Satellite Podcast

Alright, I think it's official. Somos locos. This is the final podcast from Jeff and Tony together from the NAB Trade Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, as it probably should be. We review the upcoming product from Mackie called the Satellite. It combines the best features of the Mackie Big Knob with all the functionality of a desktop/portable 2-channel firewire interface. Desktop for the port. Portable for the Satellite.

...stay tuned for Jeff and Tony's storytelling hour...

Posted by Mackie at 05:04 PM | Permalink

HMX-56 Podcast

Jeff and Tony back again, check it direct it, let's begin... In this installment you'll find a shorter and more succint cast from your favorite internet DJs, except for the fact that as we go along episode per episode, we become more and more like lunatics. Please forgive us in advance. Nonetheless, we feature the HMX-56 matrix headphone mixer and all of Jeff's crazy applications for it. Beware and behold.

Posted by Mackie at 04:53 PM | Permalink

Mackie is exhibiting an exciting line up of brand-new recording and live sound products this week at the NAB Convention in Las Vegas.

New Satellite FireWire Recording System
The Mackie Satellite FireWire Recording System is an innovative new approach to digital recording, featuring a two-part audio interface designed to get the best out of computer recording in both live and studio environments.

The heart of the Satellite System is the Satellite Pod, a sleek, portable two-channel FireWire interface that incorporates two of Mackie's acclaimed Onyx preamps, as well as 24-bit/96kHz A/D and D/A converters. Additional Satellite Pod features include dual headphone/control room outputs with individual level controls, two inputs, two outputs, and a rugged portable design.

A compelling feature of the Satellite System is the Satellite Base Station, which the Satellite Pod snaps into to provide AC power, additional I/O, talkback and monitor switching functions. By plugging the Satellite Pod into the base station, the Satellite System becomes a two-input, six-output FireWire audio interface with professional features such as an advanced routing matrix, built-in talkback microphone, advanced monitoring functions and surround speaker control.

Both Mac and PC compatible, the Satellite System works with all ASIO and Core Audio compatible software. It comes bundled with a full version of Mackie's award-winning Tracktion 2 software, providing a complete out-of-the-box recording setup with professional features like a 64-bit high-definition mix engine, unlimited track count, ReWire and VST support, MIDI controller mapping, external synchronization, and integrated support for Mackie Control Universal and C4 control surfaces. Also included is a full set of Mackie's Mixing and Mastering plug-ins.

Key Satellite FireWire Recording System Features:

Innovative 2-piece FireWire Recording System for professional recording to Mac or PC
Dual Onyx mic preamps for superior sound quality versus competing interfaces
8 inputs (2 active at any time) for connection of microphones, line sources, and instruments
6 line-level outputs
24-bit/96kHz capable sound quality
Built in control room functions include talkback and A/B monitor switching
6-channel volume control allows for surround sound mixing
FireWire protocol for low latency real time recording
Satellite Pod can be bus powered for field use, or externally powered, for added convenience

The new Mackie Satellite FireWire Recording System has a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $519.99 and will be available Q2 2006.

New Quad Series Digital Processors
Mackie, in collaboration with Acuma Labs and SIA Software, is introducing the Quad Series of digital signal processors which combine high-quality 24-bit processing, advanced audio performance with an intuitive and feature-packed user interface designed for serious live sound applications.

The Mackie Quad EQ is an innovative four-channel, 30-band digital graphic equalizer, which for the first time ever combines Smaart real-time analysis (RTA) and a sound pressure level (SPL) meter. It offers brilliant sounding 24-bit processing and Mackie's Adaptive-Q filters for extremely precise EQ adjustments. A highly accurate, easy-to-read front panel featuring 31 bi-color LED ladders allows the user to view RTA and EQ settings simultaneously. This allows the Quad EQ to provide instant visual reinforcement of EQ changes and their effect through the sound system to the engineer.

