No I use a soft case from Gator designed for my old Presonus 16.02. It holds all my stuff including my mac airport.
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Mackie DL1608 in the house!
- Thread starter guy n. cognito
- Start date
The case is......underwhelming........ I'd skip it and find something more substantial.
Get this one instead:
Link Removed
"Ouch" on the $200 price though. The $80 Mackie case is OK as long a you don't stack anything on top of it or drop it. Better than a soft bag, not a good as a hard case. It will protect the top against bumping into something carrying it into a venue. You can also check out the other case options in that thread I linked above.
Does anybody know how to set a limiter on the monitor send? My drummer wants to go in ear with his, with just a Rolls headphone amp.
Thanks in advance!
Also, bump. I'm surprised there hasn't been more discussion.
Thanks in advance!
Also, bump. I'm surprised there hasn't been more discussion.
just select that aux from the row down the right side, tap the picture of the EQ up there over the main fader, then when the EQ shows up full-screen flick it up or down (via the grey area over it) to bring up the compressor for that output.
set the ratio really high and the attack all the way fast, then adjust the threshold so it just doesn't kick over with normal levels.
one of my bands just got one of these, and i've been studying up on it, in anticipation of our first gig with it in a couple of weeks.
the breakthrough in our decision to get it was that i figured out a different workaround for the "compression in monitors" issue; since we're a "regular" 4-piece rock band with a non-singing drummer, i had just enough channels to do the old-school "split-channel" thing! XLR Y-cables from the three vocal mics each go to two channels, one compressed for out front and one uncomp'ed strictly for monitors.
this will also let me use each monitor vocal channel's parametric strictly for feedback killing, which parametrics are far better at.
(that's another upgrade i want besides un-linking the channel compression from the auxes; the ability to toggle between the superior parametric EQ or the goofy 31-band on the outputs, including the main out.)
the breakthrough in our decision to get it was that i figured out a different workaround for the "compression in monitors" issue; since we're a "regular" 4-piece rock band with a non-singing drummer, i had just enough channels to do the old-school "split-channel" thing! XLR Y-cables from the three vocal mics each go to two channels, one compressed for out front and one uncomp'ed strictly for monitors.
this will also let me use each monitor vocal channel's parametric strictly for feedback killing, which parametrics are far better at.
(that's another upgrade i want besides un-linking the channel compression from the auxes; the ability to toggle between the superior parametric EQ or the goofy 31-band on the outputs, including the main out.)
GREAT workaround! This is actually more desirable since you get discrete channel EQ for the monitor, which would not otherwise be the case if we simply had the option to "unlink" channel compression (and EQ) from an aux send. Hmmm....so IMO it would be nice to add a "channel copy" feature, whereby one physical input could then be copied to multiple channel strips for independent processing.
In addition to solving walterw's dilemma, you could also do neat tricks for inputs to create psuedo multi-band compression and gating (3 channels of a kick drum - lo/mid/hi freq splits - for the "kick drum from hell" sound!). I can think of a dozen parallel processing ideas (mostly for recording) that could be implemented using a multiple channel assign! Back in the days of the old Yamaha O2r, we used the crap out of this feature! Man, this would be a great feature...don't know if it is at all do-able, though. Does anyone from Mackie lurk this forum? LOL
I also agree that a para EQ option on the main/aux outputs would be far more desirable...I don't like the graphic EQs (or the way they function) at all.
i never thought of this thing as any kind of recording mixer; there's no digital out of any kind except for recording 2-track straight to the ipad itself. (unless the ethernet port for the router could somehow be reconfigured, but that seems like more of a hardware thing, not a software change.)
besides, that "3 channel multi-band for the kick" thing would be neat, but that kind of stuff would run you out of channels pretty fast!
also, while the compressor thing is a big deal to me, i don't mind the channel EQ being pre-everything; it seems like a good EQ setting for an input, one that makes it sound like it should through a reasonably flat system, is usually pretty good all-around.
besides, that "3 channel multi-band for the kick" thing would be neat, but that kind of stuff would run you out of channels pretty fast!
also, while the compressor thing is a big deal to me, i don't mind the channel EQ being pre-everything; it seems like a good EQ setting for an input, one that makes it sound like it should through a reasonably flat system, is usually pretty good all-around.
yeah, I hear you walter...whether some of these ideas are practical for live use is a whole different story. LOL. Seriously, though, I remember the days of the Brooke-siren multiband compressor that cost more in 1990 than the DL1608 costs now...for a ONE channel unit! Yeah, a 3-way split on just the kick might be excessive, but you never know when you'll want to max out all the channels on a power trio with one singer!
kick x 3, top/bot snare, rack, rack, floor, floor, 2x overhead, 2 x guitar mic, bass mic, bass DI, vocal...yeah, that's 16, right? LOL!
totally agree about the channel strip EQ. I've never felt like I was fighting with EQ for good sounds when using decent gear.
kick x 3, top/bot snare, rack, rack, floor, floor, 2x overhead, 2 x guitar mic, bass mic, bass DI, vocal...yeah, that's 16, right? LOL!
totally agree about the channel strip EQ. I've never felt like I was fighting with EQ for good sounds when using decent gear.
now that's rock and roll!
it is nice that this thing is 16 channels plus delay and reverb channels, so we don't have to burn the last two channels as returns for those effects.
