d8b Forum

The other place has been down for a long time.

Peter

Down and out maybe....

It really hasn't been operating as a worthwhile community forum for a while now. Mods chime in very irregularly, and there is very little in the way of helpful discourse within threads other than from Mike who is one of the few who keeps the content informative and on point. It's partly a Mackie corporate problem I feel, as many of the last generation of products were so flawed in regards to drivers and software support that the forum has ended up being a monstrous outpouring of frustration and anger at these abandoned products. Not a good look really. The newer stuff seems like it at least works with the current OSes so there's hope, but the forums aren't a positive advertisement for the company.

Yeah, it's sad over there. It's like going back to your old neighborhood and finding it all in shambles. Those forums look like crap, so does their entire website. Maybe they're offline so they can be fixed up, but I doubt it.

I wouldn't buy a new Mackie product right now for anything. That's so sad to say but it's true.

My prediction was that Mackie would be sold by the end of this year. It doesn't look like that will happen but there's still time left. Whatever happens, I do hope they get their act together and succeed, for the sake or their employees.

c-ya,

Dan Worley

Guys,

Unfortunately I can't say any more, but wait until next year's NAMM it should be VERY interesting!!!!!!!!!

David

Hi David,

New product announcements are one thing, however being able to back these products up with a long term driver development strategy is another. Failing to ensure your products medium to long term viability beyond one OS life-cycle (due to outsourcing your drivers to a generic third party driver developer) is insane business practice. Such business practices seem to have resulted in Mackie having no leverage to get their products sorted out once they hit the market. In this scenario, the third party driver developer has no real incentive (other than demanding more cash) to fix anything as they have already been paid for their work and are not tarnished by the product's subsequent failure. Let's hope Mackie has learned a valuable lesson about what areas of product development and manufacturing they can and should outsource and what should remain in-house.

Mackie made such a mess of some of its recent product lines, due to a lack of control over software and driver implementations, that it literally could do nothing to keep them running beyond the smallest of time frames. Think of the 400F and 1200F lines, and the older Onyx boards with the separate Firewire cards. Not to mention the DXB. They are now boat anchors (in a digital interfacing sense) due to newer OS firewire implementations. I don't have a problem with the analogue side of these products, but they are hopelessly behind in their digital interfacing capabilities and their reliability as DAW interfaces.

I believe that the newer i Series products are faring much better and I hope this will continue. I'm not sure whether this is by luck or by design, however time will tell how trouble-free & long-lived these new product lines will be. Mackie definitely has some ground to make up in terms of its reputation in the new DAW age. The days of product lines made up of predominantly analogue pieces of equipment that do not talk to computers is gone, so real know-how in the realm of software engineering and driver development is vital in the brave new world of DAW's. Here's hoping Mackie have got some talented and dedicated staff to get the ball rolling on some new Mackie products that look good and function reliably a few year down the track, rather than simply looking attractive on the drawing board and in product announcement literature.

Cheers,
George.

csp wrote:Guys,

Unfortunately I can't say any more, but wait until next year's NAMM it should be VERY interesting!!!!!!!!!

David

Thanks for the teaser... now you have to tell us!!!

No but seriously, I have been hearing this for 3-4 years now and I haven't really seen much, but maybe it just wasn't what I was looking for. NAMM for me is January so it is only 3-4 months away if you don't (or can't) spill the beans.

It is a wait and see, like a lot in life huh?

Michael

PS: Yes the old neighborhood is difficult to negotiate and I agree that it has lost all of its former glory, the best on the net... really sad. Bad paint, no paint, weeds, no growth - I can't figure what the thinking was on this move. Dan mentioned the possibility of something new coming out but he had his doubts, so do I. I think we are looking at what they think is the new and improved. Not working out so well IMO.

Kind of looks like Detroit over there....

George,

I agree with you about the 3rd party situation and how it resulted in the death of a number of the products, but I believe that they have in this case, learnt their lesson and all is apparently "in-house" (whatever that means today!!!).

I am of the impression that what is to be shown at NAMM is the fully working unit --- I can't/wont say that it is an item off the production line, but if not, then I believe that the production line is not too far off. Nothing said to me, but I am guessing a shop ready product mid to late 2012.

By the way, I have not seen it or any photos of it.

I am also of the impression, that it is going to be used as the first step towards Mackie getting back to its grass roots (ie great and innovative products) and as such, it will not be simply released, a few bugs fixed and then forgotten, but rather it will be the start of quite a bit of on-going research and development and ultimately MkII and MkIII type products being released in the future and I further guess that would mean that our (ie the users) input, feedback, etc will be seriously taken on board.

I know, I am looking forward to Mackie's press releases around the time of next years NAMM --- just a shame that I will not be able to get there!!!!!

David

I think I know the product you are speaking of David. I was sworn to secrecy but it looks to be really interesting concept...very cutting edge.

If yer not refering to the Onyx Blackbird/Blackjack interfaces, then I'm dying to know what we're talking about here....If you can't say it directly, please PM me with a hint or something....I will swear an oath to secrecy on my Mother's grave.... At least point me in a general direction....are we talking interfaces or a full fledged "board" of some type? Come on, you can't tease us like that and not give SOME way of at least knowing what yer referencing.... that's just killin me