Key Quad EQ Features:

4-channels of digital 30 band, Adaptive-Q graphic equalizers
Variable High and Low pass filters on each channel
Built-in Smaart RTA (Real Time Analyzer) of input or mic signals
Simultaneous EQ and RTA display
A, B, and C weighted dB-SPL meter function
Built-in Pink noise generator
99 snapshots for instant recall of settings
Stereo Linking of channels A and B, C and D
Intuitive, easy to use front panel
Professional-grade XLR & TRS input/output connections
"Planet Earth" Power Supply (100-240VAC 50/60Hz)

The Mackie Quad Comp/Gate features four channels of compression/limiting and expansion/gating and delivers superior precision and dynamic control through a highly intuitive and responsive user interface. Digital technology offers several advantages over analog compressors, including much faster attack settings, and offering 99 user-definable and instantly recallable presets, which can come in handy during fast changeovers from one act to the next. Built-in key filters provide incredible accuracy for independent triggering of the compressors and gates based on desired frequencies, while a Key Listen feature allows users to monitor the specific frequency range of the key filter. Plus, the Quad Comp/Gate's "Auto" feature automatically monitors input transients and adjusts attack and release times to eliminate the all-too-common "pumping" effect typical of most compressor/limiters.

Key Quad Comp/Gate Features:

4-channels of 24-bit digital compression/limiting and gate/expansion
Custom algorithms developed by Acuma Labs
Individual per-channel gain reduction and output metering
Individual key filtering per comp and gate channels
99 snapshots for instant storage and recall of settings
Stereo Linking of channels A and B, C and D
Intuitive, easy to use front panel
Professional input/output connections (XLR & TRS)
Additional external side chain connections
"Planet Earth" Power Supply (100-240VAC 50/60Hz)

The new Mackie Quad Series will be available in Q2 2006 and will have a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $1159.99 and $1029.99, for the Quad/EQ and Quad Comp/Gate, respectively.

M-Series Power Amplifiers
Mackie is showing its new M-Series line of power amplifiers designed to deliver high-efficiency stereo power with stellar audio performance. The M-Series is available in three configurations: the M-2000, M-3000 and M-4000, delivering 2000W, 3000W and 4000W of Class-H power, respectively, making them the highest powered offerings in their price range.

Key M-Series Power Amplifier Features:

High Efficiency Class-H Stereo Power Amplifiers deliver more clean power and less destructive heat from a standard 120/240V power outlet
Adaptive Slewing Technology for incredibly fast transient response with minimal distortion
Fast Recovery circuitry reduces distortion at the edge of clipping and beyond
Switchable 150Hz LPF/HPF for instant 2-way loudspeaker systems
Extensive Protection Circuits for power supply over-temperature protection, low voltage / brownout protection, and fusible resistors throughout
Low feedback / Low distortion design with triple Darlington output stages.
True 2-Ohm power drive capability means the M-series can sustain real-world 2-Ohm loads
Baker Clamp-based Fast Recovery circuitry to prevent harmonic distortion
With up to 50-percent more output transistors than their competition, the Mackie M-Series amplifiers deliver increased power and better headroom, as well as resistive loading of all stages and fully complementary/differential design from input to output. The result is an amplifier with higher power and lower distortion than any other amp in its class.

The new Mackie M-Series amplifiers will be available Q2 2006 and will have a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $899.99, $1099.99, and $1299.99 for the M2000, M3000, and M4000, respectively.

Onyx 24.4 and 32.4 4-bus Mid-Format Live Sound Consoles
Mackie is introducing the newest members of its evolving Onyx family— the Onyx Premium 4-bus Mid-Format Live Sound Consoles. With the additions of the new Onyx 24.4 24-channel and Onyx 32.4 32-channel consoles, Mackie brings the innovative feature set and unequalled sound quality of their Onyx Series to the world of mid-format live mixers, effectively filling the gap between the Onyx Small-Format and 8-bus Onyx 80 Large-Format Live Sound Consoles.

