If you’re at all inclined to add outboard effects (like the very nice Strymon pedals, or other effects suitable for synths), I’d try to have an effects send on my mixer.
The Mix8 has one - but I think it’s mono. Maybe the Xenyx8 even has a stereo send?
I think the Yamaha mixers are pretty well regarded, too.
I had an Allen & Heath ZED14, and I really liked the build quality and features. The only bad thing about it was the large size. So maybe something like the ZED or the new iZED series could be worth looking at?
I’d choose Mackie over Behringer due to their heritage and my prejudice (i ain’t got either).I use Yamaha and a Studiomaster Fusion DJ hybrid.
Allen & Heath good for sure.Spirit use to be popular -look out for a cheap one.
stereo sends are super rare as far as I can tell @josker - stereo returns are all over there place, or on cheaper mixers you have to use up some of your stereo channels. I forget exactly why, but I seem to recall something about most channels are mono, and a lot of fx used back in the day were also mono with stereo outs. Nobody quote me on that…
Of course you can work around this if you have group outs, send channels to that and connect the fx, then back into a stereo channel.
I’d try for used in this price range, @defectus much more bang for the buck. A lot of the channels are stereo channels (cheaper that way, only one fader and EQ for two channels) at this price point, too, in my experience.
Case in point, careful with that Mix8, I only see 6 channels, and 3/4/ and 5/6 are stereo channels on top of that. They might be counting some kind of tape input as “channels” or something, I didn’t look too far into it tbh, it has 8 inputs so I think they’re claiming 8 channels. Kind of sketchy imo.
Behringer gets a lot of flack, but tbh, depending on your use/needs I don’t see a problem using a Xenyx or Eurorack model if you find one at your price point. i’ll probably be getting a small one for my pedalboard to route several instruments into my Boomerang looper with little fuss. Maybe a cheap Mackie, who knows.