Dennis Nedry Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 Greetings to all. I was looking for an audio interface recently, with Firewire & 24/96 recording. I see the Mackie Onyx Sat's are floating around for $179-$230 these days. Then there's the Apogee Duet for $500. Size really isn't an issue. If I can record through it @ 24/96, then it's all good- at the moment I only have one incoming line from my Gibson electric. The only thing I can see that the Mackie has one-up on the Apogee is balanced outputs and a few more ports. Then again, people would kill for the quality of an Apogee. Which one would you pick? The Mackie, or the Apogee? -DN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maninthedark30 Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 I think you'll be hardpressed to find anyone on this forum who would recommend the Mackie... The duet is built for use with Logic. Great converters, awesome compatibility/support. Well worth the extra cost. All this coming from an Onyx user! No, seriously... I bought my mackie for a PC originally before switching to Mac, but was actually drooling over the Duet so much a few months ago that I was having thoughts of ebaying the Onyx... then I woke up and realized that I have a system that works fine at the moment with 4 good pres, 8 in/outs, etc. so why mess with a good thing? The Onyx pres are nice and clean, and the converters seem to be of high quality, though I've never used a Duet or any other Apogee product to be able to actually compare. Honestly, the 400F is almost too clean for me at times... but I tend to favor old mixers and tape hiss these days. I would say if it was going to be for a PC, then maybe consider the Onyx. Otherwise, be good to your Mac and give it what it wants... no, what it NEEDS! LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCProject Posted April 15, 2008 Share Posted April 15, 2008 I had an Onyx briefly. It sucked. It had all kinds of issues: performance sucked, usability stunk. I'd stay far far away from the Onyx. I now have a Duet and I love it (although it's not perfect). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Nedry Posted April 16, 2008 Author Share Posted April 16, 2008 I think I'll have to agree with you, BCProject. I had an Onyx for a few hours last night purely because of the price ($230 from $520). Now I know why they're slashing the prices everywhere. I had some immediate stability issues with the unit's FW dropping in and out (managed to panic my Mac once). This morning, it was dead. No FW connection at all. Back in the box and back to the store. I've got a Duet on order now, hopefully it'll show up later this week. Seems like the Onyx is a major hit & miss thing if they'll work or not... -DN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrofani Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 I don't know the Mackie piece. But the Duet is simply great. It just sounds terrific. The Maestro software included with it is simple (if you don't want to control it directly from within Logic). It's changed the workflow I use to record vocals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcel72 Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 Mackie products suck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkness, Darkness Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 I own a Mackie Satellite and I'm very pleased of using it. For me it is a very good compromise for the Price/Quality/Feature. Never tried the Duet so far, but the Mackie give me enough room to play with, at least for my current skills After all it is more a matters of finding the best compromise between your needs, skills, budget. If possible try to test both and make your own choice ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clonewar Posted April 19, 2008 Share Posted April 19, 2008 You're not going to find anything close to the quality of the Duet for $500 (A/D/A and preamps).. its only a question of whether you need more than two I/O. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbassfour Posted May 29, 2008 Share Posted May 29, 2008 Hey guys, couldnt help but pipe in here - I have my main studio in NY and I use the Apogee there - then at home I use the Mackie ONyx Satellite. The Duet is Clean. Squeaky Clean, but the Mackie Onyx isnt very far behind. I have had a good experience with both of them. I WISH Duet would put in some of the Mackie features - (multiple headphone outs. When you want to switch between software monitoring or via the unit. All you have to do on the mackie is click a button - doing that on the Duet is a few movements with your mouse. Maestro is cool. But real buttons are cooler - without having to move your cursor to adjust or cycling through the Duets Knob pressing. Sound Quality --> Duet If you are using low end Voc Pre Amp or anything in your chain that is going to severely color your sound before A/D Id go with the Mackie hands down. Hope this helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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