Key Onyx 4-bus Mid-Format Live Sound Console Features:

Premium Onyx Mic Preamps on all mono channels
Four-Band Perkins EQ
Six fully assignable Aux Sends with Pre/post switches, mute and AFL solo
Smooth, long-throw 100mm Panasonic Faders
Analog direct outs per channel
Two Dedicated Stereo Inputs
4 segment channel metering
Dedicated talkback section
6 x 2 matrix
Built in stereo compressor/limiter

The new Mackie Onyx 4-bus Series will be available Q2 2006 and will have a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $2049.99 and $2599.99 for the Onyx 24.4 and Onyx 32.4, respectively.

The complete Mackie product line is currently on display at the Las Vegas Convention Center, April 24-27, 2006. Mackie is located in booth SL561.

Posted by Mackie at 11:45 AM | Permalink

D.2 Podcast

This one's for the DJs! Jeff is featured in this cast explaining the Mackie D.2 DJ mixer and its application not only to live DJs, but recording DJs as well. Similar to the Onyx compact mixers, the D.2 features a Firewire card option, enabling the user to play and record live. You will see blue.

Posted by Mackie at 09:15 AM | Permalink

Audience Interview Podcast

So by this point, Jeff and I became increasingly annoyed with our own radio banter and called on our local audience of happy trade-show-goers to ask us their questions. The result may be good, it may be horrible, but we're going to leave that decision up to you, the listener. Our audience co-host ended up being interested in the Onyx compact mixer with Firewire, and thus, we bring to you, our latest and greatest NAB podcast. Enjoy.

Posted by Mackie at 08:52 AM | Permalink

Tracktion Podcast

Welcome back to the second installment of the podcast podcasts. This time we're going over the Mackie Tracktion software that comes with every interface purchase from any of the LOUD technologies brands. This includes the firewire option cards for the Onyx compact mixers and interfaces, the D.2 DJ mixer, and the Tapco Link.USB. Tracktion is actually easier to understand than our explanation, but come along and join us anyhow to follow the podcast signal flow into the computer world.

Posted by Mackie at 12:29 PM | Permalink

Onyx 1220 Podcast

Greetings friends and Mackoids alike! This is the first of many NAB 2006 podcasts from the LOUD booth in Las Vegas. Hosts Jeff Fisher and TonyG welcome you to a wild ride through the digital world of podcasting. Come share with us in the knowledge of the newest movement in the broadcast revolution!

Posted by Mackie at 11:18 AM | Permalink

Here is the entry bed for the NAB broadcast.

We'll be podcasting every couple hours at the show, stop by or listen in online.

Download file

Posted by Mackie at 05:23 PM | Permalink

Giftig - one of the TAPCO Players - visited us at our booth at MESSE. We were thrilled to have them there, and they played a great gig for us.

If you haven't heard them before check out this MP3:

Download file

Posted by Mackie at 11:24 AM | Permalink

Digital X Bus owner Usher Raymond impresses us like few in the biz. Why? How he’s planning to spend this weekend is one of many, many examples. The socially conscious artist will help teach teenagers leadership skills at a seminar March 17-19 in Cleveland, Ohio. Where? At the three-day Midwest Black/Hispanic Achievers Teen Leadership Summit sponsored by the Cleveland YMCA.

Posted by Mackie at 08:20 AM | Permalink

When musicians turn actor the results can be wincingly bad. Not so for Antwon “Big Boi” Patton’s substantial role in “ATL.” Blackfilm.com’s review indicates Big’s talent now credibly encompasses both the recording and the movie studio. Deke is not surprised. After all, this is the super-creative artist who made pop radio listenable with his insanely great "I Love The Way You Move" (iTunes) and so many other dare-ya-not-ta-dance grooves.

What's that cool looking console in the "Big" background?

Posted by Mackie at 05:43 PM | Permalink

"If you need a lof of real-time control over multiple plug-in parameters, the C4 makes life much easier. It also offers comprehensive channel-strip contorl, which I really like." Paul White

Here is a review of the Mackie Control C4 in the April 2006 issue of Sound on Sound Magazine.

