Mackie Mixers

Arny doesn't live in the real world.

Aggred. Some of the most reverberent rooms I've been in were churches in
Europe.

Thanks again Phildo for admitting that without crutches like PFL, you can't
do a credible job of live sound.

Hi there,

We need to buy a couple new mixers for our church. We aren't too intensive
on our music needs, but we do have the occasional concert. The thinking was
to get a mixer to use permanently in the building and then a second mixer
for travelling events.

We have the option to get a couple Mackie mixers at a good price. We've been

What price ?

able to test them and they seem to work very well, but my knowledge of
mixers is quite limited, so I could easily be missing something.

So if anyone had some advice about Mackie mixers in general or their
CFX12.mkII and PPM406M mixers in particular, that would be very appreciated.

One of the things I dislike in some of the Mackie's I've looked at is their
muting system - Aux's are not muted in many of their low end boards. I run
monitors off of Aux pre outputs since there's no one doing a monitor mix
during the service. That lets me leave the monitor mixes alone while
adjusting house. I also run a recorded mix off a pre-aux because some
instruments are not needed in the house feed (typically drums & bass) , but
needed in the recording. In both cases, when the band leaves the stage, I
want to mute all those channels, including their aux sends. Otherwise I get
too much background noise and preacher echo in the recording, and there's
always potential for feedback in the monitor loop.

I assume Mackie did their mute design this way because it favors studio
work. I don't have any direct experience with the models you asked about, so
I don't know which way they are configured.

Neither of these are anything of note. In other words, just run-of-the-mill
products. The PPM series is a bit of a joke frankly.

Why don't you explain your requirements and budget ?

I don't mind using them but in general I find them overpriced for what you
get - i.e. you can getter better for the same money, much better for a bit
more, or as good for a fair bit less.

With a fixed Church installation,we have an audio team of four and
consistency from week to week is important,with different operator
skill levels and interest.
We use a Mackie CR 1604-VLZ and send a signal to the house and to a
Yamaha CDR-HD 1500.I find the LR router on the Mackie to be tiny and
difficult to easily check if it is up or down.The unit's main problem
is the individual 'sound' of each operator,resulting in some operators

That's a complete and total lie, Phildo. I never said any such thing.

being favored over others.I use a digital sound level meter to make my

That's not the units problem, it's an operator problem.

No mixer sounds the same when different operators are setting the
controls differently, nor should it. I'm not saying Mackies don't have

You do not mix in comparably demanding professional environments. It is
likely you never will. Hence, you have little concept of what is or is
not necessary in those situations.

But I'll tell you this: your attitude alone would disqualify you for
consideration as a serious professional SR FOH or mons mixer.

their problems but this is not an issue you can blame Mackie for.

monthly effort consistent,but cannot get the others interested in
using it.Just another button to push ,I guess.
The Peavey Sanctuary series mentioned earlier sounds like the way to
go to get this consistency.
What is PFL metering.?

Pre-fader level.

I got it slightly wrong so will rephrase the question and reinstate the
other part you conveniently missed out:

You claimed that 95% of mixing desks do not have PFL metering and that you

Cite this claim.

Never said it Phildo. If you can't quote me saying that from web-search, you are
again proven to be a habitual liar.

Prove it !

can set channel gains better using your ears than using the meters. Do you

Yes.

Thanks for admitting you don't know how to mix Arny.

I occasionally use the meters to double-check the settings that I did by
ear. I rarely find any problems, which is good because I do so much work
with consoles that don't have PFL.

Phildo can't do that because he made it up, as he often does. Phildo is a
well-known habitual liar. If Phildo can't win an argument he just makes up
an argument, attributes it to someone else, and wins his imaginary argument.

I agree.

George is almost as bad (in terms of twisting your words) but to his credit he
won't stoop to such low practices as Phildo does.

Both of them are are a blot on a.a.p.l-s though.

This would be the mythical 95% of mixers out there that you and only you
seem to have encountered whilst all the professionals on here with their
decades of experience have yet to come across?

stand by that statement?

There you go Arnold, yes or no will do, words of one syllable that even you
can handle.

Never mind that, how about the other part you conveniently snipped?

Keith.

Mackies are very much low-end mixers. If you can afford it go for the A&H
mixwizards. If your budget won't stretch then go for the Behringer
alternative. Everything the mackie is at a better price and with a far
superior warranty/support.

The mackie's are kind of a mixed curse. They are quite popular in this area
especilly the mixer/amps. I see a lot of solo artist lugging them around and
even DJ's and some bands. I have seen them croak in the middle of a live
show.

I still use a Mackie 32 on larger shows, but i try not to move it very
often.

Those are not great mixers. They're not in the same ballpark as the VLZ
Pro and Onyx units.

For anyone seeking reasonable quality in a mixer I think a good rule of
thimb is to avoid those with the little built-in "graphic" EQ's. Those
EQ's suck and generally so do the mixers into which they are built.