That has been a little something that has also caught my eye. Steinberg's Wave Lab, was doing that at least 10 years ago or more? Version 4 I think if I remember? Now while I don't have a FireWire enabled Onyx, these FireWire enabled mixers allow for a fast enough bidirectional data transfer rate to make those practical for some nearly real-time effects processing. This is dependent upon your Onyx and your multitrack software package. You would perhaps have a channel in your software assigned to input monitoring. And that input can be assigned to one of the auxiliary sends that will then route that auxiliary send via FireWire to the software and back to the mixer for monitoring which can also be recorded simultaneously in the multitrack software I would imagine. But this doesn't mean that you can do this with anybody's software. You need to check with Mackie to find out what their specific requirements are for this featured application of what the Onyx can do for you. I'm sure there will be others here to give you a better low down than mine.

While this is not a digital mixer per se, it is a digital enabled analog mixer. That's providing that you purchased the FireWire option, for the mixer. This turns your Onyx and to quite a computer audio interface/mixer. Not everything has to be digital you know. They still utilize analog microphone preamps in all digital mixers So the FireWire option allows you to record to and playback from, the computer. And with that fast FireWire, the computer can give you real time effects. Just like that Lexicon sitting on your music stores shelf that you can't afford. Because if the Lexicon software is in your multitrack package of features and/or optional plug-ins, it's in the bag man. Thankfully our computers today are just about fast enough to be fairly powerful effects processors almost as good as the dedicated hardware units of 20 years ago LOL. Like I'm not sure if it makes for a good PCM 70? But if you like PCM 70's like I like PCM 70's, anything close to that is a bonus. It certainly ain't bogus. So half the crap is in the mixer and the other half is in the computer. Current of like the analog front end input and output to a Lexicon PCM 70. Which will live in your computer and come out your Onyx. And at the same time you could be using the Onyx as a live PA mixer for your band, while utilizing the effects in real time and simultaneously recording your band if you should so choose to do so. And you see folks with their laptops on stage every day to day, day. Did you think they only use them for recording or playback? Now you know they don't. But the latency can kill you. I mean it takes some tweaking. So you're either concerned whether you are using it as a musical instrument, computer audio workstation or Internet toy. You can use it for all of the above if you don't complain about your Internet safety or gaming speeds. Otherwise it may not work perfectly to your liking? This is putting a big set of demands on your computer. And your computer needs full attention to it's task. That means nothing, nothing, running in the background except what you are currently doing. So this all involves a certain set of computer optimization adjustments. And that you have a decent fast modern, hopefully multi-core processor but probably no FireWire anymore? Because they're not putting FireWire on new laptops anymore. I'm all freaked out about that BS. Did they bother to look around and see how many people are still using FireWire? Were not fully entrenched with thunderbolt yet. And has everybody noticed that these new connectors keep getting smaller and flimsier? I hate that crap. I think their business plan is that two year service life is too long? Maybe we're only shooting for one year lifespans now? Pretty soon memory chips will be cheaper than blank discs. I can't read jackets that small anymore. We're going to have to laser print a miniature album cover on the memory chip plastic case. It will look like microfilm from a James Bond thriller. It will be all the rage.

Let me off at the next planet, please.
Mx. Remy Ann David