Mackie Onyx Satellite FireWire Audio Interface

[drewdavid]

To Dan, CHUD stands for Computer Hardware Understanding Development (at least, that's what it says on the developer.apple.com website).

To Anderton, I have a dual G5 and experienced the same whine with my FireBox, and like you, came across the CHUD tools which solved the problem. But, I also discovered an Applescript which can be downloaded and dropped into your Startup Items folder which will automatically uncheck the "Allow Nap" option to prevent the second CPU from idling:

http://www.cubeowner.com/kbase_2/file_d.php?id=60

(I came across this link on a Digidesign forum during my search for a cure).

Originally posted by Anderton One caution is that when you uncheck "Allow Nap," it doesn't appear to "stick" -- you need to uncheck it every time you fire up your Mac.

Originally posted by Dan Steinberg Now then, since some of you guys must have grown up along with me in the eighties and it's great B movies, who can be the first to tell us what C.H.U.D. really stands for?

 

[Dylan Walters]

Update:

I recently added a PCMCIA Firewire card to my HP Centrino Duo laptop so I could test the Onyx in a mobile environment. The HP card is using a generic VIA OHCI Firewire chipset, which I have good success with in the past when using a Yamaha mLAN interface. The driver for this is built-in to Windows and is not available as a separate download. I checked my system resources and the FW card is sharing an IRQ with the USB and Media Card controllers. I decided to keep everything enabled just to see if these devices would play nicely together.

The Onyx driver installed without a hitch just like my desktop system. Next, I installed Traction and fired up the sample song. The ASIO buffer was set to the maximum size by default, and yet, the song played back with some crackles, pops, and skipping. I remembered reading about a Microsoft Hotfix for Firewire devices when used with Service Pack 2, so I jumped on the Microsoft Support where I found the KB article that describes this. The link for this hotfix is: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/885222/en-us. I installed the patch, rebooted, and viola! The song now played back without any problems. Needless to say, if you run XP with Service Pack 2 you will definitely want to have this hotfix installed.

Next, I setup a fresh install of Vegas Video 6.0d on the laptop and loaded up some projects that I have previously made. I then set the ASIO buffer size down to 128 samples for the lowest latency possible. To my surprise, the song played back without a hitch! Normally I wouldn’t set my buffers so low unless I was recording with software input monitoring enabled, but I wanted to see how well the system could handle this setting. Keep in mind that this laptop is not setup with all of the normal tweaks that I would apply to my production workstations. In fact, I am only using the internal 5400 RPM hard drive at the moment.

I wanted to add some new guitar parts to one of these songs, so I pulled out my trusty Fender Telecaster and plugged into one of the instrument preamps. I’m not usually a big fan of the sound of recording guitars direct. I find the sound to be dull, flat, lifeless, and one-dimensional. The instrument preamps of the Onyx, however, sounded fantastic with my Tele! Mackie is known for their microphone preamps, so it should be no surprise that they can design a nice instrument preamp as well. The sound still had ‘direct’ qualities to it, but after adding a small amount of EQ, compression and reverb I was completely satisfied with the sound.

Next, I’ll be testing the instrument preamp out with my other guitars and bass…..

[Anderton]

Wow, this is great: A useful Apple fix and a useful Windows fix within two posts of each other! Thanks very much guys.

BTW an observation about Teles and recording direct: Using a Tele is what got me turned on to use direct inputs. The Tele pickups, being single coil, are more affected by lower input impedances than humbuckers. The first time I heard my Tele recording direct through a quality pre with a high input impedance was a revelation.

[parkleyroy]

is it me or have anyone noticed if... you have your speakers/monitors plugged in but turned off and your headphones plugged in...then you are only getting a mono signal in the headphones until you cut your monitors on????

[parkleyroy]

Originally posted by parkleyroy is it me or have anyone noticed if... you have your speakers/monitors plugged in but turned off and your headphones plugged in...then you are only getting a mono signal in the headphones until you cut your monitors on????

 

 

it wasn't the monitors.. it was the send & return if you have a something plugged into the send & return.. it has to have a signal in order for the input channel to be active...

