mackie onyx 1640 vs. firepods

[drummin4christ]

What are looking to do with these units? Are you wanting to record live? I have the firepods and love them. They have served me very well, and I even linked three units together this summer for live recording.

[bigbone]

I got a Firepod, and i do record my drums, and it work very well for me.. thumbsup

[warhead]

Both are decent preamps for the money, I particularly like the Onyx but I've used the Firepod for drums just as a test here:

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/...2079&alid=1315

No processing, I was going to use the Firepod for the first time for a live recording (choir) gig so I tested it out with my laptop first. The drivers were very solid and the gig went great.

War

[Way Of The Heart]

ONYX...is unbelievable for the bucks. I just bought the 1620.

The preamps are clean and full...very unexpectedly pleasant.

The EQ however is stunning. Just silky. Leauges above Nuendo EQ (Though that is probably a given) And just as smooth as my Focusrite.

The FW option has great A/D but only Good D/A...IMO.

I plan to use the ONYX for summing and for tracking to Nuendo....


Peace and Blessings,

[warhead]

Hey Rodney, I put the ONYX up against the DACS 2 channel preamp a week ago and I gotta say...the DACS won on openness and clarity / detail, but it didn't exactly stomp the ONYX guts out! Tight and focused, that's the ONYX pre.

When you say sum through the 1620, I'm assuming you do have other DA converters correct? I agree the AD is quite useable and the DA sort of "eh" for monitoring. But just so nobody gets confused, the ONYX Firewire only has 2 channels of D/A and it is automatically assigned to the monitor outs of the board.

War

[Way Of The Heart]

Yea...brother Warren!! What's up bud?!!

Right now I am using ONYX with FW and MOTU 896HD... That is 8 channels I can sum into the Mackie via A/D outs from the 896...This gives me 8 channels of the georgous EQ.

Yes...I originally bought the ONYX...with the Firewire option to use as a standalone interface...without plans to sum, but the D/A was a little 'strange'. A little brittle and thin on top, heavy on bottom compared to the MOTU but better than the TASCAM by far...

But the ONYX A/D is ...sweet.

Let me reiterate to anyone looking at Interfaces...The MOTU 896HD and 196HD have stunning D/A...I don't know why and I don't care. But these are full, clean and rich IMO. The A/D is very usuable but not as clean or rich as the ONYX w/ FW.

So...today...I have a RME Fireface 800 coming. I am going to check all 4 of these out and make as accurate and subjective of a test as I can and then post them...

My studio is kind of mess right now, I have been cheking out Interface options for almost 2 weeks.

...You can see the Mackie, Tascam FW and 896HD...(Sorry the 192 is gone but I posted those results last week)




As is I am going to keep the ONYX and MOTU 896HD unless the RME blows me away today. I have 3 to compare it with at once which is a good way to go IMO.

Peace and Respect,

[warhead]

Chillin', hope all is well with you!

Yeah, I'm using the Onyx 1640 with my Creamware A16 Ultra which is 16 AD and 16 DA of very decent quality. Great bang for the buck for when I'm doing drums etc. My 2 channel stuff is Lucid, you should check out Lucid sometime.

There is a box called the Sonifex RB ADDA that is actually pretty damn good for 2 channels AD and DA. I ran it through my usual test of 210 instances of AD / DA conversion last week and it stood up well so...we likey likey.

War

[Mystical]

I tried out the Onyx 1640 in the studio for our studio for a month or so... I was very impressed. It's pretty good sounding especialy for the money. The eq is actually quite smooth, the only bummer being you can't track with the eq when using the direct outs because they are post mic pre but pre eq. Although buy using the sub group outs and the main mix outs you could track with up to 6 channels with eq. So it's not all that bad. I may still buy one yet.

[Way Of The Heart]

Originally Posted by Mystical

I tried out the Onyx 1640 in the studio for our studio for a month or so... I was very impressed. It's pretty good sounding especialy for the money. The eq is actually quite smooth, the only bummer being you can't track with the eq when using the direct outs because they are post mic pre but pre eq. Although buy using the sub group outs and the main mix outs you could track with up to 6 channels with eq. So it's not all that bad. I may still buy one yet.

Of course you can use the EQ!!

Just need this...Which I actually find ultra convenient and out of the way! I appreciate Mackie putting it on there.

[tINY]

Where do you plug those things into? The sub and aux outs?

Everything else is pre-EQ on the Onyx boards......



-tINY

[Way Of The Heart]

Originally Posted by tINY

Where do you plug those things into? The sub and aux outs?

Everything else is pre-EQ on the Onyx boards......



-tINY

aaahhhkkkk...

True Tiny...My mistake.

I just picked up the board and I just picked up the Dsub connections...ALL are pre-EQ.

After checking this out right now...MAIN out L/R...AUX OUTS and....ALT 3/4 are POST..the rest is NADA...

Peace and Respect,