sean.brown
New member
Has anyone looked at this/used this? I am really interested, possibly buying one, but I haven't heard of ANYONE who's used it. Let me know!
Mackie Onyx 1640 + Firewire Option...
- Thread starter sean.brown
- Start date
BushmasterM4
New member
I just posted this on the studio page. I use a 1640. If you have any questions, send them my way.
I also have a Mackie Onyx 1640 mixer with the firewire card. While you cant use the mixers faders during the mixing process (you mix with your DAW), it offers alot of other benefits. For $1700 you get 16 premium Onyx preamps. And I mean 16 xlr/trs connections. None of this bull shit where the say 12 or 16 and you really get 4 or 8 xlr/trs inputs and the rest are other audio inputs (like rca and such). I also have my mixer set up to feed 6 live room headphone mixes to musicians for monitoring. These 6 feeds are run off the 6aux feeds and each channel is fully adjustable to each performers taiste. It also controls feeds to speakers in the live room and control room. I have tape decks, turntables, etc.. hooked to it. So there is alot it can do a standard firepod type unit cant. Plus I can take it one the road and record a band live !!!
I also have a Mackie Onyx 1640 mixer with the firewire card. While you cant use the mixers faders during the mixing process (you mix with your DAW), it offers alot of other benefits. For $1700 you get 16 premium Onyx preamps. And I mean 16 xlr/trs connections. None of this bull shit where the say 12 or 16 and you really get 4 or 8 xlr/trs inputs and the rest are other audio inputs (like rca and such). I also have my mixer set up to feed 6 live room headphone mixes to musicians for monitoring. These 6 feeds are run off the 6aux feeds and each channel is fully adjustable to each performers taiste. It also controls feeds to speakers in the live room and control room. I have tape decks, turntables, etc.. hooked to it. So there is alot it can do a standard firepod type unit cant. Plus I can take it one the road and record a band live !!!
I had the 1220 w/ Firewire for a couple of years and finally sold it.
It works best for live recordings and less so in a studio environment.
What really pushed me over the edge was Mackie's piss poor driver support. In the 2 years I owned mine, not a single driver update was released for neither Windows nor OS X. That's plain inexcusable.
That's strange. Could it be possible that an audio device is better supported in the Linux kernel than it is on mainstream operating systems?
therage!
Wicked Machine
Specs aren't everything but that firewire card has got to have the lowest dynamic range of any interface short of a soundblaster.
Like the OP said they suck at driver support.
Dynamic Range
> 98 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz @ 96 kHz sample rate
> 100 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz @ 44.1 kHz sample rate
Like the OP said they suck at driver support.
Dynamic Range
> 98 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz @ 96 kHz sample rate
> 100 dB, 20 Hz to 20 kHz @ 44.1 kHz sample rate
BushmasterM4
New member
Hmmm, I never had any driver issues. Just make sure your firewire port on your pc is a TI chip. Others are not so friendly. Even Protools, and other users have issues with non TI chipsets. Also as far as dynamic range. Im not making music only dogs can hear.
pipelineaudio
Well-known member
Do not ever buy a mackie product based on promises of their future development or support. If it doesnt do exactly what you need it to do on the day you buy it, don't buy it
Not only does Mackie do a horrible job of driver and development support. Not only does Mackie deny an upcoming obscelesence until the day of that obscelesence, but they go so far as to not only NOT release, but to forbid any third party development aimed at keeping a unit alive.
Not only does Mackie do a horrible job of driver and development support. Not only does Mackie deny an upcoming obscelesence until the day of that obscelesence, but they go so far as to not only NOT release, but to forbid any third party development aimed at keeping a unit alive.
Really? They delivered a free Onyx mixer with firewire option card to the developers of the Free Firewire Audio Drivers project so that the Linux driver could be further developed.
I love my Mackie 1604 VLZ3. It doesn't make any noise, it's rock solid, and it's got all the features I need for my 8-track open reel machine. No driver issues here
BushmasterM4
New member
Sounds like someone blamed Mackie when it was all the other crap they had on their pc.
The CR 1604 always sounded good to me. And at this point...me is who matters.
Later though...
Later though...
pipelineaudio
Well-known member
Really? They delivered a free Onyx mixer with firewire option card to the developers of the Free Firewire Audio Drivers project so that the Linux driver could be further developed.
I love my Mackie 1604 VLZ3. It doesn't make any noise, it's rock solid, and it's got all the features I need for my 8-track open reel machine. No driver issues here
That's pretty cool of them! Far cry from the spectacle they made out of themselves with the OTTOMIX and not allowing smaller daws to get the MCU SDK. Ask anyone who shelled out the money for a DxB how they feel
sean.brown
New member
So is that going to basically be tough for getting volume out of recording, say, vocals, drums, guitar amps, etc? Because that's one of the troubles I've been having with my 1010. I had to buy a rack leveler/splitter to boost the signal going into the 1010.
Is this really such a bad unit for home recording. Should I be looking at something else, because I'm really not going to be trying to record a lot of live situations.
Would I be better off with two 1010's and buy a mixer board with 16ins and 16 outs?
Sloan
New member
I've used one for almost the past year for live recording and rehearsal recording. Works awesome. If your looking for something to record live shows with, it's perfect. Set your monitors up, set your mains, and just plug it into a laptop and record. All your tracks are dry and unaltered so you can mix down later.
Here's a clip from a live show(without vocals):
Another option that's coming out next month is the PreSonus StudioLive
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/StudioLive16/
Here's a clip from a live show(without vocals):
Another option that's coming out next month is the PreSonus StudioLive
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/StudioLive16/
BushmasterM4
New member
I record and mix all my stuff with one. Im not the greatest musician. But my stuff records very clean. As far a response goes, when you mix, anything above 15khz and below 30hz gets high and low pass filtered anyway. You dont want those extreme lows and highs in a mix. As far as db range dont even think about that. That will not effect your final volume of your final mix. The overall volume will be done at the "mastering" stage of the final mix. Your going to find some people dont like certain brands and some do. I researched for months before I bought my 1640. Its a hell of alot of mixer/interface for the money. Now I would really like to try the Mackie 1200F interface. It looks pretty damn nice. Also Yamaha has a new mixer out that looks sweet too. The new Presonus linked above looks nice also. Tough decision.