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Old 05-14-2019, 07:31 PM
robrichards1 robrichards1 is offline
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Location: tasmania
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Default Protools and Mackie DL16s

Hi everyone, good to be here. I am a newbie to this so would appreciate some help. I have gone out and purchased a laptop that has no firewire ports and so is unable to use PT hardware...very clever I know. I also am a working muso that has a PA....and so my research has led me to want to purchase a Mackie DL16s. This will suit my live gigs and is reputed to be able to be used as I/O for Protools via USB. On the surface this sounds great but of course my research hasn't come up with any real proof that anyone is using this or have even tried it. My question is: is anyone here doing it , how's it going? or will it even work? thank you for your time.

rob :)
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Old 05-14-2019, 08:43 PM
Darryl Ramm Darryl Ramm is offline
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Default Re: Protools and Mackie DL16s

G’day. Welcome to DUC.

Not sure what you mean by “Pro Tools hardware”, maybe you mean the old 003 or MBox Pro interfaces... Avid has not sold those in years and has exited the consumer interface market with the exception of the Eleven Rack guitar processor.. Pro Tools works with any CoreAudio (Mac) or ASIO (Windows) compatible audio interface. The assumption should be that is there is (there is) an ASIO driver provided by Mackie for this interface it should work.

If there are any known issues you would likely find folks complaining by careful google searches.

FireWire is pretty old technology, something to avoid if starting out new.

If you need a well priced live mixer as well as an interface the Presonus StudioLive is another option to look at. If you want to you can list your needs in more detail and budget and folks here may have suggestions.

Last edited by Darryl Ramm; 05-14-2019 at 09:08 PM.
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Old 05-14-2019, 09:45 PM
robrichards1 robrichards1 is offline
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Default Re: Protools and Mackie DL16s

Hi Darryl and thank you for your quick reply. I didn't know that digidesign no longer offer interfaces... that's very useful info (last time I was in this game I was using protools V,8). You have answered my questions pretty much in full and I appreciate that.

I have just thought of another just to be annoying: I take it then that V,12 can be successfully loaded onto a computer without an interface (even though it may ask for one)..as in I can go ahead and action the EXE. and choose an interface at a later time?
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Old 05-14-2019, 10:25 PM
Darryl Ramm Darryl Ramm is offline
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Default Re: Protools and Mackie DL16s

What computer do you have? Edit: Oh I see a HP laptop in your profile. (so you might try ASIO4ALL, and see how well it works with that laptop... and if you want more help here run a SiSoft Sandra report for that laptop and post the result here, see how to do that in the troubleshooting information under "Help Us Help You" up the top of each DUC web page).

Pro Tools always needs an interface (it at least needs an interface that provides an output), that usually is an external interface box but it can be the audio hardware inside the computer.

Mac are easy: on a Mac Pro Tools can use Built-In Output or aggregate that (in Audio/MIDI Setup) with Built-In Input/Mic for some basic input.

On a PC, if the audio hardware (on motherboard or a sound card) has an ASIO driver then you use it directly. That is rare in off the shelf computers, more possible if the computer is build specifically built as a DAW workstation, but at some point why bother, just get an external interface. If the PC has no ASIO compatible audio hardware in it you can use the ASIO4ALL software to "wrap" the native windows audio drivers and make it look like ASIO to Pro Tools and other DAWS... but ASIO4ALL us a bandaid and can cause problems.

The quality of the ASIO or CoreAudio drivers is a big thing. As is how good the software updates and support the vendors provide. So for example companies like UAD and Motu have great reputations. That may be an area where Mackie and Presonus are not that great. But others may have better knowledge there than me.

The current version of Pro Tools is 2019.5. If you have a license for version 12 then you should have access to the 12 installer in your Avid.com acout.

The biggest problems people get themselves into with Pro Tools is *not* interface compatibility, as long as it's CoreAudio or ASIO it should work... but it's 1. having a suitable configuration/power computer (depends on what you want to do/how large the sessions are etc.) and 2. computer operating systems compatibility... you have to make sure that the interface drivers are compatible with the operating system versions, that the version of Pro Tools is compatible with the operating system version, and that (ideally) any third party plugins you want to run are compatible with both the Pro Tools version and operating system version. Avid has compatibility tables that help there for its software. Start at the Help us Help You link up the top of each DUC web page. Also read through the systems optimization steps there to set up your computer properly.

Last edited by Darryl Ramm; 05-14-2019 at 10:53 PM.
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