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hi...
can somebody understand the dillema of a gear junky pre libido..
ive been fantasising about the Mackie onyx 1620 mixer with firewire I/O to set up a small studio...everythings going fine..the reviews are rocking...! the gear looks and feels and sounds smooth, and affordable..
but the one glitch...the firewire I/O sends one output back to the onyx mixer for mixing...through the headphone socket..!

does that mean i cant mix through my nearfields at all..?

can sm one pls guide me thru this..
thanks
G

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KurtFoster Mon, 09/05/2005 - 10:11

ONYX has the ability to monitor the 2 mix playback from the DAW to be mixed in with whatever live tracks you are recording, to provide latency free monitoring while tracking. There is no other provision for bringing audio into the mixer after it is recorded. The intention is for you to perform your mixes in the DAW environment.

I haven't used the ONYX series mixers yet so I can't say for sure but the mixer should have an output on a pair 1/4" jacks for a control room send, which is what you would connect to your near fields. This is the case with all other Mackie mixers I have used.

anonymous Mon, 09/05/2005 - 10:23

hi kurt...
ofcourse the onyx has 1/4' jacks for control room..but the point is how do i route my L&R main streo outputs from cubasemy recrding softare..or whichever chnnl i plan to monitor to the nearfields...the onyx pdf download says..the main mix comes back for monitoring into the headphones output...

KurtFoster Mon, 09/05/2005 - 10:28

With Mackies, the phone out is usually tied to the CR out The volume for the phones is controled by the CR volume pot ...

I don't have a Firewire card in my computer so I can't say for sure but it seems logical to guess that with Cubase you will need to select the Firewire out on the 2-bus in order to send it back to the Mackie.

anonymous Mon, 09/05/2005 - 10:37

The firewire is panel on the back of the mixer that takes all audio data thru to my pc tru the pc slot card..
that is, for the 1620 mixer, 16 inputs + 2 outputs, stereo, back into the mixer...i will obviously have to do some selection from the firewire software regarding my output..my only worry is... which you have rested fr the time being, that my mixing will be limited to phones only...I hope its true that the cr out is linked to the phones out..
thanks a bunch...

JoeH Mon, 09/05/2005 - 13:35

Gucci, you should probably stop over to the Mackie ONYX forum (http://www.mackie.com) and post your questions over there. There are quite a few good threads over there all about these questions and more, you'd be in good company.

The DB-25 connector is designed to let you send 8 channels per connector (two of these are available on the 1640, for 16 channels) to Tascam-spec-friendly recorders. (I forget the pinout at the moment, but it's a balanced send for all 8 channels on pins 1-25. Toa and others make cables already to go for this sort of thing.)

Remember that the ONXY firewire option is designed to let you use the board for both live sound reinforcement as well as firewire recording to HD. Remember also: It's NOT a digital board per se, but rather a good analog console (with great preamps) with a multichannel FW interface to your comptuer.

To quote my own review in Mix (April '05):
http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_mackie_onyx_analog/index.html
You can monitor a two-mix out of the computer via the FireWire card back into the 1640 via the control room/phones source panel, choosing among main mix, tape, subs 1-2, 3-4 and FireWire option.

The Firewire return switch varies slightly from 1220 to 1640 models; the FW signal just goes to HP and CR buses on the 1220, for example. (I forget what features are on the 1620).

(TIP: If your software/computer supports it, you can also use your computer's analog sound card (or other digital/analog PB devices) to playback through an empty chanel, which in turn lets you route it to effects, aux sends, processors, etc.)

You can get the entire PDF from Mackie online with all the specs you need and more online, again, at http://www.Mackie.com.

Jeemy Mon, 09/05/2005 - 14:42

9 times outta 10 you'd just say OF COURSE they will give you full LR mix returns - anything else would be stupid and pointless.

but all of us who have bought a piece of gear without asking every question and then sat looking at it after a while saying 'this is stupid and pointless!!! why have they done this???' will sympathise with you asking the question...

anonymous Tue, 09/06/2005 - 01:27

hey thanks for the round up guys...
im still a little spaced out..
hows the Tracktion software though...
im pusing cubase SX..hoping to upgrade to SX 3 or nuendo..or maybe ill stick to Tracktion if it s cool...BTW , does it allow access to plugns and softsynths thru MIDI...? and can I editmy MIDIfiles in it?

whew...!
and Tracey Thorn sang " the only way out is down"

anonymous Wed, 01/24/2007 - 16:39

I know this post is really old, but I was here and thought I would answer the question since I know ;)

If you select the correct buttons, you will get the FireWire output at the headphone out and at the control room out. I have to be sitting in front of it to figure out the settings, but it works on the 1620 w/o question.

--Matthew