Mackie Onyx 1220 12-Ch. Premium Small-Format Mixer

by Mackie

Product Features

• Premium 12-channel small-format analog mixer with all-new circuitry
• 4 new ONYX mic preamps with sound comparable to boutique preamps
• New 3-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 via FireWire option card
• Planet-Earth switching power supply for worldwide use

Product Details

• Item Weight: 20 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 22.3 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B0002NPJ42
• Item model number: Onyx 1220
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #84,270 in Musical Instruments (See Top 100 in Musical Instruments)

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The goal for Mackie's 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, we 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, we developed components completely from scratch. With Greg Mackie himself steering Onyx mixer layout and design, we took a "real world" approach to the entire process.

ONYX 1620 KEY FEATURES

• Premium 12-channel small-format analog mixer with all-new circuitry
• 4 new ONYX mic preamps with sound comparable to boutique preamps
• New 3-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 via FireWire option card
• 2 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
• "Planet-Earth" switching power supply for worldwide use
• 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

ONYX MIC PREAMPS Because a great mixer starts with great mic preamps, we invested significant R&D efforts into developing our new flagship Onyx mic preamps. These preamps build upon our 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.

PERKINS EQ CIRCUITRY When it was time for the Onyx EQ section, we turned to veteran audio engineer Cal Perkins to develop our 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.

FIREWIRE I/O OPTION CARD In the category of "Why didn't someone think of this sooner?", we gave the Onyx 1620 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.

Product Description

The new FireWire capable Onyx 1220, 1620 and 1640 premium analog mixers come equipped new Onyx mic preamps and our completely new Perkins EQ circuitry.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great little mixer...BUT, October 18, 2006

By 

Yoda117 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mackie Onyx 1220 12-Ch. Premium Small-Format Mixer (Electronics)

Okay, this thing is a great first mixer or portable mixer. The preamps are clean as anything, the mixer holds up well, and the FW option is a great option to have.

HOWEVER...

First off, the FW card (which you have to purchase separately) only converts to 96Khz, which may not be good enough for some recordings. Many systems out there are running at 192Khz, which can really affect the quality of a recording.

That is a minor nitpick though. To be honest, if you're recording in a studio environment, you should be using a dedicated AD/DA device, such as something from the Apogee line or equivalent.

Here's a bigger problem though... the much-vaunted Perkins EQ can't be used with the DB-25 or FW outputs. Basically, if you're not using it for live music, the EQ is worthless. Obviously, this is not a very good feature, and Mackie admits it. However, it seems that the only way to get past this problem and give the 1220 some additional muscle is to have a modification performed so that the Perkins EQ is included in the mix. Do a google search for "onyx mod" and you'll find a place that does the mod and keeps the mixer (and card) in warranty.

Even with the additional cost added to get more functionality out of the system, this is still a good deal, and an excellent home studio mixer.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Works Great, December 16, 2005

By 

C. McBride - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mackie Onyx 1220 12-Ch. Premium Small-Format Mixer (Electronics)

I recently bought a Mackie ONYX FireWire I/O Card and Mackie Onyx 1220 12-Channel Mixer. They replaced my DMAN 2044 interfaces I was using. (I had 3 cards for 12-in, but they did not sync up very well and had a high noise floor....) The mixer has nice transparent preamps. I am using a Behringer board for the other 8 preamps (not very portable at the moment). The firewire card works great - I can record all 12 inputs with minimal latency and no dropouts/static, my dynamic range has increased considerably. I am running it all on an underpowered computer (K6 900MHz) and it works great. Setup was simple - the autorun.exe (on the install cd) did not want to run, but you can install the drivers by going into the driver folder and running setup.exe. I have not had any problems with the software/drivers, I am even using a fairly cheap CompUSA firewire card.

I recommend this mixer/firewire combo for any project studio and with additional mic preamps it would be great for mobile recording.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Used in Live Sound for first time..., July 3, 2006

By 

Binster (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mackie Onyx 1220 12-Ch. Premium Small-Format Mixer (Electronics)

Had a chance to use it in our band for a church event that lasted three days. One of the toughest instruments to Mic is Tabla. We tweaked the EQ and gain till we had it just right and the smile from the tablist was amazing. Hearing the nuances from the Dekha(bass side) as his wrist flowed over the head of the drum was amazing. The only other mixer able to pick this up was the VLZ-Pro with XDR preamps. We went with the Onyx 1220 because of the flexibility in connecting a guitar and bass guitar to the Mic channels. This mixer has built in high z inputs for those instruments. I love the signal strength LEDs which tells me if someone is playing too hot. We had a Tabla, three keyboards, one electronic drumset, guitar and bass guitar hooked up and the unit sounded great. I'm the soundman in addition to being the drummer so I was pleased from both an engineering and musical point of view.