When would you use the Mixer's on-board effects for live?

I only use it for vocals myself.

Yeah. Anything but electric guitars actually. Vocals, drums, bass, acoustic guitars.

Same here

I have been running a digital mixer for a while now. For live use, the only effects I use on electric guitars from the mixer may be reverb, compression and EQ. I only use those if needed.

If the guitar player is using reverb on his tone, there is no need to add to that. Reverb gets out of hand really fast. If you use it on your guitar sound you need to use it sparingly. It multiplies by the time it comes out of FOH.

I will use a light compression on a guitar if it is varying a lot in volume. This happens at times when the guitar player doesn't have their solo boost set correctly. If it is a little loud, I will put a little compression on it with a higher threshold to keep it under control. I will usually start with telling the guitar player to bump his solo volume down first, or up if it is too low.

I will apply EQ to guitars when needed as well. This typically needs done if the guitar tone has too much low end or high end for the full mix. I have also done it to add midrange to a guitar tone to bring it more forward in the mix. Some guys run a scooped mids sound and that doesn't work in a full mix. I will also EQ guitars if there are two guitar players in the band. I will give one of them a bit more low mids and the other more in the upper mids. This helps out front with being able to hear the guitars individually. Which one I decide to shift up or down in the mids depends on the tone they are feeding me and which one is playing more of the lead lines.

Other than these effects, use all other effects on your tone that you are feeding the FOH. I have a different approach for vocals, drums and bass. I still use EQ and compression on them but in a different way. I will also set up a reverb and/or delay for specific effects in some songs. These are things I tend to crank at specific times and then turn off. Something like at the end of a song, I will crank a delay on the last word the lead vocalist sings and let that ring out as they prepare to start the next song. It adds a flair that most bands in my area don't have. I have received many good comments for these little things that I do that other sound guys do not.

I can only speak on the digital mixers that I have experienced. The onboard effects are typically low quality. Especially the reverbs. Yuck, nothing worse than a bad reverb. In that case, I will try to make due with the room reverb or set the verb very light so that the poor quality is hidden. Cheap reverbs tend to have bad tails that I would rather not hear.

Quote from lbieber

I can only speak on the digital mixers that I have experienced. The onboard effects are typically low quality. Especially the reverbs. Yuck, nothing worse than a bad reverb. In that case, I will try to make due with the room reverb or set the verb very light so that the poor quality is hidden. Cheap reverbs tend to have bad tails that I would rather not hear.

There is a digital board with bad sounding effects? I can say that I haven't experienced that one yet. They are all basically software plugins. There are usually multiple types of reverb in them as well as multiple versions of the other effects in them.

Quote from JEverly

There is a digital board with bad sounding effects? I can say that I haven't experienced that one yet. They are all basically software plugins. There are usually multiple types of reverb in them as well as multiple versions of the other effects in them.

Yes there are bad sounding effects. The fact that they are implemented in software and that there might be multiple types doesn't mean any of them are high quality. I don't get the logic?

Reverb, especially, is an effect that is sensitive to the way it is implemented. This is why many of the big companies have their own algorithms. This is essentially why Eventide, Strymon, TC, Lexicon, etc... all claim to be the best and why users prefer one over the other. Companies making digital mixers Mackie, Behringer, Presonus, etc... are generally focused on the product as a digital mixer with added effect options. They are not focused on implementing the best effects and the proof is in the sound. I thought this was common knowledge.

Quote from lbieber

Yes there are bad sounding effects. The fact that they are implemented in software and that there might be multiple types doesn't mean any of them are high quality. I don't get the logic?

Reverb, especially, is an effect that is sensitive to the way it is implemented. This is why many of the big companies have their own algorithms. This is essentially why Eventide, Strymon, TC, Lexicon, etc... all claim to be the best and why users prefer one over the other. Companies making digital mixers Mackie, Behringer, Presonus, etc... are generally focused on the product as a digital mixer with added effect options. They are not focused on implementing the best effects and the proof is in the sound. I thought this was common knowledge.

I am not recording with my digital mixer and have been able to find things that do what I need and sound good live. That is why said I was a little surprised. One could argue that all of the companies you mentioned produce a small variation of the same thing. In a live situation I doubt anyone would hear it and know which company produced it.