M-Audio Project Mix I/O

Pros - Audio interface/MIDI/Control surface in 1 box - works with all the major DAWs including Pro Tools (that's why i got it). Small enough to be semi-portable. Hi-Z input is good for late night guitar tracking/practice. 8 analog inputs, 4 analog outs. Very flexible headphone outputs.

Cons - 8 mic preamps, their quality is so-so, +48v is available for all 8 or for none. I'd prefer individual switches. The pres have too much minimum gain. I record rock and metal, and a cranked amp will overload the preamps with a SM57 or sometimes even a 421 with the gain at the minimum. There is no pad, no hpf, no phase reverse, no insert. I prefer the full-featured Presonus DIgimax pres that connect over ADAT. I'd prefer more analog outs too, I can't hook up anything but the control room monitors and a headphone amp most of the time. For any other hardware you will need a patch bay. Drivers suck - if you adjust any of the monitor mix settings it mutes the main outs. Faders electrocute me occasionally during extended sessions. Master fader does nothing in Pro Tools. Master volume controlled by a digitally stepped knob that causes the audio to "skip" when you turn the knob.

Would not buy again. Am planning on trading it in towards a MOTU 2408 and a decent analog mixer. It was good when I first got it, but after gaining some experience with it i don't like it. I like using pro tools, but this interface leaves a lot to be desired.

Firewire IO. Pretty standard stuff. no daisy chain, no fancy stuff. Audio in, audio out. 1x1 MIDI. Yay, I can hook up 1 keyboard or 1 FX box. Or i can hook up a drum trigger box for drummers who have crappy kits/technique

The preamps sound like there's a wet towel over the speakers. The phantom power is all on or all off. The instrument input is cool. The ADAT input is cool, it allows you to hook up some decent pres to this box, like the focusrite or presonus 8 in one boxes, or a line-in ADAT box. 1 midi IO. it;s good if you only have 1 piece of MIDI gear, otherwise you'll need a separate midi interface.

With only 4 analog outs, you can connect your monitors and one other output, i use a headphone amp. The dedicated headphone outputs are pretty flexible. You can rout whatever you want to them. It's tricky using them as an aux send, you have to configure your DAW and the software controller pretty crazy to use it. I'd prefer more analog IO.

Outs 3-4 can monitor direct signals, which is cool. You can't apply plugins when you use them this way, as opposed to using a bus in your software, but it's zero-latency. Any decent interface should include this feature.

AC Power, I get electrocuted during extended sessions because there is no ground wire. +48v works.

Drivers SUCK. cracks and pops like bacon at IHOP on a Sunday at 1 pm.PArt of this problem is due to Pro Tools M-Powered, because the problem is not as bad in garageband or logic, but there are still pops. Even in spoken work recordings with 1 mic and no fx or plugs I get occasional pops. I'm on Mac os x 10.4.9, I have repaired permissions, reformatted my audio drive, done a clean install of os x and PT and the drivers, I use a separate 3 GB/s SATA audio drive, a Firewire drive for samples and the system drive (all separate drives, no multiple-partitions on 1 drive. Same problems on a Mac Pro, a Powerbook and even a windows PC.

Get a MOTU or Presonus or even Alesis or Mackie.

Audio quality and preamps are subpar. Not enough outputs.

How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?

The pre amps are "pro-sumer" perhaps higher then that. They work but semi industrial don't expect that $3500 sound!

How about Editing patches? Dunno.
How is the manual for it (if there is one)? I don't like the PDF. For $100 Id like a book with 200 pages! Somethings they let up to your DAW so when switching to a control surface its best to re read parts of your DAW because the Projectmix lends its self to the feature settings in your DAW like touch fader, over latch when performing automation. Nothing about many features in the crappy M-audio PDF.

I rate this 9 because installed driver, powered off, installed fire wire cord and powered up and BLAMMO! Nuendo was on-line! Its easy enough to work with no reading but when you get into issue you need to mail support for example my SPDIF gear would not work! Nothing about the fix:
1. Power on SPIF gear
2. power on Projectmix
3. power on computer
4. open control panel and change the clock to external.

If you don't follow that then the sync source will be locked!
I had to kind of figure that out on my own, so manual is a little small at 50 pages BOO! I rate at 10 because its SO EASY in spite of the crappy manual, its possible to plug and go with this unit!

Its not noisy but the pre amps are not super fancy. I imagine later on you might want some better pre amps for vocal I guess something little warmer but those units start at $999 and up, thats an entire other subject on what to pay for 1st class pre amps.

