Mackie Pro FX v3 16 channel board. Got questions.

[jonnyboy1991]

Hello there, I bought myself the mackie pro fx v3 16 channel mixer, as an upgrade to my studio from the mackie v2 line of mixers and have a few questions. Mods, feel free to move if this is not in the correct place, and I just registered and in need of some answers here.

First of all, the board does work so no issues there. I'm primarily using this with headphones connected to the phones jack for now so keep that in mind.

My first questions has to do with the mic preamps. on the v2, all the sliders / faders controlled my mic levels through out the whole board. But now, through the phones, only the gain preamps nobs are affected through the phones output and nor pan or the main channel faders does anything through the phones. Is there something going on with my board or is this the way it's going to be for the v3 mixers?

The only thing that gets affected when turning up and down faders which, to be expected is the effects when I have that sending to the channel.

Second, this has to do with recording / USB playback. I'm using mainly logic for recording vocals and everything, as far as I know is setup correctly on the mac side of things and logic itself. I make sure that my track is recording but nothing comes out at all even though I'm hearing it through my board's headphones out.

This used to just work with my v2 mixer that I had and I could even send whatever I had going into the v2 mixer and through my mac. This is not the case with my v3 mackie mixer and I thought you can do at least stereo levels coming in USB and whatever I was using, weather it be for streaming and what not. I've tried with logic, reaper, audio hijack, nothing is piping into it even though I have pro FX selected as my input source.

My other questions is this. Is there not a way that I can record or use USB playback to route back into the mixer and out to let's say discord for example, if I want people to hear what I'm playing through my computer from the mixer? like I could with the v2?

I know USB 3/4 does this functionality but not being able to get this to work, has proven this mixer useless to me as I'm unable to do anything accept send out and not having any of my signals being able to be piped through even into a daw or application. Not even USB 1/2 for monitoring through my daws is working either!

If anyone can help out with this, I'd be grateful. Bought this mixer for the features I was looking for like compressors for each channel should I need, and the ability to use this as a single track audio interface so I can monitor my daw's input through the board without USB playback occurring.

I've also tried with the blend nob for USB 1/2 and USB 3/4 and even though I can hear output through USB 1/2 through the phones, that still does nothing as nothing is being piped in through the computer.

I've tried some of the same steps on my windows bootcamp and even though I got the drivers installed, nothing neither records, nor sends back signal. I've googled, youtubed, and have found nothing and I've been trying to figure this out for a couple days, strait! I would like to get this sorted out soon, as I need to get all of this working for recording and producing someone's vocals here in the studio that I'll be working with within the next week or so.

Here are my specs should this even matter. macbook pro 2015 late model, 8 gigs RAM, 2 core, Intel i5 core processors. Running this through a USB powered hub as I always have been with my v2 mixer.

[Hugh Robjohns]

Welcome jonnyboy!

I've taken the liberty of introducing some paragraphs into the original monolith of text you posted, in an effort to make it more readable.

I suspect your problems are all basic operational/setup errors and a good read of the manual should set everything straight.

For starters, the problems you're having with your headphones and apparent lack of control is probably because you have the Solo mode engaged instead of monitoring the mixer's stereo output.

[jonnyboy1991]

Hello there, thanks for your response. My solo buttons are all disengaged don't know about monitoring stereo output as I'm both hearing a USB signal and my mic coming through just fine through my headphones out from the board. I'll take a quick glamps at the manual again as I'm sure there is something I've missed, gone through it already about 3 or 4 times but it's a big read. Hehehe. And I'm not talking about what's in the box either, I'm talking about the owner's manual that I got off the Mackie website.

[Hugh Robjohns]

My solo buttons are all disengaged don't know about monitoring stereo output as I'm both hearing a USB signal and my mic coming through just fine through my headphones out from the board.

The headphone outputs on the ProFX v3-16 console follow the control room output source selections. With a Solo button selected the source is the PFL bus which is mono and derived from before the channel faders and pan pots. Hence seeming a likely reason for the symptoms you describe. But when Solo is selected there's a bright flashing 'Rude Solo' light which you haven't mentioned, so perhaps this isn't the cause after all...

By default the phones/CR outputs monitor the main stereo mix bus, and that obviously inherently responds to panning and fader levels. But as you say you're not hearing the effects of those controls, you're clearly not monitoring the stereo mix output either.

So, the only remaining option is that you have the Blend button pressed (knob 46 on page 20 in the manual), which is just above the FX return fader. When this button is pressed, the phones/CR outputs monitor a blended mono mix of all the input channels pre-fade -- hence no fader or pan controls -- and the stereo USB returns.

If you want to monitor the USB returns, make sure the associated Blend control is turned fully clockwise so you're only hearing the stereo USB return and not a mono pre-fade mix of the input channels.

[jonnyboy1991]

Okay, so I got USB routing to work, using USB 3/4 and that all comes through to my computer just fine. However, two or 3 more questions poses something. When using USB 3/4 on windows, is there not a way to send that out through the phones out? I've tried the blend nob, but I think that's for USB 1 / 2. Another question. When I use input monitoring through a daw, like logic or what have you, I'm blending that into the phones out but I'm getting a loopback that shouldn't even be happening. Why? and one more question. On my mac OS, when going into sound under system prefs, or anything, I only see one output for the mixer. Shouldn't their be two? One for USB 1/2 and another for USB 3/4? I'm so sorry for these questions, but figuring stuff out here. Thanks so much for your help once again.

[Hugh Robjohns]

When using USB 3/4 on windows, is there not a way to send that out through the phones out?

Only as a channel solo (in mono) or via the stereo mix bus.

I've tried the blend nob, but I think that's for USB 1 / 2.

Yes, that's why it has USB 1/2 written on it!

When I use input monitoring through a daw, like logic or what have you, I'm blending that into the phones out but I'm getting a loopback that shouldn't even be happening. Why?

Because you've created a feedback loop somewhere in your connections or internal DAW mixer routing.

There are example recommended hook-up diagrams in the manual that explain how to use this desk with a DAW.

On my mac OS, when going into sound under system prefs, or anything, I only see one output for the mixer. Shouldn't their be two? One for USB 1/2 and another for USB 3/4?

There should be four outputs from the computer to the mixer (USB 1-4), and two inputs to the computer from the mixer (USB L/R). I'm not a Mac/logic user so I can't say where to find them... I think they should just appear in the routing options as there is no driver needed for the Mac OS.