Headphone Monitoring, what am I doing wrong?

Hi guys,

I'm recording my band through a 16 Track Mackie Onyx 1640i Mixer, into Logic, via Firewire.

In Logic, I have software monitoring selected.  On the vocal channels, I have the Input Monitoring button selected.

I'm trying to add some Reverb onto the vocal tracks, and then allow the singers to hear themselves in their headphones, with the added Reverb.

I've read that this can be done, so that the singers hear the wet signal, but you are actually recording the dry signal.

Problem is, I can't get the signal back to the headphones.  Not only do I not understand the theory, but I have no idea if I have the hardware.

How would the signal get from my MacBook running Logic, back to the singer's headphone?  

At first, I thought it would be via the Firewire.  Then I tried running a 3.5mm to 1/4" cable from the Mac's output to the Mixing board's Aux return.  Neither worked.

I have the headphones connected to the Mixer's aux send, and have a headphone amp.  

Not sure if this is a Logic question, or a Mixer question, but was hoping someone could at least get me heading down the right path.

Thanks in advance...

IF you want to do it via 3.5mm on a mac, you will need to make so called "agreggate device" in audio/midi setup to combine Mackie and built in output, in can drift into significant latency over time tho, so i dont advise it.

 

As far as I know, you can route some output to Mackie via firewire. you have to select the correct output and probably open channels on the mixer.

So it is safe to say, that the Firewire is two way, and I can somehow get the output back to the Mixer via Firewire?  

If so, I'll abandon the 3.5mm and turn my focus on how to configure the Firewire out..

That mixer is a firewire interface with 16 ins and 16 outs.

So you can route everything back in Logic to the mixer and have a separate headphone mix if you want.

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/mackie-onyx-1640i

That mixer is a firewire interface with 16 ins and 16 outs.

So you can route everything back in Logic to the mixer and have a separate headphone mix if you want.

 

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/mackie-onyx-1640i

Thanks, trip.  Problem is, I don't know how to do that.  I understand the concept.  It the actual button pushing I don't get.

Well, I know that we don't like to look at manuals, but you need to dig in!

The link I gave you explains some of the routing.

Well, I know that we don't like to look at manuals, but you need to dig in!

The link I gave you explains some of the routing.

Hey brother, my apologies. I didn't even notice the link.

I'll give it a look, and see if I can pull my head out of my a$$,

Gave up and called Mackie Support.  Great guys, BTW.  

Turns out I need to use one of the mixer's 16 channels to receive the signal from the Computer.  That's where the conversion from digital back to analog will occur, and then I can rout the analog signal out via an aux send.

So I guess that I either need to sacrifice a channel on the mixer to use Logic's reverb, or I can purchase an external reverb unit, and set up an effects loop.  

Gave up and called Mackie Support.  Great guys, BTW.  

 

Turns out I need to use one of the mixer's 16 channels to receive the signal from the Computer.  That's where the conversion from digital back to analog will occur, and then I can rout the analog signal out via an aux send.

 

So I guess that I either need to sacrifice a channel on the mixer to use Logic's reverb, or I can purchase an external reverb unit, and set up an effects loop.  

What? That's such a bad design. So the same channels are both AD and DA? 

Update:

So here's what I found out so far, for anyone who's interested.

The Firewire is in fact two way.

In Logic, I needed to select the Mackie Onyx as the output device.  It defaulted to "built in output."

That allowed the output from Logic to head out of the Firewire.

On the Mixer, there is a Control Room input matrix, where you select Firewire as the source.

I hooked up my headphone amplifier to the Control room out, and viola.  

Now I can monitor the vocals, and the Reverb sounds great.  

On each of the vocal tracks, I utilized a send to an aux channel.  On the aux channel I added the Reverb and Delay.  Which I was told will save CPU power and reduce the risk of latency in the headphone monitors.

Thanks to those who posted, I appreciate the time.