But rest assured this device can handle the task very well in audio quality. I rate this at 8 but if you factor M-audio had to keep the price down, your not getting the high class pre amps for $999, not anywhere! I know Mackie brags about their low price pre-amps so test on your own! I use external pre amps on my acoustic and also guitar. Later on Ill buy a world class vocal pre amp but this is just fine for now if not out of the world.

Its good. I admit upgrading the firmware was 5 minutes of pure panic. Don't do it high or drunk or you will need to RMA.

Its not hotplugable! That is PANIC there think about it. Fire wire is supposed to be hotplugable yet you will DESTROY the projectmix if you hot plug.

Reliability is as subjective as your computer and its hardware.
I was getting HORRIBLE results until I moved my Video data to a 10K raptor, audio to a second raptor and windows on a third drive.

THIS WILL NOT WORK IF YOU HAVE ARE STREAMING FROM A USB HDD!

OR you will get stuttering and whooshing effect + dropouts on large projects. 2 gig ram also because the Projectmix is going to pump the data to your computer in large amounts and huge projects you will get bad performance + crashes, dropouts!

I thought I had a buggy unit or needed a software or driver upgrade.
NO, Its passing a HUGE amount of data, more then streaming video data over fire wire. (I work with 20gb video files) It was crashing my PC at the slightest touch of the jogwheel untill I optimised my project. Now its perfect!

Would you use it on a gig without a backup?
I sold my analog mixer and banked the cash! I don't expect any issues.
I do get worried on how complex the projectmix is with so many electronic modules inside but so far its 100% perfect.

I am very careful not to power cycle the unit unless my computer is dead off! Just cant be to carefully although I'm sure its safe.

The included fire wire cord is CRAPPY, Mine would not securely jack in and lack of that little magnet thing at the end of the cord to block magnetic fields (This was told to me by M-audio DITCH the included cord and buy a high quality insulated fire wire cord)

I did and fits in very well and has not lost connectivity after firewire cord replacement, I recommend going to compusa and getting a belkin or Sony I-link much better quality.

I'm getting some dropouts still when I work on massive 20gb video files but it could be a codex, none the less a pop every 20 min.


ROCK SOLID after optimising my video project in nuendo.

Email support took 14 hours. I solved the issue my self and the tech was wrong with his responce.

I asked him why my SPDIF was locked and muted and he said that I need to change it in the m-audio control panel, DUH but I told him its locked and unmovable you cant change it with your DAW loaded and you must power your equipment like this:

TO get SPDIF unmuted.
1. Power on SPIF gear
2. power on Projectmix
3. power on computer
4. open control panel and change the clock to external.

The thing that really makes me mad about support is I usually figure out everything my self but go ahead and google any trouble shoting issue and you get 100 advertisments for "Buy projectmix"

Its impossible to google out tech issues!

Luckley M-audio does support but the phone support is non existant.
I called and a japanese recording came on and said "konichiwa"

After that I called untill my skype phone ran out of batteries,
They do not answer the phone.

I give a 9 because the www support does work within 5 to 17 hours.

what do you love about it? What do you hate? What is your favorite feature? External PSU needs care, dont let it get hot it dies. Hotplugging kills it.

I love the price! It's got everything it promises at the M-Audio site. This is pure M-audio concept or ideals. Mobil recording? Get a gig bag and laptop! Its packed with features! It's low priced! It works GREAT! Its perfect for home studios or posthouses that cant spend $$$$ but needs something good.

Does it help you make music, or does it get in the way?

O MY GOD I can work so much faster its absolutely changed my work.
I have a 10 hour project on DVD and scrubbing the audio and automation is a god send. I now mix several tracks (two with my left hand at once!!!) This unit is wonderful for post audio.

Anything you wish it had? I wish it had a better jogwheel and firmware/driver updates. Mine are 3 years old but its working so I guess ok for now.

The jog wheel is kind of weird with my left hand. I put this next to my Kurzweil for playing softsynths and its weird with your left hand when back to the computer screen. Guess thats ok.

Side note. Everything worked out of the box, midi, automation, pre amps not one single issue.

I do get some display anomalies like a letter 0 just in the wrong place or little square that not supposed to be there. I have not used this with anything besides recording some vocals, playing a synth, and mostly its settled down as a post audio work horse. I hope to get some time off and record music but not as of yet. I'm sure I will have just as good results as I do with post.

