Hey all! If anybody’s especially familiar with this mixer I could use some help. The manual is a trainwreck of casual tone, run-on sentences and confusing hypotheticals.
Long story short, I have a UA Apollo Twin Quad mk2, an 8 channel Lucid A/D converter for input expansion via ADAT, said mackie mixer and too many instruments for the 8 channels alone. The mackie has direct outs for 1-8 only.
So… is it possible to use, let’s say, 3 of the mixer’s stereo channels for my stereo gear, assign those channels to a sub-group, route the subgroup outs back in to 2 mono channels of the 1-8, and then use those direct outs to go into my A/D converter? I also have an outboard stereo compressor that I’d want to route those synths through for sidechain stuffs, so that could be ideal for quick serial patching.
Hope this is clear, and TIA for any help or thoughts at all!
I don’t have that mixer, but it should be possible, but aren’t the direct outs mono? Panning each channel in your DAW may work. And if you press the wrong button on your Mackie feedback may be a problem.
Would you be better served with a small sub-mixer for your stereo instruments? Like a 1U stereo line mixer? Or one of those tiny Rolls stereo line mixers? A patchbay would come in handy too.
@reeloy that’s an interesting approach, one i didn’t think of. thank you! great food for thought!
@1ticio i actually had a small sub-mixer that was more for the color/effect/grit (Boss BX-800) but the left channel died the other day and honestly i’m kinda over it anyway. The effect was cool but not THAT cool that I wanna stress over it. my buddy has my old A&H Zed10 which I LOVE the sound of (especially over driven) so was considerng that. But wouldn’t more steps in the middle degrade the sound a bit? It’s certainly an option I’m gonna try and do some tests with. Already asked for it back since he has a new one. thanks!!! Oh and a bunch of producer friends also recommended a patch bay but that feels like overkill. will explore it again anyway. last i looked into this it seemed like a very confusing thing to set up.
What I would do is to use the groups instead of the direct outputs with the compressor in one of these stereo group outputs.
It would be more flexible.
And would allow you to stay out of patching headaches while composing…
My current mixer (Mackie 1202, bought for peanuts) I like, but it is scratchy, I’m running out of inputs, has only 2 aux send/returns (neither with a pre-fader option). I’m considering an upgrade to the Mackie 1642VLZ4 - slightly more than I need, but figure it gives me a little room to expand. However all the routing options are making my head spin a little, so could use a little advice here
Each channel has the option to patch to subgroup 1-2, 3-4, or LR.
I really want to be able to patch two of the sub-outs (say, 1-2) directly to the inputs of my Digitakt so that I can very quickly resample whatever is assigned to these subs. I think I can do this, right? There are subgroup outs on the back of the mixer, but what is confusing me is that there are 8 subgroup outs, rather than the expected 1-4. What is being sent to subgroup outs 5-8?? I can’t make sense of the manual.
The model down, the 1402VLZ4, has a feature whereby any channel you mute is automatically routed to set of alternative outputs, which I’ve read others are using as a quick way to to feed sampling inputs on Octatracks etc. This is basically what I want: a quick way to route audio to the inputs on my Digitakt without faffing around in my patchbay.
Having rambled this far I realise that if a bigger mixer is making my head spin, maybe I should actually be considering the 1402 instead (which is also half the price). I just want to future proof my set-up though.
This is exactly how I use the subgroups of my 1642, feeding samplers or FXs.
The 5-8 subgroups confused me too at first, they actually are duplicates of 1-4. Whatever you send to 1-2 is also sent to 5-6, same for 3-4 and 7-8. I wish they could be toggled separately, but this can still be useful to send to different destinations. You just got to be careful with what you are sending and monitoring to avoid unwanted feedback loops.
I also wish the 1642 aux sends were stereo, but this is a very rare feature and at this price point I couldnt find a better mixer for routing purposes.
There are subgroup outs on the back of the mixer, but what is confusing me is that there are 8 subgroup outs, rather than the expected 1-4. What is being sent to subgroup outs 5-8?? I can’t make sense of the manual.
