New X32 app update today....

[prosoundco guy]

Hope Mackie does an ap update and/ or firmware update soon. They won a battle( first to market) but they're losing the war....

[ijpengelly]

It would be nice to have an update, but I really don't follow the statement. There is room in the market place for a number of competing products and people will buy what they want, regardless of who was first and even which product is better. Some will buy on price, some on availability, some on features, some on the way it looks and some by brand. At the end of the day Mackie have a whole selection of products that Behinger and others have equivalents of, yet neither company has been run out of town or given up.

In some ways its a pointless arguement, as those that have bought a DL1608 are unlikely to sell it to buy an iX16 (or other similar device) unless there is a very compelling reason and one that adds serious value to their set up. This will be down to the individual to decide. I personally won't be selling mine, I really like it and it does 98% of what I want it to, updates are just a bonus to me, not a necessity. Those who are sat on the fence waiting are welcome to do so, evalulate the options and then make up their minds what they think is the better tool for the job. What I can guarantee is that the DL1608 will still sell even after the iX16 comes out, because it is a great product.

The X32 products are a whole different ball game and I can see that they would be a great addition that could be used where more channels or greater functionality is required over the Mackie. And we don't know what Mackie might be cooking up in the background. Perhaps they are reworking one of their medium format mixers or onyx interfaces to form a full digital system and snake? 

[prosoundco guy]

Both behringer and Presonus are much faster with updates.  I also have an SL24.4.2. I may just sell my DL and get an IX16, and I'm sure I'm not the only one in this position.  If Mackie gets stuck inthe mud, where they are, it's a tal end for them, current owners and potential future owners that's the point: improve or die

[prosoundco guy]

Make that a dead end

[ijpengelly]

Faster updates are only good if they bring useful features and are stable, as I previously stated it is a perfectly good mixer as is and its stability of the App and device are very much in its favour. At the end of the day, this is new business model for Mackie and there are bound to be a few teething issues as they get used to the Apple machine and also to trying to meet the demands of its users. I can't imagine after going to the effort of bringing this to market and its smaller brother that they are just going to get stuck in the mud.

As I said, different needs for different people. I don't know your drivers for selling the DL and getting an iX16, you may want some of the features it touted to have that make a massive difference to how you work. Perhaps it aligns better with workflow of your SL24? I don't know and its not for me to judge your needs or product choices 

[prosoundco guy]

Well I hope not, but speed IS important in a competitive marketplace. I bought the DL when I did ONLY because the IX16 wasn't out yet and needed something smaller for club gigs than the SL (100 lbs in road case.)  I bought the SL just about a year ago. So far, 2 firmware updates, which added delay lines into the sub groups, additional sends into the monitors, (fx, aux a&b) and SmAArt software.  and I think 3 app updates which added talkback buttons, scene stores, etc. Since I purchased the DL a few months ago, the X32 app has had 2 updates. Nothing from Mackie. All of those updates added useful functionality. It's not like Mackie doesn't have examples to look to. I think it's not a front burner issue for them, and that kinda sucks for me.

[ijpengelly]

If you have only had two firmware and three app updates in a year for the SL, doesn't that make it less than Mackie? 

The X32 has been in the making for a long time, I was seriously considering one as a replacement for the Mackie 24.4 I had before the DL, but the delays getting it to market frustrated me and I gave up waiting. It has a lot more processing and I/O capability than the DL, so there is a lot more to update / fix / improve, so updates can be quicker.

Hopefully Mackie will fall into a nice rhythm with their updates and new products will come along to compliment their line up, and when they say when a release is due they stick to it. If this isn't a front burner issue for them then I would be interested to know what is? (this is a genuine question and perhaps someone might know what is cooking over at Mackie).

[WK154]

ijpengelly your right on the competition and it's existed for a long time. Even if Loud gets sold it will continue but unfortunately their lack of reinvestment in the company will hurt them in the long run. Things are slow because of lack of manpower. There is a saying "there's a fool born every minute" so there will never be a lack of customers that have impulse reasons for buying. Some others have not investigated all of it's workflow and subsequently find it lacking. Currently if your looking for a digital console in the $1500 range your choices are limited. When the iX16 arrives that will change. I don't see Mackie introducing anything new in the foreseeable future and their past 3 midsize consoles did not make an impact on the MI. They might introduce a follow-on DL (Onyx redesign and better USB implementation) to level the playing field on hardware, time will tell. The follow on model  strategy worked quite well with their CR1604 series. Remember the company was bought, err make that stolen, by a bunch of sharks and their fattening the pig to take to market. Their not in it for the love of music, their in it for the MONIES. I'm aware of several people with differing reasons for selling, on this forum, ready to make a move once the right product hits the market. I'm spiffing up mine to sell soon. Today's market mentality is leaning more toward disposable products than ever before due to the rapid introduction of new products and lower prices. I don't see V1.5 without V7 of iOS which will take it easily into September possibly November due to Apple. I believe that if Mackie doesn't make serious changes to this release their sales will suffer significantly.

[ijpengelly]

Ahh, I do seem to recall reading some information relating to the state of the company that you (WK154) have outlined in your post. If the company is indeed in a transition of being prepped for sale then this is going to be a major distraction from product dev and customer relations as they'll be trying to make the balance sheet look as good as possible through cost cutting, etc.

Until the iX16 is out, reviewed and lives up to the marketing hype then Mackie will remain in a good position with having a lot of DL's out there giving them exposure. Whilst I like the list of changes being proposed are they really deal breakers for Joe Public or is it just the people that are on this forum, who are perhaps more "power users" or wanting to push the boundaries? Are we statistically significant in the grand scheme of the total number of units out in the wild being use where people are perfectly happy with them and so aren't on this forum asking for more? 

[WK154]

It's about timing and if the iX16 makes it out about the same time-frame as V1.5 then the general public will get feature list stuck under their noses that will make it a no-brain er. This is Mackies big chance to minimize the effect of the iX16 for these buyers.

[ijpengelly]

True, though their sales tactic might have been to capture the market early and accept a drop in sales once the competition showed up. Fair enough there may be some people sitting on the fence waiting to choose, but they were always people going to do that and so you could factor in a rough estimate of the post competitor product launch sales figure.

Without insider knowledge of what they are planning and what the original strategy was we could speculate for a long time about it. Its an interesting debate though 

[prosoundco guy]

If you have only had two firmware and three app updates in a year for the SL, doesn't that make it less than Mackie?  ::)nope. Not since I've owned the Mackie. They have had zero.

The X32 has been in the making for a long time, I was seriously considering one as a replacement for the Mackie 24.4 I had before the DL, but the delays getting it to market frustrated me and I gave up waiting. It has a lot more processing and I/O capability than the DL, so there is a lot more to update / fix / improve, so updates can be quicker.

Hopefully Mackie will fall into a nice rhythm with their updates and new products will come along to compliment their line up, and when they say when a release is due they stick to it. If this isn't a front burner issue for them then I would be interested to know what is? (this is a genuine question and perhaps someone might know what is cooking over at Mackie).

[ijpengelly]

LOL, I really had to look to see where you had commented.

OK, I've had mine since October last year and had four app updates and a few firmware updates, though these are harder to keep track of as they were a bit random in when they installed. So if we want to compare apples with apples, then you need to look at the updates over the same time period otherwise you are being a little unfair me thinks. 

[prosoundco guy]

...and another IX. App update yesterday!

[RoadRanger]

It really looks sharp to me! My #1 bitch about Master Fader is the lack of a master FX mute and the X32 supports this via mute groups. I do hope Mackie gets around to that before the X32 Rack or iX16 tempts me away .