Peavey Aureus Live Mixer: Peavey moves into the digital era, but is it too late?
4,7 / 5,0 | 
The new Peavey Aureus digital mixing console marks Peavey’s move into the digital era. Does the Aureus offer enough to tempt us away from the current industry standards though? We take a look and see what’s what…
Peavey Aureus
There was a time when you used to see Peavey mixers and PA gear everywhere; most small clubs and rehearsal rooms had at least one piece of Peavey gear. Unfortunately, Peavey was slow to adapt to the onslaught of affordably priced gear from China, eventually closing its factories in Mississippi in 2015.
We’ve not really seen much of note from Peavey, at least in terms of PA and live gear for some time. None the less, Peavey has boldly entered the digital era with their new Aureus digital mixing console. Undoubtedly this is big news from the company which pioneered the concept of “working people’s music gear”.
So is the Aureus a mixing revolution, or an out of step design that’s too little, too late? Let’s dig into the specs.
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Touch Screen Splendour
The first thing that hits you about the Peavey Aureus is the large, 10″, full-colour touch-screen. There’s also an integrated tablet holder, which can mirror functions to create an awful lot of touch-screen joy for the user! Whilst we’re talking of tablet integration, on-board Wi-Fi allows any tablet capable of running an HTML5 browser to connect. That’s a clever move and theoretically rules out any future issues with app incompatibility.
But the rest of the mixer specifications are a bit underwhelming considering the price point. There’s no audio networking on offer and the audio I/O on offer is adequate rather than exceptional. The two consoles to beat at this price point are the ubiquitous Behringer X32 and the Allen & Heath Qu-16. Both offer you more physical control, more groups and audio networking you won’t find in the Peavey Aureus.
So why would you buy an Aureus over the established market leaders? I’ve been asking myself that question from the moment I started writing this article! All I can come up with is the larger touch-screen interface and the feeling you get buying from an venerable American brand. The Aureus is, like most Peavey products and the Behringer and Allen & Heath mixers mentioned above, made in China.
More Information
- Price: $1499
- Manufacturer’s Website
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3 responses to “Peavey Aureus Live Mixer: Peavey moves into the digital era, but is it too late?”
Nice
Unfortunately, the Aureus mixer we tried would freeze up during our church services leaving us with no monitoring and no control. The design lacks adequate tactile controls to handle different mixes for live, streaming, and recording at the same time. Had to replace it with a different brand.
Were you ever able to get it fixed? Peavey used to have a large staff to handle repairs. Now they have two overworked people. And they wouldn’t be able to fix that product anyway. I wonder who does? Send it back to the manufacturer? Whoever that is… It’s NOT Peavey.