Does anyone here use the Zero 8 to play out???

Gin2 · Post by **Gin2** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 1:22 pm

I'm running my first ever night in London in a months time. The mixer at the club is pretty rubbish, and I want to use my Zero 8 instead....

Will it be up to the task, both in quality of the sound and also not breaking!!!

CDJs, TT and ableton will be used on it throughout the night for 7 hours or so

subterFUSE · Post by **subterFUSE** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 10:29 pm

Simple answer. No.

The background noise issue (Hiss) is bad enough that this mixer should not be considered for professional use.

I am using my Korg at home, and despte the noise issue... I am pretty happy with it. But I would not attempt to use it out live at this time.

jayray · Post by **jayray** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 5:56 am

practice with it for seven hours..........you may quickly be forced to "limp" around some buggs..........a pain in the ass live.......from experience

subterFUSE · Post by **subterFUSE** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 3:50 pm

I would also say that the Korg's are not suitable for club install mixers because the EQ knobs are not sturdy enough for heavy use. They will wear out quickly compared to more sturdy mixers like those from Allen & Heath.

I think the Zero series are more for studio use than club use.

splurt · Post by **splurt** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 4:31 pm

too much hiss!

splurt · Post by **splurt** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 4:33 pm

too much hiss, i wouldnt dare

bildeaux · Post by **bildeaux** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 3:41 pm

I used it at a nice venue last month and the sound engineer at the club was pulling her hair out because the hiss was so bad from the mixer. We tried everything we could and narrowed it down to the mixer itself. Had to do the show with that horrible hiss the whole time.

subterFUSE · Post by **subterFUSE** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 4:48 pm

Yep. This mixer is not usable in a live situation. The quality simply isn't there.

If you need a mixer for a club, get an Allen & Heath. Nothing else can compare when it comes to sound quality and strong build.

I am using my Zero8 at home, and I'm using it essentially as a MIDI controller. I do my mixing and recording within Ableton. So I can get past the hiss issue with my workaround. The hiss doesn't affect my recordings. Only my monitoring. But I wouldn't dare use it in a club because of the hiss.

slug · Post by **slug** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 4:07 am

Obviously it isnt every unit. Ive had 2 different zero4 mixers used where i am a club tech here in new zealand and there was no detectable noise at all....and im a fussy bastard I even bitch and moan at Serato users for using those crappy interface boxes.

splurt · Post by **splurt** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 3:41 am

zer0 8 hisses not the 4

Proof · Post by **Proof** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 9:31 pm

slug wrote:Obviously it isnt every unit. Ive had 2 different zero4 mixers used where i am a club tech here in new zealand and there was no detectable noise at all....and im a fussy bastard I even bitch and moan at Serato users for using those crappy interface boxes.

Well, at least one of the NZ Zero 8's has some noise in it...

l0ckd0wn · Post by **l0ckd0wn** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 10:55 pm

splurt wrote:zer0 8 hisses not the 4

Actually there have been cases on both mixers.

Gin2 · Post by **Gin2** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 7:09 pm

subterFUSE wrote:Yep. This mixer is not usable in a live situation. The quality simply isn't there.

If you need a mixer for a club, get an Allen & Heath. Nothing else can compare when it comes to sound quality and strong build.

I am using my Zero8 at home, and I'm using it essentially as a MIDI controller. I do my mixing and recording within Ableton. So I can get past the hiss issue with my workaround. The hiss doesn't affect my recordings. Only my monitoring. But I wouldn't dare use it in a club because of the hiss.

OK so here is my work around. i'm only testing this at home, but thought i'd ask you guys before i try it at my big night...

i went and bought an A&H 92 and am effectively using the zero 8 as a midi controller...

How i run it is as follows:
firewire from macbook pro into the korg zero 8, another firewire from the korg into my motu ultralite, and then run one channel out from the motu into one of the line in channels of the A&H.

i then go into ableton, where in the I/O i've got the choice of the motu or the korg > i choose the motu

it all seems to work, and by doing this i (think) i'm bypassing the zero 8s sound quality....

my only question is... because the sound is going through 2 pieces of equip, ie first thru the korg and then the motu - will the sound quality suffer??

any advice would be most welcome

Proof · Post by **Proof** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 7:30 pm

No it wont, but the issue is, you shouldn't have to be strapping a MOTU on the back of the Korg, just for sound quality issues...

Just using it for a MIDI controller is a bit of a waste, as I have discovered.

Gin2 · Post by **Gin2** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 8:13 pm

Proof wrote:No it wont, but the issue is, you shouldn't have to be strapping a MOTU on the back of the Korg, just for sound quality issues...

Just using it for a MIDI controller is a bit of a waste, as I have discovered.

cheers for the quick reply!

i know i shouldn't have to use another audio device, but what's the other option???

of course i would love to be able to use it as a proper mixer, but if i can't then sure as hell i'm gonna use a + £1,000 piece of equipment for something, even if it is a midi controller...

otherwise it just sits in my bedroom