The Deke has had it with digital gear that doesn't work, never did, and never will, for real musicians. He speaks here of devices that claim to have "low latency" in "real life applications." This is like saying you only get a little bit of VD which ain't so bad. The Deke tried some 3rd party virtual instruments through the newest version of an audio/MIDI program that shall be nameless. The instruments? Spectacular sounding. Playability to a click track? Impossible. Like playing a piano with oven mitts on. Hours of tech support later the Deke discovers it's essentially impossibly to play like a real instrument. Fine for programming . . . but the Deke he wanna PLAY.

So when the review of the Mackie 400F in June's RECORDING magazine mentions "zero latency" he's thinking "must have been designed by a musician who actually uses digital stuff." Wow. What a concept!