Mackie ProFX8 User Manual

Pr

oFX8 and Pr

oFX12

In Tracktion, to disable input monitoring for the track 

you are recording onto, select the input to the track (it 
will be highlighted in red) and disable the end-to-end 
function.

You’ll hear existing tracks playing back via the USB 

in, and you’ll be monitoring the track you are recording 
through the mixer’s headphones or main out. When you 
play back the recording, you’ll hear the track you’ve just 
overdubbed without unmuting anything. 

Other DAWs may show this as a speaker next to the 

track record arm button.

• 

If recording with a microphone, turn down the 
main fader [48] while recording, and listen 
through the headphones instead.

• 

If recording “direct” sources such as an electric 
guitar, you can listen with speakers, as there 
is no microphone present to worry about the 
speaker’s sound leaking in.

Latency describes the amount of time it takes the 

input signal to pass through the system, and reach 
the output. When recording a guitar and monitoring 
through software, it is the amount of time it takes from 
the moment you strike your guitar string, to the mo-
ment you hear it in your headphones. You are used to 
this latency being very close to zero; when you play your 
guitar through a guitar amp, you hear the signal imme-
diately. So when you are recording and monitoring via 
software, you want this latency (delay time) to be as low 
as possible.

We would like to set the latency as low as possible, but 

the smaller it is, the harder the computer will have to 
work. If the latency is very small, the computer needs to 
work very hard to quickly transfer the audio in and out. 
It may not even be able to keep up, especially if there 
are lots of tracks, lots of automation and/or lots of plug-

ins in your work. If this happens, your audio may stop or 
“drop out.” Drop outs may also occur if you have a slower 
computer or not enough memory. 

When recording using the overdub method, it is 

important to set the mixer’s latency to it’s lowest oper-
able setting. This means going into the audio interface 
property page of your recording program and setting the 
latency property to the lowest setting the device and 
your system will accept without any drop-outs, distor-
tion or CPU overburdening. 

The buffer is an area of computer memory that your 

DAW uses to hold audio as it works. The smaller the 
buffer, the faster audio gets in and out of your com-
puter, and the lower the latency. The size of the buffer 
is measured in samples. The more samples, the higher 
the latency time value. This time value varies by sample 
rate.

Higher latency settings are fi ne and even necessary 

when in live record mode. The same is true for mix-
down mode, especially when you start adding lots of 
plug-ins. 

The latency will never be zero, but generally we can 

lower it enough so its effect cannot be heard.

end-to-end disabled

Tracktion Screen