw them in the machine and add on anything from fiber optic cababilities, to
cat5 personal
monitor mixing, or simply add on a few extra channels. Like you said earlier, digital consoles work with software, and boy do they do. You can literally control anything with a computer.
As far as prices, you're going to get hosed no matter what you buy. The 16ch
yamaha O1v96 will put you about 2 grand in hole, if you shop around. Now I realize, 2k really is nothing when it comes to purchasing a
console, but it's shocking you can buy 24-32ch consoles for half the price. This is why you don't find a digital
console in 99.9% of high schools. Even 5-8 grand really isn't spending much on a
console, that's not even the creme of the crop. But my school sure can't afford that, my goal is to get rid of the
mackie 24.4 before I graduate in '07. If you put a
Mackie sr24.4 next to a Digico D5, you would understand that a grand invested in a
console really is nothing. You can get the SC 324 Live for about $3,270 on average, you can shop around and get them cheaper. All these relatively compact digital consoles I've named are not loaded with channels. You can find larger
yamaha digital consoles for a
bit more. Either than that, it's a huge margin. The prices sky rocket when you want more channels, less integration more actually control (ie: 24/32 faders and up). If you currently have a 40ch analog
console, don't complain, you'll have to make some sacrafices when you go digital. You trade in your knobs and faders for a series of menus. Which is not always the greatest for a high school, people are only there for 4 years at time, students come and go.
Sounds like you don't really need all the options of a digital
console, seems more like you just want to simplify a common case of the cues. There are low-tech solutions to this such as using software to GUIDE you, or simply get yourself a
prompter to assist your tasks.
This past summer I mixed a formal 80-100 member musical (14 lavs, 3 boundary, 3 overhead, CD, and 1 effects
return). I had to deal with some old crummy
shure fixed frequency wireless and a song with lots of extremely loud screaming/screatching, and boy was it hard to keep things from peaking. It was too late to use compression/gating/limiting, didn't get to reherase with it or anything. Things could go wrong using that stuff without practice in a live situation. So for the scene I had my assistant prompting me with an enlarged photocopy of the script's scene with all the lyrics/screaching highlighted, he also continued to prompt the regular lav cues during the scene as well. I had to be able to follow along, watch the
stage, and mix the other lavs as well. All the loud noise and dancing in the scene weren't ideal for the ambinet mics (floors and overheads) used, but the chorus also sung in the scene. My designer would actually ride the ambinet mic levels in this scene while I delt with all the lavs and the crazy vocals to make things run smoothly.
Anyways, back on-topic, you could
ease your case of cues by looking into a better analog
console. You should really take ergonomics into consideration. I've found a good
layout can really simplify things. Getting a
console with snapshot memory and/or even
mute groups could help you out.
Mute groups can be extremely beneficial in theater to keep up with your cues. A
midi console (or RS232 will work too) interface is probably exactly what you want/need. You can DIGITALLY control your ANALOG
console via a computer, which is what you're looking for. No menus to get barried in, but you won't have all that onboard processing like you have on digital consoles. You can get full fledged monster consoles with 128 (scenes) snapshot memories around 10 grand (most notable the AH GL4000, it has
mute groups too), lower if you shop around. Add on a few grand and you can be getting into highly ergonomic
VCA consoles with tons of memory and (
mute) grouping functions (AH ML3000 or SC MH series). Some even have true
LCR panning which is great if you have front/center fills.
As you can see, you have a wealth of options. Your budget will determine what will work and what won't the quickiest, that should be your main consideration. Find out what you can afford and study it, pick out what features you must have and what you can live without. Your gut feeling will be the best choice, often times people pick something because of influence from an outside factor. If the
console is the coolest thing, but you know your going to run into problems with it. Then don't get it. Just because it's not in the latest issue of
FOH doesn't mean it's bad. Good luck. My apologies for any typos in this long
manual. Let me know if something doesn't make sense.