Mackie and Pro Tools?!
 

Sonic State - News (Video Item) Mackie Cracks The Digidesign Code, New, secret driver pairs new Onyx i and ProTools M-Powered


Really? Thoughts?

(See podcast / interview with Mackie on page 2 - Jules GS Admin)

I can't see this doing anything for mackie.

I can't imagine that the mackie stuff is a big enough step up from the digidesign and m-audio stuff to be real competition.

I think the type of customer that they're trying to get is the type of customer that would just buy the m-audio lightbridge or whatever it's called and run whatever gear/converters they want. Or the type of customer that already runs good convertors through lightpipe into their 002's and 003's, and probably even the m-audio units.

So now as far as converters go there's going to be the low end (m-audio) and slightly above low end (mackie and the 002's/ 003's) and I dunno, the lightbridge would probably be a little above that.

I just don't see the point, unless they price it considerably cheaper than the m-audio and digidesign stuff.

I can imagine alot of headache with no support from either company.

i say just give up the ghost and let us use whatever we want already. although, protools mackie powered is welcome game

So... mackie is teaming up with digidesign???
 

A dark, mysterious box arrived at Sonic Towers containing a ransom style note, a video and a brand new (yet to be announced) Onyx 820i ''Premium'' Analog Mixer with Perkins EQ and Firewire , plus what turned out to be a bit of a bombshell.

Also in the box was a boxed copy of Digidesign (or should that be Avid?) Pro Tools 8 M-Powered My initial thoughts were: What's that doing in there, they won't work together? But then the penny began to drop - I can be a bit slow sometimes.

What Mackie have done is written a driver - the Mackie Universal Driver V1.0, which appears to circumvent the ProTools/Digidesign hardware protection that ties Digidesign or M-Audio hardware to M-Powered software. Essentially they have cracked the code. This means that you can use the new Mackie Onyx i Series mixers as the audio hardware component of a Pro Tools LE system, using it as the audio I/O, yes, that's right, you did read that correctly. I've not had a chance to extensively test this at the time of writing, but I intend to take a closer look.

There is no official word on this for now, so we'll have to wait "a few weeks". Mackie have yet to make an announcement. It is not clear whether this is sanctioned by Avid or not.


jkthtyrt

already been posted in music computers...I think it's been reverse-engineered.

Huh..... who...... what!!!

Sorry, my search skills are failing me. Where's that thread at?

It seems they've been deleted. Not sure why as they haven't even been taken down form the DUC but, oh well...

Here's the link:

Sonic State

R.

Kind of strange the thread's been deleted IMO. The video itself didn't show anything except a pair of outputs from PT hitting the mackie mixer. Not too hard to do. I could post a video showing a pair of outputs hitting the Neotek here..abduction

But..... it's a dirty job and someones gotta do it. Avid has certainly had the chance. Especially when that M-Powered 7.3 "bug" was figured out and people were getting 32 I/O.

Pro Tools M-Powered = "Mackie"-powered?
 

Ridiculous video, but you get the point.



Available September according to one UK retailer.

Uh-oh.....

This is going to get ugly.....

We don't know yet whether this is Avid-approved or not. It very well might be, and they're just guerrilla-marketing it as being a dirty trick. Time will tell...

Same scenario, really, as Apogee and Lynx making their interfaces directly connect with PTHD cards. Avid doesn't approve.

I'd be interested to see if they bring the hammer down on Mackie, or if they let it ride, as this would likely sell more copies of M-Powered....

... and fewer M-Audio interfaces, potentially.

I, for one, would love to hear an official comment from Avid though on the matter.

I got wind of this a little while ago too, but wasn't gonna be the one to break it to the interwebs...hittt

Software is MUCH more profitable to a manufacturer than hardware.

Avid, Digi, get in here! kfhkh

So Wednesday FedEx tried to deliver a package to me from Mackie - its being redelivered tomorrow..

grimm

I would assume that, if this is legit, then it would be something Avid has worked out with Mackie. If it is a partnering situation, on the one hand, it seems like a kind of dumb and tone-deaf, if harmless move. On the other hand, it might be a way for a hurting Mackie to boost sales and for Avid to move more M-Powered PT licenses (probably with a large profit margin) and capture a younger demographic that might otherwise start with Cubase LE or Garageband - sort of a win/win in that way. One thing is clear to me, Avid needs to finally address the lack of automatic plug-in delay compensation in the next release (and maybe update the way automatic delay compensation works in HD as well). Anyhow, I'm curious as to whether this is for real or not.

Fedex is delivering me something from Mackie tomorrow...
grimm
Thy tried to deliver it last wednesday..

the intrigue is killing me! mr. mackie, international man of mystery...hidz

Since the compatibility is written into the driver and not the hardware, this makes it potentially feasible to crack. I am surprised it didn't happen sooner.

Please enlighten me -- why the fuss?

Why would anybody buy crappy Mackie hardware and crippled Avid software to go with it?

HD without the dongle would KILL Logic, Cubase and the rest -- but *this*? mezed

I think a Mackie Onyx 1640 with Firewire Card (16 channel) straight to PTMP would be (is - for other software) a great, nice sounding, small but simple, portable rig.

I wouldn't necessarily say it's fuss-worthy in the high-end but it would make me (and I'm sure a few others) happy to see.

I've done three sessions in the last year with the 1640/Firewire combo and had to track in Logic in order to use it. I like Logic for writing but still trust PT more for tracking in a live scenario.

R.

OK, I see... hope it'll work out nicely then.

I'll wait for the HD version, though.

HD is not a dongle. That is like saying that the Core 2 Duo chip in my computer is a dongle for my computer. Pro Tools is the means to access the hardware DSP and interfaces.

I don't think anybody really needs all that stuff anymore.

But their software without the dongle... like I said, it would destroy any other daw on the planet.

I hope you can use it! Dang it, makes like a lot better!

yeah, that.

BTW, you have piercing eyes.

Keep us posted...... PAH, PAh, Pah Pleeeeease.hittt

Get a room, you two.

LOL! We should all chip in! True luv @ GS. I kid....I kid....

IMHO mackie isnt an upgrade from the maudio hardware....mezed