 

hmm i guess it isn't so bad after all...lol

[MHD]

I have a PowerBook G4 and a new MacBook Pro 15" w/2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

The Onyx can't make it off the ground with bus power from the new Macintel. The G4 works like a champ.

*** updated: This occurs when trying to power the pod and dock. I'm listening to the pod by itself on bus power right now and everything seems to be working OK - it seems the whole kit is a bit too much for the bus

I had the same problem with a PreSonus FireBox this new Satellite is replacing.

Sad to say that I won't be compromising on this issue so the new MacBook Pro (bought Friday night) goes back tomorrow AM and I have to figure out what to do next.

*** updated: Now I'm thinking about compromising on it because it would be fine to have the dock always plugged in to AC (possibly preferable). As long as I can power the pod from the bus my field recording needs should be met... what to do???

Anyway, when the firewire bus power issue gets figured out the new MacBook Pro will be the ultimate portable DAW, but until then...

Cheers,

MHD

BTW - Maybe, if I have time, I will bring the Onyx to the Apple store with me and check out the other new macbooks as well. I'll post the results if I do...

[Anderton]

>

Please do!! That would be very interesting.

[MHD]

Originally posted by Anderton > Please do!! That would be very interesting.

 

 

OK. I spent some time with the good folks at The Apple Store - Stonestown Mall, San Francisco, CA. I brought along both the Onyx Satellite (dock and pod) and the Presonus FireBox.

 

We tested several machines and the results are as follows:

 

1) None of the new MacBook Pro (Core 2 Duo) machines would power the complete Onyx rig (pod+dock) or the Presonus FireBox.

 

2) The new MacBooks (Core 2 Duo) were able to power the Onyx rig and the FireBox with no problem.

 

3) The "older" MacBook Pros were able to power the Onyx rig and the FireBox with no problem.

 

So, it was with a disappointed sigh on both sides that they helped me return my new MacBook Pro.

 

The guys at The Apple Store are going to escalate this through their management channels and I have shared this forum/thread with Willis at The Apple Store to make sure Apple has the opportunity to post an official response if they so choose.

 

Best regards,

 

MHD

[Anderton]

Good job, MHD. Thanks!

[freekquency23]

I just bought an Onyx Satellite and a new Core 2 Duo macbook pro and used them both to perform live this weekend at a gig. I was very dissapointed that I could not get a cue out of live using just the pod piece of the satellite. I actually had to hook up the entire studio for Live to give a seperate Cue channel with this interface. And as MHD pointed out, to do this you lose the ability to bus power the entire satellite rig so I had to find a power supply in the middle of the show. Well, thats Apple's screw up, not mackie's, but I would still like to ask if anyone knows if this could be fixed with a firmware or OS upgrade or if this is a hardware issue?

Also, is there something Im missing? Can I have both stereo main out and a cue out (headphones) as seperate channels in Live with just the satellite pod?

[ayc6]

Really enjoyed reading this thread, thanks!

For us PC laptop users out there, is there a chance of comparing the sound quality of the emu 1616m and the Onyx? It would be interesting to compare the mic pres and convertors (the 1616m appears to have better spec? also apparently the 1616m mic pres are better than the 1820m pres). I've also looked into the new TC Konnekt.

I record a lot of live acoustic instruments and vocals through an old Digigram V2 card/M-Audio DMP3 on my laptop, and I'm not sure if I want to stay on cardbus or go firewire. I find my Digigram V2/Dmp3 combo to be thin and lacking in character compared to recordings I did on my friend's Protools rig. Also it's unclear to me if cardbus eats up less cpu than firewire. At the moment if I go for the Onyx it would purely because of the supposedly "better" preamps (sadly I have no way of testing myself...), but the 1616m is obviously more portable.

Thanks in advance!

[MikeRivers]

Originally posted by ayc6 I find my Digigram V2/Dmp3 combo to be thin and lacking in character compared to recordings I did on my friend's Protools rig. At the moment if I go for the Onyx it would purely because of the supposedly "better" preamps (sadly I have no way of testing myself...), but the 1616m is obviously more portable.

