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Phonic Helix12FW MkII 12-Channel Mixer with FireWire

12-Input Mixer with DFX & FireWire Interface.

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"Best non-protools interface out there, period." submitted November 17, 2007

By a customer from yahoo.com
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Musical Background: Amatuer recording engineer
Music Style: hip hop, rock, jazz
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Sound: Sound quality is flawless. Very transparent sound and there's basic 3 band EQ. Mic preamps are good. Very clean sound. Feature: Packed with features. The fact it's a mixer, and its also an audio interface, and its also less than 300$. Features are of a basic mixer, but the firewire audio interface tops it all off. Ease of Use: It's a mixer, and a very simple mixer at that. Nothing complicated here. Ease of firewire/computer integration is also very easy. Quality: Well built. The knobs are a little bit too "smooth" like there isn't enough resistance against them. Besides that, its built like a rock. Value: BY FAR, BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK, out of any interface out there. there's USB interfaces that go for 200. Firewire interfaces usually start at around 500 and are usually around 1000$ for decent ones. For 300$ you get a mixer, and a firewire interface. Manufacturer Support: never had to use it The Wow Factor: It makes any setup extremely versatile. Works will with PC and Mac. Design is basic, nothing spectacular but its definitely not a pain to the eye. Overall: Best non-protools interface out there, period.
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"Great Deal" submitted February 13, 2007

By a customer from gmail.com
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Musical Background: Active Musician
Music Style: Metal
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Sound: This is a great product. The sound quality is amazing. Feature: I love the Firewire. It's awesome. Tell me, where can you find a mixer with a firewire at this price? It's a steal. Ease of Use: It is very easy to use if you read the directions first. Quality: This product is very well made. Value: It's worth every penny. Manufacturer Support: I called customer support during the installation of the product. A live human being answered the phone and assisted me. I was very impressed. The Wow Factor: It's not very sexy, but works like a champ. Overall: I expect to have this product until it breaks.
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"The Perfect Garageband and Bose L1M1 "mate"!!" submitted July 2, 2008

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Musical Background: Active Musician
Music Style: Gospel
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Sound: I replaced my Mackie CFX12 with this little mixer for the main consideration of the Firewire interface to record to Garageband. I also use a mixer for more channels when necessary on my Bose L1M1 system. To my surprise, the Helix is MUCH quieter than the Mackie - lot less hiss and mixer noise to the Bose. This was a very pleasant surprise. Feature: Sometime wish there was a "handle" for the mixer. Every time I move it I seem to bump a setting and knock it out of adjustment. Have to review each setting after moving the unit. Minor thing I know, but just a wish. Ease of Use: Pretty much plug and play. I little understanding of how the submix and channel switches work is by experimentation, but not overwhelming! Love how it "just works" with the MAC and Garageband. Truly a beautiful thing! Quality: So far no problems - owned for about 6 months now - use in home studio and in live music settings. Value: I can't believe the "bang for the buck" on this mixer!! I consider this to be one of the best values around and I'm telling anyone who will listen. I've had the Shure, Mackie and other brand names, but this beats them all in my opinion. Manufacturer Support: Doesn't apply - haven't needed anything from the company. The Wow Factor: I did not purchase this for the "sex" appeal. I purchased it for the "features". Firewire, effects and the small size! Overall: At this point, it does everything I need it to do and it does it well. For podcasts and creating backing trax, it does it all. If I was lost or stolen, I would purchase another one in a heart beat! Only complaint is that some kind of grab device would be nice (otherwise known as a handle)
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"A good machine for those who know what they want." submitted January 4, 2009