Review of Mackie C4 (pdf)

Posted by Mackie at 11:58 AM | Permalink

"Everything about the Onyx 400F is extrememly straightforward, even the "no brainer" software installation. I really like the Onyx preamps, which are worth the ticket price on their own, and the FireWire side of things works just as flawlessly as it did on the Onyx mixer." Paul White

"I'm particulary impressed with the clarity and detail of the Onyx preamps. They are very close in performance to the the extremely expensive and esoteric boutique mic preamps." Paul White

Check out this review of the 400F in the January 2006 issue of Sound on Sound Magazine.

Onyx 400F Review (pdf)

Posted by Mackie at 11:49 AM | Permalink

Nothing but good things to say about the d.2

January 2006 DJMag
"The d.2 layout is neat and efficient with a solid construction and many luxurious touches including an exceptional sounding EQ and Mackie's celebrated Mic Pre-amp. It has everything you need and should last for years." DJ Mex

"This is one of the sweetest sounding EQs around. Even when driving hard at high volumes, it retains harmonics and musicality without nasty shredding." DJ Mex

November 2005 IDJ Magazine
"At its core, the d.2 is a good battle mixer with build, feature set and sound quality meeting the majority of professional demands. However, with the inclusion of a FireWire capability, allowing users to take the sound direct from the computer without any degradation in quality, the d.2 is perfect for the ever-increasing number of DJs making use of digital file formats." Lurch

"The build quality of this mixer is second to none. The faders and EQ are from an established professional company who certainly know their stuff, so it was a pleasure cleanly mixing tracks. The whole experience was a thrill- like driving an expensive sports car for the first time." John '00' Fleming

DJ Mag Review (pdf)
IDJ Mag Review(pdf)

Posted by Mackie at 11:49 AM | Permalink

Even when the band you work your audio magic on is named INXS , Steve Jones’ proves it’s all about tasteful decisions. Pictured here mixing them for a television show, Steve has nice things to say about the TT24 and the SRM350 visible, but for the unseen Onyx 800R check out what the veteran audio ace has to say:

“I found the Onyx 800R mic pre's to be clean and fast, able to fit right in to a studio full of high end pre-amps, and to then bring the added clout of great sounding AD conversion to boot. It sounds expensive. Where it really shines for me is as a single unit that does so much - Mic and line preamps, digital conversion, DI, MS, dithering, BNC word clock, Variable impedance for ribbon mic's, and it doesn't fall down in any area. It covers so much ground in a single rack space unit, and it does it very well, with no fuss.”

Posted by Mackie at 06:49 AM | Permalink

Johan Mannerheim is living the dream: he always wanted to compose music for video games . . . for which he has a passion. After a successfull stint producing pop dance tracks in his native Scandanavia, Johan moved to Canada and got attention from the game industry. It’s no wonder why. This composer can positively drench you in a mood whether he’s using a big orchestra or the virtual rack of doom . . . both of which he monitors through a trusty set of HR824’s For some luscious examples check out his music page.

Posted by Mackie at 06:28 AM | Permalink

The Winter Music Conference in Miami, celebrating it's 21st year this year, is regarded as the singular networking event in the dance music industry attracting international DJs and industry professionals from over 60 different countries and spotlighting the best DJ talent for the year.

One of the most anticipated events during the six day conference is the WMC/DMC DJ Spinoff, where DJ's have the opportunity to showoff their raw skills. Contestants are judged on technical ability, timing, and creativity. This year, an overwhelming response from the judges and the poolside crowd unanimously named DJ Rocky Rock the 2006 WMC/DMC winner, granting him bragging rights for the next 12 months.

DJ Rocky Rock was quick to credit part of his resounding victory to his new Mackie d.2 DJ mixer. "The d.2 is just what I've been waiting for. The Infinium cross fader cuts like butter and the backlit blue LEDs are hot."

Mackie's first foray into the DJ market is gaining significant momentum as the mixer of choice for top turntablists and mix DJ's around the world. In addition to it's "smooth as butter" Infinium cross fader, the d.2 offers a one-of-a-kind FireWire option, letting DJs mix and record music directly to and from their Mac or PC laptop or desktop.