The Digigram VX Pocket is a good A/D converter. I have one myself. Your problem is most likely with the M-Audio preamp. (unless yor friend with the ProTools rig has better mics, a better room, or more experience than you have).

 

I don't let specs and measurements be my guide unless there's something really wrong, but for what it's worth, everything on my VX card measures better than the Satellite with the RightMark analyzer program. The noise (which is really insignificant on both) is several dB lower on the VX, and IMD is a little lower.

 

I can't address how much difference there is in terms of CPU resources between the PCMCIA card (which is really a PCI bus) and the Frirewire interface, but when it comes to two channel recording, it really isn't going to make any significant difference.

 

I'd suggest that you keep the Digigram card and buy a Mackie Onyx 1220. It will give you more inputs than the Satellite, make setting up monitoring easier, and the preamps provide full 48V phantom power (unlike the Satellite) should you need it.

 

Sure, it'll cost you more money than a Satellite, but you'll have a much more flexible system which you will probably find worth while sooner than later.

 

I would NOT recommend the Onyx Firewire option to you unless you really give it a lot of thought and study. It's a great setup for reocrding a live show where you're running the PA from the Onyx mixer, but it can be a really awkward operation if you're doing studio-like tracking.

[ayc6]

The digigram v2's signal to noise ratio is much lower than the onyx and emu 1616m (by 26db!) though, wouldn't that be noticeable?

Digigram v2 -

Signal to noise ratio (unweighted) >94 dB
Distortion + noise at 1 kHz (record + play)
My friend just had the normal protools rig with no special boutique converters and i think the mic pres were mid-class aphex or possibly mackie ones. He may have recorded at 96khz though. I can't go above 48 with the Digigram...

[prophead]

Thought I'd add my two cents on the Satellite.

First off, it seemed like the answer to my prayers: a high quality interface that I could record voice overs and stereo natural sounds for video and monitor surround mixes back at my 'studio' - i.e. that stack of equipment next to my Dual G5 and HDV camera. I certainly bought into the value of the Onyx pre-amps, Mackie name, etc.

My needs are a bit different than the musicians on this board. Latency isn't as much of a problem for example. But one thing is clearly required - clean sound. Unfortunately the Onyx Satellite didn't deliver.

I need phantom power for my mics and the Satellite had a high pitched whine whenever the phantom power was turned on. With the phantom power off the unit was silent. This problem was evident even with the unit disconnected from the computer and the mic and when bus or adaptor powered.

I took it back to Guitar Center and tested a couple other Satellites - same problem. (BTW - Mike at Guitar Center in Villa Park, IL was great.)

So while I really wanted this thing to work, it went back and I'm now using a Presonus Firebox (and it's silent phantom power...).

Bummer.

[MikeRivers]

Originally posted by ayc6 The digigram v2's signal to noise ratio is much lower than the onyx and emu 1616m (by 26db!) though, wouldn't that be noticeable?

You could MAKE it noticable by recording 60 dB too low, but you don't have to do that.

The difference between 96 kHz and 48 kHz recording is that if there's anything about 22 kHz going in that you can actually reproduce, you'll hear it (if you can hear it). It doesn't do anything in terms of improving noise and distortion performance. There are some internal processes (some plug-ins, for instance) that work better on a 96 kHz file but this is a pretty tweaky thing. Any difference between 96K and 48K will be very small if at all noticable.

[Fulcra]

Originally posted by MHD OK. I spent some time with the good folks at The Apple Store - Stonestown Mall, San Francisco, CA. I brought along both the Onyx Satellite (dock and pod) and the Presonus FireBox.

 

 

They should by now be telling people this:

 

(this is reportet back Aug. 31, 2006)

 

17" Macbook only produces 7 watts. The 15.4" does not have this problem (and gives 13 watts).

 

So I guess the the bigger 17" screen draws the power from the FireWire bus

 

Read more about it here .

