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Mackie Onyx 1620i

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The goal for Mackies flagship Onyx series of small-format mixers was to bring premium analog sound, expanded features, and streaming FireWire connectivity to both recording and live sound environments. To pull all this off, Mackie started with a team of veteran audio product engineers from the great Pacific Northwest (aka Woodinville, Washington). The Onyx Team quickly set out by specifying the highest-quality analog components--from premium op-amps to IC chips costing exponentially more than previous designs. In many cases, they developed components completely from scratch. With Greg Mackie himself steering Onyx mixer layout and design, they took a real world approach to the entire process.

Because a great mixer starts with great mic preamps, Mackie invested significant R&D efforts into developing their new flagship Onyx mic preamps. These preamps build upon their already-impressive XDR design to meet or surpass expensive esoteric standalone mic pres in terms of fidelity, headroom and transparency - as well as improved radio frequency (RFI) rejection and wider dynamic range.

When it was time for the Onyx EQ section, Mackie turned to veteran audio engineer Cal Perkins to develop their new Perkins EQ circuitry - a neo classic 3- and 4-band design based on classic British EQ circuitry from mixing desks of the 60s and 70s. Cal devised a way to give Perkins EQ that sweet British console sound, but with greater filter control and minimum phase shift.

Mackie rounded out the Onyx 1620 feature set by answering some common requests from their compact mixer customers: adding individual 48v phantom power and balanced direct outputs on every channel; a full Auxiliary section with Pre/Post control; and a new Talkback section with a convenient built-in mic. They even developed a Planet Earth switching power supply for worldwide use.

In the category of Why didn't someone think of this sooner? The Onyx 1620 got an optional FireWire I/O card, which bridges the analog-to-digital gap by providing up to 18 independent channels of high-quality 24-bit/96kHz audio that you can plug right into your FireWire-equipped Mac or PC. And bring a stereo mix back from your computer for monitoring purposes.

Features

• Premium 16-channel small-format analog mixer with all-new circuitry
• 8 new ONYX mic preamps with sound comparable to boutique preamps
• New 4-band Perkins EQ with dual sweepable midrange controls on Mic/Line channels
• 96kHz FireWire option for streaming 18 independent channels of audio to computer with near-zero latency
• 2 channels of monitoring from computer
• 4 Aux sends w/ Pre/Post switches
• 4 stereo line-level inputs
• Built-in Talkback section for use with internal or external mic
• True hardware EQ Bypass
• Individual 48v Phantom Power switches on all mic inputs
• 60mm Logarithmic Taper faders for smooth, linear fades
• Balanced direct outs for every channel via DB-25 connections
• Selectable Instrument inputs on first two channels-no DI box needed

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