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Greetings and thanks for reading,

I am in the process of assembling my home studio around the Mackie ONYX 1640i firewire integrated mixer. I'm have a rack mounted kick ass PC assembled right now, running WIN 7 Pro, PT 10, and installing the Universal Audio UAD 2 - DUO PCIe card for plugins. I'm pretty stoked to get it all together.

I have owned the 1640i for about a year now and love the Carl Perkins dual sweep EQ for live sound, but I was sad to read today while reading another thread that you can't record channels post EQ with the 1640i. I think this is a shame. Can anyone conifrm this and offer some logic on the design, or is it an oversight? Since I haven't put my studio together yet I can't investigate, but I also read that you can't record any FX you may be running through an AUX either.

My thinking is that if it is designed to always record dry, un - EQ'ed, it is so you could craft a headphone mix to suit a performer while not committing to any manipulation of the actual track. Does that make sense to anyone? For example, while doing vocals it's sometimes nice to have a bit of reverb, but you wouldn't want to be stuck with it in the final mix. However, if you dialed in a nice EQ or FX it would be nice to record the channel POST! That's my thought anyways...

Anyways, I really just wanted to start a thread for anyone that may have a similar rig to offer advice, share some tips, or anything at all for that matter. Thanks again for reading. I can't wait to get at it!

Comments

kmetal Wed, 05/15/2013 - 23:08

i just did a quick search, and i think maybe what you read pertained to the 1640, not the 1640i. [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.soundons…"]Mackie Onyx 1640i[/]="http://www.soundons…"]Mackie Onyx 1640i[/]

Mackie’s first generation of Onyx mixers were great mixers in their own right, but as interfaces, they were a little limited. The Firewire outputs from mixer to Mac/PC were all pre-EQ, and the return only stereo. The newest models change this, and add other useful features

. By default, the 16 Firewire outputs are fed from the channels, pre-fader, with a choice of pre- or post-EQ sourcing,

All six aux sends have pre/post switches, for setting them up as monitor or effects sends, and each has a solo button. Solo can be set to AFL (after-fade listen) or PFL (pre-fade listen), with Mackie’s traditional flashing ‘rude solo’ light to warn when one or more solo buttons are pressed. A rotary control adjusts the solo level: a good thing, as PFL can get pretty loud sometimes. A Firewire button allows the six aux signals to be sent out on Firewire channels 9-14 in place of those input channels. Alongside are four stereo aux-return controls fed from the rear panel aux-return jacks. Return 4 can be fed to the control room and ’phones only, if needed. Returns 1 and 2 also have ‘EFX to Mon’ knobs, allowing connected effects like a vocalist’s ‘comfort’ reverb to be added to monitor sends 5 and 6. Aux 3 has a switch to route it to the main output or to the Subs buses, with a further button selecting Subs 1/2 or 3/4.

it's looking to me like you can record the effx, if not it'll just take some extra routing to make it work. if nothing else it'll remind you what you/and or the artist was hearing during tracking. which can have a big influence on their performance, and cadence, ect. especially w/ compression, and time based effx

hope this helps. Seems like you have a pretty nice setup man, have fun!

apstrong Thu, 05/16/2013 - 00:42

kmetal, post: 404718 wrote: i just did a quick search, and i think maybe what you read pertained to the 1640, not the 1640i. [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.soundons…"]Mackie Onyx 1640i[/]="http://www.soundons…"]Mackie Onyx 1640i[/]

kmetal is correct. The 1640 will not record its own EQ without some work since the firewire output is post gain and pre EQ and can't be changed. They smartened up with the 1640i, so if you have that newer model, all you have to do is press the SEND pre/post button on each channel where you want to record the EQ. The button, IIRC, is right above or at the top of the EQ area on the channel strip, below the gain knob. Check your manual, page 15 (section 27).

bassito78 Thu, 05/16/2013 - 06:02

Sweet! Thanks for the good news kmetal and apstrong! I'm relying on threads for the time being because I'm actually not anywhere near my system. I teach in the Arctic for most of the year, and I have been piecing together components for this studio for my cottage back in PEI. Therefore I won't be able to tinker until mid June. I can't wait to get at it! I have a lot to learn, but I'm looking forward to it. Thanks again guys, and any other info or tips are always welcome!

hueseph Tue, 05/06/2014 - 23:01

Okay, you've posted part of the physical routing and you haven't mentioned any of the settings on the board or the internal routing from Mackie's mixer software.

Trying to decipher this because I don't own a Mackie Onyx console right now(or any console for that matter). From what I can tell the button with the firewire icon below the gain knob is not an assign to firewire button. It's a pre or post fader select button. The firewire assign button is above the gain knob next to the +48 phantom power button. The button selects whether you are listening from line or Firewire.

What you need to do is:

  • Create your headphone matrix in Cubase. That means selecting the virtual aux and assigning them to firewire output channels in your settings.

  • on the channels that you are using for headphone mix depress the firewire/line button so that you are listening via the firewire channel.

So let's say you are using channels 13 and 14 for your (mono) headphone mixes. In cubase create your auxiliaries, and in the routing preferences assign those auxiliaries to firewire outputs 13 and 14. On the console, assign those channels to auxiliaries 1-6. There shouldn't be anything else. Just make sure that in Mackie's monitor matrix, the faders are at unity.

Regarding sub groups: This is likely also a software issue. Create your sub groups in Cubase, assign those to firewire channels and make sure you assign your click track to that.

This should all be in the manual. Well, it is in the manual. That's where I'm getting this info.

If I misunderstood, please clarify.