By a customer from hotmail.com
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Musical Background: Musician
Music Style: Pop
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Sound: I like the sound. It's just normal... Feature: Oh It has a lot... For that price, I couldn't except anything more... Ease of Use: Not very easy and the manual is a joke. Even after a long time use I still dont know a few basic features Quality: The quality is good. It hasn't failed yet to me. I jut came across the bad review from other users and I would like to complete 1)The Board is not a mixer that you can use it in the club, in full volume and light. It' mostly a sound card for home or studio recordings. Otherwise it would cost really a lot... 2)You will not escape from the cracklings if you a)use it in a laptop b)use it with an external firewire. I have seen a lot of ppl setting up home studios with laptops. Big mistake. The processing in the laptops is extremely slow and this squeezes all the cpu, consequently the card cannot respond. If you don't own the right pc, then it wouldn't be possible to get miracles with having a good sound card, even the best of the market.Only desktops for serious jobs 3)Do you protect it from smoke and dust? 4)Do you switch it off when you don't to use it? If no you decrease it's life expectancy. If you need a mixer that lasts forever then you have to pay 10times more the price. For me it seems to be ok. Value: As I said... the best Manufacturer Support: I don't think it's good. First of all the manual doesn't really help. And the Cubase LE that came together with the board is a joke. Who needs the fake version of this software when everyone owns something? The Wow Factor: I like it. Comparing with the other sound cards, this gives a very professional image to my home studio... Overall: It's a good sound card and mixer but you need to know what you really want. Invest in good mics and desktop and you'll be grand.
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Phonic Helix12FW Mixer Customer Review submitted July 14, 2007

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Sound
Features
Ease of Use
Quality
Value
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Sound: Sounds great; no buzz/pops/fuzz. Quality: I'm quite astonished with the quality of this mixer, considering the price. Value: You cannot beat this product as far as bag for your buck goes. Manufacturer Support: I email them a question I had, and they got back to me promptly... much faster than i ever expected. The Wow Factor: nothing sexy, but its not like its the star of the show. Overall: This is one of the only firewire mixers that will run under windows xp 64x; which is why i bought it. If you are running x64, make sure you buy this one, (MKII) the first edition does NOT support XP 64x
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"A great little mixer for recording" submitted December 30, 2008

By a customer from live.co.uk
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Features
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The Wow Factor
Musical Background: Professional musician, amateur recording engineer
Music Style: Jazz/Funk
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Sound: Couldn't fault the sound quality you get. The recording quality is great (to my ears at least, I won't claim to have a magic ear), and the playback I get sounds brilliant with no noticeable delay on my system. Feature: I mean, you're paying normal analog mixer prices for something with a FireWire interface right on board. It's fantastic. Ease of Use: Not really the boards fault, but getting it to record becomes a pain in your software your first time. All different recording programs have different ways to go about it, and it's easier in some. Once you get the hang of it its brilliant. Quality: It's built like a tank from what I can see. It's not the sexiest product in the world, but I won't worry about it being smashed to pieces. And I've been using it for about a year and it's always been reliable. Value: You won't find a similar mixer for any cheaper, I don't think. The Wow Factor: This was more a purchase of practicality than anything else. The color and style don't do much for me, but the layout of the mixer is easy to follow. Faders are all smooth as can be, so that's a plus. I wouldn't currently be recording if it wasn't for this puppy so I should really thank my lucky stars. Overall: I can't say how long it's going to be with me, but I currently have no thoughts of upgrading, downgrading, going with another brand or any of that. At the moment this is exactly what I need.
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"Bang for the buck is fantastic!" submitted December 16, 2011

By a customer from me.com
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Features
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Musical Background: 40 years, keyboard, bass, trumpet
Music Style: Christian
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Sound: I went to this model from a Mackie primarily for the FIREWIRE interface, however I discovered that this little mixer is much quieter than the Mackie when I use it in conjuction with my Bose L1Mi system. Garageband works great with this mixer. Feature: Firewire for Garageband recording Effects for live performance Ease of Use: No issues setting it up initially and with a MAC, it was automatic Quality: I have not had any issues with this unit in the four years of use Value: Yes, Yes, Yes! Manufacturer Support: Never had any issue with product The Wow Factor: Small footprint, very portable Overall: Still have it and use it
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"A good tool for professionals mini studios. Don't hassle with it, it always respond." submitted December 9, 2008

