Mackity
TL;DW: Mackity is an emulation of the input stage of a vintage Mackie 1202!
Mackie 1202 (pre-VLZ) input stage.
Found and bought one, learned through using it just how different it was from anything I’d done before, resolved to capture the madness.
This is what you get when you run stuff into the inputs of the original Mackie 1202… and then, plug halfway into the insert points on the back of the unit. This time it’s not about modeling the two-band EQ, or any of that. This time it’s the refined essence of Mackie slam.
I might not have it so perfect that it’ll cancel out with a phase inverted recording out of the real physical machine… though it’s close… but on my word as Chris from Airwindows, through my choices and techniques, Mackity gets the vibe pretty close to perfect. It won’t generate noise like it’s real cheap op-amps but it’ll give you the same spongy slam and gleaming brain-fry overload of the purely analog machine. This is partly because it’s not overprocessing to lock in all the little EQ-matching things: it’s basic simple algorithms mimicking a basic simple circuit and there’s an intensity that comes through which you don’t get by fussing over all the details. It sounds big and raw and warm and it takes in audio in a characteristic way… really really old Mackie tiny mixer, the kind that can’t really do nice things but turns electronic music into a wall of roaring shrapnel.
If you’re a classical recordist, or a fan of, you know, GOOD equipment, this means nothing to you. And that’s fine. Some weapons are best kept secret. But if you’re a DnB head or various other underground recordist type, I doubt I need to say more.
So I won’t. Have fun!
Patreon let me buy the real vintage Mackie. If you want me to do the same with a Neve, we’ve all got a ways to go before that can happen :) same with a SP1200 and so on…
Dream come true for me. Thanks!
Can’t wait to run a 909 vst through this!
Thank you!!!
💪
Big Sur / Live 11?
Thanks a lot, amazing!
wont work for me on mac m1 big sur os11…. pity :(
Instantly useful. Awesome! Thanks.
Mac M1 VERSION PLEASE!
not shown on Logic pro X bigsur Intell CPU
Really appreciate you Chris. You are one in a million. Thank you.
Thank You! Works fantastic with MPC.
Big Sur with M1 version will be vezeeeeeery glad:)
This would be a dream! Is there a support for OS X Catalina?
My DAW is not showing up this VST
This thing is absolutely nut. Thank you man, you make this world a better place !
Any news on a Mac M1 version ? this is murdering my cpu, many thanks for a great plug though
amazing work, thanks
It wont show on Catilina :( any idea when it will be updated?
Brilliant! It’s good someone else realises just how interesting the Mackie EQ was, so I just need a quadraverb ping pong delay vst(hint hint) to recreate that 1990s Goa sound!!!!
Keep up the great work!!
It’s really got the vibe of the mackie input drive….I tested it on my old emu samples in my DAW and it was so close to what I wanted…definitely the best vst for getting the sound I like personally…it did wonders for the saturation on my break samples…thank you for realising that cheap op-amps from the 90’s had a lot of incredible musical character!
Please make a version that works on big sur! I want to use this so much
Download the SignedAU or SignedVST collections. It already does :)
I love Mackity. I would be so grateful if you could look through the SignedAU build for M1 macs – at the moment it’s a real CPU hog (even in an empty project with just one instance of Mackity). I’m using a fresh install on a brand new and maxed out M1 iMac and latest version of Ableton Live 11
1 instance = 70 % cpu
2 instances = 136 % cpu
Have you looked into the Culture Vulture, Chris? 90s breaks like Prodigy was all run through Mackie however Liam got severe writers block and left the studio, taking only 5 essential items. Culture Vulture was one of them. Pretty intriguing! …whats unique about it, I wonder
Looking at the code on github… would I be correct in assuming that this is mainly 2 filters and some waveshaping, with most of the ‘sound’ coming from the waveshaping?
Big Sur version would be great! Not working at the moment. Thank you!
Maybe Stupid question but how do I install this for MAC?
Thanks
vintage mackie from 1996 ? :)
i love it, thanks :))
I dropped the component and vst files into the usual plugin locations on my iMac (Catalina) but none of my DAWs see the plugins….Ableton, Renoise — nothing shows up. What am I missing?
Dunno. There are retro versions and signed versions, plus you typically have to restart before it’ll see the AUs :)
Hi,
I’m trying to figure out why/how to install this plugin but I’m not having any luck. I am currently running macOS Catalina version 10.15.7 on a MacBook Pro 16″ 2019. Processor is 2.3GHz 8-Core i9. I’m not super techy as a person so I may be having a hard time with instructions. I tried looking up forum threads but I think it’s a bit advanced lingo for me to understand.
Any simple instructions or guidance would be much appreciated, as I am using this plugin very often – it’s just an inconvenience having to send it to a friend with Windows to run my tracks through.
Cheers
For those who can’t open it in Ableton 11 and such, use Blue Cat Patchwork. Works totally fine here.
M1 support please!! Would love this one!
Anyone gotten this working running Monterey?
Not Mac M1 compatible it seems … :(
Update this plugin to run on our stinky m1 and m2 Macs please
Download the modern versions (big collection in signed .dmg files): it already is there :)
This is awesome. I’m producing my own hardcore punk stuff in the vein of over the top 1980’s UK and Swedish D-Beat EPs. 8 Tracks total. No bussing, grouping, sidechaining or parallel processing during mix stage. Just 8 instrument tracks on 8 physical faders. Mackity, albeit being rather 90’s, is the only preamp/saturation plugin on first insert of each of the 8 channels that I am using now to get that authentic spongy, beautifully cheap but glorious oomph response of an old analog budget basement studio going. I own several console emulations and saturators by well-known brands. What they do is, they range from slight musical distortion which many may perceive as HiFi to utterly flat out crappy distortion. Reapers built in JS:Saturation sounds better than many of these, to be honest. BUT THIS ONE, oh my. Mackity twists and pushes and punches and yells at your audio signal without destroying it’s character. Amazing, thank you so much, Chris.
i love the out pad on this thing, it’s so gentle yet effective. nothing else like it, really.
isn’t a 1202 & 1402 architecturally & sonically similar ? both pre-VLZ of course
2024. M1 running Sonoma. Will we ever see a version that works for these systems? I’m desperate for this plugin.
Never mind! Found your big collection. Got it. Wonderful. Thanks.
how do you download this for mac m1?
WHATS CRAZY IS I HAD THE 1402 which is the same thing but with 14 faders and I used it to hook up a recording vocal mic, my korg triton lol, my studio monitors I had some EVENTS and all my DJ turntables I had 4 Tenchniques 1200s Vestax 4 channel mixer which I still have. it controlled my studio I had a DELL windows running Cubase and Cool Edit Pro 2.0 and I had the original Fruity Loops. we had no audio interface companies besides digidesign protools but they wanted 20k just to get in the door. I paid 500 dollars. I started investing in music equipment since 97. I’m 45 now. still making beats. I’m on MAC-M2 using protools now. but I’m starting to really like LUNA. it don’t crash on me. Avid is horrible using the new M chips. I hope it works with LUNA ill let you know back
Does this not run on reason 12?
the plugin comes up in my list but then I cannot open the interface at all.