Mackie Controller

[Bloodbought]

Does anyone have any comments on this new product? I am thinking seriously into purchasing it as my console as apposed to the db8 to run digital recording, but have found no opinions about it's credibility. thanx

[giles117]

I like the unit. I use DP4 and it integrates very easily. I like the feel a little better then the HUI (mainly becuase I have a permanent master fader)

Bryan Giles

[laptoppop]

I use the d8b at church, and the Mackie Control at home. One thing to note is that the Mackie Control is just that - a control surface. It does a GREAT job with Sonar and other programs at controlling the program, but no audio signals run through it. The d8b has some control surface capabilities (in the latest V5 software), but it absolutely routes audio through it. If you use the Mackie control, you still need microphone preamps, and some way for the musicians to monitor themselves while recording.

I use the Mackie Control with 2 Aardvark Direct Pro 24/96 units, Cakewalk Sonar, a headphone amplifier, and a Samson C-Control box. This has given me a wonderful flexible monitoring and mixing environment. I'm VERY happy with the sound I'm getting out of this rig right now, and the Mackie Control has sped up my mixes in a HUGE way over just the keyboard and mouse.

-lee-

[OzNimbus]

I use mine with Sonar... it's an awesome piece of gear. Highly Recommended!

[moskus]

Originally posted by OzNimbus
I use mine with Sonar...

Does it work as good as they say with Sonar? Do you use the mouse a lot less?

[OzNimbus]

Yes, it works fantastic with Sonar. It really sped up my whole record/edit/mix process.

[Michael Jones]

I'm not sure what the Mackie controlller costs, but you can probably get a Yamaha O1V for around $800 and with its MMC, it makes a great controller.
Plus it has 14 faders and a master, as opposed to, what? 8 on the mackie?

[laptoppop]

The Mackie control is in the same ballpark - right about a thousand bucks. It does what it does very very well. Some of the implementations (like Sonar) are particularly well done. In comparison, while the Yamaha does audio as well as control, AFAIK, hooking it up with Sonar sucks -- fewer features controlled, etc.

-lee-

[Michael Jones]

I see.
It works well with Nuendo, but I'll admitt, hooking it up for the first time was a pain.
Solo, Mute, and faders work good. Anything more, and its more trouble than its worth. But you do get a digital mixer with a bank of pres and FX with the O1V.

[OzNimbus]

What's the fader resolution on the Ov1? The mackie is 1024 steps.

[jake-owa]

Heck, you can control 16 software faders with a Roland VM3100 and still have a decent mixer with analog and digital I/O.

...I have one on ebay BTW...hehe. You can pick it up for under $400..the starting price is $200.

I have used it with Cubase and logic and everything works. 16 faders on two banks of 8, start, stop, recprd and return to zero all worked flawlessly.

Go buy it now!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=2545389785

[Michael Jones]

Originally posted by OzNimbus
What's the fader resolution on the Ov1? The mackie is 1024 steps.

I don't know. I couldn't find it in the manual either.

[frederic]

Originally posted by Michael Jones
I don't know. I couldn't find it in the manual either.

The OV1 is 512 steps.

Still, not shabby at all.

I'm still waiting for someone to make a control surface that has every knob, fader, switch of an analog console, so "old fashioned" guys like me don't have to learn menus.

I'm getting used to menus, but I hate them.

hate them.
hate them.
hate them.

*sigh*

LOL

[OzNimbus]

Originally posted by frederic
The OV1 is 512 steps.

Still, not shabby at all.

Actually, 512 is shabby, according to Roger Nichols, anyway. For "Serious Mixing" 1024 is a must-have.

[Bloodbought]

i really am tempted to buy this, but not sure yet. i cant make up my mind if i want to go fully digital without an external mixing board. can yall tell me if this makes up for it well enough. i am trying to build a studio with high quality recording abilities. at this point i figure the mackie control would be the best bet to make up for cost on the mixer and dump some money into preamps, soundcards and mics. any response?

[OzNimbus]

Well, I haven't gone thru an analog board for 4 years now, in fact most of the last 3 years were done with a mouse. The Mackie was a serious step up.