Mackie TT24 = FAIL

[samkokajko]

Some of you may remember some of my adventures with this console. I don't own it but work for a theatre that uses it and doesn't have the money to upgrade at the moment. (Though with the latest issues it's very very close).

 

In the past there have been some stupid little issues. Sometimes when powering up it will go into a little lock up mode and you have to cut power and try again. There have been issues with the wordclock but that isn't really an error so much as it not playing nice. The mute buttons and a few other buttons have gotten increasingly difficult to push, one or two don't work at all and about 8-10 others are difficult to push. You really have to press hard and wiggle it a little bit.

 

Which sucks for theatre where I may be muting as many as 20 channels at once, trying to do it four at a time and then you have to go back and get all the ones that didn't take. By now the next scene is happening. It takes a little bit of planning ahead.

 

So now for the failure that happened last night. The console has 24 analog inputs and 24 channels of ADAT input, in our system there is an outboard ONYX Pre adding 8 channels of audio that end up on the digital layer.

 

All of the analog channel processing is built into the console but to use the DSP for the digital channels you have to use an expansion card (which we have).

 

Well last night we lost almost the entire orchestra (except for keys and bass) which just happens to be what we have on the digital layer. It's a small space and the volume is pretty low so it took awhile to figure out what all was not working. Looking at the channels the meters are going fine, but soloing the channel or the sub group reveals that the audio isn't passing from any of the digital channels.

 

After lots of troubleshooting (during a show with 21 wireless systems mind you) we discover that the problem is either that the gate is not opening (even though it is supposedly not in the signal chain, has a range of 0 and a threshold of minus infinity) or the DSP is simply killing the audio somewhere between the metering and the compressor section (solo is post dynamics and EQ).

 

During a break we manage to get the system shut down, pull the card out and re-seat it and it works for another 20-30 min and then kills the digital channels again.

 

Ugh Tech Week Sucks.

 

So tonight we have a Mackie 1604 feeding those extra 8 band mics into our last analog channel on the TT24 (which has a non-working fader so you have to use the touchscreen and knobs to adjust the fader)

 

Not optimal, but we need those band mics.

[6Imzadi]

I really hate to hear about those problems. Before I heard about the Presonus, I was seriously going to buy one of those TT24. I was going to have the DSP card and the outboard pre's. Also I really wanted the lake card for the speaker processor.

 

I am glad I didn't but it now. I think their mixer was out too soon and then they dropped it on it's face as far as service after the fact is concerned. Whatever Mackie is or has gone through in the past couple of years is no longer appealing to me now.

 

Sorry for your inconvenience. Buy a 24 channel Presonus, you'll be happy again.

[samkokajko]

The next console will be an LS9-32 I think, I'm not in on the decision process much though.

 

The last time we had a failure it made us call a show after the first 10 minutes. Basically if enough LEDs came on it would mute all audio output because it couldn't handle the voltage/current. After cleaning out the power supply it worked fine and that hasn't sprung up again. You could literally turn the audio on and off by raising the aux sends (when using the multi-function knobs to show aux send level). The reason it killed our show was that the audio meters would light up enough to mute audio when the singer started to get loud AT ALL.

 

I guess if I was able to figure it out that night we could have kept going with an empty aux or something but I was in serious damage control mode (trying to patch together another mixer just to get vocals going) and I mean come on, at what point in the troubleshooting path do you decide "I guess if you light up more than 6 LEDs the power supply freaks out".

 

Dumb, stupid console. Limping to it's demise.

 

Now back to the barely working Mackie 8 buss console in broadcast audio, and the K2 with mutes that defeat themselves and a hum if you simply have the groups un-muted (with all channels muted).

 

Man I need some new gear.

[Craig Vecchione]

This is the thread to show all the "what can go wrong?" folks when failures are discussed. And I'm not referring specifically to digital or even to consoles.

[cobrasound.com]

I have a TT24 with the Lake expansion card (which is great!). There is a known issue with the internal power connectors on the TT24 console that causes most of the issues that you have mentioned. I would highly recommend taking the console apart and replacing or shoring up those connections.

