Mackoid Roll Call; Count off Now!

[Larry Sheehan]

I'm curious who besides me and Ferris is reading here.

I bought my HDR2496 in early march. I'm using it primarily as a "tape replacement" altho I actually upgraded from a piar of VS1680s which I locked together. Plan is to take my studio from expensive hobby to a business this summer.

I am using the analog I/O cards which surprised me quite pleasantly, since I'd read that they were "brittle crap" and other such slurs. Maybe I mixed live sound too long, but they sound great to me compared to the 1680's analog stage.

I'm mixing on a DDA DMR12 56 input desk. So far I've had 3 different singer/songwriters in, so I haven't really put the HDR through it's paces yet, altho I did do some minor editing and the envolope tool is a good "poor man's automation"

I'm spending a lot of time fitting edac connectors up between the desk and the HDR's rack, so I can retain the portability I had with the 1680. Portabality seems to be an advantage in this part of the country.

Who else is here and how are you using this wonder box.

I've posted this URL on groups.yahoo.com's hdr2496 group and at the VSplanet wher I know there are other users.

Hopefully we'll get to critical mass here soon.

 

[reverend]

Greetings All-

Here at TV Works, we rely on AVID and ProTools for most of the commercial and industrial work, but we had been using MX-2424 and d8b to produce the odd bit of music from time to time.

I had been number 1 on the list for HDR's at Sweetwater, but after about 6 months I could not wait, as my ADATS were breathing their last. I got the MX-2424 and remote and used it for about 5 months. it will be a great box when the software is done, about this time next year would be my guess.

we traded the MX for the HDR with the thought of selling the HDR as part of a package. Now I'm not so sure.

It rocks. Everything I have tried has worked. Sounds great, but it should, as it's just a bank of 1's and 0's that the d8b makes into sound. (If you have a d8b, PLEASE get the Apogee clock card...)

Anyhow, I may keep this mother. It's really cool, works well, and would be GREAT to use to build up music tracks. (The little remote is just too cool, with remote level indication, "take" advance, etc.)

Also, cool how it works with the d8b....the record arm lights work, as well as the shuttle/jog and transport controls.

the only negative is the lack of documentation in the box, and the rather fragmented docs on the website. I reccomend downloading the technical manual. While it's not really 'technical", it is a more complete users manual thant the quick start.

mackie says we early owners must "Request" the CD an manual....that's a shitty deal, in MHO. If we register, they should just send it to us !! Really!

thanks for the space,

 

[Larry Sheehan]

Dave, I'm in the computer industry for a day job, so I never RTFM. Which manual are we supposed to request? The techref I hope, as I hate reading PDF documents, and I'm too cheap to print it myself. What is the CD?

 

[Larry Sheehan]

Dave, it's cool to hear that you're thinking of keeping the HDR. I too am very taken with the little remote, and most impressed with how this thing just works!

Right now the big gee whiz feature for me is the FTP server. I've bounced a mix to two tracks on the HDR, ftp'd in, grabbed them and opened them in Soundforge just like they said I could!

 

[Kobb]

Yeah!

Larry, you were right. Apparently I had signed up with this user name somewhere along the line and forgotten about it. I just had to log in rather than registering all over.

I'll definitely be checking in over here once I have more access to the HDR. I tell ya, as much as I've enjoyed the Roland VS units, Mackie's d8b & HDR combo looks like it will blow the VS systems out of the water.

 

[Larry Sheehan]

Hi, Kobb. Glad you amde it.

 

[LoveRecords]

Hello Larry,
Found this board from a link on one of Fletcher's (Mercenarysound) posts in rec.audio.pro. The format is refreshing, as is the flavor so far (nobody biting each other's heads off because of a simple case of differing perspectives or gaps in knowledge and experience). While I don't yet own an HDR and have some key questions, I hope my "how [I WILL be] using this wonderful machine" statements qualify this post as 'on topic'.

