Easy-to-use controller that'll make your recording system a breeze to run.
The Mackie Big Knob Studio Command System is a simple yet powerful desktop audio control center. It lets musicians and engineers get right to the business of making music in four major ways: level control, studio monitor selection, input source selection, and talkback and headphone control.
Precise Level Control
Using a big, convenient volume knob, Big Knob lets you adjust volume levels the way our ancient audio ancestors did, with a simple, intuitive knob, not with a mouse and screen. The end result is greater precision and faster level adjustments.
Monitor Selection
When it comes to mixing, pros know it's best to get a second, and third, opinion. So Big Knob lets you quickly switch among three pairs of studio monitors, two studio monitors and a subwoofer, or studio monitors and a home stereo, or any other combination of powered speakers.
Source Selection
On the input side, Big Knob lets you connect up to four stereo input sources at once. This means you can simultaneously connect to your computer/DAW outputs, CD player, cassette deck, and even a turntable using the premium onboard RIAA preamp. You can even connect keyboards, guitars, drum machines, samplers - anything you'd like to hear - through your monitors. This makes Big Knob great for comparing your mixes-in-progress to your favorite CDs, for archiving your old LPs, jamming along to your favorite tune, and lots more.
Talkback Section and Headphone Control
With its built-in talkback mic and spring-loaded activation switches, Big Knob lets you quickly communicate with musicians in both the studio and tracking room - no more hand signals through the glass! Big Knob also sports two high-powered headphone outputs with a discrete headphone mix bus, solving the communications needs of most computer-based studios.
All the Right Connections
Although its shiny silver knob is a head-turning feature, Big Knob's rear panel is equally impressive. There you'll find three distinct Monitor outputs with individual level control, 2-Track A and 2-Track B stereo outputs with level selection switches, a DAW stereo output for your computer, a Studio output with level control, a Phones Mix input with level selection switch, 2-Track A and 2-Track B Stereo Source inputs with level control, a DAW Mix input from your computer with level control, and even a Phono input with level control for direct connection to your turntable.
Sound Quality
Because Big Knob plays a crucial link between recording output(s) and studio monitors, Mackie has placed the utmost importance on pristine, no-compromise sound quality. For this reason, Big Knob features ultra low-noise op amps, extremely low-tolerance components and state-of-the-art surface mount technology. All of this ensures superb sound in critical listening environments and long-term reliability - even under daily, and nightly, studio use.
Applications
Big Knob is perfectly suited to a range of applications beyond desktop music making, including home stereo systems, keyboard/guitar rigs, high-end multimedia systems, archiving LPs to CD, classrooms and boardrooms, and more.
