Mackie Onyx 1640

[PlayItLoud]

Hi all,

Anyone one here used or own a mackie onyx mixer? I'm thinking of replacing my O2R V2 with one.

Thanks guys

[Laniko]

I do what's up?

[DC11]

I was thinking about getting one, but once I found out that the firewire is pre-damn near everything, I said "HELL NAH!!"

Seemed like a good and quick mobile setup, but I'd rather save up and get something more practical.

[PlayItLoud]

Just want to know about overall sound quality, build quality and usability.., etc..

[DC11]

OK.

It's mackie. That should tell you alot. I described the usability. As a board, it'll work, as an interface, I think it's worthless.

[PlayItLoud]

Can anyone recomend a better analog board than the Onyx to replace my 02R then?

[DC11]

Soundtraks topaz w/mod. Can't remember the name of the mod, but I've heard great things about that board, especially for the money.

[PlayItLoud]

I've heard good things abot this board too, but nothing about the mod?? Whats that all about?

[Flories]

And the Tascam 3200?

It's digital, and that's holding me form buying it !
But it's fresh digital technology, better pre-amps and convertors than before in the DP-24, ... people say...
and with the firewire-option you have 24 channels to the computer and back !
That 01V from Yamaha, a digital board, it's still worth its money, and how old is it?

I don't know if this would be a good replacement... as my advice to you...

But I'm interested in the Onyx boards, and in this one...
Don't know what to do...

Greetz,
Flories

[egeane]

I have owned the onyx 1640 for a few months now, and done some remote recording straight to a laptop. I am running a g4 ibook and record directly to a 7200 external firewire drive. Works like a great pair of titty's. Never had a problem. I am even using cubase as my software program to record. Getting Logic soon!!!

The mic pres are absolutely silent, and beutiful. Unfortunatly I have only recorded local bands, and one orchestra. The recordings of the bands were only as good as the band... and that isn't saying much. But the orchestra sounded great.

The firewire card has two firewire outs, I can plug one to my computer, and the other straight to a hardrive. Using only one firewire port on my computer, and the board is then writing straight to the drive. Very Convienient.


My goal in the next few months is to begin recording church choirs, high school and college orchestras and symphony's. I am getting into doing live video and audio multitracking for theater and of course using it for bands, both live and studio. I've been doing live sound for years, but everybody does live sound, so there is no money in it. By upgrading 1 piece of gear, my business now offers SO MUCH MORE in the way of services.

Go Mackie. I am on board and probably will be for a while. The only thing I hope to see change is the firewire card having 16 channels coming back out of the DAW and back through the channel strips for mixing. That and I wonder how long it will be before Mackie is making a decent multi track program. Traction sucks!!! Until then protools will still rule the world, but I will invest my word in saying that Mackie is on the rise.

GET THE ONYX... I love it.

[warhead]

Hey guys, kind of a new thing we're doing but worth a mention I suppose. We are now stocking and shipping modified Onyx mixers that enable you to record the Perkins EQ from your DB25 and Firewire outputs. I made the announcement here:

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php3?t=55288

The mods are performed locally and do not void the standard warranty. The mod itself carries a warranty as well.

Mods are also available for current Onyx owners.

I personally had our tech set mine up "pre-fader" which enables me to still use it as a live mixer if needed and not have the mutes / fader moves affect recordings.

War

[robd]

my band got one last march, and it is really great. The pres rock, it is very quiet. It would be dramatically improved by one of the mods that war described. The one thing i really wish they had done that they didn't, was to have another optional card so that you could run 16 outs from your daw and use it for mixdown. boy, if they had done that, and let you record through the eqs, then I would have no beef at all.
One thing that amazed me was that you can get a pretty damn good bass sound by plugging the bass into one of the instrument di's (switchable on channels 1&2), using the channel eq, and running it through a pair of 450s with everything else. This allows you to easily record the bass on a live setting, and even better, not have to haul a bass amp with you to gigs.

[John The Cut]

I thought the Onyx only returns a stereo feed from the DAW via Firewire making it impossible to mixdown on?

[robd]

im sorry if I wasn't clear. It DOES only return a stereo feed, making it impossible to mix down on.
This is my biggest beef with their design, which is why I decided to mention it. I was using the potential, as in WHAT IF they had designed it right, wouldn't that be nice? That said, there isn't really anything like it in its price range at all, and aside from that beef, and the one that is apparently fixed by war's mod, I think it is great.

[Wayne]

After already going through the 24-8 ribbon cable thing, and now it looks like the same is popping up on my 1604VLZ (assign switches flaking for sure, cables..?) I can't help wondering how Onyx will fare. Both of these were solid initially.
Sorry for the attitude, but for the prospect of now going through another board I can't trust in the field..
Wayne

[The Spark]

It would be nice if they offered an ADAT option instead of the firewire... That would make it an interesting combo with a LE rig....