Supacon
I am looking at purchasing a Mackie d.4 Pro mixer, which looks really nice, and I want it largely because of the built in high quality multichannel audio interface it offers. Something that I read on Skratchworx was:
"It also has a small MIDI trick up its sleeve - the crossfader sends controller information including note on/off messages for assigned PGM channels."
http://www.skratchworx.com/reviews/d4pro.php
Can someone more familliar with either MIDI control or this particular mixer tell me if that means that I could use this crossfader to control, for example, the video crossfader in VirtualDJ? That would be an excellent accessory, and it's something I've long wanted to be able to do for my video DJing sets.
"It also has a small MIDI trick up its sleeve - the crossfader sends controller information including note on/off messages for assigned PGM channels."
http://www.skratchworx.com/reviews/d4pro.php
Can someone more familliar with either MIDI control or this particular mixer tell me if that means that I could use this crossfader to control, for example, the video crossfader in VirtualDJ? That would be an excellent accessory, and it's something I've long wanted to be able to do for my video DJing sets.
Posté Sun 15 Mar 09 @ 7:20 pm
SBDJ
It does indeed mean that, it's a shame they stopped at the crossfader though.
Posté Sun 15 Mar 09 @ 10:06 pm
Supacon
Yeah, it'd be nice to run all kinds of nifty controls for other software, but mainly I want to have a decent control for the video crossfade, and that will do it...
Posté Sun 15 Mar 09 @ 10:09 pm
SBDJ
Yup, it certainly will.
Another option might be the Korg Zero 4.
The MIDI support and audio interface were my two main reasons for buying an Ecler Evo 5.
Another option might be the Korg Zero 4.
The MIDI support and audio interface were my two main reasons for buying an Ecler Evo 5.
Posté Sun 15 Mar 09 @ 10:11 pm
Supacon
The Evo5 looks pretty sweet, but that's a huge console, and too expensive, I think.
I was very seriously considering the Zero4 with its comprehensive and flexible MIDI controls. Also, the effects are wicked, but they are totally overkill and I'd probably nearly never ever use them... The filters on the Mackie will be sufficient for what I do, I'm sure.
The biggest turnoff for me about the Zero4 was that I can only have one Microphone, and that mike takes up a program channel. That was a deal breaker - the Mackie has two dedicated mike channels.
Also, it looks like 64-bit support on that Korg Zero4 was iffy, whereas it should work on the Mackie. My DJ Laptop has 4GB of RAM, and I was thinking of upgrading it to 8GB since I still have two slots available, and I'm rocking 64-bit Windows 7. Hence, I really wouldn't want to have to take a step back and downgrade to a 32 bit operating system just for my mixer :P
I was very seriously considering the Zero4 with its comprehensive and flexible MIDI controls. Also, the effects are wicked, but they are totally overkill and I'd probably nearly never ever use them... The filters on the Mackie will be sufficient for what I do, I'm sure.
The biggest turnoff for me about the Zero4 was that I can only have one Microphone, and that mike takes up a program channel. That was a deal breaker - the Mackie has two dedicated mike channels.
Also, it looks like 64-bit support on that Korg Zero4 was iffy, whereas it should work on the Mackie. My DJ Laptop has 4GB of RAM, and I was thinking of upgrading it to 8GB since I still have two slots available, and I'm rocking 64-bit Windows 7. Hence, I really wouldn't want to have to take a step back and downgrade to a 32 bit operating system just for my mixer :P
Posté Mon 16 Mar 09 @ 12:49 am
Supacon
I did end up buying this mixer, and under Windows XP, it works great for me.
Unfortunately, since I have a laptop with 4GB of RAM, I really had my heart set on running Windows 7 x64, or Windows Vista x64.
Under windows 7, I can't get audio to wotk *at all* on this, and under Vista 64, it works, but with severe dropouts every few seconds... just bloody awful.
At least I was able to put a second partition in and dual boot to windows XP, and it works awesome.
I can use the crossfader on this mixer for midi control too, and it works great - my first midi controller! It's really about the only thing I would want to MIDI assign on this mixer, so I'm happy as hell... now if only Mackie would get the glitches in their Vista drivers ironed out or whatever...
Unfortunately, since I have a laptop with 4GB of RAM, I really had my heart set on running Windows 7 x64, or Windows Vista x64.
Under windows 7, I can't get audio to wotk *at all* on this, and under Vista 64, it works, but with severe dropouts every few seconds... just bloody awful.
At least I was able to put a second partition in and dual boot to windows XP, and it works awesome.
I can use the crossfader on this mixer for midi control too, and it works great - my first midi controller! It's really about the only thing I would want to MIDI assign on this mixer, so I'm happy as hell... now if only Mackie would get the glitches in their Vista drivers ironed out or whatever...
Posté Sat 28 Mar 09 @ 6:27 pm
lamont76
congrats man! think itll work well under mac?
can i get some pics or a video of it in action? lol
can i get some pics or a video of it in action? lol
Posté Sun 29 Mar 09 @ 9:07 am
Supacon
Hmm...
I don't know about a video - the only camera I really can record videos with is built into the machine that I use to DJ, so that's not very handy, heheh...
You can see the knobs and the inputs in all their glory in the high resolution photos on this site:
http://www.zzounds.com/item--MACD4PRO
Zzounds is awesome for the photos that they have of the units.
Mackie's webpage is here:
http://www.mackie.com/products/d4pro/
You can grab the owner's manual from there:
http://www.mackie.com/products/d4pro/pdf/d4_Pro_OM.pdf
The thing looks pretty sweet in the dark too, although it would have been cool to have more of the illumination... the 3-band EQ knobs on all the channels light up blue. I wish that instead of all the channel VU lights being blue with a white Overload LED at the top that they used a few different colors to make it easier to compare your levels, but it works great... it's nice to have a mixer with the VU on each channel, it makes it so much easier to get your levels right.
I don't know about a video - the only camera I really can record videos with is built into the machine that I use to DJ, so that's not very handy, heheh...
You can see the knobs and the inputs in all their glory in the high resolution photos on this site:
http://www.zzounds.com/item--MACD4PRO
Zzounds is awesome for the photos that they have of the units.
Mackie's webpage is here:
http://www.mackie.com/products/d4pro/
You can grab the owner's manual from there:
http://www.mackie.com/products/d4pro/pdf/d4_Pro_OM.pdf
The thing looks pretty sweet in the dark too, although it would have been cool to have more of the illumination... the 3-band EQ knobs on all the channels light up blue. I wish that instead of all the channel VU lights being blue with a white Overload LED at the top that they used a few different colors to make it easier to compare your levels, but it works great... it's nice to have a mixer with the VU on each channel, it makes it so much easier to get your levels right.
Posté Sun 29 Mar 09 @ 10:50 am