why? no mackie HD recorders

[shproductions03]

I was wondering if any one new why mackie one day just stopped developing all there HD recorders. I mean they had three different models, then nothing. It tics me off because they had all the features I need, and the Alesis models don't, but that's all I can afford. The (Smackies) had wordclock in & out , Adat sync, Midi in & out, Smpte in, Etc. And the Mackies had wav. & aiff. file format and Alesis dont, you have to covert them.
Why must they make my life hard.

Can anyone tell me how I can get a Alesis HD 24 to lock to SMPTE timecode, due I need a timecode reader that has a adat sync out or the BRC.

[JonCraig]

cool unit. buddy has one, and i've borrowed it twice for remote gigs. main gripe is that the usb interface is only usb1.1 (just start the transfer and go to bed...)

i'm sure they can still be found on the 'bay.

--jon

[ExistanceMusic]

Have a look at the Fostex D2424LV. We just got one as a dedicated remote recorder so we don't have to drag a computer + PT rig around. It has wordclock and 24 channels of ADAT as standard as well as an optional SMPTE card and an ethernet option. We've just had the ethernet option installed, I'm going to get some stuff off it tomorrow and see how fast/slow our transfers into PT are going to be...

[Circulogi]

Here is my best educated guess.

-Mackie was losing too much money.

-The top end unit was not selling, it was buggy from the start and they never fixed the bugs. The cheapest unit never worked. They were all lemons. I'm sure Mackie took a bath on those.

-Alesis, Fostex and others had come out with cheaper stable units.

-Computer recording exploded onto the scene.

-Stand-alone units were becoming a niche market and Mackie saw the writing on the wall there.

- lastly and this my opinion, Mackie sucks! dfegad

[Remoteness]

It's a sMackie...

[Jim vanBergen]

Ah, yes. I have two of these machines. The converters are decent, the machines are ALMOST capable. They did not really have the code writers to follow what the industry wanted, which was inexpensive recorders that would immediately port to ProTools.

Remember what was SO popular in 1997/1998 when the HDR emerged: DA88 and DA78, people were still using Adats; no one was using ProTools safely for remote recording. The M90 drives handle time OK but won't do a time stamp. You CAN port them to ProTools after a lot of problems AND you have to assemble from 12 minute increments- which are done ONE after the OTHER, not at the same assembly point.

Tascam bought the MX2424 from (what was their name? damn) and Otari was selling RADAR for 25k and up... now, by 2002 the writing was on the wall. No one wanted the problems of either the Mackie HDR/MDR/SDR or the MX2424, Radar was now IZ, was 5-10k and had really nice converters, ProTools was almost stable at 40 tracks for a 2 hour record with a tricked-out new G4, you might even be able to do redundancy. Everyone was purchasing M-boxes and Digi 002s. Plug-ins are more popular than hardware so hardware manufacturers gave all their DSP to PT for a small sum....YAAAWWWNNNN....is this helping?

So. Long answer: Mackie chose a route that was not very good. It did not support PT directly, it wanted you to use Mackie's software instead. (Gee, how many people you see with Tracktion, Mackie's FREE multitrack software? ) Lots of problems. And Mackie makes money when they sell LOTS AND LOTS of units at a low price for decent (passable) performance.

Short answer, is like Steve said, 'It's a Smackie."

Yeah, I got smacked. I invested in HDRs and DA88/78s, and still have them, wasting away...the HDRs still do remote duty, as I have learned the proper process to take my 24 bit files and import them nicely into PT. But its a PITA.

Hope this helps.

JvB
dfegad Mackie
ProTools playback & analog mixing

[ExistanceMusic]

Originally Posted by Jim vanBergen

as I have learned the proper process to take my 24 bit files and import them nicely into PT. But its a PITA.

Yikes, is that "render" process a timewaster or WHAT!

[JonCraig]

Originally Posted by Jim vanBergen

I have learned the proper process to take my 24 bit files and import them nicely into PT. But its a PITA.

i'm curious... i've only used the mackie unit twice, but after the gig i simply plugged it into the mac via usb, and it showed up on the desktop. i dragged the files, over, imported into pro tools, and mixed away. are you referring to file management if you were to do punches?

not nit-picking, just curious as to what's gone wrong?

thanks!

