In Case Anyone was Wondering, or Wandering?

[Keyboard Magic]

Emailed Mackie the other day with concerns about future support for the DL1608/806/DL32.

Here's the response:

“We are absolutely still making this mixer and have no plans of removing it from our lineup anytime soon. We are also still very much rolling out updates for the DL mixers regularly and constantly trying to improve the software and hardware side of things on these mixers”

Nice to know, if anyone is wondering or wandering too!  Thank you, Loud Technologies Inc.!! 

[WK154]

Please point out one fix or improvement in the DL1608/806 software that is recent. I can't find any. The product is EOL. They didn't even make it to 5.0 as in the past. A marketing ploy to make you believe they're still working on it. Just hope they don't screw up the stable code as they bugfix their DL32 and DC16 code.

[Keyboard Magic]

Hey, WK:

You may just be right on the money, with the DL806/1608 being EOL. Ugh! I just did an online search, not a big one, but just looking for new DL1068s for sale, all stores state on the websites, 'no longer available" except for Sweetwater. Even my toy store here in Toronto, same thing. Although when speaking to them directly, they can get one in. Must be limited leftover stock.

Would be interesting to pin Mackie down about their previous statement to me. 

EOL indeed! Double ugh! 

[WK154]

Didn't realize that supply was dwindling. If Mackie doesn't replace the DL1608 they will have given up a market segment that they started. Rather short sighted of them. So maybe they'll reduce the price of the DL32 to where the DL1608 was at intro. A stage box form factor of a DL1608 with digital pre's would get them back into the race. That is a small fraction of the whole development cost. Who knows what they're thinking. Timing is everything.

[Keyboard Magic]

A DL32 at a DL1608 price, would be a very nice thing indeed! But will it happen? Probably not. Who knows?

After some more searching zZounds has them, LA Music here, sold out. Is Mackie telling me tales? Maybe they have some never sold, in their warehouse in Woodinville?? I suspect that Long & McQuade here, may have some never sold ones too, collecting dust in their main warehouse.

I do have to admit, that support recommended a repair shop here in Toronto that does repair Mackie stuff including the DL series. Is it worth to take it in for repairs? I can open it up myself, but as far as board level diags, that's a bit out of my league. I can however look for loose connectors and even swollen caps etc. Ugh!

[WK154]

I did a quick search as well and the usual suspects are still selling and claim they have stock except for Guitar Center. Re-seating the cables, replacing the battery should not be too challenging. After looking at the current pricing I may just try to recover some $ by selling mine. Thinking about $399. Most used are around $425+.  Looked at Lightning connector conversion to aid selling, but at ~$85 it's not worth it. I never could get mine to fail like so many others on the white noise issue.

[Keyboard Magic]

If I can get the school to foot the bill, I may just take it in for diags and repair. The way the Catholic School Board budget is here now, trying to convince them to buy a new mixer, even an analog one is out of the question. I guess I'm on my own. And as you mentioned, opening it up couldn't hurt either.

After a tiring search for a new digital mixer for myself, I still haven't really made a decision. QSC, SoundCraft, Behringer are all contenders. Don't have to worry until Sept when the new school year starts. They finish on June 29th officially. Still lots of time. Woo Hoo!

[WK154]

Emailed Mackie the other day with concerns about future support for the DL1608/806/DL32.

Here's the response:

“We are absolutely still making this mixer and have no plans of removing it from our lineup anytime soon. We are also still very much rolling out updates for the DL mixers regularly and constantly trying to improve the software and hardware side of things on these mixers”

Nice to know, if anyone is wondering or wandering too!  Thank you, Loud Technologies Inc.!! 

Aha, they have found that medical stuff and are smoking it. 

[RoadRanger]

A 2U shallow rackmount version of the DL1608 would be awesome - but it really needs a third FX unit with at least reverb/chorus capability. I still hope to see the latter someday soon. The DL32R really needs its FX capability to be upgraded to something closer to what the X32 (8 FX) or at least the X-Air (4 FX) has. I mostly use my ($235 new shipped) XR12 these days because of its form factor and FX capability.

[WK154]

I could see a 2U XR12 size DL1608R with only 16 inputs, 8 outputs, two antenna, a USB recording port and power switch in front (Hate PWR switch on side or back). The rest, RJ45 network, power socket (internal PWR supply), MIDI etc. on the side. Bluetooth headphone and WIFI (ac). No Knobs or Switches anywhere. But then there's Mackie.

[Keyboard Magic]

Hmm, SoundCraft and Behringer have done it. Maybe Mackie is just waiting to spring something revolutionary on us in the near future? No?

SoundCraft Ui24R is a 4U unit, so not quite the same, but all the features one could want, possibly. And the XR series, very smart design!

[WK154]

KM Space Odessy 3001.    One big knob does it all.

[Keyboard Magic]

The Device, the company, or person?  Or all three? 

[WK154]

Hmm! I was thinking device, but I gotta think about that. 

[Keyboard Magic]

So, even though Mackie said they will be rolling out updates for the DL series. What are the odds that there will be a firmware and MF update for the drop of iOS 11 this fall?