Glad to see the good stuff about the Mackie HDR unit from a real user apart from the mfgr's publicity. The specs and features grabbed me B4 it started shipping, and still grieving from having to sell my VS-880 (leaving my 8-track analog R2R or the crash-likely Sound Forge and Cakewalk Pro Audio 8 softwares to track with) I've been ambitiously anticipating an upgrade. Thought of the Korg D1600 or VS1680 (which you dropped), but needing to record more than 8 at once for even my own group's projects, and wanting that ability for future clients, the an HD 24/96-type seemed perfect. Despite feeling that selling a recorder without inputs is like selling a car without a carburetor, I prayed about my next move and "24 tracks" and a vision of a boxy HDR-type unit was my answer (don't mean to sound spooky - that's just the way I get my direction). Still the following concerns persist and as I move closer to the buying day, I'd appreciate your opinions:
(1) Why will I be more satisfied with the HDR *plus* a separate mixer *plus* a separate effects unit than a Korg/Tascam/Akai-type unit that integrates these in one box?
(2) Is the sound quality really notably better to anyone other than the proverbial "golden ears" of top producers?
(3) Why might I be less satisfied with the look-alike Alesis HD24 at half the price with analog ins & outs already built-in? (Tascam has priced me out of their league, and frankly except for my prayer-answer spurring me toward it, the Mackie seems 'out there' pricewise as well.)

The remote control features you guys praise really made me feel Mackie put extraordinary care into this baby - sounds like a unit made for recording-guys, not graduate Electrical Engineers.
I'm sure I'll post here often as I progress with my HD when I have it. Oh.. and how far is Georgetown from Dallas? I'd really like to sit in on a session and see your setup in action if poss.

God Bless,
Vincent in Dallas

 

[LoveRecords]

..guys, forgot to detail "how [I will be] using this wonderful machine".

1. Tracking my Contemporary Gospel group (every style from doowop harmonies, torch singer renditions, Beach Boys-type rockers to symphonics) 6 voices, with several of us playing drums, saxophone, trumpet,trombone, clarinet and keyboard intermittently.

2. Indoor live play at churches and venues.

3. Outdoor live perfs at parks & staged events.

4. Radio spots.

5. Mixing & mastering for clients.

Blessings, Vincent

 

[Larry Sheehan]

Welcome! G'town is about 2.5 hours south on I-35 (30 mi north of Austin).

Shopping is a blast. Have fun with this and don't lose too much sleep, they're all good.

The questions answered from my perspective:
1) HDR + Mixer+outboard vs all in one: My experience with the 1680 was that while the reverbs were pretty good, the comps were awful. I wound up buying some comps. Then as I got to where I could hear reverbs better, I started noticing the difference in sound of various flavors (Lexicon, TC, etc). I bought verbs. The mixer on the 1680s never really did it for me, so I started mixing the direct outs on an analog desk where the EQs sounded better. Bottom line, I like having the choice of what verbs, comps, eq I use, and the all in ones made that difficult.

2) I hear the difference vs my 1680s and my ears are by no means golden, hairy yes, not golden. The 1680's notoriously noisy analog stage contributed for sure but there's a ton of difference. If you're going to mix analog, the AIO-8 cards are the most cost effective solution cause the alternatives are outboard converters at 2-5K per 8 chans + digital i/o cards for the HDR.

3) The Mackie was here now with enough editing capability for me. The Alesis was 2 months away form shipping.
4) File intechange with other studios. Tascam has it Mackie has it , Alesis can do it too.
I felt the Mackie was equal to TASCAM here, better than current RADAR, and again Alesis wasn't out yet, so I needed to trust the brochure but it looked like although they were less convenient, it was possible. What I wanted to avoid at all costs was transferring tracks 2 at a time over spdif like the Roland.

The combination of availability, reliability and function at a price point I could afford was what swung me. I honestly can't say you wouldn't be just as happy with an HD24 when it ships, since I've never heard one. Roger Nichols certainly thinks they're the beans (see his forum on Musicplayer) but he had the advantage of actually having one for a while.

Bottom line for me, the Mackie met my needs at a price I could afford. It lets me work the way I want to work with the outboard I want to use.

While it didn't enter into my decision on Mackie, Alesis is the subject of much discussion in the last few weeks. I won't repeat the rumors here.

You'll also want to check the TASCAM as you evaluate this class of recorder and RADAR24 if you can spend another 2K. They're running a sale on an Analog rig that would have done it for me (I think 7K+/- for a pretty well dressed RADAR24).

Anyone else wanna chime in here? What other units of this class did you consider, and why mackie?