For many musicians and engineers, the words “Mackie” and “mixer”
are synonymous, and with good reason. For decades, the company has
produced robust, no-nonsense mixing consoles of all shapes and sizes,
serving countless garage bands, recording sessions, and stadium shows
in the process. With the Onyx-i series, Mackie offers a compelling alchemy
of digital and analog functionality, promising that the smallest box in
their flagship series not only brings beef and flavor as a live mixer, but
also as a FireWire audio interface for computer recording.
Construction and Connections
Right out of the box, I appreciated the Onyx 820i’s compact form factor,
which proved useful in the two separate and small project studio spaces.
In the first, I easily set the mixer on top of my Mac Pro tower and tweaked
knobs and buttons from there; in the second, it fit nicely on my desk.
Also impressive is the layout and accessibility of controls—the “Where’s
the button to do this?” factor is essentially nonexistent. My guest expert,
producer and engineer Michael Winger (Tom Petty, Regina Spektor, Super Adventure Club), agreed that “the FireWire buttons, the software and
interface elements, are all clearly labeled and easy to find.”
The Onyx-820i boasts a respectable array of “gozintas” and “gozouttas.”
The eight channels consist of two mono channels that accommodate
line or mic inputs (with or without phantom power), two stereo line
inputs, and a hybrid channel that can handle another mono mic input
(again, with or without phantom power) and stereo line inputs. If you’re
in iso-booth territory, the mixer has talkback—something I’m not used
to seeing on a piece of hardware this compact.
Computer Integration
There comes a day when every recording keyboardist must face the question:
“What do I use to unlock and record into Pro Tools?” Mackie fans can
celebrate, as the Onyx 820i comes with a driver for Pro Tools M-Powered
8—at press time, this driver was free due to a special Mackie has run for several
months. [This is less of a big deal now that Pro Tools 9 works with virtually
any CoreAudio or ASIO interface of your choice —Ed.] Installation was a breeze and within five minutes, I
was opening sessions and comping vocals. I also used the mixer with Logic,
Finale, GarageBand, and other programs with no difficulties.
On the FireWire integration side, the Onyx 820i gives you a lot of flexibility
as to how to communicate with your DAW. Channels 1, 2, 3-4, and
5-6 let you choose whether pre- or post-fader-and-EQ signal goes out the
FireWire port, for example. “It’s also nice that you can assign the main mix
to FireWire 7-8 and have things show up on your computer with the touch
of a button, rather than having to route them around with cables,” added
Winger. “These are all good workflow enhancements.”
Twin FireWire 400 ports, main outs, control room outs, and alternate outs are on the rear panel. Producing part of your album in Los Angeles and part in Australia? The internal power supply auto-switches throughout a range from 100 to 240 VAC.
In Use
For an album in progress, I used the Onyx to record organ and electric
piano from a Roland V-Combo keyboard, heavy lead synth sounds from
a Roland V-Synth, and backing vocals sung into a large-diaphragm, phantom-
powered condenser mic. In all of these uses, the sound captured in
my Logic and Pro Tools sessions came through crisp and true to the
source, without significant coloring or affectation. Winger, who mixed
the album, agreed, noting that “the preamps were clean and quiet without
significant hiss, muck, or thinness.”
The Onyx 820i also did a fine job at a house concert. My sound requirements
were straightforward: stereo output to two speakers, with inputs
coming from a dynamic vocal mic, mono electric bass (easy, thanks to
the mixer’s built-in DI on channels 1 and 2), and a digital stage piano
running in stereo. I liked the feel, sound, and musicality of the Perkins
EQ as I swept out some shrillness from the piano’s upper range and boosted the low end of the bass to fit the sonics of the room.
My only noteworthy gripe about the Onyx 820i is that it lacks traditional
MIDI ports. Since I do a lot of composition and recording work with virtual
instruments, their absence was a drag. True, pretty much any keyboard
you buy these days will have direct USB MIDI connection to your computer,
so this is far from a dealbreaker—but for those of us who still prefer
to use our beloved Kurzweil PC88s and other pre-USB axes as MIDI controllers,
and conserve valuable USB and FireWire ports on our computers,
a good ol’ pair of five-pin MIDI jacks would’ve been a nice addition.
Conclusions
The Onyx 820i is a rugged and versatile mixer that will do many gigging
and recording musicians proud, both in the club and in the studio. Keyboardists
are used to routing our setups through a compact mixer for live
gigs—we have to do it all the time. Therefore, it’s very intuitive that the
front end for the DAW in our keyboard-centric home studios should handle
like an analog mixer—and since the Mackie is one, it does this brilliantly.
If you need more inputs, larger siblings in the Onyx-i family offer
the same crisp, clean sound and multitrack FireWire output. If you’re
looking for a transparent sounding, no-nonsense mixing and recording
solution to take from studio to stage and back again, the Onyx 820i should
be at the top of your list.
Web Extras
Specifications
PROS Works as an interface for Pro Tools M-Powered, or virtually any other
DAW. Clean, crisp preamps. Lots of functionality in a small footprint.
Versatile analog and FireWire routing. Robust construction.
CONS Doesn’t function as a MIDI interface.
CONCEPT Analog mixer that thrives in a live setting—and as a FireWire audio
interface for your favorite Mac or PC recording software.
INPUT CHANNELS 8 total: 2 mono and 3 stereo.
MIC PREAMPS 3 total: 1 Onyx pre on each of channels 1–3.
EQ Perkins EQ on all channels; 3-band with sweepable midrange on channels
1 and 2; 4-band on channel 3-4; 3-band on 5-6 and 78.
MAXIMUM RECORDING RESOLUTION 24-bit/96kHz.
INCLUDED SOFTWARE Tracktion 3 Basic Bundle, driver for integration
with Pro Tools M-Powered 8.
W x D x H 9" x 14.2" x 3.8".
WEIGHT 10 lbs.
PRICE List: $499.99
Approx. street: $400
mackie.com