Had another great gig with it. We have 5 good monitor mixes going now that we switched to powered wedges.... Very pleased. Need to EQ things for our speakers a bit, but otherwise - very good. Getting more dialed in with each gig.
We aren't running sound from stage - so I haven't been doing the mixing - just wanted to share that it is working fantastic for our cover band.
We aren't running sound from stage - so I haven't been doing the mixing - just wanted to share that it is working fantastic for our cover band.
well, we wired up the new system friday, and christened it on the job tonight. loaded in at 9 (when they cleared the tables), started at like 10:30; soundcheck? those are for sissies!
this review is from the point of view of a band guy mixing while playing at the same time (bass in this case) so take it in that context.
pluses?
we retired my mixwizard and a good 6 rack spaces worth of analog processing gear, all replaced by this little black box on top of the rolling rack box.
being able to hold the ipad in my hand while standing out in front was so much easier for dialing in the front mix, as was being able to walk up to each monitor and tune it while i was talking into it.
having my guys all able to use their iphones to tweak their own monitor mixes (especially the drummer, who uses IEMs) meant i didn't have to do it.
the channel parametrics were wonderfully easy and intuitive; if any kind of EQ was made for the digital touchscreen it's that.
minuses?
i hate, hate, that stupid 31 band graphic on the outputs! an utter PIA to use, even with the "draw" function; hopefully they'll allow us to toggle between these and parametrics with the next update, and i'll never have to look at them again.
it was all too easy to miss the mute buttons on the vocal delay and verb between songs, sending myself into the EQ views of those channels when i just wanted them silenced
tweaking the delay time between songs meant going on a quest of hitting the EQ view of a channel (didn't matter which one, there's only one global delay) then flicking the view past the parametric and the comp/gate views to get to the delay/verb page and then hitting the tap tempo button; that button really needs its own spot in the main mixer view, maybe as a replacement for the mostly pointless EQ view at the top of the delay channel, since there are controls for damping and such that kind of do the same thing as the EQ does.
there's a weird half-second delay between making a tweak and hearing it change; not a big deal unless you're chasing feedback in a "combat audio" situation like i was.
issues? (different from "minuses" because i don't know that the problems weren't our own fault)
the big one is that the wi-fi kept failing! i would see solid bars of the wi-fi icon on our various igadgets, but they would be unable to sync up to the mixer; the "devices" page would show "no available devices" even though the router was up and running.
turning things off then back on would sporadically fix the problem, but this issue was annoying all night. i don't know that it's not a problem with our router or the cat 5 cable, though.
i had trouble getting enough level on certain outputs sometimes, but that could have been me not cracking open the physical input gain knobs enough; i found a quick "cheat" by going to the output comp page, switching on the comp and bumping up the gain a little, while not actually compressing; a little nudge resulted in a big output jump, so watch out!
finally, my trick of splitting the vocals into separate monitor and main channels worked like a champ! i could have my compression cake and eat my uncompressed monitors too!
overall a very cool piece of gear that's very "real world" useful.
this review is from the point of view of a band guy mixing while playing at the same time (bass in this case) so take it in that context.
pluses?
we retired my mixwizard and a good 6 rack spaces worth of analog processing gear, all replaced by this little black box on top of the rolling rack box.
being able to hold the ipad in my hand while standing out in front was so much easier for dialing in the front mix, as was being able to walk up to each monitor and tune it while i was talking into it.
having my guys all able to use their iphones to tweak their own monitor mixes (especially the drummer, who uses IEMs) meant i didn't have to do it.
the channel parametrics were wonderfully easy and intuitive; if any kind of EQ was made for the digital touchscreen it's that.
minuses?
i hate, hate, that stupid 31 band graphic on the outputs! an utter PIA to use, even with the "draw" function; hopefully they'll allow us to toggle between these and parametrics with the next update, and i'll never have to look at them again.
it was all too easy to miss the mute buttons on the vocal delay and verb between songs, sending myself into the EQ views of those channels when i just wanted them silenced
tweaking the delay time between songs meant going on a quest of hitting the EQ view of a channel (didn't matter which one, there's only one global delay) then flicking the view past the parametric and the comp/gate views to get to the delay/verb page and then hitting the tap tempo button; that button really needs its own spot in the main mixer view, maybe as a replacement for the mostly pointless EQ view at the top of the delay channel, since there are controls for damping and such that kind of do the same thing as the EQ does.
there's a weird half-second delay between making a tweak and hearing it change; not a big deal unless you're chasing feedback in a "combat audio" situation like i was.
issues? (different from "minuses" because i don't know that the problems weren't our own fault)
the big one is that the wi-fi kept failing! i would see solid bars of the wi-fi icon on our various igadgets, but they would be unable to sync up to the mixer; the "devices" page would show "no available devices" even though the router was up and running.
turning things off then back on would sporadically fix the problem, but this issue was annoying all night. i don't know that it's not a problem with our router or the cat 5 cable, though.
i had trouble getting enough level on certain outputs sometimes, but that could have been me not cracking open the physical input gain knobs enough; i found a quick "cheat" by going to the output comp page, switching on the comp and bumping up the gain a little, while not actually compressing; a little nudge resulted in a big output jump, so watch out!
finally, my trick of splitting the vocals into separate monitor and main channels worked like a champ! i could have my compression cake and eat my uncompressed monitors too!
overall a very cool piece of gear that's very "real world" useful.
