Main Features:
• 24-Channel 8-Bus Analog Recording Console
• Mackie’s ultra-quiet, high headroom mic preamps on every channel (with phantom power for use with condenser mics)
• Loads of outputs for easy multitracking
• True 8-bus operation
• 100mm log-taper faders for consistently smooth fades
• EQ: Full parametric Hi-Mid w/separate band center & “Q” controls, swept Lo-Mid, and Hi & Lo shelving EQ
• Low Cut Filter (18dB/octave @ 75Hz) on every channel
• 6 stereo (2 assignable) Aux Returns
• Extensive routing capabilities
Mackie Analog 8•Bus Series mixers are the most successful in-line recording consoles ever made. They have tracked more platinum albums and major motion picture soundtracks than any other mixers in their class. Since its release in 1993, the Mackie Analog 8•Bus Series has consistently set the standard for both affordability and feature set in 8-bus consoles. They have never been equaled for sound quality and are legendary for their performance and reliability.
Ultra-quiet and flexible, the Mackie 8•Bus is the definitive 8•bus console, used by more artists, groups, composers, and production facilities than any other brand. Designed to eliminate the last barrier between you and your creativity—the 24•8 mixer offers results on par with $100,000+ consoles.
LOADED WITH PROFESSIONAL FEATURES
When it comes to features in a recording console, the 24•8 has all bases covered—with low-noise/high-headroom mic preamps on every channel, as well as channel inserts and direct outs. Each channel strip is equipped with Mackie’s truly musical EQ—with Hi and Lo shelving, fully parametric Hi-Mid, and sweepable Low-Mid EQ. And if that isn’t enough, we included our Low Cut Filter, which allows you to eliminate mic thumps and room rumble from your mix on a channel-by-channel basis. True eight-bus operation and patching capability galore makes the Mackie 8•Bus Series the natural first choice among professionals the world over.
MAXIMUM MONITORING CAPABILITY
Mix B makes foldback monitor mixing (aka monitoring tracks from your recorder) a breeze. Other common uses include mix creation from tape while recording, feeds for additional studio headphone mixes, additional quick live mixdowns and recordings, etc. And dedicated talkback and dual phones level controls make communicating with the talent a snap. The Mix B section also features a Split switch, which splits the channel EQ between Mix B and the main channel signal. This can be really handy when you need to tweak the Mix B signal to your liking.
IT’S A RECORDING CONSOLE, IT’S A MIXDOWN CONSOLE—IT’S ACTUALLY BOTH!
When in the up position, the Flip switch allows the normal operation of the channel. All EQ is available for the incoming signal and that signal can proceed directly to your multitrack recorder. However, when the flip switch is activated, you can listen to the recorded track and start to work on a rough mix. Think of it this way: on in-line mixer, such as the 32•8, the channel fader controls the level sent to tape while tracking (Flip switch UP), but when mixing (Flip switch DOWN), the fader controls the level sent to the main mix bus. This feature is especially handy if you are on a tight schedule, as you quickly can go from one mode to the other.
DON’T MISS THE BUS
The Mackie 8•Bus Series has, in fact, many more than eight buses. Not only do you have the eight buses mentioned in the name; there are also six AUX buses, a pair of L/R Mix buses, the alternate pair of MIX-B buses, and a pair of Solo buses.
When you get right down to it, the 8•Bus Series is a value at many times the price. More artists and producers of every genre trust the Mackie 8•Bus for their recording needs—shouldn’t you!
The Yamaha 01V96 V2 includes the Version 2 software upgrade. Version 2 software provides enhanced features such as Add-On Effect capability with the Channel Strip, Master Strip and Reverb packages. Version 2 software further enhances DAW integration with Nuendo and CubaseSX. Studio Manager Version 2 is also included and features enhancements such as multiple hardware, editor and window support and multiple Undo capability.
Much like the Yamaha 01V, the 01V96 is a compact digital mixer with 16 1/4″ TRS Phone line level inputs and 12 XLR Mic preamps. In addition, 8 channels of ADAT optical I/O are provided on the rear. A Mini-YGDAI card slot enables users to expand the mixers I/O section when necessary. 16 I/O Series cards provide 16 additional digital inputs and outputs of either ADAT, TDIF or AES/EBU formats. 8 Channel I/O cards are available as well and include analog I/O as well.
The 01V96 takes advantage of the world of high resolution digital recording with full 24-bit 96 kHz operation. Two internal effects engines (four internal in low-resolution mode) provide pristine 24-bit 96 kHz effects such as reverb, chorus, distortion, delay and more. All input channels on the 01V96 feature flexible, independent compression and gating/ducking processors for full dynamics control on input or during mix down.
