Yamaha DM3 Digital Mixer - Cute and Functional - Sonic LAB Review

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Editor Nick takes a look at the new and extremely cute Yamaha DM3 Digital console. Its a small footprint version of their larger format DM7 console and is built in true Yamaha touring grade.
Thew DM8 has 16 physical XLR inputs (ch 13-16 with combi jacks), 18 USB returns (on board USB interface), 16 Dante inputs (with Dante version), 2ch USB stick playback and 2 Stereo FX.
The on board USB interface offers 18 I/O that can be routed from channel outputs, any of the 6 Mix Bus outs, 2x Matrix sends or the stereo out. Strangely its only 48kHz or 96kHz though, no 44.1kHz.
Its a delightfully compact and well made piece of hardware with 9 high quality 100mm motorized faders, with a decent touch screen and the effects are fine, unless you are looking for shimmer reverbs and more complex DSP effects.
If you need a rugged, high quality touring grade mixer then this is a nice choice, but for the project studio or small live setup this could prove to be an expensive option when cabling, adapters or Dante add-ons would add to the price.
Yamaha DM3 Standard (no Dante) £1495/$1699
Yamaha DM3 (with Dante) £299/$1999
uk.yamaha.com/en/products/pro...
Find it here:-
thmn.to/thoprod/564188?offid=...
thmn.to/thoprod/564038?offid=...
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#soniclab #yamaha #dm3
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[@buggzo]

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

[@georgeray3492]

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

[@EannaButler]

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

[@PostingCringeOnMain]

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.

[@edjefferson9175]

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.

[@AirwaveMusic]

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

[@JoeMicroscope]

Great review thanks

[@adriansmithmusic]

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

[@atommachine]

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

[@jovwvy]

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.

[@JorgeParagliding]

I was thinking of getting a DM3 as the audio interface/live gig monitoring for a small project studio but I agree it may not be great for this based on limitations. I am now looking at the TF1, albeit older and lacking 96K, it appears it offers more for about the same price. I like the form factor of the DM3 but the TF1 can also be rack though it is bigger.

[@WildernessMusic_GentleSerene]

Is the main advantage of a digital live sound mixer eliminating the long XLR cables from stage to mixer and then mixer back to stage amps and speakers? To accomplish this all through a CAT5 cable, then we are going through the conversion processes ADC to DAC?

[@dowsettassociatesprojects4527]

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 ??

[@horatiotimewaster5755]

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.

[@photonjiagu]

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.

[@ayjaym1]

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.

[@professor_thunder]

Very novice question. What are your thoughts for this DM3 vs Mackie DLZ Pro for content creation? Any thoughts are appreciated.

[@antunkatona5674]

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!

[@Robert44444444]

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.

[@MusicWizard85]

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.

[@bbrian205]

I use the DLZ for wedding ceremony set ups. Its great when you only need 2 or 3 mic inputs and some music from the iPad. Also, the EQ is a life saver when it comes to lapel mics!

[@TheAtomicTom]

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

[@incaroads001]

Can you put a compressor on the stereo output ?

[@withiddenoise]

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.

[@withiddenoise]

In Canada the stage box is $1000 cheaper than the Dante version of the DM3

[@ferdinsir6489]

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

[@chriswilkinson4044]

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

[@sroksrehband]

How’s it compare to tf1 ?

[@Felitsius]

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.

[@distorson]

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

[@sonicstate]

Paired but it will use two channel faders linked

[@ayjaym1]

Yes but I would add that the two custom fader views let you assign just one side of the stereo pair to a fader and then that will control both linked channels from that single fader.

[@sonicstate]

@@ayjaym1 good thought

[@SuperMax_____0.0_____]

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 !

[@BrunodeSouzaLino]

That is a small setback when you consider the DM7 Compact costs 15 grand and it's about as slow as the DM3, if not slower. And if it's the DM7-EX and it's 3 screens and 20+ small displays, it's even worse, considering it costs 40 grand.

[@faithhopelove6945]

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

[@sonicstate]

I believe they are yes

[@PierreVilleneuve88]

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

[@andrewsun4385]

Awesome!!!🌟🌟💯💯

[@k2icc]

Loopback?

[@janhenckell4178]

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.

[@sonicstate]

TBH thats more that I didnt take off the protection, my bad, but I dont think I could have put it on again :-)

[@edjefferson9175]

Glossy screens seem better for touch surface responsive. Like an ipad.

[@briangardner5053]

I bet theres a matte touchscreen protector that could solve any reflection issues if needed

[@oblitafier]

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

[@sonicstate]

Yes it does, we had it on a rotating stand so we could easily see the rear connections

[@antikytheramechanism7909]

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

[@RayR]

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.

[@daemonelectricity]

"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.

[@Ancaja123]

All the inputs are combo jacks. Outputs being XLR isn’t the end of the world but not completely ideal. However, really not bad

[@daemonelectricity]

@@Ancaja123 I just looked at it again. Only the last 4 are combo. The rest of the inputs are all XLR only. You can see it at 0:54. Now that you point it out though, it's silly that there are NO combo/TRS output jacks.

[@sonicstate]

We do mention that there should be more combo inputs. I'm not sure such a combo for XLR outputs exist. Can't see physically how you could do it on an output

[@edjefferson9175]

I have had combo jacks fail. DI boxes are best but costly. They isolate and eliminate ground loops. 1/4” to XLR cables don’t cost much more than regular instrument cables. I make my own.

[@__prtcl]

that really depends on your workflow. with all this great routing I would have this running to a patchbay for sure, which I have already because half the gear is TRS and half XLR with a smattering of DIs for vintage things that are unbalanced. being able to group any channel through some outboard and then multitrack everything is definitely worth some extra setup

[@Thesilmar]

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

[@JoeMicroscope]

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