Mackie Mixer question

A

abbo69nz

New member
Hi Guys
I recently Purchased a mackie PA setup for when my band starts playing live shows, I Purchased the mackie profx22 mixer,
I am the drummer and I have 9 mics setup on the kit (I just finished setting them up)

Now Obviously this mixer has great reviews for doing live shows etc, But what I was wondering was how good is this mixer at recording at home, We are getting into recording our music
and I was wondering if this will do the trick to record my kit in our studio? Or am I better to get something more suited to a studio setting to tack my drums and leave the profx22 for the live stuff>

I have had a play around with some recording using the profx22 and there is this horrible staticy noise that I just cant get rid of and by the time you get a guitar track, bass drums and vocals on there, all with this background noise, it renders the track useless,
Yet when I runn the guitars and vocals etc through my digitech gnx3000 and track it into the computer using the same DAW, There is absolutely no backgound noise just a nice clean signal>>
 
The mixer will work for home recording - HOWEVER you are only going to get 2 separate tracks (left and right) sent via USB to your computer, If you want to record each of your drum mics to a separate track for mixing, then you need an interface with at least that many inputs.
The problem with the Mackie 'noise' (I high pitched whine is what I get with mine) only happens when you crank up the USB knob past 2 o'clock.
 
thanks for the reply,

I tried something interesting before,
I connected the mixer up, opened my daw, zero'ed every single knob on the mixer so nothing was engaged and then ran a level check,
and there was still
"noise" activity happening, and im talking a fair bit, a good 1/3 up my level meter, yet when I plug the GNX3000 in, nothing shows up,
weird,
obviously I want to use the mackie to track my drums but that noise really ruins it,
Im not worried about it just coming down in 2 tracks to my computer (i Was just planning to pan and set the levels all up on the mixer itself) then record

Thanks
 
Sounds like the dreaded digital earth loop, this is an earth loop between the computer and the mixer that is traveling down the USB cable. Just to suss this out, are you using a laptop? If so does the noise go away if you use the laptop on battery with the power pack disconnected?

Cheers
Alan.

Oh I should have asked if there is anything else connected to the mixer?
 
Thanks for the replies, Ill check the driver this afternoon, from memory it did't come with any drivers etc, it jsut installed itself in windows 7, didn't even think of that! thanks
Hmm interesting... It is going to my laptop yes, Ill try running it on battery, see if that changes anything, When I last tested it, I had my 9 drum mics plugged in, and I had every dial zeroed off
The noise is hard to explain, If I record a small sample, with everything turned all the way down, it almost sounds like a mic thats turned up really really loud, Its weird as

Is it worth me trying to run the mixer into the line inputs on my gnx3000 and then usb out from the gnx and see if that changes anything??
thanks guys!
 
and if you're not using a laptop, are the 'puter and the mixer plugged into the same AC outlet?
If not try doing that.
 
Right so I tried testing the mixer again,
still this unwanted background noise there, un plugged the power supply, no difference,
Checked the drivers, they seem to be fine, I couldn't locate any profx22 drivers on the web anywhere? The mixer it self connects to the computer as USB Audio Codec and uses just windows drivers I gather, wouldnt let me search for updated dreivers either,

Lastly I thought I'd Try plugging the mixer from the l and r ballanced outputs on the mixer, to my l and r line inputs on my Digitech GNX3000, I then selected the gnx as my recording device in my DAW and whoalla! the background noise thing had gone,

I bought the levels up on the mixer, Still the noise did not return,
I even Did a little recording of my drums, and they were much better! just the room ambience, not some weird digital white noise

Got me stumped, I'd rather just connect the mixer straight up, but atleast I know there is an alternative If I cant get any joy
 
mjbphotos said:
Sounds like the infamous Mackie USB problem.
Click to expand...

Ohh, they have an infamous USB problem? Oh dear,
Yeah thats all I can think it could be, as soon as i run the mixer into my gnx3k, then connect the gnx up to my computer via the USB port on the GNX, it runs sweet as a nut,
Kind of annoying really but atleast I can get around the problem
Thanks guys
 
I never noticed it with my Mackie ProFX12, unless I turned the USB knob up too high. The noise didn't come out in the recordings. Now I take the main audio outs from the mixer into my Tascam US-800 and I don't have to worry about it at all!
 
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