Cacophony Forums
Unofficial Mackie User Forums => DL1608/DL806/DL32R/ProDX Mixers => Topic started by: WK154 on May 16, 2016, 05:30:47 PM
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4.0.2 was released Dec 9 2015 and several show stopper bugs were pointed out. 6 months later and no bug fixes is not acceptable. The problems are easily replicated. Where is the customer service?
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Hope to see an answer soon.
Please Beno don't go stealth on us, just let us know if something is is the works.
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Would be good to know if something is being worked on.
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Maybe they're hard at work trying to get MF5 out? Hope springs eternal. :P
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Don't look for MF5 until November 2016. They're simply spread to thin and are making the classical mistake of moving what they have around to different projects. This introduces the re-learning curve delay. Long ago proven to be a bad strategy in the software life cycle. You need a combination of overachievers ( the core that makes your product great and state of the art) and average Software Engineers (SE) happy with maintenance but part of the development team. No underachievers cause they'll cost you more in the long run. This is from many software projects large (60 - 100 SE) to small (me) or for the most part 5 - 15 SE's. If someone were working on this at all you would have at least had a maintenance release a while ago. They may release a bug fix before MF5 to buy themselves more time.
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Given they just released their Pro DX mixers for iOS and Android, any time they had to work on MF bugs went out the window. As i have pointed out before, Android is a pain in the ass to develop for connected devices and the installed base isn't worth it. Guessing that trying to figure our Android bugs and BTLE compatibility with cheap Android phones and tablets is why we're not seeing any updates. It's easy to assume if you're programming in Unity that your apps will be cross platform with Android - until you introduce a device that you have to connect to beyond a "dumb" bluetooth item like headphones...
For anyone thinking of getting into connected devices, pick iOS or Android, don't launch with both. Endure the whining from folks and ignore them. Don't bother with other platforms that are even more fringe (Windows Surface, Chrome) as the work done will never pay out.
Frustrated Mackie has fallen into this same trap.
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I think you're overestimating the impact of the ProDX on resources. My vote is for the new flagship product called Axis far more resource intensive. I any case it all takes away from even basic maintenance of MF4.
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on a software team this small, any new app is an impact on resources. Our company does products that are driven by bluetooth, either iOS or Android. It's a huge drain trying to figure out what Android is compatible besides Samsung Galaxy.
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I have no problem with Mackie staying with iOS for MF. But I am concerned about Ben's absence. He used to be pretty responsive here.
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It's tough to post when you have nothing to offer and a lot promised. :mrgreen:
Right now you can find him in Vegas @infocomm giving tours of Axis. June 4 -10th
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If you really miss Ben here he is: ;D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5Uy6VQrge4
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Wow. Kiss any updates for MF for the next 2-3 months goodbye... Axis will suck up all that time. Looks interesting.
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Axis uses MF so any updates there will benefit us all :) .
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While down the road they may, there's a lot of Axis-specific things they have to deal with - multiple iPads, etc. Bugs will show up in Axis that don't affect the DL series. Expanding a product line between this and the low end ProDX means less resources to deal with DL-specific issues. I don't know how big Ben's software engineering team is, but I'm sure they have a task workflow in JIRA (or similar) and products like Axis and ProDX that are shipping now (and making more money) will always be prioritized. This is the life of small companies - there's a finite number of software engineers. I hope that it will benefit us all, but expect there to be a delay before DL-specific MF issues are addressed.
Just super happy that Axis is also iOS only...
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While down the road they may, there's a lot of Axis-specific things they have to deal with - multiple iPads, etc.
You can already run multiple iPads with the DL series. And I'm not sure if you are confused about what Axis is? It's just a DL32R with a control surface added to it - I'm sure the control surface "speaks" the same language as the MF iPad app. So most "improvements" they do to Axis will certainly benefit the DL32R and most likely trickle down to the DL1608 :) .
Actually I find it quite amusing that Mackie's whole digital mixer line is the DL1608 scaled up and down. Behringer is doing the same thing but they started with the high end X32 so the scaled down mixers have some pretty awesome features that even the DL32R lacks (so far).
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No, I watched the youtube video. It's a hardware fader/controller with an iPad shelf for your DL32R. It still takes software resources. Not sure what line of business you're in, but I'm with a company that makes products controlled by BTLE on phones and tablets. Limited software engineers, and every new item, even things scaling it up and down, is a resource drag. knowing MF is underneath it is great, but Mackie may have only 1-2 software engineers, and 1 firmware engineer so ensuring Axis works well with now iPads and a hardware controller means that firmware engineer will be DC16 and DL32R to ensure they work together. I'm unclear if SmartBridge™ is WiFi or BTLE, but if it's not the current WiFi protocol, that's more work. You're right in that if SmartBridge is just a fancy marketing term for WiFi, then it shouldn't be extra work, but guessing they would have otherwise just said WiFi. It may benefit us DL1608 and DL32R owners down the road, but considering they don't have FCC certification, they are a ways off.
I'm definitely excited that Mackie's doing more in this space, but with higher end gear like this as well as their lower end ProDX, I'm guessing at a small place like Mackie it means the same few software and firmware engineers are stretched even thinner. Hopefully Ben can come back and completely dispel my thoughts and tell us the roadmap of when MF4 bugs will be addressed... fingers crossed.
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My guess is that a bug fix will appear in the October/November time frame so they can stretch their Nov.- Dec. V5 to Namm17 in Jan.
SmartBridge is more likely based on Mandolin Mackies latest attempt at a audio protocol.