Mackie Onyx 1220 w Firewire card

  • Thread starter Thread starter Hoox81
  • Start date Start date
H

Hoox81

New member
I'm thinking of updating my mixer/interface for my daw and thought this looked like a good deal. I currently do all my work solo, recording no more than 2 mics at a time (limitation of current setup) and want to step up so that I can record more channels at a go. [At this point, I probably won't be using more than 3-4 at a time.]

Anyway, I saw that Guitar Center had this mixer on special where if you bought the mixer for $529 you got the firewire card for free ($399 reg price at GC).

Just wondering if anyone else has any experience with this board/card. I've done some research on it and it seems to have pros/cons like any other product - biggest con is that the firewire out is PRE-eq and PRE-insert (there seems to be a workaround for this though).

Any comments/suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks
 
i just got the same deal from musicians friend. i wasn't even in the market for a mixer (although i hade my eye on the onyx when it first came out) and i had to catch that deal.
i hear the preamp and eq's are really good, i just dont like the i/o options the firewire card offer, but ill give it a try for a free $400.00 item

I'm sure that didn't help you, but at least you know your not in the boat alone, although i'm pretty sure i'll be happy with it.
 
yeah i just noticed this too...
it's basically a 400f, for $530! haha am i wrong?
 
The EQ section on the 1220 has been cut back to 3 band, but it's one hell of a buy with the free card right now. Great all in one solution.

War
 
The difference between the 400f and the 1220 interface is in the sampling rates... 400f goes up to 192 while the 1220 "only" goes up to 96. Otherwise, they probably perform similarly indeed.

I took the plunge and got the mixer/fw card combo. Haven't had time to unpack it yet though...

Thanks
 
i got it too, looks like ups just tried to deliver today, while i was working (for ups...how ironic..haha)ha
 
Hoox81 said:
product - biggest con is that the firewire out is PRE-eq and PRE-insert (there seems to be a workaround for this though).
Click to expand...

Hoox, where did you hear about the workaround? if there is a workaround, i might just get the mackie instead of a firepod. i was planning on getting the mackie+fw, but the fact that firewire out is pre-everything pushed me over to the firepod, since the firepod does the same thing BUT has 4 more preamps for roughly $70 more.
 
The "workaround" I've heard is taking an input, let's say ch1 on the onyx and routing it to a submix which is then fed back into another channel, let's say ch2. If you then select ch2 as your recording source, you will get a post-eq, post-fader signal.

I've also heard there are a few places where they are modding the boards to be post-eq, post-fader by default.

On another board, someone suggested that since the 1220 has 12 ch but the firewire supports 16, the board could be modded to send post- signals to the extra 4 channels. Sounds plausible but I'm not the type to be modding my gear... :(

Another oddity I'm seeing is that when I connect the Onyx to Sonar 5 (I believe using the WDM drivers) is that the Onyx outputs are showing up as 8in, 1out instead of 16in, 2out. Totally confused by this at the moment...
 
Hoox81 said:
Another oddity I'm seeing is that when I connect the Onyx to Sonar 5 (I believe using the WDM drivers) is that the Onyx outputs are showing up as 8in, 1out instead of 16in, 2out. Totally confused by this at the moment...
Click to expand...

8 stereo ins
1 stereo out
 
shackrock said:
8 stereo ins
1 stereo out
Click to expand...

That's what I originally thought but when I attempted to record, all I got was left channel. Even when I panned the signal hard to the right on the board, it all came through the left channel (no stereo) even though I had Sonar set to record stereo ch 1.

I thought it might be a driver issue so I switched over to the ASIO driver. Now, all I can see for inputs is Ch 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17 and the output is limited to Main L.

When monitoring the output feed, I'm getting it in stereo but am still confused as far as the input stage.

I can't post anything on the Mackie Board because they haven't "approved" my membership yet!!! Grrrrrrrr..... :mad:
 
hmm, wierd. still makes me think it's reading them as stereo...

i'd blame the software before the onyx at this point. try posting stuff on a sonar board.
 
Here's the info provided by Mackie Support:

"It is actually the way Sonar has implemented there audio channels
naming scheme, under ASIO the inputs are automatically set as 1 left 1 right
and that is actually reflecting channels one and two on the console."

I tested this and now it makes sense although I don't believe this is a Sonar issue. SoundForge shows the inputs in the same manner.

So basically, you can record mono tracks by figuring out which input is being used. For example, I have a guitar in ch 4 on the board. The input I need to select in the software is actually Input 2 Right. Yeah, that makes sense...

For stereo, you can input via a stereo channel but again have to figure out which input in the app is mapped to those channels. For example, ch 7 + 8 on the board maps to input stereo channel 4.

