3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quality, Headroom, Quiet, October 3, 2008
This review is from: Mackie Onyx 1640 16-Ch./4-Bus Premium Small-Format Mixer (Electronics)
Look, if you're seriously considering a board of this type in this price range, you don't need a recitation of the specifications in a review. What you are more likely looking for is an opinion. Mine is that you have to rate a board in the right context. You wouldn't compare this to a digital studio board, for example, except to show why the markets are different.
The Onyx series board are basically analog live sound boards enhanced in a number of ways making them more appropriate to: 1) pro use, and they see a LOT of pro use, 2) small studio use, and 3) recording use, live or studio. The channel strips on the 1640 have everything you want 95% of the time. The board has tons of headroom. It's very quiet. The faders and knobs are buttery smooth. The build quality is excellent, inside and out.
Forget "Perkins" this and "Boutique" that in the Mackie propaganda. Go listen to the mic pre-amps - they are clean, neutral, and high-quality. Say what you will about the characteristic sound of certain pre-amps, but in my opinion you want neutral when they're in a board and not outboard gear.
The Firewire card works flawlessly - I've never had a single burp from the thing. It delivers a stereo mix for quick and dirty live recording as well as the individual channels.
It's a 4-bus, 6 send design. Plenty, again, for most uses, and obviously very well-suited to any reasonable portable use. There are lots of good reasons to keep the board in the analog domain, even in the studio, but as that's a religious war, I won't jump in except to say that this is analog well done.
Some things I could do without or done differently. DB-25s for direct outs, for example. The rotating pod feature doesn't do anything for me. At some point, something more than 96k on the Firewire board would be good.
Bottom line is that this is a well-positioned, well-engineered, widely-accepted board that is flexible enough to cover a wide range of activities. Unlike many compromise solutions, this one does most everything very well.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