 

Our console has also started to develop some sticky buttons but it sounds like they are replaceable and Mackie service can get you the parts. I'm going to be tackling this on our TT24 soon.

 

I don't have any first hand experience with the DSP expansion card but it sounds like you may just have a bad connection or flaky connector there as well.

 

Digital devices are VERY unforgiving of bad quality connections unlike analog consoles.

 

Jeff "just doesn't like the velocity sensitive pots on the TT24"

[BenBroChill]

so just for the record i wasn't familiar with this console so i went to google it and the second most popular choice is "Mackie TT24 Problems" so that probably has to tell you something.

[samkokajko]

Yeah they have had it for 4-5 years back when the known issues weren't as publicized. At this point I imagine it will get replaced simply because failure of any kind really isn't an option. Even if we get it fixed up for now I can't trust that it will work every night like it needs to.

 

At the same time I have worked with 3 LS9-32s and an M7CL-32 at least 3-4 times a week for the past 2 years with zero issues.

 

I did get a call about one that was having a strange issue, when I went to troubleshoot it though we were crunched on time so instead of getting into it much I did a factory reset and loaded their all data file and everything worked fine, 30 second fix.

 

I think this board has a place, but I just have a hard time relying on it.

[Unalaska]

Any board that acts up like that and causes a show to get called goes into the trash. There is no excuse for putting up with equipment that can put an entire production on the line.

[FrankRodJr]

Hi there, I wonder if you could help me with this issue. Saturday i had this gig (im ate the northeast of brazil) and is very hot up here and my mackie tt24 digital console was left out on the sun for a few hours. When we power it up nothing happened. We could ear the coolers going but nothing else worked. The console was realy hot by the sun heat. Can you give a tip or know someone who can help because up here no one seems to know anything... Truly yours

Frank

[agedhorse]

 

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FrankRodJr wrote:

 

Hi there, I wonder if you could help me with this issue. Saturday i had this gig (im ate the northeast of brazil) and is very hot up here and my mackie tt24 digital console was left out on the sun for a few hours. When we power it up nothing happened. We could ear the coolers going but nothing else worked. The console was realy hot by the sun heat. Can you give a tip or know someone who can help because up here no one seems to know anything... Truly yours

 

Frank

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From what I have seen, there is very little support for these consoles anymore. Do you have a Mackie service center near you? They would at least be able to get the documentation to do some basic tests. Otherwise, it may be more costly to repair than it is worth.

[Pro Sound Guy]

This brings back to this summer when a friend of mine was showing me the Soundcraft digital mix. The model number I cant tell you.

I looked at him and said...so if this goes down in the field im ******?  right? He said yea your ******.

I can pop the lid on an analog case and check it out in the field.

I take it home and work on it.

The digital desks are like getting an Audi with fuel injection and a modern computer running.

OK..im old school

4 barrel carbs, and distributor caps and points

 

[pistol]

I have four of TT24 consoles and they have been great ,one I even bought from an insurance claim sell off and it had been under water ,it didn't work so good till it totally dried out but after that ,its solid

[Craig Vecchione]

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Pro Sound Guy wrote:

This brings back to this summer when a friend of mine was showing me the Soundcraft digital mix. The model number I cant tell you.

I looked at him and said...so if this goes down in the field im ******?  right? He said yea your ******.

I can pop the lid on an analog case and check it out in the field.

I take it home and work on it.

The digital desks are like getting an Audi with fuel injection and a modern computer running.

OK..im old school

4 barrel carbs, and distributor caps and points

 

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Just a gently reminder regarding profanity; don't use it in the forums, please.

Regarding carbs, caps and points; while they were "field serviceable", they needed service. A lot. The "good old days" were better in ours memories than in reality, especially when it comes to cars.

As far as digital consoles, I think we're at the point in development that fuel injection and electronic controls were at in the 70's...there's a lot of room for improvement, because it's still *very* early in the game.