^I pretty much agree with all this. I can see why pros wouldn't like this but for somebody coming off a 1604 with 1 reverb and 1 compressor unit (in a rack that totaled 60 lbs or so) this thing is great.
My fat fingers hit the channel eq when I try to mute as well. And I would really like a master mute. Try as I might I always have one moment of runaway feedback during sound check. Usually because a gain knob got turned up in transit. It would also be nice to mute everything between setup and show time.
I posted earlier about a couple of channels going bad. This was not the case. Somehow the compression threshold on those channels got turned way down. That's all fixed.
The instructions say to open the gain knobs until the channel level meters touch yellow. I've found if I do this I have serious feedback problems. Now I set the mics around 12 oclock and set the faders as needed.
It's set for the two groups I play in. Turn it on, plug everything in and then it's just a matter of a few tweaks for different rooms.
The piano preset made our piano sound dull. We used one of the female vocal presets and it came to life.
No trouble with wifi but we've only had two things controlling. That may be a router issue.
My fat fingers hit the channel eq when I try to mute as well. And I would really like a master mute. Try as I might I always have one moment of runaway feedback during sound check. Usually because a gain knob got turned up in transit. It would also be nice to mute everything between setup and show time.
I posted earlier about a couple of channels going bad. This was not the case. Somehow the compression threshold on those channels got turned way down. That's all fixed.
The instructions say to open the gain knobs until the channel level meters touch yellow. I've found if I do this I have serious feedback problems. Now I set the mics around 12 oclock and set the faders as needed.
It's set for the two groups I play in. Turn it on, plug everything in and then it's just a matter of a few tweaks for different rooms.
The piano preset made our piano sound dull. We used one of the female vocal presets and it came to life.
No trouble with wifi but we've only had two things controlling. That may be a router issue.
i missed that detail!
i ran mine way lower, to where the green was just coming on; i'll readjust next time.
there's no reason you should have gotten more feedback just because the input signals were stronger, unless they were actually full-on clipping the inputs.
get the inputs nice and strong, then bring up the channels and outputs as needed.
I've got my input trims on vocal mics set around noon, and that gets the channel levels into the yellow for me (SM58 or Audix OM6) without any troubles.
Never had any troubles to speak of with wireless connectivity, but I'm only controlling with just one iPad2.
Again, as mentioned before, I agree with walterw about the output section graphic EQs...hate 'em! Would much prefer the para EQ selectable for those outputs.
Totally agree on having a master MUTE button always available for various reasons.
With respect to controlling Echo parameters, yes, It is cumbersome if you want to make changes on the fly, unless you have a second dedicated iPad set up tasked with this and this alone. I'm generally a set and forget guy, which is far from ideal.
Something that I also believe is missing is a jack for a 2 button footswitch to bypass echo and reverb (Sends) - or - as an alternative, bypass echo and set delay time via tap tempo (instead of bypassing reverb). Obviously, this is a physical addition to the hardware, so not holding my breath on that one.
btw, has anyone checked out the specs on the new Allen Heath qu16 digital mixers. Priced above the Mackie 1608 but below the Behringer at $2499US, it has a slew of great features. The ones that caught my attention were memory recall of channel input trims and motorized faders. Things are really heating up in the digital mixer front....good times...
Never had any troubles to speak of with wireless connectivity, but I'm only controlling with just one iPad2.
Again, as mentioned before, I agree with walterw about the output section graphic EQs...hate 'em! Would much prefer the para EQ selectable for those outputs.
Totally agree on having a master MUTE button always available for various reasons.
With respect to controlling Echo parameters, yes, It is cumbersome if you want to make changes on the fly, unless you have a second dedicated iPad set up tasked with this and this alone. I'm generally a set and forget guy, which is far from ideal.
Something that I also believe is missing is a jack for a 2 button footswitch to bypass echo and reverb (Sends) - or - as an alternative, bypass echo and set delay time via tap tempo (instead of bypassing reverb). Obviously, this is a physical addition to the hardware, so not holding my breath on that one.
btw, has anyone checked out the specs on the new Allen Heath qu16 digital mixers. Priced above the Mackie 1608 but below the Behringer at $2499US, it has a slew of great features. The ones that caught my attention were memory recall of channel input trims and motorized faders. Things are really heating up in the digital mixer front....good times...
