Yamaha DM3

The Yamaha DM3 is a full digital mixing console the size of a briefcase: 320 mm wide and 6.5 kg. Sixteen microphones go in — a full band with a miked kit, or a wedding ceremony, the speeches and the DJ on one desk — and eight XLRs go out to PA, monitors and zones.

What separates it from an analogue desk of the same size is the 9-inch touchscreen. Every channel keeps its own EQ, compressor and sends, and all of it recalls as a scene. Soundcheck in the afternoon and a different act at night? Change the scene and the nine motorised faders move to where they belong on their own.

It carries Dante with sixteen inputs and sixteen outputs, so it can work with a stagebox over a single network cable instead of a multicore: less time rigging and fewer things to fail on an outdoor stage. As an audio interface it is 18 in and 18 out over USB, and the built-in recorder writes the stereo mix to a USB stick as WAV or MP3 — enough for the client to go home with the ceremony recorded.

We use it for villa weddings, live shows and corporate events in Cabo Roig, Orihuela Costa, Torrevieja, Alicante and Murcia. You can drive it from the desk itself, from a laptop, or from a tablet over Wi-Fi, and if your engineer has not met one before, we hand it over set up and explained.