Does the 02R sound ****??

[Dal Hic]

Can someone please help me. I am in the process of selling my old Mackie 24•8 Analog desk and replacing it with an 02R as I NEED automation and recall. A friend of mine who has lots of experience with mixers, production etc tells me that the 02R will sound **** compared to my old Mackie. He says that the Mackie adds a nice sound to anything that goes into it, and for me to get anything sounding as good on an 02R I will really need to work at it. I understand the fact that the 02R is digital and therefore shouldn't add ANYTHING to the sound, and that the Mackie does have a nice warm sound, but does the 02R really sound crap?? He suggests I get a Mackie d8b which he feels has a far nicer sound that an 02R!
Please help Dal Hic

[spigots]

Since we got PT, the 02R is basically a VERY expensive router. The 02R dynamics suck the life out of tracks and the reverbs are very grainy. But the Automation is great, the EQ is functional, blah blah blah. I'd get a Pro Control, or at least a HUI or MCS-3800 and Mix in the Box.

just my .02 zorkmids worth,

Frank

Having said that, I haven't heard an 02R with the new Apogee 24 bit I/O cards. Probably helps it ALOT.

[Dal Hic]

Thanks all for your opinions, I'm going to have a real close look at the Mackie d8b to see whether it's worth the extra £3000!
Thanks again.

[KingTor]

I'd say the d8b is worth the extra money, but I'm surprised how much more it is. Not that I've done a price comparison lately, but I'd thought they were closer together in price.

There's the better sound issue, although I've never heard it outside of a trade show, which is a terrible place to judge. But the thing that I've noticed is that the d8b is much easier to use. I've mixed on an O2R and I wanted to kill someone by the end of the day. And although I've never mixed on a d8b, just noodling around with it at AES I could tell that it's much more intuitive and easier to use than the O2R. And easier to use means that you can devote more of your brain to how it sounds instead of how to get the board to do what you want. Which is a Good Thing.

[Corey Shay]

I've heard very good things about the Panasonic DA7. I have not used one yet, but I know it can also emulate an HUI to control PT. The pres and A/D's supposedly sound very good, as do the eq's and compressors. With all the Digital I/O functions for PT linkup it costs about $4,500 I think. Seems like a bargain to me. I'll probably get one of these soon.

[Marc Edwards]

Just my opinion... but I think the 02R is the worst sounding piece of audio equipment I have EVER heard. The D8B has a much less irritating tone than the 02Rs harsh shrill. Still nothing like a good analogue board -- I guess you can't have all the benefits (good sound + recall) without paying big $$$.

[macguy]

I have worked with Mackie's D8B for the past year and have been thoughly and completly impressed with it. It gets my recomendation for sure.

[maarvold]

My opinion is the opposite. I think the O2R is fairly smooth and musical, although the reverbs are pretty 'generic'-sounding. The Mackie - although dynamic and 'lively' strikes me as more analytical and leaning toward slightly edgy. From a reputable source (who also shares my opinion about the Mackie): the Panasonic sounds good.
Bias disclosure section: I have always liked the sound of the 888/24... so much so that I 'traded up' to 24 Mix Plus from Apogee PSX-100 (which sounded a touch 'flabby' in the 200-700 Hz range to me) and Logic. Good luck in your quest.

[adam_w1]

I agree with the last guy..I.M.O the O2R is a fine beast offering bags of bang for the buck, with better features than most other digital desks in its price range. The built in mic amps sound way better than the ones you've been using, plus if you are really serious about your front end you can now add up to 16 channels of Apogee A/D and clocking via cards cost effectively. (well..vs other methods in the Apogee world) Considering it just had a huge price cut in the UK, this is now a viable option.

Like switching to digital recording from tape, using a digital desk also requires a rethink. The EQ is kind of weird at first, and since you have 4 sets of 20hz-20k eq on each channel, things take some getting used to and can go badly wrong. I also think maybe what some people don't like about it is that it doesn't really have "a sound". I use external pres, dynamics, etc for colour, and then the awesome power of PT for other processing. The automation works well plus the onboard FX are better than a lot of some of the goodies likely to be hooked up to your mackie...with no hum or hiss, which is a bonus.

[Marc Edwards]

You guys are being totally serious, right? I'm not a Mackie fan, but you can't actually _like_ the sound of the O2R? (that's all I'm talking about -- not price/automation/etc)
Maybe you've been listening to plug-ins too long?