Owner’s Manual
Owner’
s Manual
Introduction
Thank you for choosing a Mackie profes-
sional compact mixer. The 402-VLZ3 is
equipped with our precision-engineered
XDR2
TM
Extended Dynamic Range premium
studio-grade mic preamp.
The small size of this mixer and the qual-
ity of its design make it an ideal choice for
recording, sound reinforcement, multimedia
use, or post-production work. Tuck it away
in your home studio and use the included
Tracktion software to record your wonderful
talent.
The Mackie VLZ3 series of mixers consist
of the 802, 1202, 1402, 1642, and 1604-VLZ3.
We had a few of these high quality channels
left over in engineering, so we decided to put
them to good use in the 402-VLZ3. Some of
the features include:
• 2 mono mic/line channels and 1 stereo
line-level channel
• 2-band EQ on mono channels
• Instrument input switches on channels
1 and 2
• Stereo pan button allows mono chan-
nels to be used in either summed mono
or discrete stereo operation
• Mix bus allows monitoring of any com-
bination of main mix and tape input
• Low-cut filter and overload LED on mic
channels
• Separate main mix and phones outputs
with individual volume controls
• DJ Style “cueing” of the tape input
using the “Assign to Main” button
• Tape input and output with analog
RCA connectors
• Includes Tracktion software to allow
complete recording with computers
• Solid and stylish mechanical design
• Optional mic stand adapter (see p.22)
How To Use This Manual
Since many of you folks will want to hook
up your 402-VLZ3 immediately, the first
pages you will encounter after this introduc-
tion are the ever-popular hookup diagrams.
These show typical mixer setups for various
applications.
After this section is a detailed tour of the
entire mixer, where you will find illustrations
with each feature numbered. If you’re curi-
ous about a feature, simply locate it on the
appropriate illustration, notice the number
attached to it, and find that number in the
nearby paragraphs.
This icon marks information that is
critically important or unique to the
402-VLZ3.
This icon will lead you to in-depth
explanations of features and some
practical tips.
Appendix A is a section on troubleshooting
and service information.
Appendix B is a section on connectors.
Appendix C shows the technical specifica-
tions, and a block diagram.
Tracktion
Not only do you get a shiny new 402-VLZ3
mixer, you also get Tracktion software added
for good measure. This wonderful software is
not required to run the 402-VLZ3 mixer, but
once you start using it, you will just love it.
Tracktion is a powerful audio production
and MIDI sequencing application, designed
with simplicity and ease of use in mind. It
can be easily loaded onto your PC or Mac,
and configured for your system. It is capable
of delivering professional results that only
a few years ago would have required a sig-
nificant investment in expensive hardware.
When you open Tracktion, you have at your
disposal all of the tools necessary to turn
your musical ideas into great mixes.
You will need a computer with a high-
speed internet connection to download the
Tracktion Basic Bundle. The authorization
code is supplied with your 402-VLZ3. See
www.mackie.com for system requirements
and more Tracktion details.
Entire audio civilizations have grown up
around Tracktion, so we hope that you will
enjoy it and your new 402-VLZ3 mixer.
