MIDAS VENICE GUIDE

Midas Venice Mixers - 160 & 240 F16 & F24 

Midas built its reputation on large-format live sound consoles - the XL4 and Heritage series became standard equipment on major touring productions worldwide. The Venice series brought Midas preamp and build quality into a more accessible format, aimed at mid-size live venues, rehearsal rooms and project studios that couldn't justify the cost of a Heritage but wanted more than the market was otherwise offering at the price. 

The Venice 160, 240 and 320 - sixteen, twenty-four and thirty-two channel variants respectively - are the most commonly encountered models and very relevant to studio users. They're built to a standard that significantly exceeds their original price point, and they've generally aged well (if they’ve not lived a hard life on the road). 

I personally prefer the F series (the F stands for Firewire) which if you are lucky come with working digital I/O via this now outdated protocol (I run an old Mac in my studio to use with the desk). Even without the Firewire, these are great value desks - they have long throw faders which the 160/240/320 do not and excellent analogue I/O so can be used with any interface long after you’ve lost/discarded the Firewire cable. Given the demise of Firewire in studios, these can often be picked up at something of a discount if you’re patient and are highly recommended. 

The preamps 

The preamps are one reason to buy a Midas Venice over a comparable desk from the same era. Midas designed their own transformer-coupled mic preamps for the Venice and the result is a preamp that's clean, detailed and musical without being clinical. There's a character to it - a slight warmth in the low midrange, a top end that's extended without being brittle - that makes it consistently flattering on most sources.

For a project studio, the Venice preamps compare favourably with dedicated outboard preamps at two or three times the price. Getting sixteen or twenty-four of them in a single desk is good value by almost any measure. 

The EQ & Aux Sends 

Great parametric and semi parametric eqs on every channel - more than enough for all but the most demanding tasks - they are sweet and musical. There are 6 aux sends and two stereo aux returns which is generous by modern standards and I use the group and matrix outs to hack an extra 6 sends on my F24 (I lose a lot of channels routing the returns back in, but it’s a hell of a dub rig!). 

Build quality 

The first Venices were built in the UK at a time when British manufacturing standards in professional audio were genuinely world-class. The chassis is solid, the channel modules are well-engineered, and the overall impression is of a desk built to last rather than built to a price. Thirty-plus years on, that impression is still borne out - well-maintained Venice desks continue to function reliably in working studios. Later units (most you’ll find now) are Designed in the UK and made in China. There are some mutterings online about the build quality of the Chinese desks which are not borne out by my own experience. Both my F16s and F24 were all made in China and have been very reliable. It probably helps that they were well-treated/maintained before I acquired them. 

Venice 160 vs Venice 240 (or Venice F16 vs Venice F24) 

The 160 and F16 offer eight mono and four stereo input channels plus two stereo returns. The 240 and F24 add eight more mono channels and additional routing flexibility, making it more suitable for larger sessions or users who regularly track many simultaneous sources (or want the ultimate dub rig like me). All share the same preamp design and bus architecture, so the sonic character is consistent across the range. 

For most project studio users the 160 provides more than enough channel count. The 240 makes more sense for larger home studios, small commercial facilities, or anyone regularly doing live recording with significant channel requirements while the 320 is for those of us who really need to control their GAS. 

The main appeal for me of the F16/F24/F32 is the long throw faders - I’d not trade those for the short throw ones on the 160/240/320… 

What to look for when buying 

The Venice is a robust desk but given they’re designed and often used for live sound you need to proceed with caution. Physical appearance can be revealing of a hard life on the road (check the end cheeks, arm rest and case/face for evidence of wear) but doesn’t always equate to a bad example (many live sound desks have been well-maintained). Check each channel

carefully for noise and gain consistency, and pots/sliders/switches for noise. Be wary of those with faults as repairs are not easy on these. The F series can have faults with the Firewire card (reputedly caused by hot-swapping cables) which is not an issue if you are using an external converter. 

The Venice was built for UK mains voltage, which simplifies things considerably compared to Japanese market gear. No step-down transformer required. 

In the studio 

The Venice works well as a hybrid studio desk - tracking through the preamps into your DAW, mixing in-the-box, and summing back through the Venice bus for some analogue glue on the mix output. The aux sends are plentiful and flexible enough for mixing but be aware you’ll lose channel count if bringing back lots of returns. The channel EQ, while maybe not the primary reason to buy a Venice, is musical and useful.