Like I said, I still believe it's a driver issue and not a software-related problem. Hopefully, Mackie gets around to updating the drivers.
 
i mean, that's how a lot of programs work i'd say....Back with my delta44 I'd have to do this on vegas:

Input 1 L = 1
Input 1 R = 2
Input 2 L = 3
Input 3 R = 4

I feel like that's kinda normal. haha. Just because the programs work with STEREO tracks at the programming level....where something like protools seems like it works with mono.
 
Ok... after getting past the "learning curve issue", I've been able to play around with the Onyx for a few days.

I think I now actually LIKE the way in which the firewire interface was implemented (pre-everything), at least for my purposes. By having the original signal "untainted" coming into the DAW, I can immediately store it off as a track "backup" in case at some point, I don't like either the EQ or the insert FX settings on the track. By sending an AUX feed of the track at the same time and returning that to a different track, I get the "modified" signal as well (independent/on its own track). If at some point, I come to dislike the modified signal, I can always go back and re-amp the original signal.

I've read many places where this is good form anyway so it's nice (again in my scenario = home recording setup) that the Onyx "forces" me to do this.

Just my 2 cents (at this moment)...
 
me be newbe

I also just ordered the 1220 with fw. But not sure I did the right thing, Its probably not what I need at all, or much more then I need. I been racking my brain trying to learn enought to make a good decision, for the last 48 hours, Im a newbie at this. I would like to input 2 guitars, bass, a keyboard, also add some mp3's to the mix(to jam with), definately not a professional, just enjoy me and a couple friends jamming togather, I would love to be able to take whatever input i want and have it come out only the speakers(and amps) i like. I got 7 speakers, but can come up with more. Is this what I need? I hear alot about post/eq and pre/eq but am not sure what it all means, and still don't know what a DAW? is.
Any help would be alot of help to me.
 
IronMan said:
I hear alot about post/eq and pre/eq but am not sure what it all means, and still don't know what a DAW? is.
Click to expand...

If you don't have a "DAW" or are not planning on using a computer to record your sounds, then the firewire interface will do you no good. And if you aren't planning on using the firewire interface in the near future, don't worry about the PRE/POST discussion we are having here.

The Mackie will suffice (although probably overkill for you AT THE MOMENT) for what you want to do. Depending on you speaker configurations (active vs passive), you can use the main outs, the control room outs, the aux outs, to send signal to the different speakers. If your speakers are active, all you have to do is connect them and turn them on. If they are passive (no on/off buttons), then you'll need to power them via a poweramp.

The Onyx preamps seem to be good as well as the Perkins EQ. Like I said, these might be overkill at the moment but at that price you're set up with a pretty good board which will provide you with years of enjoyment. Getting the firewire interface for free is a plus and allows you to contemplate taking the next step into the world of digital recording.

Hope this helps.
 
hey i'm kinda resurrecting this thread.

I've read that if you are recording only 1 or 2 tracks simultaneously, there is another workaround for EQing.

I guess tracks 17/18 showing up in your software are like the full mix channels...and if you select those you will get the post-eq/insert signals. I'm not to sure if this is making sense to me at the moment, but i'll be sure to try it in the next couple days, next time i'm tracking...
 
shackrock said:
hey i'm kinda resurrecting this thread.

I've read that if you are recording only 1 or 2 tracks simultaneously, there is another workaround for EQing.

I guess tracks 17/18 showing up in your software are like the full mix channels...and if you select those you will get the post-eq/insert signals. I'm not to sure if this is making sense to me at the moment, but i'll be sure to try it in the next couple days, next time i'm tracking...
Click to expand...

hey y'all, hope somebody here can help me and i won't have
to start a new thread.....

shackrock, first off i gotta say when i read your post a couple of weeks ago i was so happy i wanted to die!!!
i use the mackie for either making dj-mixes or for recording beats from my mpc to pc... so, this workaround you've mentioned above was like the best thing
i could've found out... thanks a lot!!

i've been using channel 17 for recording ever since.

but now i have a problem thats buggin me out..
yesterday i worked on another mix and all was good..
but today when i wanted to continue with my project, all of a sudden i only got a signal on the right channel...
i've tried things llike reinstalling the mackie drivers and software but its still there.. how can this be??
i cant remember having changed any settings i have no idea whats going on..

when i chose the pre-eq channel everything is cool and the signals for L/R are nice and equal..

what do i need to do to fix this?

any help is greatly appreciated...

blinkin
 
Hey Shackrock (or anyone),

Since you guys have the 1202 Onyx with Firewire and it seems like it has been a while since you got it. I would love knowing how good/bad/indifferent is/was compared to your old mixer (whichever you had).

Also, what do you think about the onyx mic pre-amps?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top