Version 2 Software
Version 2 software enhances the already feature packed 01V96 with enhancements like Add-On Effect capability, advanced DAW support, Studio Manager Version 2 software and more.
24 Bit 96 kHz Operation
The Yamaha 01V96 provides full 24 bit 96 kHz operation, providing premium dynamic range and sonic character. 96kHz sampling frequency enables use with high end DAW workstations and hard disk recorders.
Expandable Inputs
16 built-in analog inputs, 12 mic inputs and 8 ADAT optical inputs and outputs are provided. An additional card slot enables users to add an additional 8 or 16 inputs and outputs, at such formats as TDIF, ADAT, AES/EBU and more (16 additional I/O with 16 I/O series, all others provide 8).
Multi Effects Engine
4 internal multi effects processors provide reverb, delays, chorus and other multi effects. 2 internal multi effects processors are available when using in hi-resolution (96 kHz) mode.
Dynamics Processing
22 dynamics processors for 16 individual channels, 4 AUX sends and main stereo outputs. Compression, expander, gate, ducker and compander functions are available. Input channels 1-16 can be used as key triggers.
Motorized Faders
60mm quick-response motorized faders adjust channel output signal levels, and auxiliary send level. When a scene memory is recalled, or an AUX function is selected, the faders automatically position themselves to their exact settings.
Automation and Recall
The 01V96 features 99 scene locations for instant recall of mixer settings at the touch of a button or via MIDI program change information. Real-time automation is achieved via MIDI control change using an external hardware or software based sequencer.
Exceptional AD/DA Conversion
20-bit AD and DA converters allow for 105dB of dynamic range from analog input to output.
Input/Output Delays
Input delays of up to 250ms and Output delays of up to 300ms are useful in situations were latency compensation is necessary.
Action Audio & Visual offers a wide variety of products to serve all of your technical applications. Call our staff today for product details.Specifications coming soon
Action Audio & Visual offers a wide variety of products to serve all of your technical applications. Call our staff today for product details.Specifications coming soon
Action Audio & Visual offers a wide variety of products to serve all of your technical applications. Call our staff today for product details.Specifications coming soon
Action Audio & Visual offers a wide variety of products to serve all of your technical applications. Call our staff today for product details.Specifications coming soon
Action Audio & Visual offers a wide variety of products to serve all of your technical applications. Call our staff today for product details.Specifications coming soon
Action Audio & Visual offers a wide variety of products to serve all of your technical applications. Call our staff today for product details.Specifications coming soon
Action Audio & Visual offers a wide variety of products to serve all of your technical applications. Call our staff today for product details.Specifications coming soon
Action Audio & Visual offers a wide variety of products to serve all of your technical applications. Call our staff today for product details.Specifications coming soon
HIGHLIGHTS:
Premium 16-channel small-format analog mixer with all-new circuitry
8 ONYX mic preamps with sound comparable to boutique preamps
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 via FireWire option card
4 Aux sends with 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 2 channels–no DI box needed
OVERVIEW:
Construction & Design
As you’d expect from a Mackie mixer, the Onyx has a solid-steel construction and uses all-metal jack sockets, where the majority of the connectors are mounted on the top panel for easy access — D-Subs, inserts, aux sends, and power inlet are on the rear, as are the XLR main outputs and the external talkback mic input. A long covered slot allows for the installation of the Firewire card, and power comes directly from the mains rather than from an external PSU, accepting any standard international supply voltage without the need to switch. The overall styling, though a departure from the traditional Mackie livery, is still an exercise in clarity and functionality. The rounded edges, light fader area, and perforated rear section make the appearance much less square and formal than usual, while the rubber-edged end cheeks give the mixer a very purposeful look. Although Mackie products are now built outside the US, the design of this particular mixer was apparently supervised by Greg Mackie,
The mixer has a simple dual-buss 16:2 design that uses a new generation of Mackie mic preamp claimed to be their best design yet. Certainly the paper spec is good, with a frequency response extending from 20Hz to 50kHz within 1dB, and it is only 3dB down at 100kHz. The mic preamp noise is also low at -129.5dB with a 60dB gain setting, while the mic amp distortion is below 0.0007 percent. The design has evolved from the existing XDR mic preamp used in the VLZ Pro mixers. The gain range is wide and can accommodate inputs as high as +22dB line level.
