Unofficial Mackie User Forums > DL1608/DL806/DL32R/ProDX Mixers

DL1608 rack conversion project?

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Jkowtko:
I'm getting bored with this mixer, and a bit annoyed at how much desktop space it takes up.  The DL32R is a behemoth, and there is no smaller DL16R equivalent or I would have bought it already.

Has anyone tried converting the DL1608 or DL806 to a rack mount mixer?  It seems that 2U should do it.   I've partially disassembled my unit and noticed a few hard-soldered panels and ribbon cables ... but I haven't given it a serious attempt as yet.

I think it would be a fun project.

Thanks.  John

WK154:
I hear you John, maybe we'll see something at NAMM next week. A re-layout of the board to resolve some of their grounding issues and a smaller form factor such as the Behringer XR series would put them back into the race. Did you ever dig into the XAP800 as a add-on or otherwise? The current cage is 8.5" square x 1" high IIRC. I never disassembled the analog or power section under the metal shield, If you do, take some pics and post them it will give some more info on this mixer. I have noticed that Mackie is starting to post schematics on some of their equipment ( :thu:) but current stuff is not there, too bad.

Jkowtko:
We have two XAP800s and an XAP400 in our conf room down the hall here at work, I haven't looked around to see if we have any spares sitting in a closet. 

I checked out the XAP UI a while back after the last time you mentioned it, and it looked really clunky ... there's no way you could do real-time fading with it.  I'm not a mobile app developer so I don't think I would be able to improve on it.  However if someone has already built a UI for this box, maybe that's an option.

In the meantime I am reasonably happy with Master Fader and would be fine staying with the DL series if some of these issues could be overcome.

-- John

WK154:
Although the XAP800 was never designed with live mixing in mind I have used it many times. It all depends on your work flow habits. If you find the need to ride faders, definitely not. It does however have a Macro mode which can be useful to execute many commands in sequence, something I haven't seen in the current crop of digital mixers. I also use it as a diagnostic tool and signal source, a lot cheaper and flexible than most tools out there if you can spare a 1U slot.

WK154:
John,
In the meantime I am reasonably happy with Master Fader and would be fine staying with the DL series if some of these issues could be overcome.

We've pretty much beat this thing to death, what issues are you referring to?

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