Mackie DL1608
A sixteen-input digital mixer with no real control surface of its own - the iPad is the console, and that was the whole point.
Overview
There are exactly two knobs on the DL1608. One is preamp gain and one is headphone volume. Everything else lives on a screen you supply yourself. Mackie's own advertising billed it as "16 channels of digital liberation" for engineers who wanted to walk the room and mix from the bar instead of being chained to front of house. It's a strange pitch on paper, since the mixer won't function without a third-party device. Pro Audio Review (May 2014, p.18) discussed the DL1608's iPad-based control interface.
The hardware is a 16-input live mixer with 16 XLR mic inputs and switchable global phantom power. Four of those inputs are combi jacks taking either XLR or quarter-inch line-level signals. Outputs run to six aux sends on balanced quarter-inch, plus stereo main outs on XLR. Conversion is handled by a 24-bit Cirrus Logic AD/DA converter, and the preamps are Mackie's Onyx designs, which matters if you remember the company's earlier, blunter-sounding live consoles. Pro Audio Review (May 2014, p.18) covered the DL1608's iPad-based control interface.
Street price was $999, with the iPad not included. The review noted the real-world figure climbs toward $1,500 once you add an iPad 3. That put the DL1608 up against the small-format digital mixers of its moment, and Pro Audio Review (May 2014, p.18) covered the DL1608's iPad-based control interface. For a band or a solo operator already carrying a tablet, the math was a lot friendlier than for someone starting from nothing.
Master Fader and the Control Story
The Master Fader app is the mixer. You connect either wired or wirelessly, and the software changed a lot after launch. An update added preset storage and recall for all plug-ins, snapshot and show recall for instant retrieval of mix states, and the ability to configure up to ten iPads for wireless operation. That last one is a big deal. A single DL1608 can be driven from multiple tablets at once, so a monitor engineer and a FOH engineer can work the same box from different positions in the venue.
Version 1.4 of Master Fader brought vintage-style EQ, compressor, and gate options alongside the existing Modern settings. Pro Audio Review (May 2014, p.18) covered the DL1608's iPad-based control interface. The reviewer asked how many sub-$1,000 mixers put vintage-flavored EQ and compression on every channel. The EQ is limited by those broad curves, but for live work that's often fine.
The 31-band graphic EQ on the main and aux outs can be switched between outputs, and curves are drawn by swiping a finger rather than pushing individual sliders. Channel naming accepts images, a conga on a fader for instance, which sounds like a gimmick until you're staring at sixteen inputs under stage lights. Presets and shows store and recall in the usual Mackie fashion, which the review described as easy enough for anyone to grasp.
Recording, and Where It Falls Short
Recording is simple. Connect the iPad physically, press the button marked RECORD below the master fader, press again to stop, and name the file. Files land in the app's directory, dated and time-stamped, and you pull them out through iTunes. The catch is that only the main stereo outs are captured, with no multitrack, and the exported files come out at 16-bit/44.1 kHz despite the console's 24-bit/48 kHz internal architecture. Pro Audio Review (May 2014, p.18) covered the DL1608's iPad-based control interface. For chronicling a show, it's close to ideal. For making a record, it isn't.
The reverbs are the weak point, and the review said so. Plate, Ambience, Small/Medium/Large Room, Hall, Cathedral, Gated Reverb, and Spring are all there, each with Pre-Delay, Damping, Decay, and Rolloff. Not one preset or modified preset impressed. They were described as dark and lifeless, with nothing the reviewer would actually use. The delays, by contrast, were judged very usable. Mackie's own user-suggestion page showed the same complaint: better reverb drew 113 votes, well behind the top request of channel linking at 1,385 votes. That feature, applying one channel's processing to its stereo partner, remained absent, so users swipe back and forth matching EQ, compression, and gating by ear. Parametric EQ on every output was the second most-requested item.
There's also the connector problem. The DL1608 shipped with the older 30-pin iPad connector from the iPad 3 and iPhone 4 era. An iPad 4 with a Lightning port works via adapter and works fine over WiFi, but it won't seat properly in the supplied cradle. Pro Audio Review (May 2014, p.18) covered the DL1608's iPad-based control interface.
Verdict and Legacy
The review concluded that the DL1608 sounded great, that the vintage EQ and compressor options were a real draw, and that it would be a solid choice in a live setting for anyone already invested in an iPad. Mackie later reported that over two million shows had been mixed on the DL1608. The DL32R that followed was built directly on its workflow, and the company's product manager explicitly credited the DL1608's vocal user base for shaping the larger model's feature set, particularly wireless mixing as the single most important capability.
The hardware is a competent 16-input digital engine with good Onyx preamps, and the software is free to download and still the only way to use it. The 30-pin cradle dates the unit, the reverbs were never fixed to anyone's satisfaction, and the recording is stereo-only at 16-bit. It was $999 in 2012.
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