To maintain maximum flexibility, channels one and two include switchable high-impedance instrument inputs (selectable via buttons in the preamp panel) as well as mic inputs. Each of the eight mono mic/line channels has individual phantom-power switching, as compared with the more usual budget solution of making this global, or at best having it switched for groups of channels. All channels have an input gain trim control, and gain trim adjustment can be undertaken using the Solo switches in PFL mode as usual, where the signal level shows up on the main meter section.
Mono & Stereo Channels
As is becoming increasingly common, some of the channels (nine to 16 in this case) are arranged as stereo pairs, and as stereo EQ sections are more complex and expensive than their mono counterparts, the line-only mono channels have four-band EQ with sweepable mid-bands, while the stereo channels have three-band EQ, rather like the smaller mixers in the existing Mackie range, but based on new circuitry. EQ bypass is available on all channels, and the mono channels also have switchable low-cut filters and pre-EQ insert points, but no phase buttons. The EQ circuit is a new design by Cal Perkins, who I’ve often thought of as Mackie’s ‘fifth Beatle’, as he was responsible for many of Mackie’s circuit-design innovations.
The first two jack inputs can accept guitar signals directly, but you need to make sure the Hi-Z mode is selected with the adjacent button to provide a suitably high impedance.
All the EQ bands have a ±15dB gain range with high and low shelving filters at 80Hz and 12kHz. The stereo channels have their mid-bands set at 2.5kHz, while the mono channel mid-bands can be swept over the ranges 100Hz-2kHz and 400Hz-8kHz respectively. I’m glad to see that the lower mid-band control can be taken down into the upper bass regions where EQ is often required, and there’s plenty of overlap between the two mid-bands. Cal was the engineer behind the XDR mic preamps, the HR-series monitors, and some aspects of earlier Mackie mixers, but in this instance his aim was to capture the classic EQ sound of British mixing consoles of the ’60s and ’70s. The design is based on the traditional Wein Bridge filter circuit, which may seem to offer less range than a modern EQ, but it should sound sweeter and more musical. At least, that’s the plan! The circuit also includes new combining filters to reduce the amount of phase shift.
Both mono and stereo channels have four aux sends (each switchable globally for pre-fade or post-fade operation) and simple routing or muting via Mackie’s now familiar Alt button, which sends the channel signal to the stereo Alt buss as an alternative to the main stereo mix buss. If nothing is connected to the Alt outputs, then this is the same thing as having a Mute button. This Alt feature also makes the mixer more flexible in a conventional (analogue I/O) recording context, as it allows some mixer channels to be used as recording sources via the alt outs and direct outs while others, routed to the main mix, are used for monitoring. All channels include a 60mm fader, four-LED level metering and a Solo button in addition to the Alt/Mute button.
Direct Outputs
One unusual feature of this mixer is that the channel direct outputs emerge as balanced line signals on a pair of 25-way D-Sub connectors on the back of the mixer, and not as separate jacks. While this undoubtedly saves both cost and space and puts all the outputs in one place for when the Firewire card is fitted, D-Subs are a right royal pain in the proverbial if you decide to wire them yourself, and it means you’re pretty much forced to use a patchbay with them. My best advice is to buy them ready-made, but at least the wiring protocol is the same as for Tascam’s analogue D-Sub cables (not the TDIF digital ones) so they can be bought off the shelf.
Alternatives inlude the main stereo out, Alt, or Tape. A further button allows these sources (other than the main mix of course) to be routed directly into the main stereo mix. The tape inputs and outputs are on phono connectors, as is usual on mixers of this size, and right next to these connectors is a powered BNC socket for connecting an optional 12V lamp such as a Mackie’s own Little Lite. The rest of the master section is pretty straightforward, with masters for all four aux sends and returns, pre/post switching for all four sends, and the option to route effects to monitor using aux three as the source. The main outputs are all balanced on TRS jacks, with the left/right mix outputs also being duplicated on balanced XLRs on the rear panel.
An integral talkback mic with non-latching button and level control can talk to the control-room/headphones outputs and/or to the aux one and aux two outputs (useful for talking into stage or studio live-room monitors). There’s also the option to use an external talkback mic if needed — an External Mic selector switch is included in the talkback controls. When talking to the control-room outputs, the control-room signal level drops by 20dB to make sure you are heard over the music. The master fader is a single 60mm, stereo fader which, like all the channel faders, has 10dB of additional gain above unity. That leaves a Solo Mode switch for selecting PFL or AFL, Mackie’s famous Rude Solo lamp, and a stereo 12-section LED meter that also shows the level in PFL mode for gain trim setting.