By a customer from gmail.com
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Sound
Features
Ease of Use
Quality
Value
Manufacturer Support
The Wow Factor
Musical Background: Musician, Music teacher, songwriter, music engineer
Music Style: Rock
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Sound: Really good sound. Professional machine, worth to buy it. It works good for serious productions and recordings. I am surprised with the quality of the preamps. It seems that you don't need an extra preamp except if you need a warmer sound then use a tube preamp and you will not regret it. All for all, is a great machine. DO NOT USE IT WITH VISTA. This crap Windows vista don't really work well with it. The sound becomes narrower in the recording because Vista squeezes all the CPU. Feature: I think it's great. It has all I need, I bet there are mixers with much more features but this one is fine for me. Ease of Use: It's not really hard to use it but if you read the manual it's gonna be better Quality: For me quality it means: How is the recording sound. My answer is read above. Value: With this price you can't find something better. I promise you, I searched a lot for sound cards, all craps, I am so happy with this... Manufacturer Support: I never used the support but to be honest I haven't seen anyone using this product in Ireland, maybe the support is poor here but anyway... The Wow Factor: Very good looking... Overall: Buy this card for good recordings and professional staff. DON'T USE IT WITH VISTA. Windows vista blows...
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"Expect it to last 6 - 12 months" submitted December 23, 2008

By a customer from hotmail.com
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Quality: Stay away from Phonic products THEY ARE ABSOLUTE JUNK!!!!! This mixer has failed twice now and I'm just tired of it. You get what you pay for and so don't expect it to last more than 6 - 12 months, and be ready for some nice crackling as you press the switches and turn the pots. Value: No value in a product that fails and is not reliable. Overall: Get a USB mainstream brand name mixer interface and save yourself the headache.
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"Some major nonsense in some of these reviews... beware" submitted February 8, 2009

By a customer from graffiti.net
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Sound: Overall: Just a comment to the review titled "a good machine for those who know what they want" '1)The Board is not a mixer that you can use it in the club, in full volume and light. It' mostly a sound card for home or studio recordings. Otherwise it would cost really a lot...' does this sentence even make any sense?? It's not a powered mixer and therefore has no volume... what has light got to do with anything?? '2)You will not escape from the cracklings if you a)use it in a laptop b)use it with an external firewire.' again, makes no sense, what is an external firewire?? the crackling I referred to was not audio popping / crackle but plain old cheap quality potentiometers crackling whilst being adjusted. 'I have seen a lot of ppl setting up home studios with laptops. Big mistake. The processing in the laptops is extremely slow and this squeezes all the cpu, consequently the card cannot respond. If you don't own the right pc, then it wouldn't be possible to get miracles with having a good sound card, even the best of the market.Only desktops for serious jobs' again makes no sense but anyway (again) more nonsense...I have recorded a number of commercially used projects using a high end laptop. Also, this mixer IS the soundcard. This mixer is junk and Phonic replaced it and I SOLD IT on craigslist...good riddance.
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"Pay a little extra and buy quality, just go USB if you can't afford firewire." submitted July 24, 2008

By a customer from hotmail.com
Overall
Sound
Features
Ease of Use
Quality
Value
Manufacturer Support
The Wow Factor
Musical Background: Active Musician
Music Style: Rock, Blues, Instrumental
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Sound: Sounds fine for the price (when it works). Feature: Has all the features that you would expect for a 12 channel compact mixer (all the features that were pioneered by those Woodinville WA folks). Ease of Use: It's a mixer, nothing much to say (the manual won't help you much). Quality: Failed after only 6 months of light use (not worth the hassle of fixing considering the price) Value: Poor value due to poor quality. They seem to have a lot of refurbished stuff, that says a lot about quality and value. Manufacturer Support: Poor support from the Phonic people. E Mail tech support is answered by people who seem to know very little about the product (or even understand the question that was asked). The Wow Factor: It may make a good door stop. Overall: Perhaps they should merge the company with that other 'budget' audio company from Germany.
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