Mackie onyx series

[Heiseric]

Hello all,

Is am a newbie to this form but it seems people are very knowledgable. As many of you are excited about, I am interested in the opportunity to upgrade my interface now that I have pro tool 9.

I am looking into the Mackie Onyx series. They seem perfect for recording in a project studio. I know there are better boards out there but i dont have the money to get a great analogue board and a converter with all o the cables. Having a mixing board and audio interface in one at this price range seems perfect.

Does anyone have experience with these? How are the converters? Are they really as great as the website and reviews make them sound?

I know there is no recall for mixing but it seems to be a good blend between the analogue and digital workflow.

Thank you!

Eric

[AfterJohn]

I'm curious about these as well. Seriously thinking about getting the 16 channel for mobile band recording.

[Heiseric]

There are two 16 channel mixers in this series. But only on of them has returns on the FireWire for every channel. The other one only has a stereo retune through the FireWire.

[Tybone]

I purchased a 1640i about a month ago. I plan to use it for 16 channel live recording, analog mixing and recording in my home studio.

I like the board as I've always used an external mixer with my recording setups (yes a throw back to the old analog days!) and I like the zero latency monitoring that happens when I do that. Also really like how the board interfaces with PT9. Simple FW interface. Very cool.

I will be recording my rock band in the new year but for now just doing multitrack stuff at home. System works well for that but I have a few issues with the board (as with everything in life no?).

1 - I'm getting a little nit picky here but the floor noise seems a bit high. With no input, I crank the gain on channel 1, set the in put for Line, turn up the channel fader and turn up the master fader and there is a BIG hiss. To be fair, the audio signal levels at those settings would be unbearably loud but the hiss is more than I would have expected. Either way the noise levels are WAY more quite than the VLZ 1202 I was using before.

2 - I need to spend some more money to get a "pod" of some kind if I want to have the patch bay to face "up". I need this so there goes another 80 bucks. For me it would seem logical that the board would come with everything you need to set it up no?

3 - Out put levels seem a little low. My old soundcard ROCKED 0db in protools. When my 1202 said the signal level was 0db protools said it was 0db tool. This is a warm and comfortable feeling. This is not so with the Onyx. Now, previously I pushed my levels until I heard distortion and then backed off but with the 1640i I have to push the levels higher, according to the scale graduations on the fader, before I get to the recording levels I like to see. Sounds good high or low but I do have a concern about unity gain through and out of the box.

4) For me being an analogue guy, this thing is easy to use. Very easy!!!

In hind I might have gone for something from the UK with midi support and a smaller size but I am very pleased with this board, it's sound and features and ruggedness.

Larry in Brampton Ontario
Canada

[Heiseric]

Thank you Larry. This is very helpful.

Eric

[AfterJohn]

Hmmmmmm...interesting. Thanks for the in-depth response. I need to test this thing out and see for myself. I wonder if they have one up for demo with Pro Tools at my local Guitar Center.