The Sound
There’s nothing at all complex or unusual about the way this little mixer operates, but how does it sound? To find out, I compared it with Hugh Robjohns’ Mackie VLZ Pro mixer. I could detect very little subjective difference between the preamps when used with the same studio capacitor microphone — certainly both were very quiet, though if anything the Onyx had a marginally less hard sound. I’d have no worries about using these preamps for any normal kind of recording — to get something of this quality in a relatively inexpensive mixer is very good news indeed.
Evaluating any EQ section is always more subjective, but it didn’t take me long to come to the conclusion that the Onyx sounds noticeably sweeter than the EQ in the regular Mackie range. It’s also more flexible than most of their smaller mixers, having two sweepable mid-bands, and I found that cranking the upper mid-band up to 8kHz and then adding just a little boost gave a nice sheen to vocals. I’d have happily foregone some of the overlap between ranges in exchange for the upper mid-band being extended further, up to 10-12kHz. However, there’s still a lot of range, and the low mid-band goes down far enough so that the troublesome part of the lower mid-range (what I call the ‘boxiness zone’) is well covered. The shelving high-frequency control sounds perfectly smooth and predictable, but a ‘bell’ EQ is often nicer for adding air and breath to a vocal or instrument sound, hence my desire for more upper mid-band reach.
At the low end, it was possible to use gentle boost to thicken the sound and add weight without clouding the end result in the way that the original Mackie EQ could if it was overused. While I’d recommend most small-desk EQs be used for cutting rather than boosting, this one sounds musical in boost mode too, provided that you don’t get too carried away. A few tweaks with a budget capacitor mic enabled me to add air without sibilance, add weight to the low end, and clean up a mid-range vocal honk. This required only very small cut and boost adjustments, so Mackie saying that the EQ range has been curtailed in exchange for a more musical quality isn’t really an issue, as there’s still far more range than you could reasonably use in most situations. It’s also good to have a proper hard EQ bypass so that you can see immediately if your settings have improved things. Tests with the EQ set to neutral showed negligible change in sound quality when the EQ was switched in and out.
Black Beauty
Maybe some purists would like 100mm channel faders instead of 60mm models, but overall the mixer feels uncluttered and easy to navigate, which is also very important. The new mic amps are technically as good as or better than those in the VLZ Pro mixers, and have a slightly smoother, more flattering sound. However, the big subjective difference is in the EQ section, which, as well as having the benefit of two sweepable mid-bands, does have a smooth vintage character that flatters more overtly. I really like this EQ, but, equally, I like the hard bypass switch for when I don’t need it!
A new master talkback section is located conveniently on the front edge of the mixer. A momentary action switch routes the output of a built-in microphone to the headphones and control-room outputs and/or the first two aux busses, via a dedicated level control.
I feel that four aux sends is enough on a mixer of this size, especially as all can be switched pre- or post-fader in the master section. Although the master section itself is very basic, it seems to do just about everything you need, including allowing you to add effects to the monitor mix and providing effective talkback facilities. In fact, the only thing I really missed was a mono button, which, like the monitor Dim button, seems to have been left off to save on cost and space.
This simple yet powerful desktop audio control center lets musicians and engineers get right to the business of making music in four major ways: Level Control, Studio Monitor Selection, Input Source Selection and Talkback & Headphone Control.
Adjust volume levels with a simple, intuitive knob — not a mouse and screen — for a higher degree of precision and much quicker level adjustments.
Switch quickly between 3 pairs of studio monitors, or 2 studio monitors and a subwoofer, or studio monitors and a home stereo, or any other combination of powered speakers.
Connect up to 4 stereo input sources at once — computer/DAW outputs, CD player, cassette deck and even a turntable — using the premium onboard RIAA preamp. You can even connect keyboards, guitars, drum machines, samplers – anything you’d like to hear – through your monitors.
Communicate with musicians in both the studio and tracking room with Big Knob’s built-in Talkback mic and spring-loaded activation switches. It also sports two high-powered headphone outputs with a discrete headphone mix bus, solving the communications needs of most computer-based studios.
Big Knob’s rear panel features three distinct Monitor outputs with individual level control; 2-Track A and 2-Track B stereo outputs with level selection switches; a DAW stereo output for computer; a Studio output with level control; a Phones Mix input with level selection switch; 2-Track A and 2-Track B Stereo Source inputs with level control; a DAW Mix computer input with level control; and even a Phono input with level control for direct connection to a turntable.
Product Weight: 3.5 lbs
Dimensions: 13.5″W x 5.9″D x 3.5″H