Each year when I check out the news from NAMM I look at cool new stuff as well as what is happening with companies I already known and love. Mackie Designs is one of those companies. For a long time they were a mixer-only company, and about 20 years ago when I was transitioning from trying to use my Tascam Portastudio as a pseudo-mixer into having a real home studio, the Mackie 1202 provided everything I need in a well made, high quality package at a budget price – and it is still going strong today for myself and my son!
At Winter NAMM they introduced a great looking new mixer based around … you guessed it: the iPad!
Based on what they were showing, the Mackie DL1608 seeks to ‘redefine live mixing’ by combining a full digital mixer with the ease and mobility of the iPad. It brings in high quality components from mic preamps to AD/DA converters which Mackie is known for, and combines it with software for the iPad that supports a wide array of plugins.
Another of the great features Mackie is highlighting is the wireless aspects – as shown in the trippy video below, once you have set everything up and plugged in, you can simply undock your iPad and take it with you and control the mix from anywhere in range! They also claim you can have up to 10 iPads working the mix, I assume to handle effects, EQ and discrete channels separately.
Here are the features according to Mackie:
Proven Hardware That Sounds Great
·16 Onyx mic preamps
·High-end Cirrus Logic converters
·Ultra low-noise, high-headroom design
·6 aux sends for monitor mixes
·Master L/R output for mainsTons of Built-In Processing
·Powerful, touch-sensitive plug-ins
·4-band EQ, gate and compression on inputs
·31-band GEQ and comp/limiter on outputs
·Global reverb and delayWireless Mixing
·Seamless wired to wireless mixing
·Tune the room from anywhere
·Get on stage to ring out monitors
·Personal monitor mixing
·Use up to 10 iPad devices simultaneouslyTotal Control from Your iPad
·Intuitive Master Fader app
·’Grow and Glow’ visual feedback
·Preset and snapshot recall
·Record the mix to the iPad for instant sharing
·Integrate music from any app into the mixInstall Friendly Features
·PadLock™ feature locks down iPad for permanent installs
·Industry standard Kensington lock secures mixer
·Compact footprint saves precious workspace
Neither price nor availability were included with the press release, but based on comments by MackieTV on the video below, the DL1608 should land in May or June with a retail price of $999 … iPad not included, of course!
Here is a promo video from Mackie:
Head to Mackie Designs for more details!
Well, it’s cool how they iPad docks in the mixer, but in terms of practicality, I’d give the edge to PreSonus StudioLive. It’s a fully functioning mixer, with an iPad app to control the mix remotely as an option.
Allowing multiple iPads to control the mix is nice, though. I don’t think the PreSonus app will do that. Would everyone get full control, or is there a way to lock some iPads so they can only modify the monitor mix?
That video is… Uhm… Interesting.
I’m really not sure … they avoided inconvenient details by just making a trippy video …
I agree on the observation that there were more fully functional and less trendy mixers shown at NAMM … but between my love of Mackie (my 1202 really still rocks) and that video … I just couldn’t pass it by!