Anyone Use the Tube Mixer TL Audio M3?

paradeatw · Post by **paradeatw** » Sun May 07, 2006 5:38 pm

Crusin' around at some mixers and I ran across what seems to be a wonderful addition to any home recording suite... the TL Audio M3 8 channel tube mixer.

Does anyone work on this? Has anyone used it before? How's it sound? Worth the change? Does it make sense to drop the $4k on the TL if running a Manley MP and SSL XLogic G Compressor on the master buss and an Avalon 737 on the vocal strip?

It sounds like, if i purchased those rack pieces that i can get away with a cheaper digital mixer by Yamaha for example? Or even something else since th signal will eventually pass through those pieces... does this make sense? Possible audio interface would be Rosetta 200...

Any ideas?

For thos not familiar with the M3:
http://www.tlaudio.co.uk/tlaudio/docs/products/m3.shtml

bongo_x · Post by **bongo_x** » Sun May 07, 2006 8:17 pm

whoa, I want one.

why does the mix review say $3600?

there's this;
http://toronto.craigslist.org/msg/156896134.html

bb

paradeatw · Post by **paradeatw** » Sun May 07, 2006 9:57 pm

yeah, the TL Audio consoles look real nice man... im just sitting here trying to put together a few studio packages for an upcoming investment and i can't for the life of me decide on using a board or going in the box with great converters and external pres... thing is, the only external would be vocals and a virus... so, does it make sense or should i just get a sick interface like enssemble and plug the pre's direct to ensemble? but, how do i run mu master bus with ssl g compressor and manely mp into my mix for recording? im a bit baffled for some reason... hahaha... ideas anyone?

paradeatw · Post by **paradeatw** » Sun May 07, 2006 10:03 pm

Maybe you guys can help... like i said in the above post - i am not sure if i can route all this external gear correctly through an audio interface and DP.. is this possible? The in the box solution would look like this...

AKG C414 B-XLII
Avalon VT737 Mic Pre
Virus TI Desktop
Trident S80 Producer Box ST
SSL Xlogic G Compressor
Manely Massive Passive
Apogee Rosetta 800 192k
Apogee X-Firewire Card
(2) Yamaha AES Cable
Genelec 1031A (Pair)
Eventide H7600

How would i run the Eventide on Aux sends if i don't have any on the apogee? How would i run the ssl and manely on the master outs to record if i don't have inserts?

am i foolish? hahaha... im confused...

paradeatw · Post by **paradeatw** » Sun May 07, 2006 10:25 pm

ok... i just deleted my recent post cause i realized the firewire card comes with Firemix, an 8 channel 8 buss mixer... but, just to clarify, can i basically run my 737 into channel 1, trident into channel 2/3 and then run my output 1/2 from the computer back into the ssl then manely back into 4/5 which i then route into ??? haha... see, im so cinfued... how will this external gear work with DP? how can i use the eventide on DP's aux?

waxman · Post by **waxman** » Sun May 07, 2006 11:14 pm

Yeah use the eventide on the DP aux buss...

have you checked out the new Trident 16 channel board with master section, inserts and the rest. Oram is cranking on this one. Sounds like the 80 exact same eq... that gives you all the options for your pre's, buss, etc...

I am using it and controlling DP with a Project mix. the project mix sounds better then the Motu 896 HD that I have. I doubt it is as good as the rosetta.

Go with board and a controller you will be glad you did. If not you have to crank way down the buffers and go into CPU hell.

paradeatw · Post by **paradeatw** » Mon May 08, 2006 7:59 pm

so, your buffer size isnt turned down when running your VIs through your board? sorry, just trying to grasp the concept... i thought one would use the board for the monitor mix and buss facilities... so, buffer size would have to be low either way if i ran any VIs, correct?

paradeatw · Post by **paradeatw** » Mon May 08, 2006 8:04 pm

waxman wrote:Yeah use the eventide on the DP aux buss...

have you checked out the new Trident 16 channel board with master section, inserts and the rest. Oram is cranking on this one. Sounds like the 80 exact same eq... that gives you all the options for your pre's, buss, etc...

I am using it and controlling DP with a Project mix. the project mix sounds better then the Motu 896 HD that I have. I doubt it is as good as the rosetta.

Go with board and a controller you will be glad you did. If not you have to crank way down the buffers and go into CPU hell.

are you speaking of the trident atb 16?

paradeatw · Post by **paradeatw** » Mon May 08, 2006 8:08 pm

wow... i thought this was what you were speaking of, but i think im wrong.. but, check it out... pretty sick board man... lol... know anything about this?

$3k - individual channel strips
http://www.toftaudio.com/atb.html

mhschmieder · Post by **mhschmieder** » Tue May 09, 2006 1:07 pm

Assuming that the TL Audio channel strip is similar in design to the Ivory series of compressors and mic pre's, I would say from past experience that it's a bit more transparent than the other high-end gear that you listed, and so might give you another flavour to work with.

I'm a huge fan of TL gear and was overjoyed when they returned to the marketplace a couple of years back. I had saved up for one of their limiters a few years back but when I returned to the store the product was gone as was the company, so I moved on to other gear.

Rack-mountable mixer channel strips with computer connectivity and software control is all the rage these days amongst the high end manufacturers. I'm not quite sure if that's what you were saying about the TL gear, so I'll have to re-read your post in detail, as there seemed to be a few separate discussions going on.

Astia · Post by **Astia** » Thu May 11, 2006 2:41 pm

Getting great results with the big brother, VTC -desk. Also like the C-1 compressor from TLA for gtrs. VTC is very warm ofcourse and the eq is musical and smooth. Like it a lot

pounce · Post by **pounce** » Thu May 11, 2006 7:54 pm

dissenting opinion - i've never been impressed with tl audio. in fact, dissapointed with it would be a good description. plenty of better sounding stuff out there for the same money. i'm pretty soft on that console.

the toft looks interesting, and a friend of mine is planning on getting one to use with his radar setup. i'll get some field reviews from him soon.

i am ok with the idea of using tube gear or other gear with color or personality to balance out the potential for the computer to be too sterile. in my case i happen to have a dm2000 as a mixer, so i bang on into drawmer or avalon or other tube-y gear for color.