I've 2 L1 Compacts and a Ti Tonematch. The inputs of the T1 is a limitation. It is also challenging to use in a stereo manner. What are the very best options for mixing using 2 L1 Compacts? Pros for using the T1 or TS4 or 8? Othere manufacturer preferred mixers? Thanks much!
The best option is a stereo mixer.
You could still use your Tonematch for its presets if you've got some you like and run the output to one channel on your mixer -- although it WILL be a mono signal.
There are numerous quite nice analog mixers with various numbers of input channels for very reasonable prices. Many will also enable you to run a USB cable to a laptop and record the stereo mix.
Digital mixers often include some nice additional features -- I mainly like the ability to mix using an App on a pad via WiFi from anywhere in the room, the built in effects and scene saving (I play with many different combinations/bands) and being able to do multi-track recording (record each input channel separately as a WAV file) for later mixdown on a computer using Cubase or ProTools. But they are somewhat more expensive and carry a bit of a learning curve to get to the point of quickly knowing how and where to drill down through the menu structure to do what needs to be done.
Good Luck...
The TS mixers have certain advantages when used with L1 systems but any other small mixer will get the job done. If you decide not to go the Bose route I'd suggest a digital desk like a Behringer XR12/16/18, Mackie DL series or, a little more expensive a Berry X32 series, QSC Touchmix or Allen & Heath QU. There are others but those are the ones I have had hands on.
PS: I have to admit that once I got past the issues with recording I love my QSC Touchmix 16 and it's my go-to mixer.
For recording, you need a VERY fast solid state hard drive! Luckily, they've gotten quite cheap and sometimes one has to pull the power cord to reboot before the USB SD drive is recognized. Then when importing the WAV files into Cubase, I have to make sure that the project is set to 44.1K - 32 bit float first or the imported tracks won't play.
The Touchmix has got every feature I could ever need, the effects are quite nice and It's the SMALLEST 16 channel mixer I've ever owned -- not much bigger than a laptop computer, not a lot bigger than the Behringer 1002B 5 channel analog mixer I have -- it easily fits in the Miata!
They also have a Touchmix 8 for a little less money -- but still pretty pricey.
I used a Mackie ProFX8 with my pair of L1 Compacts for a while and then upgraded to a Soundcraft Signature MTK 12 for additional mic lines. Both are mic stereo FX USB mixers, but the MTK actually does *multitrack* recording and playback (12 track Main L/R record and 12 track playback). That kinda blew me away, but it makes sense since you can get lots of multitrack USB recorders these days, so I guess it was only a matter of time before they upped the ante on analog mixer USB recording capabilities.
For us this works as it's always just us and we don't change settings much, but I could do with a 2nd FX channel to have individual control of 2 different kinds of effects, which I've seen some analog boards sporting. A digital board would be very nice for presets both per song and per venue, but for us that was going to be about 4x the cost of the Soundcraft, so maybe next upgrade. I do use digital boards in my day job, church and traveling gospel group, though, and very much appreciate them.
Jeff