Topic: Mackie Onyx opinions??

[andromedanwarmachine]

Alright, an IEC mains voltage I/P kind of negates "stand alone" portability, but does anybody here have experience of the Onyx stuff??

http://www.mackie.com/products/onyx820i/

I was embarassed last night by my 18 year old Mackie 1202 when trying to run something with it and am looking into a replacement in kind. I was interested on the Onyx series because of the Firewire O/P. I'd be after the smallest version.

Not sure if this is the right area for this post!!?

Thanks

JimP

[sunjan]

I was interested on the Onyx series because of the Firewire O/P. I'd be after the smallest version.

Some users here have good things to say about Mackie Onyx Sattellite. Used to be the smallest one, don't know if there's a replacement model?
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=115258.0

IIRC, it doesn't have analog pass-thru without AD>DA conversion, but it's supposed to sound fine anyway.

[darby]

talk to Nick
http://taperssection.com/index.php?action=profile;u=2404
he runs one

[kirk97132]

I used a 402 for a very short time.  Sounded ok, not great not bad, maybe a little dark sounding if I was forced to describe it.  But like I said, nothing exceptional but not horrible either.  I can't speak for any type of FW, USB or digi part of the onyx series just the preamps

[andromedanwarmachine]

OK, team- thanks for that...

Just trying to creep up on a replacement piece of gear and I've always felt Mackie stuff was a bit distinct from the rest.

That's pretty crazy about the A>D:D>A conversion for a analogue O/P. That kind of suggests that most of the internals are digitally based? Almost like it's really just a control surface? For this kind of money?

Either that or the signal path is a bit unusual...

[live2496]

The preamps are supposed to be top notch. But I've only read the marketing hype and don't have experience with them.

I have an original CR1604 and if I ever replace it I would buy a Mackie mixer with the recording via firewire.

The Satellite is no longer in production. The Blackjack (USB and 2 channel) and Blackbird (Firewire and 8 channel) are supposed to be replacements.

A friend has a Presonus StudioLive 16.4.2. But it's more difficult to learn your way around on it doing eq and so forth. I like the Mackie's because they are setup like a conventional mixer.

[live2496]

Are you still looking into getting the 820i ?

The studio owner just upgraded his mixer from a Studiomaster 16 channel (circa. 1996) to the Mackie 24-4.

The difference in the sound is quite astounding really. Super quiet and seems to have tons of gain. He has an Alesis HD24, so he didn't need a mixer with recording via firewire. But I assume that the 820i probably has the same preamps as this.

The previous mixer was really pushed when it came to providing a good level to the recorder inputs. So I always had to be conservative to avoid any distortion in the mic pres. The new Mackie is a better match for that 24-bit recorder.