I use the M-Audio Project Mix I/O as an audio interface and control surface for Pro Tools M-Powered 7.3, and I must say that I am extremely happy with it. The manual is a 7 out of 10 - it explains the basics for using the PM with Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase, Digital Performer and one other DAW, but it isn't as good as it could be. This is my first interface for my Mac, and getting it up an running was easy, but the initial learning curve for setting up a headphone mix was pretty rocky. On this subject, one thing that blew me away was that the volume control controls the level for BOTH PAIRS of analog outputs. I wanted to have a reasonable listening level in the control room while the band monitored their recording on a headphone amp. I was baffled that they weren't getting a signal until I realized the if the volume is only halfway up in the CR it's only halfway up in the studio - which translates into the band not being able to hear the headphones over the drums. Once I got this fixed it was smooth sailing. It would be nice if there were more built-in analog outputs (there are 2 pairs, total of 4 outs), but there is a set of ADAT outs that I have yet to use... I should have got a 8-mic-pre box with ADAT I/O rather than just ADAT into the computer.... I have a few pieces of outboard gear (a RNC, a Lexicon reverb, and an Aphex exciter) I'd like to be able to patch in more easily, and some extra outs would be super keen. To hook them up now I have to work a little bit of routing magic - getting out of the box is pretty tricky but getting back in is no prob. Thanks to being able to assign the 2 headphone outs and the 2 pairs of line outs however you want is awesome - there is some great flexibility in the routing in this box.

I had a couple pops & crackles on one session. It has only happened one time, but I bet it had more to do with recording on an old computer that was already getting pushed pretty hard - but it ruined an otherwise good take. The preamps get the job done. They work. I wish you could enable +48v per channel rather than all 8 or nothing. The minimum gain is way too high on the built-in preamps. I can not record drums on those mic inputs using a SM57, 3 sennheiser 604s, a Beta 52 and 2 oktava mk-012s. the dynamics all clip with their respective premp gain at the minimum because there is no pad, and the all-or-none +48v creates extra noise. Luckily the Presonus Digimax has a -20 dB pad and +48v button for each channel, and I use this unit as my main set of inputs into the PMIO. I use the built-in inputs for sources that are not as hot. You will want to upgrade to better pres than what is built in, but they are a lot better than nothing. The converters are better on the Presonus Digimax than on the PMIO too.

As a control surface, the PMIO is great. It works with Pro tools perfectly. Thanks to being able to switch in banks of 8 I have no need for a larger control surface. My big gripes are that the master volume controls the volume coming out of the computer rather than the volume going to the speakers. It's a digital, stepped knob rather than a smooth analog knob. It's like pushing the Volume Up knob rather than turning a dial. This means that whenever you adjust the volume it jumps. And it controls ALL the analog line-level outputs at once (not the headphones, thankfully).

Mac drivers for this guy are rock solid. The control panel is a tad confusing at first but once you get used to it it's good. The signal routing is pretty flexible. I have used it with a Powerbook G4 and a Power Mac G5 desktop with no trouble. My first session I recorded with this unit was on location at a band's practice spot. I had a firewire issue I had to work out (cant use a fw400 interface with a fw800 hard drive... found that on digidesign's support site - it's not an issue with the PMIO, but with the firewire protocol... it's still way better than USB!) but no other problems. The converters popped on me once though. And there's no way to remove a pop once it's recorded. But it's probably because I was pushing my PB to its limits.

N/A - I solve problems on my own. Unless something is just plain broken. This thing works great.

I record in a project studio in my garage. It's a great match for me. 16 ins, 4 analog outs, soon to be accompanied by 8 digital outs, MIDI I/O, compatible with Pro Tools, Logic, DP and more.. it's a pretty good feature set, I'd say! If someone stole this piece I'd find the bastard and skin him alive.

I wish the preamps were better and more full-featured. I wish the converters were better and clearer. I wish it had a real volume knob (big knob or central station, here I come!). I love the routing flexibility. I love the compatability with all the major DAWs.

I almost bought a TASCAM fw1884. I know someone who got one to use with Logic Pro on a Macbook Pro and it was a disaster. It never worked. Period. The analog IO on the fw1884 looks better (4 MIDI IO ports, 8 analog outs), but if it doesn't work, it really doesn't matter.

All in all, I love this box. It gets the job done quite nicely. Yes, there are things that could be better, but it would probably cost a lot more. In the meantime I will rack up a nice collection of mics, pres and plugins and eventually upgrade, if someone ever makes something better for pro tools