Mackie Scraps FW interfaces?

rumleymusic · 9th November 2009

I heard a rumor that Mackie was discontinuing the 400F, 1200F, and 800R. Now I see that there is no longer a page for any of these on the Mackie web site. WHAT THE HELL!!? These were all fine sounding products and they were supposed to add control surface support and upgrade the functionality, but they just gave up!? Now I am going to look like a jack ass because my radio station bought a 1200F on my recommendation.

What is with that company? They just lost my future business.

kafka · 10th November 2009

Yup, looks like their manual are now in the discontinued section: Mackie Tech Support - Manuals

That's too bad. The 800R is really a great unit.

psycho_monkey · 10th November 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greener

USB is non-proprietary tech whereas Firewire is/was.
Like Beta vs VHS it was always going to happen.

This could be because something else is coming along.

How do you work that one out?! Fw seems pretty non-proprietary to me, even if the sockets were known as different things to Sony, and used for different protocols by yamaha and motu.

spicemix · 11th November 2009

The 800R is not a firewire unit. I have one and enjoy it... I just leave the close drum mics normalled into it, with ADAT out.

Certainly the 1640i is a better value if you have the space for one and want to use firewire. The three things I deeply dislike about the 1640i are:

1) Line inputs go through preamp gain stage
2) Insert points are unbalanced
3) Inserts do not have a bypass switch

Otherwise it's a big leap ahead of the old 1640. Would be nice to put all the line level stuff on D-subs.

The old firewire drivers were written by 3rd parties and sucked. They brought firewire dev in house for the i series Onyx, and they don't want to bother with the old crap anymore.

The 800R is an innocent casualty in all of this. Maybe they will come out with a better one of those.

Animus · 11th November 2009

I heard Mackie was on the verge of bankruptcy too.

spicemix · 11th November 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Animus

I heard Mackie was on the verge of bankruptcy too.

Interesting! Maybe Avid will buy them and they can go bankrupt hand in hand.

LoopQuantum · 11th November 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greener

USB is non-proprietary tech whereas Firewire is/was.
.

???

rumleymusic · 16th November 2009

Quote:

Going back a while now, you used to have to pay a royalty to have Firewire on your device, a few cents per unit produced. USB was free.

Don't have evidence. Prove me wrong I would be happy to learn.

I don't know the details, but yes "Firewire" is an Apple technology, and its fate is in their hands. It seems to me like they are trying to kill it in order to get ready for the next generation transfer technology. Whatever that ends up being.

Jake · 16th November 2009

This is pure speculation on my part, please treat it as such.

If the rumors of Mackie's financial difficulties are accurate, I suspect that Mackie is extensively cutting its product line down to its core (and most profitable) products. Thus, no firewire interfaces or control surfaces. I couldn't begin to guess what's most profitable or not for Mackie, but it's probably safe to assume that they're going to focus on budget mixer product lines.

spicemix · 17th November 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by rumleymusic

I don't know the details, but yes "Firewire" is an Apple technology, and its fate is in their hands. It seems to me like they are trying to kill it in order to get ready for the next generation transfer technology. Whatever that ends up being.

Lightpeak?

rumleymusic · 17th November 2009

Quote:

If the rumors of Mackie's financial difficulties are accurate, I suspect that Mackie is extensively cutting its product line down to its core (and most profitable) products. Thus, no firewire interfaces or control surfaces. I couldn't begin to guess what's most profitable or not for Mackie, but it's probably safe to assume that they're going to focus on budget mixer product lines.

That is probably right on. The just introduced a new line of interface mixers, the older rackmount versions were probably unprofitable with all the competition.

Quote:

Lightpeak?

I have heard about that buy my money is on USB3 for compatibility reasons.

9th November 2009	#1
rumleymusic Lives for gear Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 1,465 Thread Starter	Mackie Scraps FW interfaces? I heard a rumor that Mackie was discontinuing the 400F, 1200F, and 800R. Now I see that there is no longer a page for any of these on the Mackie web site. WHAT THE HELL!!? These were all fine sounding products and they were supposed to add control surface support and upgrade the functionality, but they just gave up!? Now I am going to look like a jack ass because my radio station bought a 1200F on my recommendation. What is with that company? They just lost my future business. __________________ Daniel Rumley Rumley Music and Audio Production http://www.rumleymusic.com

10th November 2009	#2
kafka Lives for gear Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Maryland Posts: 3,989	Yup, looks like their manual are now in the discontinued section: Mackie Tech Support - Manuals That's too bad. The 800R is really a great unit. __________________ - It looks just like a Telefunken U47 - with leather. You'll love it ... - Jazz is not dead - it just smells funny. - It doesn't make much difference how the paint is put on as long as something has been said. Technique is just a means of arriving at a statement.

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11th November 2009	#4
spicemix Lives for gear Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 2,305	The 800R is not a firewire unit. I have one and enjoy it... I just leave the close drum mics normalled into it, with ADAT out. Certainly the 1640i is a better value if you have the space for one and want to use firewire. The three things I deeply dislike about the 1640i are: 1) Line inputs go through preamp gain stage 2) Insert points are unbalanced 3) Inserts do not have a bypass switch Otherwise it's a big leap ahead of the old 1640. Would be nice to put all the line level stuff on D-subs. The old firewire drivers were written by 3rd parties and sucked. They brought firewire dev in house for the i series Onyx, and they don't want to bother with the old crap anymore. The 800R is an innocent casualty in all of this. Maybe they will come out with a better one of those.

11th November 2009	#5
Animus Lives for gear Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Durham, NC USA Posts: 8,219	I heard Mackie was on the verge of bankruptcy too.

16th November 2009	#9
Jake Gear maniac Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 261	This is pure speculation on my part, please treat it as such. If the rumors of Mackie's financial difficulties are accurate, I suspect that Mackie is extensively cutting its product line down to its core (and most profitable) products. Thus, no firewire interfaces or control surfaces. I couldn't begin to guess what's most profitable or not for Mackie, but it's probably safe to assume that they're going to focus on budget mixer product lines.