Ableton Forum

I'm thinking of buying M-Audio Projectmix I/O. But I'm not sure. Has anybody already tested it with Live 5? Any problems? Thanks for your help!

mh

well i've read numerous Pro Tools users say that the preamps sound better than the digi002, and it has Mackie Control Emulation, plus with 8 preamps and i/o's... i reckon it's well worth the $1000 retail. i'm considering getting one of these in the near future as well.

I own one and strangely enough, it even works flawlessly with my under spec'd 667 MHz Powerbook! So, yeah, considering it is half the price of the 002, and works with just about all the major DAWs, you can't beat it...

Thank you. What is the difference between control Live 5 with the original Mackie Control and the projectmix in Mackie Control Emulation mode?

If you want this thing and are a Live 5 owner already, you need to get in there quick!.

At present you can pick up the Project Mix I/O for £760 on its own as an introductory offer.

From January 15th you will only be able to buy it for £950 ... with Live 5 bundled

Nice promotion for Ableton of course, but crappy for those of us who already bought Live.

Personally I'm surprised they didn't bundle ProTOols M-Powered 7, which would surely have made more sense? Perhaps they would prefer to screw Ableton customers than their own though

It's not about "screwing" people that already bought a particular software first (that's just silly!) From what I understand, Digidesign was upset that the ProjectMix was outselling (and out-performing) the 002, so Avid (the parent company for both Digidesign AND M-Audio) is raising the price of the ProjectMix so it is a bit harder to get (?) or so it doesn't sell as well (?) or so Digi makes up for the low sales of the 002 (?). Either way, that is even more silly, but unfortunately true!

mh wrote:Thank you. What is the difference between control Live 5 with the original Mackie Control and the projectmix in Mackie Control Emulation mode?

Never used the original Mackie Control, but basically the Mackie Control Emulation mode allows for all the options of the Mackie Control. So for example, if you rename a track in Live, you will see the track name on the ProjectMix's LCD above the channel strip for that track. Also, in the arrange view, if you have location points set, you can jump between them using the locate buttons on the ProjectMix.

Is that what you were asking? I'm currently using the ProjectMix with Live 5, ProTools 7 M-Powered, Logic Pro 7 and Reason 3 and all have worked great!

@ headquest

I`ve already bought Live 5 - so there is no way to get the Projectmix cheaper.

@ genshi

Thanks for your infos. This would help me. First I want to buy the Mackie Control - but now i'm thinking the Projectmix is much better (and I don't need an audio interface).

What about the quality of the jogweel? I've read this is a plastic jogweel?

mh wrote:@ headquest

I`ve already bought Live 5 - so there is no way to get the Projectmix cheaper.

Yes, at present you can buy ProjectMix cheaper, without Live bundled. But only until 15/1/06.

mh wrote:@ headquest

I`ve already bought Live 5 - so there is no way to get the Projectmix cheaper.

@ genshi

Thanks for your infos. This would help me. First I want to buy the Mackie Control - but now i'm thinking the Projectmix is much better (and I don't need an audio interface).

What about the quality of the jogweel? I've read this is a plastic jogweel?

It is plastic, but it seems a very hard and durable plastic like many other jogwheels I've experienced. Honestly, I don't know how M-Audio pulled this one off cause this whole ProjectMix is just beyond what they normally put out... they are definitely stepping up the quality big time lately.

If you haven't done so, check one out at a local store for yourself. Also, if they don't have it hooked up to a computer with a DAW running (so you can see how the faders move) then you can turn off the ProjectMix and then turn it on again while holding down the "ZOOM" button in the lower right corner and the ProjectMix will go into "Vegas" mode with all of the faders moving in this cool wave pattern and all of the lights dancing about! Just a neat way to see how it all looks... haven't figured out how to turn this Vegas mode off though...

I would love to test it, but i'm from germany and the projectmix is first available in january here. I just want to know something before i can test it.
i will try to get it a little bit cheaper from ableton as a registered live 5 user...

Got one!!!

It's lighter and slimmer than our 01x, and it sounds as good. The 01x does seem better built physically, the sliders and encoders feel about the same (01x slightly better) and the jog wheel on 01x does indeed feel better.

The integration with live is fantastic, however I'm still looking how to arm multiple channels (anyone?!? shift -> rec no worky like on the 01x, and I like having the arm option for firing record on different tracks). No solo / cue toggle either? There is no documentation on the shift and alt keys for the Live profile in the projectmix manual. They do document shift / alt for other profiles so I dunno what gives? Speaking of manuals, there is no printed version included (its under 50 pages so printing wasn't too bad).

The 01x can also be used as an offline mixer. If you intend on using projectmix this way, forget about it; attached to a computer only!

The fact that projectmix does has 8 xlrs and the 01x only 2, makes up for a lot.

My recommendation..... get both! hahaha...

what's the latency like? in my past experience with the ozonic, m-audio drivers weren't that great on the mac, so I'm interested to hear from you guys what the audio latency is like.

I've tried 128 and 256 sample modes in the driver and haven't experienced any performance or crackle problems. I haven't tried recording mics on all 8 XLRs yet tho, just 4 or 5 VSTs, a single mic and 3 or 4 playback channels.

Dang! The price on site is now $1599.95 USD. Thank you so much for the January 15th warning! It went up 300 USD and I don't see any mention of Live being bundled with it.