Anyone using one of these Mackie Onyx mixers as a front end to their DAW (studio or live). I’m interested in feedback on any of the three: the 1220, 1620 and 1640.
I’m currently recording with a Dell Inspiron XPS Gen 2. 2Ghz processor, 2 Gig RAM and a 80 Gig HD (7200 rpm). I’m curious about driver issues (their forum has a few compaints) and whether my hardware and Ntrack combination has the power to record 16 tracks at time. I’ve already created an optimized hardware profile for recording, but I don’t Know what the limitations are…
Over the years I’ve added the following to my collection an M-Audio Firewire 410, an EMU1616m and a Tascam USB122. However, our contemporary group is wanting to do some recording and I need more inputs. One of these babies should do the trick nicely…
Thanks,
Shayne
what version N ? -
as for recording 16 tracks you can take N out of the equasion and concentrate on making absolutely shure that the Mackie will talk to the Dells firewire chips correctly - you may have had other firewire devices run on your PC, but the Mackie us a big bucks spend and they wont take it back if it is not compatable -
Dr J
I’m using the latest and greatest version of N - v5-2205.
I’m aware of potential Dell firewire issues and I’ve been testing the M-audio Firewire 410 and it seems to work fine. I’ve also purchased a PCMCIA firewire card just in case. It would be nice to know that someone else has a similar notebook config working with the ability to capture 16 tracks at a time. If I can’t record the tracks, the firewire issue becomes moot.
If it sounds like N can handle the tracks I’ll figure out a way to do a test before making a purchase.
Thought I’d post a query here to draw on the group’s experience.
Thanks for the reply!
Shayne
Of course, I would also be interested in hearing from anyone on how many simultaneous tracks they have been able to record without glitches in n-Track. If you don’t mind, please provide a little info on your recording setup: type of computer and type of audio interface.
Thanks,
Shayne
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| Of course, I would also be interested in hearing from anyone on how many simultaneous tracks they have been able to record without glitches in n-Track. If you don’t mind, please provide a little info on your recording setup: type of computer and type of audio interface. |
I routinely record 12 tracks at a time at 24/44.1 using a Delta 1010 (8 tracks) and a Delta 66 (4 tracks). The M-Audio Delta cards have been bullet proof for me and I feel fortunate that I found something that has been so reliable.
There have been reports from a couple users on this board of having two Delta 1010 cards and being able to record 16 tracks simultaneously with no problem.
I realize that doesn’t help you, Shayne, if you’re using a laptop but I can report that using n-Track with PCI Delta cards and the WDM drivers has been a pleasure.
I’m using a home built PC with an ASUS A7N8X deluxe mobo (nVidia nForce 2 chip set), AMD Athlon 2200 processor, and a video card with an nVidia chip set. I have a dual boot system with operating systems on two hard drives. One hard drive I only use for n-Track and I have that operating system optimized for recording.
i cannot really comment on how may tracks my system will record compared to others as in the studio i use a RME Hammerfall ADAT 24in 24out optical card - this card is a zero CPU load card - it does not impare Ns performance on recording or playback - generally PCI soundcards cards add a CPU hit that can impare N recording/playback capabilities -
anybody running firewire out there, who can tell if it is adding to the CPU load when recording ? - if it is zero load then its the way to go -
Dr J
Thanks for the responses! I think I’m going to look for a deal and jump in…
Thanks,
Shayne
I have been using the Onyx 800 preamp. I am using the ADAT outs on it, so i can’t comment on the firewire performance… but the Onyx preamps are quite excellent for pres in this price range.