It's kind of funny that this review is running in the same issue as the Midas PRO6 because, while they could not seem more different on the surface, they share a common thread. Both are very apt demonstrations of the relentless march towards digital in our little live event audio world.
Mackie released the Onyx series several years ago to good reviews-including one in FOH. With solid construction, really quiet and transparent mic-pre's and very musical EQ, we called it a winner for companies and acts that can use a smaller console. You are not going to do a Stones tour with it, but it is perfect as a B or C rig for a soundco, as the heart of a good portable system for a baby band or for install in a smaller church, school or club.
You may recall that last year we broke the news that Mackie had unlocked the tech mojo that made Avid's Pro Tools recording DAW software only work with an Avid front end. Since then, LOUD (Mackie's parent company) and Avid have entered into an agreement to make the whole thing official so you don't have to worry about an ever-escalating "arms race" as software upgrades to Pro Tools disable the drivers that make non-Avid gear work. For once, everyone is playing nice, and it is all to our benefit. Sweet.
The Gear
So let's look at the actual mixer. While the Pro Tools news was making headlines, it may have gotten kind of lost that this is not a "don't breathe on it or it will break" studio mixer. The Onyx 1640i is built like a tank with a steel chassis and enclosure. The I/O pod allows you to set it up with the connections on the same front surface as the faders, on the top facing 180 degrees from the operator or on the back for rack mounting.
Unlike most mixers of this size, the Onyx 1640i has 16 actual mic inputs. Many other 16 channel desks have 10 or 12 mic inputs and two or three stereo line inputs for 16 total, which is fine until you need that one extra mic input. With this mixer, if you need to plug in 16 mics with phantom power, you can do it. Speaking of phantom, it is individually selectable per channel along with a low cut filter. Each channel has an XLR and ¼-inch line input and an insert point.
EQ consists of four bands per channel with two semi-parametric sweepable mids, plus high and low shelving. You get four sub-groups and a whopping six auxes (my Midas Venice 320 only has four…) all of which are pre/post switchable. Aux 3 is returnable to either Aux 1 or 2 or both, so if you are using 1 and 2 for monitors and 3 for a reverb, you can put a little grease in the wedges really easily.
Now here is the part that really makes it sing, and is also the thing that made too many people think it was a recording mixer only. You get two FireWire connections on the I/O panel, which you can use to send audio to any computer-based DAW. Look at that again. Any DAW. Not just Pro Tools. If you are a Nuendo guy or a Logic chick you can go there, too. And it is not just a couple of FireWire jacks. There are switches all over the place for determining what signals get sent on that bus and at what point in the signal chain. You can switch each channel in individually, either pre or post EQ, plus you can switch between an analog line input or FireWire input for each channel-great for acts with tracks running on a laptop. You can also send each of the auxes and submixes and the main output to FireWire. And, lest we forget, there is even a talkback mic built right into the console.
All this I/O and switchability make the Onyx 1640i tremendously versatile for live use. Use it as a straight live mixer and send each channel to a DAW for recording, or run four channels of DAW input for tracks and still have 12 mics that you can also send back to the DAW for live recording. Or-and this is way cool-you can get some of the same plug-in FX bennies that the much-more-pricey digital mixers give you by running the signal-either per channel or via the auxes through a DAW channel with dynamic and FX plug ins and you get to use what's in your laptop instead of a rack of outboard gear. Bottom line is that you can bring the 1640i and a DAW-equipped laptop to a gig and be done with it. No more need to haul around racks of other gear.
The Gig
I took the 1640i out on a gig at Christmas time. Weird gig. Called the Great Santa Run, it is a 5K race where everyone wears Santa suits and raises money for Opportunity Village-a Vegas charity that works with developmentally-challenged people, getting them trained and able to make it in the workplace. The band was a cool three-piece-guitar, keys and drums with two singers-playing rocked-up versions of Christmas classics. The gig was outdoors, and we covered an area that held up to several hundred people, depending on the time of day and what was happening with the race.
Setup was super simple, and I was using the Cerwin-Vega Active Series powered cabinets. With a compact rig and no outboard gear, I was able to easily fit the whole PA into the back of a PT Cruiser and set it up by myself in less than 30 minutes.
As I was only running 10 inputs, I had all kinds of ways to run the FireWire, and ended upsending each channel to the DAW and using one of the auxes to feed a reverb plug that I was able to dial in as needed right from the console without going back to the computer.
The gig went flawlessly, and I walked away with the whole thing recorded and ready to mix without extra gear or hassle. (Caveat: I bring my laptop to gigs with me anyway. so the only "extra" gear was an external hard drive for the audio tracks.) If Mackie made a 24-channel frame size, I would be selling my Venice right now, because the Onyx sounds just as good and is miles more flexible for a lot less money. Alas, most of the gigs I provide PA on require more channels. But I like this enough that I am considering just sub-mixing my drums to get the channel count I need.
Overall, the Onyx 1640i is a very good, tough-as-nails small-format live mixer with the added bonus of a plethora of digital recording and processing options. I'm gonna hate sending it back now that the review is done.
Mackie Onyx 1640i Mixer
What It Is: Small format live mixer with added digital I/O
Who It's For: Soundco B and C rigs, baby bands and venues that do not need a large channel count.
Pros: Well-built for live use, flexible I/O, easy to set up and run
Cons: Would love to see an 24-channel version
How Much: $2,199 MSRP.
