Earlier this year Mackie up'd the ante on the small-format digital mixer market and introduced the DL1608, a modern-day take on the compact analog mixer market that Mackie dominated 10 or 15 years ago. After spending a few weeks with the new DL1608, I can report that it offers features you'd only expect from a larger-format console that costs tens of thousands of dollars.
Editor's Note: Church Production Magazine is pleased to bring you this early, abbreviated version of the Macke DL1608 review. Look for a more detailed, feature-length version of this review in the November/December issue of Church Production Magazine.
While the Mackie DL1608 looks awesome, this thing doesn't really look like a mixer. Sure it has input and outputs, and Mackie even put typical pots for adjusting your input gain, but that's about it. That's because the Mackie DL1608 utilizes an Apple iPad (not included) as the sole control surface of this console. A free download of Mackie's Master Fader App onto your iPad and you have all you need to mix.
There are 16 input channels, 12 XLR inputs and four combo inputs (XLR/Balanced and 1/4 inch). There are two XLR outputs for your mains, six Aux outputs that are ¼-inch connections, and one headphone jack on the front with volume control. Once you've docked your iPad, started the app and made your connections, you are ready to go.
Mixing on the DL1608 is, in a word, fun. Each channel can be labeled. There is a library of common names/icons that can be used, or you can type your own. You can even take a photo using the iPad's camera and use that as your icon.
Each channel on the DL1608 has a noise gate, compressor, and EQ section. The EQ section has four bands of parametric EQ, plus a high-pass filter. There is a library of presets for different inputs but I found it really easy to use common iPad gestures of tap, drag, flick, swipe and pinch to navigate the EQ. Setting gates and compressors was similarly easy. I was able to quickly put together a great sounding mix for this acoustic performance.
There are two digital effects sections on the DL1608: reverb and delay. The reverb sections offer nine different types of reverbs: plate, ambience, room, hall, gated, cathedral, and spring—all with controls of pre-delay, damping, decay and roll-off that allow you to fine tune to your personal taste. There are also five delay offerings, including mono, tape, stereo, ping-pong and multi-tap. And there are controls for volume, feedback suppression and dampening.
There is also a 31-band graphic EQ and master compressor/limiter for the main left/right output and all six Auxes.
The DL1608 has full recall capabilities, as well. The Mackie design for this consists of “Show” and “Snapshots.” A Snapshot is a file of the current state of your console. Input, FX, Aux and Main LR channel settings are all saved inside of a Snapshot. A Show is a collection of snapshots; you can have up 99 Snapshots inside of a Show file.
Mackie has also managed to integrate the playback and record features on this thing. So that means when you play a song from an iPad using your iTunes app, it comes into a channel on the Master Fader App. I love this—I don't need to bring my phone, another computer, or another iPod to play pre/post show music.
You can also record what's coming off the mixer in an .WAV format.
The Master Fader app also allows for a “Sends on Fader” type view of the console. Selecting different outputs (LR, Aux 1-6, Reverb and Delay) displays the fader's sends to that particular output. This is a feature that is great when running monitors.
All of the DL1608's mixing features can be used in wireless mode, so that you are free to walk the room with your iPad while making changes to your mix. You can actually connect up to ten iPads wirelessly.
As you can see, there are a lot of amazing features in this little console. And I can't emphasize enough how fun and easy it is to use.
