Mackie Onyx 820i 8-channel Premium FireWire Recording Mixer

• 8-channel premium analog mixer with integrated 24-bit/96kHz FireWire I/O
• Compatible with Pro Tools M-Powered(TM) and all major DAW software
• 3 Onyx boutique quality mic preamps
• 3-band Perkins EQ with sweepable mids on mic/line channels
• 3-band Perkins EQ on stereo line channels

I have to agree with Ona's review. Unfortunately I have just today returned my 820i. It's a lovely mixer, sounds great, well-featured, but the low level that the 820i sends to my computer via firewire is unacceptable.

I spoke to Mackie, who informed me that they have purposely built a -18db attenuation in the firewire signal. So anything that reads as 0db on your 820i mixer will come out as -18db in your DAW. As a result, waveforms entering my DAW are almost non-existent.

This is great for those using the mixer to record in a live situation, as your signal is unlikely to peak to tape, but as an interface in a home studio situation it is pretty much unworkable.

A real shame, as on paper this looked like an extremely well-featured firewire mixer at a great price. Let down entirely by this ridiculously low level firewire signal. I'm sure there are probably ways to work around this problem, but I'm not interested in paying for something that i then have to work around. I need it to work straight out of the box, and sadly the Mackie Onyx 820i does not deliver.

Buy Mackie Onyx 820i 8-channel Premium FireWire Recording Mixer Now

After an existing audio interface went bad, I ordered the Mackie Onyx 820i as a replacement (not from Amazon), setting out to love the thing. I did at first, but after noticing some limitations, I am exchanging it for a different setup. My biggest gripe is the low output to the DAW. At detent, the highest level captured in a waveform was -22dB. At full gain (firewire send is pre-fader, so gain is only option for adjusting level unless you route everything and I do mean everything through a preamp) I was capturing -16dB, regardless of instrument (this introduced a lot of noise when recording guitar). A follow up call to the vendor from which I purchased it revealed that other customers had noted the same characteristic. Some would argue that this is just fine when recording in 24-bit, but I'd prefer to make that adjustment on my own rather than having hardware make the decision for me. Gripe #2 no control panel. The only setting you can adjust outside of the DAW software is buffer size.

Maybe this thing needs someone smarter than me at the wheel, but all the same, I'm going with a different interface.

Read Best Reviews of Mackie Onyx 820i 8-channel Premium FireWire Recording Mixer Here

The Mackie 1620i is okay as a mixer for the money. But don't expect that the Firewire Interface is going to work for you.

Check out Mackies user forum, there are many people stuck with expensive hardware getting no driver support from Mackie.

This is really a pathetic show on their part.

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I purchased this mixer for use in my home studio and was very disappointed.

I had a great deal of difficulty finding software that would actually work with the firewire feature, despite Mackie's claim that the 820i "is compatible with every major DAW" it's not. Even if that's true, the mixer definitely does NOT work with every major operating system. I've tried to use the mixer with 3 different computers it will allegedly work with, of those attempts only one was successful.

When i contacted Mackie about my issues I was told that my firewire cable was likely broken (IT WASN'T), and/or I should update the firmware in my mixer (which is difficult to do if it isn't recognized by your computer).

I've updated software, hardware, spent a ton of money, waited months, and I STILL cant get this damn thing working.

Now I'm told even if I do, it has a built-in -18db on the firewire channel? WTF? Mackie should've advertised that too.

For all it's bells and whistles, I've seen $50 mixers that function infinitely better than this unit. Do yourself a favor, and buy one of those instead.

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I have used Mackie mixers before and liked them. The Onyx exceeded my expectations. Setup for FireWire worked with no effort and the flexibility of the mixer was unexpected. Really excellent for the home recording studio.