Jean Poole has posted a practical and personal review of Numark’s AVM02 audio/video mixer (site | on CDM):
Why?
There are video mixers, there are audio mixers. Combining them into one unit mostly makes sense if you want to mix both simultaneously. One smooth crossfade that leaves your other hand free for shaking a tambourine / zooming in on the sword swallowers contact microphone / scratching OJ Simpson video / making figure 8 patterns in the air with a wii controller / swirling the mike above your head / sipping your coconut juice or you know, clicking your mouse. And it’s just nice to have the option of that easy A+V sync.
It’s been almost 2 years since I bought and reviewed my AVM02, and in that time it’s become an indispensable part of my rig. The AVM02 is almost the definition of a “workhorse”, steadfastly doing its job without hassle or complexity. I’m surprised that more visualists aren’t using them, considering that it’s cheaper than the V4, has better video input/output options, and does audio as well.
The effects are indeed truly terrible, but I personally think that mixer effects are there to sell units to people who don’t understand the technology. Surely effects are happening at the source these days? Even Pioneer’s Giant Expensive Thing‘s exciting touch screen effects start to look hackneyed after the 3rd time they’re trotted out.
Jean picked up a weakness I hadn’t noticed: Master fade for video (and Audio, I guess). Sure, you can choose a black background colour on one video channel, put all of the audio inputs to one side of the crossfader and mix to black/silent, but a single knob or fader for the whole shebang would be a much better solution, and fitting for the “installation mixer” role.
The lack of MIDI still really shines out. Especially after having spent a year with the everything-controllable-via-numbers Vixid, this should be amongst the first priorities for any hardware developer, as it exponentially amplifies the capabilities of the device.
It has been 2 years though, so I’m sure Numark are readying to explode minds with the AVM03, or perhaps they’ll pull an Edirol, wait 10 years and jump straight to the AVM08.
Test Driving the Numark AVM02 – Skynoise.net.