OK, OK, Here's yer Mackie Satellite thread

[;ivlunsdystf]

Is there anybody out there who has actually purchased a Mackie Satellite? Just curious. A web search turns up lots of demo reviews, but has anybody actually spent the 399 bones?

[inverseroom]

I sort of suspect that the reason they gave us a bunch is that their massive ad campaign is not having the desired effect...
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[;ivlunsdystf]

Well, if it had MIDI and direct realtime monitoring I'd have already bought one when they first came out, prolly ...

Anyway, I expect to get good use out of mine ...

[joelpatterson]

[@¶,*ƒƒƒ&™]

This thing now allows me to get rid of my garish Audio Technica MB1000L talkback mic (the crappiest mic in my studio). That's a plus...maybe. Most of my work is done with a trackball and the Pro Tools program. I use my right hand ALOT. My current talkback is a mic routed into Mic input 2 on my interface feeding a channel in Pro Tools. I simply mute that channel when I don't want to communicate with the artist.

As I hadn't had time to get this box running in the studio, I integrated it during a client session at Third Monk Records today and was able to do so in about 1 minute, so the hook-up is insanely simple.

The talkback mic is going to get used as a mono drum room mic on the weekend and that will be really f-in cool I am sure. From the sound of it, Mackie seems to have gone a little distance to make it sound like the famous SSL talkback mic. So, cool. I'm hoping duct tape over a dime will be enough to hold the button down during tracking.

Mostly, this box has an incredible identity crisis though. I initially questioned the concept of removable pres until I realized the user is intended to use EXACTLY THE SAME power supply that comes with the unit for the Satellite box. So where you don't have disconnect all those audio cables from the back of your set-up, you still need to dig out the power supply. Why not supply two power supplies or make this beast battery powered with rechargeable batteries? Certainly it should work well for that 2 mic rehearsal documentation for a band with whatever contemporary recording software one is using. If you are Marc Aubort, likely you'd even record the average local Symphony Orchestra with it and little else and hey, he's won Grammies!

The Onyx pres are good. Think DIGI 001 or 002 with balls.

Here goes with the design feedback though:

When a mic is plugged into the Satellite Unit Input #1 it can only feed the left channel of the headphone output #1 and I have no clue why. Vice versa for a mic in Input #2.

The 2 headphone jacks on the front are labelled with a universal headphone symbol- not a 'monitor' label- although it appears these outputs are intended to feed some kind of power amp. More ambiguous is the fact the left and right channels have discreet volume controls- sort of functioning like Channel Line Faders- although they are labelled "Headphones" on the front fascia of the Satellite unit.

Unfortunately, the above stated problem remains the case with the Satellite unit installed in the base.

If the unit is intended to be used as a sort of submixer or router for the two mic inputs, then it could seriously use a few pan knobs to be able to control the balance of those signals. Do we call this thing a 2-buss mixer? It clearly is intended to bring multiple inputs together whether a guitar, mic or 2 line inputs per channel. My Trident S20 mic pre allows for 2 mics to be patched per channel so I can switch between mics on the source. That might be a feature to consider for future verisons of this. for routing into a DAW. I think the box could be taken a few steps closer to being a 'Big Knob' equivalent of a Behringer UB802 and the recording world could be a better place- with Onyx pres.

Lack of a mono switch is a fatal flaw for ANY box claiming to have monitor switching capability. Any significant console center section has the ability to do this. I still can't believe a hardware manufacturer would overlook this feature. The toughest problem for a young recording engineer is to get their ears around 'phase relationships and comb-filtering'. With this box, young recording engineers will not be given the opportunity to get better at their craft, but rather will be missing an essential element toward seeking that all-important 'mono compatiblity'. If this box is intended t make monitor switching easier, then it should allow the user to be able to switch a stereo signal to mono with both speakers being fed the same signal when the switch is engaged. Having cuts for either speaker send would be useful too so that one could listen on only one speaker. Sorry, I've done plenty of SSL work and this is a must for monitoring.

The feedback here so far is mechanical- not even considering the software or how easy to use this will be. When I eventually get a pc up and running (not something I look forward to doing, but have a few cores at home that I can mod), then I'll be able to judge the digital input side of this.

Star rating for it's intended use and ergonomic functionality is 1.8 out of 5. The box simply doesn't know what it wants to be...yet. When will version 2.0 be released?

[trodden]

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I've been waiting for this moment, all my life, Oh Lord
Can you feel it coming in the air tonight, Oh Lord, Oh Lord
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[kayagum]

http://mackie.com/products/satellite/pdf/Onyx_Satellite_OM.pdf, page 36.


I haven't used the mic inputs yet, but I got the headphone amps to work with the regular output from the PC.

Maybe you have something rigged up incorrectly in your DAW. Check your pans? I'm betting it's user error in this case.
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[OM15.2]

[theshaggyfreak]

I don't have one of these puppies but I do agree that they have an identity crisis after reading all of the hype...er literature. I just don't see much use of the whole pod thing for unit with a limited amount of i/o. Hell, I don't even scoff at having to disconnect my 002r for recording remotely. If you set things up smartly, disconnecting/reconnecting an interface is quick and painless.

Right now I have 2 racks. The bottom rack holds things like compressors, EQs, FX, headphone amp and a patch bay. The top rack is my 002r and a Behringer ada8000. I have a snake that goes from the 002r to the patch bay in the bottom rack. So, all I need to do is yank out that snake when I want to take the top rack and my powerbook to record remotely.

Like others, I think the talk back feature is rather silly. Most people that are going to be in line to get something like the Satellite will be recording in a single room without a control room. That feature should have been replaced with something more useful to a home recording enthusiast.

Being a Pro Tools user, I would probably be more interested in an Mbox anyway. I used to use Tracktion prior to getting my 002r and it just doesn't do anything for me these days. BTW, I'm selling my copy cheap (download copy. no extra plugins) if anyone wants it!
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[TapeOpHillary]

[TapeOpHillary]

[TapeOpHillary]

[TapeOpHillary]

[trodden]

[Electricide]

[inverseroom]