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Mackie DL1608 in the house!

#121
Two questions...
Would a first generation iPad work fine with the DL1608? I'm wondering, since the later generations have faster processing power.
Also, would there be any negative aspects of using a 16 GB iPad, as opposed to a 32 or 64 GB model?
 
#126
Finally got time to set it up today. Very simple to get started. It helped to watch the youtube before. I don't have a router yet so I haven't done wireless.

Hard to believe it replaces this:

file-1.jpg


And actually does a bit more. For instance, it would take 2 and 1/2 more of those dod430's to have eq on every send. And it would only be 15 band vs 31 on the DL.

I'm putting the mixer and case on CL. I checked prices and found MF is now selling the 1604vlzpro for $599. I'm kind of taking that to mean they could be going the way of the dinosaur.
 
#128
I've used my Mackie 1608 at about a dozen gigs and one of the things I find very useful is using aux 6 to feed my subs. In this video I describe how I use Aux 6 on my Mackie DL1608 to feed my subs. This allows me to send only the instruments I want to subs eliminating greatly the amount of low level feed back I often got with built in sub speaker crossovers and vocal mics on stage. I EQ aux 6's, 31 band EQ to maximize the frequency response of the sub and instruments and mic's i'm sending through it. I'm no sound engineer or expert but this use of aux 6 makes mixing from the stage a whole lot easier for this weekend warrior.
 
#129
^Nice! Even though my powered tops and sub amp don't have built-in crossovers I've been cheesing out and just using the GEQ's to do the aux driven subs thing. I'm hoping Mackie will eventually put decent variable HPF's and LPF's on the outputs (or a true crossover) :) . Yet another thing a consult with a live sound guy during design would have told them :scowl: .
 
#131
Just talked to tech support. Recording is saved in master fader app. No way to play back.

Played the file back in Itunes. Very low recording levels. Had to to crank to hear it. No way to adjust. The tech guy recommended using another recording app like tascam pcm.

EDIT: Downloaded Tascam PCMrecorder. It also had low levels. I did some gain adjustments and got things up where they need to be. I thought I had the gain set well on each channel (only using acoustic guitar and mic) but they each had a bit of room to bump up. Turned the amps on the speakers down and the recording worked well.

Didn't try the built in recorder again yet. Don't like that you can't instantly play it back.
 
#133
Gigged with it several times with different groups. Working out well. Love the size/weight. Went ahead and got a used ipad2 to dedicate for the mixer and a router. Everything works as advertised. I'm sure pros would find many faults but for this weekend warrior that's bringing a pa it's perfect.

Ask for discounts. $850 from a noted online dealer. It's a bargain for what you get, IMO.
 
#135
Yes I feel this is a very good weekend warrior rig. I now have mine in the gator carry bag that my SL 16.0.2 sat in. There is enough room to the side of the mixer for the powersupply and Mac Airport to reside and enough length to leave them plugged in. There is enough headroom over the mixer so my gain pots are not moved around either. Now I just flip open the case plug in power, and my snake. So much quciker. My only wish is that the top unzipped all the way.

I use two mini snakes. A six channel goes to the drum area where we use 4 for the drums and two for the guitars. Saves a lot of cable runs. An 8 channel runs around th center stage front ususally on the floor. All mikes, keys and bass go into it. I have three channels in it dedicated to the mains and mons. I run QSC K12 series which accept either end of a mike cable as an input so I don't need turn arounds. I also run one heavy duty ext. cable to the same position plugged into an 8 way power strip. I can plug in the QSC sub, 2 tops and 2 mons into it. Nice to only have two cables crossing to the front of the band.
 
#138
Update: Have one channel going bad. The volume was up and down and now it's just weak. Need to call Mackie but I was waiting until a little theater show I'm doing this weekend is over.

But tonight it got interesting. We rehearsed last night and everything was fine and we left it set up. Using both an ipad in the mixer on stage and another connected with wifi in the back of the room. Everyone was impressed.

Showed up 1 1/2 hours early, turned it on, everything fine. When they fired up the wifi ipad it put up a message that the firmware was newer than the master fader app and did I want to upgrade or work offline. There was no internet so I chose offline but it wouldn't work at all.

Long story short I took both ipads home and updated the master fader app and it worked. Fortunately it was close to home so the show went off on schedule with no problems.

But this has me extremely worried. The only way it would know there was an update was that the owner of the wifi ipad took it home to charge and it had internet access at that time. When it connected to the mixer then the mixer wouldn't work.

Why wouldn't the mixer work with the non-updated app? This makes the unit unreliable. It was working fine Thursday night so Mackie must have issued the update Friday and then the mixer wouldn't work without the update. That's crazy.

I'm going to call Mackie Monday. Wonder if DL's in other places wouldn't gig this weekend?
 

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