[the jynx]

 

 

hello, just picked one up yesterday. Im using this with XP sp2. When i turn the control room volume down all the way i can still hear sound, from the apps, coming out at low levels (when monitoring the DAW) to outputs a/b and the headphones. I tried both a/b outputs to my monitors aswell as multiple audio programs, logic audio, winamp, and windows media player. Just upgraded from the m-audio firewire 410 from which i had no problems of the sort. i thought maybe the knob was put on weird but there is no adjusting it past the markers. In fact the lowest volume that i could achieve actually raised for a brief period of time when trying to get to zero repeatedly. I must admit that i did have the unit accidentally plugged in and turned on before running the installer, it still completed successfully. I did uninstall/reinstall the correct way just make sure (hope i didnt mess with anything). Anyways, i tried both the firewire port on my motherboard (D865PERL) and a PCI texas instruments card and got the same thing. Any help would be most appreciated.

 

oh and BTW. Sonically, this thing is far superior obviously to the firewire 410 but also to the Motu 896 that i use. Our 1220 mixer is what inspired me to get this sound out of my interface, and it did not disappoint. Very clean and clear. This little thing is quite a bargain for the quality and features you get. Perfecto

 

thanks much

jynx

 

 

:EDIT: Just read the part about zeroing the controls, it didnt fix it

[the jynx]

when i switch the control panel to 44.1k a nice high frequency hiss comes out of my monitors, which are hooked into the "a" set, and nowhere else. when i switch it to 48k it goes away.... does it have anything to do with me installing improperly?? can i reverse this? I hope it is just a driver problem... it doesnt seem to be going in or out of logic so its not really effecting the signal path, but it is very annoying.


again

Windows XP Pro SP2

Intel D865PERL, 3 GHz prescott, 768mb ram

if there is anything you want me to try i am more than welcome to be a guiney pig.

thanks
jynx

[the jynx]

is this not the right place on these boards? or should i go to mackie support i guess..

[freekquency23]

On the issue of Firewire bus power, The macbook pro Core 2 duo notebooks will power both the mackie (base + pod) rig and the presonus firepod from bus power if the units were started up with power cord in. The macbook pro will not provide enough power to start the units, but once started they can be unplugged and run from the bus.

Still inconvenient. But it was a design decision Apple made in order to provide both firewire 400 and 800 on the new macbook pros.

The pod (satellite) can be started up with only bus power so I guess thats something.

[Anderton]

 

 

With any interface I've used, changing sample rates while the host is running is asking for trouble. Close the host, change the sample rate, re-open the host and all should be well.

[the jynx]

thanks for the reply. There are no apps running while the hiss is going. Curiously, the hiss occurs when i switch it to 44.1 or 88.2. Not on 48k or 96k. I am only in the utility when trying this. This is Sattelite specific too, i have been working with the Motu 896 and Firewire 410 on this same exact setup with no problems of this sort. oh, and the volume still wont turn all the way down... I guess i am off to the store to exchange for a new one.

[Dylan Walters]

FWIW, I had the exact same Intel motherboard as you previously and had nothing but problems with the on-board Firewire controller. I was testing a Yamaha mLAN audio device and the drivers would not install under circumstance with the firewire controller. As soon as I added a 3rd party VIA FW Card the drivers would install, but the audio interface wouldn't initialize. I moved the mLAN device and FW card over to a different motherboard (Nvidia Chipset) and everything worked great. Normally Intel boards are rock-solid and this board was with every PCI and USB audio interface that I used. I wouldn't be surprised if there is something funky with this board in regards to FW support.

Originally posted by the jynx when i switch the control panel to 44.1k a nice high frequency hiss comes out of my monitors, which are hooked into the "a" set, and nowhere else. when i switch it to 48k it goes away.... does it have anything to do with me installing improperly?? can i reverse this? I hope it is just a driver problem... it doesnt seem to be going in or out of logic so its not really effecting the signal path, but it is very annoying. again Windows XP Pro SP2 Intel D865PERL, 3 GHz prescott, 768mb ram if there is anything you want me to try i am more than welcome to be a guiney pig. thanks jynx

 

[the jynx]

well, its either the mackie harware or the mackie drivers....I tried a fresh install on my second pc, same thing. its gotta go.....

[the jynx]

nice support here in the us....I have tried three diff days and sat on hold for 45 min each time eventually hanging up......garbage