Is anybody able to recommend a low cost mixer.
I feel I need this to split my guitar input signal to monitor whilst playing to pre recorded backing track, thereby avoiding latency problems.
If that’s all you’re doing, you may not need a mixer. An electric guitar pickup signal is very close to music line level and you should be able to use a Behringer UCA-202 to digitize the guitar, and manage overdubbing/multitrack. Plug your guitar – or even your amp if it has the right connections – into the UCA-202 in place of the mixer in this illustration.
http://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix/peaveyUCA202Lenovo.jpg
The overdubbing instructions are here…
http://manual.audacityteam.org/help/manual/man/tutorial_recording_multi_track_overdubs.html
It’s the second overdubbing article.
The very instant you want to use more than one musical thing in your show at once, keyboard, drums, microphone, vocals, then yes, you’re stuck with a real mixer.
Using just the guitar and a $30 UCA-202 should give you the ability to produce a multiple layer song with everything but vocals – or anything that needs a microphone. Microphones demand an amplifier or mixer and you can’t easily use Computer Microphones in this setup.
That setup in the first illustration also includes a $100 Peavey PV-6 mixer on the right. That will handle four XLR microphones at once.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PV6/
Koz