[Calvin]

You really need to take a look at what you plan on using this mixer for before you ask brands.

1. Are you going to be using it in "live" situations?

If you are going to be moving your board around alot (live shows, recording live ect...) you might want to look into brands like mackie. They aren't the best sounding, but they were built to stand up to the punishment.

2. Are you just going to use it for the mic pre's?

If all you want a mixing board for is to use the pre's on it, do you really need a board at all? I once had an alesis mixer that I had sitting around my studio. I never used it. I found that rackmount pre's usually have better quality and are much easier to transport. Why pay all that money for a mixer I wasn't going to use except for the pre's. Get a digimax or a octopre and you will have a much better result.

3. Do you want the mixer to have a digital out to go straight into pro-tools?

If so a digital mixer might be good, but this can also be acomplished with a unit like a digimax or octopre.

4. Do you want the mixer to also act as a controller for pro-tools?

If so I believe the yamaha digital mixers can do it. If you only want a controller, then you could get a mackie control or the cmlabs 8 fader pack.

It really depends on what you see yourself using it for.