--jon

[Remoteness]

Originally Posted by Jim vanBergen

...Tascam bought the MX2424 from (what was their name? damn)...

Timeline

[Jim vanBergen]

I am always recording long format live shows, not takes. So after I built a custom firewire cage for the M90 drives (before they were readily available, and before Mackie made "HDR Pro" a Digi-compatible format) so I'd import all the tracks into a big-ass file, and would have to align them all up again. As the tracks record, instead of a time stamp the units automatically create a new track...then goes to the next track and ONE BY ONE creates a new track. It's piss-poor file management. You ever do a 90 minute, 24 track show and try porting over by USB? Start the machine and go to bed while it whirs away. I tried it once, then built the drive cage to firewire.

As far as using the machine itself, I think as a recorder its fine, I just wish they had tried to look at the little standardization in our industry and designed it to work with PT. It's just frustrating when you buy a manufacturer's high-dollar flagship item (how they were advertising it) and it 'just works OK'. I still have two machines, and I'm recording a 24 track session at the NYC Hard Rock Monday with it, to port into PT to mix. I use it, it works, but it's just irritating to me that it takes ALMOST as long as importing DA-88 tracks. The machines are worth much more to me than I could get for them on the street, so I continue to use them as 24 bit recorders. I have also used the MX2424 and the early Radars and liked them LESS than the Mackies. Today, I'd buy the new IZ Radars or just do an HD3 System...but I'm not making my living operating a remote recording truck anymore.

Originally Posted by JonCraig

i'm curious... i've only used the mackie unit twice, but after the gig i simply plugged it into the mac via usb, and it showed up on the desktop. i dragged the files, over, imported into pro tools, and mixed away. are you referring to file management if you were to do punches?

not nit-picking, just curious as to what's gone wrong?

thanks!

--jon

[JonCraig]

Originally Posted by Jim vanBergen

I am always recording long format live shows, not takes.

me too. roll record before they start, press stop when it's all over.

Originally Posted by Jim vanBergen

You ever do a 90 minute, 24 track show and try porting over by USB? Start the machine and go to bed while it whirs away.

yeah, and after it was all on a fw drive, i just imported them to pt, created 24 (or however many) new tracks, and drug them over. i don't see what the big deal is.

i must be missing something...

please don't misunderstand me, i'm not criticizing, and i'm not too big a fan of the machine. but i've got another live gig coming up, and was planning on using the mackie again. just making sure i'm not going to run into something new.

thanks!

--jon

[shaddai]

main gripe is that the usb interface is only usb1.1

Yup it is. Slower than dirt.

To Jim VanBergen: did you ever find the render function on an MDR/HDR? I've done some live 90-120 minute recordings with mine, and have never had any issues import MDR audio into a daw piece by piece. After I push stop, I save the project file. Once the machine is back home, I'll then go to the track menu, find render & select all the channels & then tell it to go...then go drink beer or go to bed or whatever. The render writes all the 12-15 minute files to 1 file per track.

In the AM, I pull the drive out & drop it into the computer, I check the sample rate that Sonar's set up for, tell it to import the files & it's up & playing within 30 seconds. A friend has a PTLE rig & it's even quicker yet. I don't get why they're such a hassle for you to deal with?

Anyway, just trying to help.

Todd

[Jim vanBergen]

No, I never tried to render together a show, I am too afraid it would crash and burn. You actually render the ENTIRE SESSION into only 24 tracks at a single time? I should try that after I'm done importing something... but again, letting the machine work for 8+ hours on a project without supervision...could you ever imagine tape spooling away? I can't just walk out of the studio and let it work. I suppose I have to learn to let go. But, point made, perhaps its a time-saver (if you have eight hours of render time available!). Always learning new tricks.
Thanks for the tips, guys.

JvB

[shaddai]

You actually render the ENTIRE SESSION into only 24 tracks at a single time?

Yup. And the cool thing is that if it does get confused sometime, (mine's never done that BTW) it's writing consolidated files to a new folder from the original 12 minute originals anyway. So, you never lose the originals & can just tell it to try again.

Anyway, food for thought.

Todd

[ARude]

There has been a lot of discussion on this subject at the Mackie forum.

What happened to HD recorders?

Including my commentary, I'm a Mackie SDR 24/96 owner...