New Mackie Onyx mixers

Anyone pick one of these up last year? I’m looking at recording solutions right now and thinking a couple of steps down the line. I have an 802VLZ4, and the Bluebox would solve my (stereo) recording problems and provide a pretty handy swiss army knife going forward. But an Onyx12 is only about US$100 more, and certainly covers the “stereo recording” issue from a couple of different angles.

have been looking since i probably need a class-compliant mixer that doubles up as USB interface, but for some reason Mackie didn’t include a one-button compression on their channel strips so probably will go with the Tascam Model 16 or 24 if/when I pull the trigger (even though the Onyx are slightly cheaper for basically same features otherwise)

Just a note for hypothetical Linux users. Even if I couldn’t find any information about the Mackie Onyx USB class-compliance and even less about Linux support, I got a second-hand Onyx8 at a good price just for the mixer. To my own surprise, the audio interface was plug and play. After a few weeks I sold my dedicated audio interface because it was redundant. For what is worth, I’m using Ubuntu 22.10 with PipeWire.

I’m very happy with the Onyx8. In fact, it has more than I need because I use it only on my home studio, connected to synths and a DAW. I’m not using the EQ, effects, or SD card. Still, I think for the price is really worth it. Thanks to the control room, monitor and FX ports, solo modes… you have a lot of flexibility. After quite a bit of learning, I have landed in a DAW / DAWless “dual setup” that I’m very happy about. And the Bluetooth thing is also convenient, if only to listen to your playlist on your mobile phone during cleaning day. :slight_smile:

Also, this thing is like a tank. It feels very solid and I bet it will survive all of us. :smirk:

One detail that I believe is specific to the Onyx8 and not the bigger siblings: someone put a lot of imagination to offer many features with just a few strips available. Some things seemed impossible at the beginning, or I couldn’t find the way to do them even reading the documentation superficially. For instance, getting the DAW audio output only without the Main, or have a synth plugged to the same strip where USB audio is coming… After a deeper look at the documentation, asking a couple of questions to support (Mackie Germany responded within hours) and finally understanding buttons like USB Send or AFL/PFL, I got working everything I needed. Most probably I was having noobie problems but that’s the thing with this Onyx8, while the price is entry level, the quantity of features and possible combinations are semi-pro.

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