Re: New Mackie Pro FX8 usb

[Jeffrey Larson <jeff@zonemobius.com>]

 From what I've read in the manual, yes you should be able to use this
with Mobius without a sound card.  In addition to being a mixer, it is
also a 2 in 2 out USB audio interface.

The difference between this and most other multi-channel audio
interfaces is that you can only send to the computer a stereo mix of
all of the mixer inputs.  The Firebox for example has 6 inputs that
are individually sent to the computer.

The Mackie is nice if you prefer a hardware mixer and don't need to
insert software effects on individual channels.  With the Firebox you
wold use a software mixer which is more flexible, but you have to deal
with a mousey user interface.

The Firebox also has 6 outputs so you could set up a surround
output mix from the computer.  The Mackie only has a single stereo
pair of output channels from the computer.

As far as latency, it all depends on how good Mackie is at writing
device drivers.  Since this is only a 2x2 interface I would expect
latency to be as good or better than anything else out there.  You don't
need firewire for a 2x2, USB is fine.  But this is relatively new and
Mackie doesn't have a long history with audio interfaces, so I would
check the forums to see if anyone is having problems.

Jeff