Second and Third Place DMC winners were FUSE and SPS respectively.

Posted by Mackie at 03:36 PM | Permalink

Mackie today announced that Universal versions of its popular Tracktion music production software and associated Mackie plug-ins would be available by early Summer 2006. This major Tracktion release will take full advantage of the stunning performance increase associated with the new Intel-based Macs and also includes full compatibility with existing PowerPC-based machines.

"We are fully committed to providing the best possible performance to all Mackie Tracktion customers," said Ken Berger, Mackie's sr. vice president of Marketing and Product Development. "Tracktion's extremely efficient design already yields a significant performance advantage over more complicated programs and by combining this with the power of the Intel-based Macs, Tracktion users will be able to run more simultaneous tracks, plug-ins, and effects than ever before."

"The power of our Xcode tools make it easy for developers to deliver Universal applications for our blazing fast Intel-based Mac," said Ron Okamoto, Apple's vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. "We're thrilled Mackie will be adding to the more than 1300 Universal applications already available by developing professional audio applications that run natively on Intel-based Macs."

Along with this announcement, Mackie confirmed Universal support for it's family of FireWire equipped audio devices that includes the Onyx 400F, Onyx FireWire card, Onyx 1200F, d.2 DJ Mixer and the optional FireWire interface for the flagship Digital X Bus digital production console.

Posted by Mackie at 11:39 AM | Permalink

Rocky Rock was holding down the booth at Remix Hotel in Miami. Here is a video of him improvising with tracks given to him that morning.

Check out Rocky's new project "The Dirty Heads" at their Myspace page.

Dirty Heads

Posted by Mackie at 10:18 AM | Permalink

Selfishly speaking, we gotta love Connecticut’s Tonesoup Studios and their equipment list. “ToneSoup is proud to use some of the best equipment in the world, including: Mackie d8b digital console, Mackie HR824 near field studio monitors, Neumann microphones . . .” Here’s their complete gear list.

But our favorite destination on this site is the DOWNLOAD PAGE where you can hear MP3’s of some of the artists owner Dave Henderson has recorded over the years. Check out some tasty music beginning with the exceptional voice of John Bergeron.

Posted by Mackie at 05:11 PM | Permalink

What do Montreal’s Concordia University music and audio students listen to in studio #1? HR824’s, . . . certainment!

For more information on their degree programs, check here.

Posted by Mackie at 08:07 AM | Permalink

Few people can claim to have been at the pinnacle of their profession for a sustained period of time, having enjoyed so much success and still be leading the way forward. John 00 Fleming, one of the dance music industries most revered personalities, is amongst a small band of people who can say they were responsible for igniting the spark of the scene we all know and love today.

A DJ career spanning more than 20 years from the ripe old age of 15 has afforded John 00 the sort of experience that most other DJs can only dream of. Never afraid to push the boundaries in the projects that he turns his hand to, he is the owner of the hugely successful J00F recordings and hosts his own radio show on Ministry of Sound/DI.FM, the highly popular Global Trance Grooves.

John celebrated his sixth year in the DJ Magazine Top 100 poll - a reminder that while many 'fad' DJs come and go, his rock-solid fan base makes him one of the few names capable of continuously filling clubs. He was also voted the 16th best DJ in the world on the massive Trance Addict site - an accolade that John was particularly honored by.

John is a solid mackie user being raised on a staple diet of a 32:8 bus, then migrating to the Digital heights of a d8b. Now john can be seen Dribbling in his studio next to a brand new Digital X Bus 200.

With total interaction between the Digital X Bus and his Logic G5 set up Mr Flemming is in digital Heaven.

Posted by Mackie at 11:34 AM | Permalink

Mackie Onyx 1640 and 1202 VLZ find a home on the Late Show with David Letterman. Paul Shaffer's keyboard rig depends on the Mackie standards for every show.

Posted by Mackie at 11:28 AM | Permalink