Mackie DL1608

[Impact Pete]

Mackie DL1608, comments please.... good bad worth a try?

[Matt Riley]

I wouldn't go for it ! If it was a quarter of the price it would be a great desk, but at that price point it's up against a good condition second hand 01v96, for not much more than that there's the option of a used ls916. Also if you wanted to go new theres the x32, Roland iPad desk, and an upcoming behringer x20, which are close enough price-wise to have to consider? All of these will be more intuitive to use, could generate some hire income and could be sold for more than a packet of crisps when you do decide to shift them on, unlike the mackie :(

[Impact Pete]

I wouldn't go for it ! If it was a quarter of the price it would be a great desk, but at that price point it's up against a good condition second hand 01v96, for not much more than that there's the option of a used ls916. Also if you wanted to go new theres the x32, Roland iPad desk, and an upcoming behringer x20, which are close enough price-wise to have to consider? All of these will be more intuitive to use, could generate some hire income and could be sold for more than a packet of crisps when you do decide to shift them on, unlike the mackie :(

 

Not looking at it for ourselves, advising a friend who looked at it for his 'wedding' band

[MarkPAman]

A friend of mine has one & loves it. I've only had a quick play with it, just with headphones & a 58, not with PA or a band, but it seems simple enough to use.

 

But, the next Behringer desk (X16 I think rather than X20) looks to have more features, including multitrack recording, at about the same price. I'd hang on until Namm!

[benweblight]

In a similar vein there is also the Line6 StageScape

http://line6.com/stagescape-m20d/

 

And the Roland M-200i:

http://www.rolandsystemsgroup.co.uk/products/100117?_cldee=YmVuZ3VtbWVyeUBidGludGVybmV0LmNvbQ%3d%3d

 

Not sure how these compare on price, but may be worth a look as well.

[Simon Lewis]

Retails at around £960, plus cost of iThing and a wireless router. Review are pretty positive, but there's always the reliance upon the tablet (and its connector!) - although for a band, the wireless bit could be one of the strongest points.... soundcheck done from the floor (without needing a multi) and each band member could control their own monitor mix. It's compact too.... always good for bands who might not have space for lots of gear.

 

Presonus StudioLive 16.0.2 is about the same price... Bigger Presonous desks are half as much again, and the X32 is around £2k.

 

It's likely that the digital MI desk market will get more crowded. It's also likely that they will seek to continue reducing hardware costs by piggy backing off the tablet manufacturers.

 

Those used to "proper" digital desks will probably not like the "Chad Valley" approach to mixing. Those for whom mixing is a necessary addition to playing in a band will probably welcome anything that makes it "simpler"...

 

A little post script... taken from the gents on another forum...

 

1 - Recordings on the DL1608 are not accessible until they are downloaded into a

separate computer via iTunes. Basically it makes the record feature almost

totally useless.

 

2 - You cannot playback from the iPad from within the

DL1608 control panel and never when you are recording. The playback control on

the DL1608 is any audio which would normally come out of the speaker on the iPad

so to do playback you must select another app, like itunes and start the

playback, then go back into the DL1608 panel to control it.

[Impact Pete]

Hi thanks Simon, have cut and paste your comment on to the conversation on facebook that is currently going on!