Mackie 400F Firewire review starts here:

  • Thread starter Thread starter tubedude
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tubedude

tubedude

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So far, not much to say as I haven't had a chance to give it a run and put it under pressure.

So far though, no "annoying whine" that a few people have mentioned. I wonder if this isn't a problem amongst other equipment or certain combinations thereof.... grounding issues maybe?

Listening to about 4-5 songs from different bands/projects, I must say that I can hear the difference between the 400F and the Delta 1010. Its a pretty obvious difference. Not a huge difference in my untreated room, but enough to say "ahhhh" The high end is very, ummm, clear and present, if that makes sense to you. Not present in a boosted 12k kind of way, but present in that things are more clear, open, "clean". The music seems to be more outside of the speakers now. More 3D-ish.

The drivers loaded up in just a few seconds flat and within 1 minute I was passing audio. No problems or hangups (aside from having to install windows SP1 to get the drivers to install, but I guess I should have done that 3 years ago.)

The box feels sturdy enough, looks nice, and is surprising shallow. Its probably like 4 inches back into the rack. Come to think of it, I guess the Delta is about the same.

Turn off your monitors before you turn off the 400F though unless you want to buy new tweets.

More to come when I really get huffing with it in the next day or two. Anyone else had thier hands on one yet? Craig Anderton is doing a very good review over at his forum too.
 
dude, why ya posting hea? check out the rack. I've been eye this 400f. :D

check out this thread olahttp://www.homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=183475 :D

So you are using the D/A only at this point? You didn't mention how you are listening? Project with your unnamed DAW soft? or are you running in through the A/D stand alone or what?

PLease do expand on what you are doing!! :confused:

T
 
Allright, I've been installing Sonar 5 P and DFHS all day, and thats kept me busy.
The WDM drivers would not work for me with Sonar 5. I tried and tried. THe ASIO drivers worked immediatly. But, with ASIO, the latency slider doesnt seem to do anything. Normal?
Things seem "ok" so far. I have a couple of issues to work through. FOr instance, the little music it plays when you shut it down. It has some digital static in it. Not terrible, but there.
Also, I'm not sure if Sonar is smart enough to get around this, but I record enabled 10 tracks, set all 10 to the same input and played guitar though the bos. With all 10 enabled (only one being onitored, the rest with the input monitoring turned off) there was static. Slowly turning off all the record buttons down to about only 2-3 of them on got rid of the static. Any idea why it did this?
MOre to come, I have a LOT to learn. In the same 2 days I've gotten the 400F, a Yamaha RM50, Sonar 5, DFHS, and a headache.
The DI on the 400F seems to sound very nice and clean.
More to come.
 
Tubey,
oh man, you're not trying to install new stuff and check out the convertors on the 400f??? :eek:

Whats your DAW prior to Sonar? Or is it just an update? Sorry I don't use Sonar, so I'm not privy to the v scheme. If you were using something prior, it may be wise to test the 400f with that. Though I can understand the anticipation of new gear :p

At any rate keep up the postings, myself and others are sure to appreciate your bleeding edge review!!

T
 
Been running Sonar 3 since it came out, every version of Sonar prior, Delta 1010, with rock solid 1 crash per every 40 hours reliability. WDM drivers with Sonar and Delta are very good, 2.9 ms latency with about 10 tracks and a few plugs running. So I'm used to a solid setup. I think ALL of these things need tweaking to make them work out. this is a brand new from scratch hard drive, so all my settings are different and need tweaking, and its been so long I cant remember what to do with it all. Plus in combo with Sonar 5 and DFHS, there is a ton to figure out all at once. DFHS is a mega 35gb program and a little bit weird right now. I havent made it work. Yet.
My box is Athlon 1800+ with Epox Kt266 board in it, and I just got a TI chipset firewire card for this thing at, of all places, Walmart. $24.99

Monitoring through Yamaha MSP-10's and Sennheiser HD-580's.
 
I got mine a few weeks back but haven't used its mic pres much yet. I did get a chance to use its Hi-Z Inputs with an electric guitar however. Also it would not work until I got the updated drivers (PC users). Thats always a good practice (most of the time) anyway: to get the updated drivers. Once I actually use the mic pres and have my compressor hooked up I'll put in my two cents I guess.
 
tubedude said:
..THe ASIO drivers worked immediatly. But, with ASIO, the latency slider doesnt seem to do anything. Normal?
Click to expand...

The latency for ASIO should be controlled through the Mackie control panel/console/whatever might be installed. There should be a ASIO Panel button in Audio Options under mixing latency.
 
Real quick, in a rush...
I record enabled 10 tracks, each from a different input on the 400F. I ran this in Sonar 5 at latency setting of 256 (will try lower later) for over 6 minutes straight, no dropouts, everything seems ok.
I think its gonna be fine. It bugs me that when you shut of the PC, the 400F console flips back to 192 sampling rate, but otherwise, s'alright.
More to come.
 
tubedude said:
It bugs me that when you shut of the PC, the 400F console flips back to 192 sampling rate, but otherwise, s'alright.
More to come.
Click to expand...

I don't get that problem. I think alot of our little problems will be fixed with more and more updated drivers. Are you shutting the unit off before or after your shut your computer off? I always turn mine off before I shut down my computer.
 
Working great so far. No problems, none of the crap people have mentioned so far.
Sounds good too.
Some 1st mixes coming soon.
Line ins are perfect gain setup for what they are SUPPOSED to be used for, preamps.
 
Ok...

I think the pres are very very good for the bank. In fact, I like them better than my RNP. I do not like them better than my API, but they hang with it 98% of the way.

Rock solid. Put it through 80 hours of hardcore tracking over the last 2 weeks, not one problem, at all.

No whine or anything like that.

Conversion is much better than the deltas. Cleaner and more open sounding. I will finally have a full on mix from this box to post in about a week/2 weeks. When its ready I'll certainly post it up. This is a nice uit for the price.

Truthfully, you would pay the same price for a box of 4 Syteks that are not any better. Add everything else and you have a rocker.
 
Alright, I have some questions:



So you say it sounds clean at the high end. Very good. How does the mid range stuff sound? Definied? Blurry?

Like would you say things like vocals and guitars translated better? An overly electrified sound or would you say it sounds a tad more analog?

Because Im sure you know what you're listening for, I'm just trying to ask the right questions to get it out of ya!



-Get a chance to mess with the EQs a bit?

-Any apparent noise from within the mixes? You did mention it was clean, so from first listen, if you didnt notice any hum, then it probably passed that "first impression" test.

-Any info on how your individual mics compare to the delta?


-Can you feel any aparent coloring? Like if you can try your hardest to remember the sound of the original live source compared to the asthetic feel of the recorded version, what are the obvious and maybe not so obvious differences?

-Any word on gain (gain trim) limits? Like when do you notice self made noise to be apparent? Same with the fader.

-Good head room? Does it take alot to clip the channel strip?

-If you could try to give the sound a color, what would it be? (Red might be a way of saying "warmer than the true source"/smooth on the ears, Blue might be a way of saying "cooler or more electrified than the true source/ a little harsher on the ears".


-Any "feelings" that come to mind when you listen at mixes through the onyx pres?


Im just trying to get you to do what I would do and completely max the shit out of the board (carefully of course). You can usually find out the true qualities of something like this when you can test it at it's extremes, but of course if you feel uncomfortable doing it, don't push it! I don't wanna end up paying for damage on a board I've never used!
 
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