Yamaha DM3 Digital Mixer - Cute and Functional - SonicLAB Review

It's always nice to see more digital mixers getting more affordable. This is still a huge chunk of change for most people, but since moving to a digital mixer I would really not like to have to go back to an all analogue job. I think the major lacking point on this one is the lack of 3/4" ins because I mostly record synths into mine so it's a no from me, but aside from that it looks great.

Looks a great mixer , I still use my Mackie Onyx 820i Firewire to reaper win 7 . I may upgrade to this.

Awesome!!!🌟🌟💯💯

Yamaha is a major investor in Audinate which is the company that makes Dante. Dante has gained a lot of momentum and is set to be the standard in the near future. I wish Dante had midi. Dante was invented by a keyboard player who was frustrated with his rats nest of cables.

Maybe we can convince them to make a creative studio versions with different IO and effects

You look a touch younger Nick with a bit of hair.

"This is going to be more useful to a project studio." Honestly, no, and I'm surprised to hear this coming from Nick. Unless you're recording a live band with mic'd up amps and drums, it's more likely that the viewers of this channel are going to have mostly synths and drum machines and need lots of TRS 1/4" inputs. Yamaha does consistently make quality stuff, but this is surprising. Combination jacks would've been the way to go across the board. They've greatly limited the application of their product by not providing them.

Looks nice but the screen is very glossy. There are mate screens like on the XOR Nerdseq. Maybe a service team could exchange the glossy screen for a mate one.

Can two channels be combined as a stereo channel and being controlled by only one fader?

I used one for a gig. It’s very well built. Yamaha tf1 has a bit more settings. Such as output control. Meaning you can trim outputs. I hope they will add it to an update. Would really love to have one.

the OS reminds me of the TF1 we have at work, great to see this new compact model.

To piggy-back on a point Nick made in this review, seems like the place & time to voice my opinion about digital mixers generally. It seems to me a great many of these digital mixers are marketed as being primarily suited for FOH sound reinforcement applications, with a subset being suitable for in-studio music production as well.

In the mid 90s when I 1st saw a very expensive Euphonix desk where the 'mix surface' was entirely separate from the I/O and mix engine electronics in a separate chassis, I thought that made so much sense. It made me wonder since the mix position was going to be FOH, and there will need to be a cabled connection from the mix surface to the stage where there will be 1 or more 'stageboxes' for I/O, why are the manufacturers putting all the I/O on the back of the console and making you pay for that when you're going to have to pay for all that again in I/O stage boxes too?

Presonus apparently saw things (for a moment) the way I did and created the CS18AI control surface as a front end for the RM16AI and RM32AI rackmount mixers with all the I/O that would be on stage in live mixing applications. Presonus discontinued the line. I don't know their reasons, but i don't understand why if as a manufacturer you design a digital mixer not knowing whether your customers are going to use it live or in the studio (or both) why you don't separate the I/O from the mix surface… it just doesn't make sense to me not to.

Looks a great compact mixer but in a studio only setup say you have 6 outboard synths, once the x4 1\4 inputs are used up by 2 of them would DI boxes then need to used to allow the other synths to be connected to the XLR only inputs ??

I mixed professionally on Yamaha consoles from 2002 - 2019. Day after day in 40,000 seat venues. In all that time not one single failure or even a glitch. Very dependable.
This looks perfect for location radio broadcasts. Every thing you need in a high quality portable box.
Personally I have owned: DMP7, ProMix 01, 01V96, and DM1000. The 20 year old DM1000 is a cheap studio beast if you find a clean one.
Used O1V96 are still great project studio mixers and can be had for $400.
ALSO I own a Presonus Studio Live III. I have mixed feelings about it (pun intended). It does a lot of stuff and sounds quite good but it crashes way too much. The interface is not fully thought out.

Cool new digital mixer! More Combi Ins tho...
So cool to see you in your element Nick.

Good overview of the digital standard incompatibility issues. Positive review of a nice form factor.

The DM3 is very attractive for live mixing. Could you review the Tascam SonicView sometime? This has Dante and a multichannel recorder, also. A bit pricy, but compelling. There are few reviews on it, oddly.

The lack of multitrack recording to usb stick is a shame, would be great if they added that in a firmware update.

What a miss for Yamaha. I think there are many live engineers these days looking for a compact but seriously capable solution.

Can you put a compressor on the stereo output ?

Does it not have rubber feet? I see it sliding around on the desk a lot. Pretty annoying

The Yamaha TFI is about the same price and has the same funtionality (I work with both) but the TF1 has 16 combo inputs and 16 XLR out, it is almost twice the size though.

It's worth noting there's a difference between the Yamaha DM3D and DM3S. The S has no Dante and is slightly cheaper. I like these but I prefer the UI on the new Allen & Heath CQ series.

Oddly enough while not the best mixer the Mackie DLZ Creator has some of the best UI I've seen where you can tell the unit you're a beginner, intermediate, or pro & it will give you less parameters the more of a beginner you are. Fantastic idea I wish other mixers had.

I own one as a home studio mixer. It is also a great audio interface and control surface. Although i did have to recable to replace some trs connectors with xlr, theres no need for di boxes as long as youre careful with phantom power. The preamps are all wired the same including the trs jacks its just that these obviously dont put phantom power on the trs jack.

Hello! You've made an excellent point when you said that the DM3 isn't quite the ideal choice for a home or project studio. Having watched other videos (not that there are many), I was wishing for and hoping the DM3 would be all that I need because, well, I love Yamaha reliability and longevity and the price is also attainable. Having watched your video, I am not so sure anymore. Can you please recommend something that would fit the needs of a home or project studio better? Cheers!

I still trying to figure out what this console is for. The cost and feature set is limited compared to competitors. Is the sound quality that much better that it justifies the extra cost... Any DAW integration.. probably not. Having used a lot of it's competitors I doubt it. Nothing stood out to me interface wise either. I'll just stick with my Behringer Wing. I'm stick shocked at how good that console is for the price.

The only 2 downpoints for me are the 2 channels only USB recording and the lack of channel inputs expansion through Dante.

So, what IS the studio-oriented mixer-interface that Nick is wishing for? That's what I'm looking for right now.

Loopback?

that touchscreen seems a bit laggy for a 2.5k but its a great mixer, so bad that all the cpu inside seems made in 2007, good review as always !

So, the Preamps are same High End Preamps
like in the DM7 Mixer ?

came to the same conclusion unfortunately :'( If only I could plug sth. like an SD16 into this console.. I'd be instantly on board. Not just the formfactor but all the great presets for mics and isntruments etc. it would be the dream.

How’s it compare to tf1 ?

Could u teach how to play audio to mixer from laptop using usb cable,,

Great review. I forgot how honest you guys are. Rare in this retail industry.

the capacitive touch screens don't work so well as you get older. Old skin not so good as young skin.

Great review thanks

This mixer have bluetooth?

So I have the dm3d and the newest Mac Pro with Logic Pro and cubase pro 13 and I cannot get the dm3d to talk to Logic Pro let alone cubase, I really would like for this to work as I do production sound for tv film docs infomercials etc and I have my cart gear working but would love to have all of this talking to each other, but for now at least cubase pro 13 with dm3d

hello good time Thank you for your training
My question is, what kind of preamp is used in this mixer?🙏🙏

Buy A Ql1 😂