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- Two boutique-quality Onyx mic preamps with class-leading fidelity and dynamic range
- High-headroom design with ultra-low noise and distortion
- Includes Tracktion 3(TM) Music Production Software
- High-end Cirrus Logic® AD/DA converters with 114dB dynamic range (A-weighted)
- True analog hardware monitoring of inputs, in mono or stereo, for easy zero-latency recording
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I was worried from reading the other reviews that I would have problems. (including reviews outside of Amazon)After doing a lot of research I realized that it was probably the right fit for what I want.
I have a MAC Power Book OS 10.6.6
I had been using only the 1/8th inch jack on the side for input and that, obviously, wasn't cutting it.
I wanted to use an electric guitar and a near field mic for vocals specifically a Sure SM57
because I'm recording in a place where I can't control the outside sounds and if I want to get a clean sound without a lot of background noise
and a low noise floor, I knew I would need the less sensitive and more directional mic.
The Sure SM57 needs a pre-amp that generates at least 54db to 60db, because it's a dynamic mic.
The Mackie Onyx Blackjack 2x2 USB was the only USB box I found who's pre-amp was that strong.
Since I have a MAC there was no "driver" problems talked about in other reviews.
I plugged the box in, went to the System Preferences >Sound > switched the "Audio In" to Onyx Blackjack, started up "Logic" and it worked instantly.
No issues at all. Good quality sound. No Clicks, No Latency. Simple and Perfect for what I want it for.
I tested it on Electric Guitar and then vocals with the SM57, and with some larger diaphragm mics.
It does the job I want it to do, and I give it 5 stars.Don't let all of these bad reviews deter you. They are all about drivers. Most of those people probably don't know what a driver is. Mine has absolutely no problem and it came with detailed instruction on driver updates.
The acual pre-amp itself is gorgeous. Amazing sound quality, I barely had to make any adujtments to the sound to make it studio quality. (this is with tracktion 3) VERY good quality pre-amp. I probably won't have too buy another one for a very long time. Extremely durable. You pretty much can't go wrong with this wonderful piece of equipment.
So far I haven't found anything wrong with it.
It also comes with Tracktion 3 Basic Bundle. I happen to like it a lot, but you don't have to use it.!!!!!!!!Be sure to read my new update to this post at the bottom!!!!!!!
I'm a solo electronic music producer/DJ that does not do much gigging anymore and basically needs a good home studio recording interface for simple single source instruments. Like record L/R from a keyboard one track at a time into my DAW (Sonar X1). I had excellent previous experience with the 400f from mackie as the sound quality (recording and playback sources) was so good it made all other sub-$1K interfaces sound like cheap toys. Unfortunately I've long sold that interface due to different moves over time and having to cut down my home studio. But now I'm back building my studio again and I wanted to get that quality again, so naturally Mackie's Blackjack fits perfectly, or somewhat as I've found out.
The audio quality is great, not sure if it's as good as the 400F was, but so far it's pretty close. The hardware is built great and is definitely the highlight of the product. The major negatives are that it has some pretty bad latency issues that pop up every once in awhile. It works great if I only do one thing at a time. For example, if I just work in Sonar I will have little problems. But if I dare open up youtube and watch a video or two then go back to working on my music, the thing will start having drop outs or latency issues. I have to make sure I reboot to clear out whatever is happening with the driver. Also, getting it to work in FL studio is really bad for some reason, those two items just don't play well together. This is all in a decent work grade Dell Omniplex 990 running win 7 home premium 32 bit and using the latest drivers from Mackie's web-site.
So, in short, great hardware quality, great sonic quality, poor software and drivers. wdm, asio, and asio4all were all tested along with various latencies.
UPDATE! Mackie released a new driver a couple weeks back and it solved all my issues. I have had zero problems since their newest driver was released. Thanks Mackie, a quality product and finally a company that really cares about it's customers! Mackie and amazon.com are both great customer service oriented companies!I bought this after getting the tascam us-144. The drivers for that unit did not work on my windows 7 64bit pc! I tried this as a last resort and it was magic!!! The directions get you to load drivers from the internet ( flawless loading ). once i rebooted all my music programs took the default commmands that this loaded and i didnt have to change a thing!!! Highly recommend buying this!!!
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