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[justin sircus]

I have a series of small, low budget shows with a limited setup and strike time. So, I'm putting together an all in one rack with a mixer, a couple pieces of processing, CD player etc and hopefully a multipin snake head. I don't have any rack mount mixers, I previously had a Soundcraft M12 that I liked but sold a couple years ago. I need 16 channels and would have a hard time dealing with 3 band eq these days so this board seems to fit the bill. And the firewire option might come in handy at some point for low budget remote work.

Anyone using this series that could comment on how it's held up and overall satisfaction?

And before all the Mackie haters out there tell me to buy an A&H, I don't think the Mixwiz will fit in the rack.

[Richard Rajchel]

Full disclosure...I'm a Mixwizard owner. I have however seen the Onyx boards, and if the Mixwizard won't fit, there's no chance that the Onyx will fit. The 1640 that I saw looked pretty much like a normal console depth. Granted that was with the connectors facing up, not rotopoded to the back. This is strait out of the 1640 manual:

Quote:

The mixer will take up 14 rack spaces in it's normal Pod position, and you should allow an extra 1 or 2 rackspaces above to make your connections. (If you have rear-mounted the Pod, the mixer will take up 12 rack spaces.)

The Mixwizard is 12 spaces with the connectors pointing to the rear, but you can fold the connection section over and it will be 10 rack spaces. I just recently had a thread here going about a portable rack for the Mixwizard, as it's bigger than most rack mountable mixers have been in the past. The Onyx 1640 I'm quite sure is in the same boat.

The Onyx does have 4 subgroups, where the Mixwizard is strictly L/R which seems to me to be the only advantage for the Onyx.

There is a 13 RU slant top mixer rack from Odyssey that I'm pretty sure I've decided on that would likely work for your Onyx as well.

http://www.odysseygear.com/display.php?sku=fzgs1316wdlx

[Dave Barker]

I am not sure why you feel the Mix Wiz wouldn't fit the rack, it will actually take up less rack space then the 1640.  I have both a Mix Wiz and 1640, they are both good mixers and the Mackie has held up well for the 8 months I have had it, the Mix Wiz has a much longer track record but no issues so far on the Mackie, recorded several shows on it, works well easy to do.  

The group sends don't do anything special for me, I just don't use them, I sometimes miss the built in FX on the mix wiz but other then that they are probably about the same "fidelity" wise.

[Josh Oswald]

I installed a 1640 almost two years ago in our main sanctuary to handle some recording and it has worked flawlessly the entire time. About 6 months after we bought the 1640, we had lighting strike our building and take out a few cards in our Soundcraft Spirit 40 channel. We had to limp along with the 1640 on FOH duties for two weeks and it worked great. The firewire option is great if you plan to do a lot of multi-tracking, which we do.

I owned a Mixwiz for about two months, a few years ago and just didn't like. The lack on channel based signal meters or a meter bridge was really irritating. I also didn't like aux 5 and 6 being post-fader only (an irritation on our Soundcraft console). Having the fx built in was really nice though. I my bar rig i rarely have the need for a expensive or overall sophisticated FX processor so the simple FX on the Mixwiz came in handy.

Regarding the size...as others have said, if you don't think the Mixwiz will fit, the Onyz has no chance unless you make a custom bracket and relocate the input pod. Even still, it's a beast.

Either way you go, you have a quality console. It really depends on what you need it to do.

Good luck,
Josh

[Bob Leonard]

For small gigs this is the rig we use. All mixing is done from the stage and we have never had a failure. I have owned many mixers of all types and sizes including a Mixwizard and like the 1640 far better. The tone is equal if not better, it offers more capability, and after more than 2 years of hard use still no problems at all. The input/output faces straight back when configured like this, and Road Ready also makes a rack that will fit in a conventional manner lying down. This is an old photo, so what you don't see are all the amp racks. 722s for FOH through master, 725s and subs for back line through BUS 1/2, monitors through aux, recording through firewire.

[Steve Hurt]

I owned a 1604 for years and switched to a Mix Wiz (before the Onyx came out)
I've mixed on Onyx 1640's since then and they aren't bad at all.
I do still prefer the MixWiz.  I like the EQ better and I like the headphone monitoring section better.
However, I don't crap my shorts if I have to mix on the Onyx either.  You could do a lot worse!

As for size:
The 1604 (CR, VLZ, and VLZ-Pro) will fit in racks that are a little  smaller than racks the Mix Wiz will fit in.
The Onyx 1640 requires more rack space than the both the Mix Wiz and the 1604

[Dan O. Anderson]

I've got a 1640 and I've been using it almost 2 years. It's a great small format console. I have no complaints. It's got 6 aux sends, which gives me the ability to have 4 unique monitor mixes and 2 effects. I found a road case that's built specifically for the 1640. See below, this is an engineer friend of mine using the system:



Unfortunately I can't tell you a lot about the rack case, as I had a friend who works for a local sound company put it all together for me years ago. I can tell you though that Guitar Center sells the same rack case.

[Tony Martin]

I can't speak to the rack-mount-size mixers, but in regards to the Onyx, I have a 32X4, have owned it for almost a year, and have been VERY happy with it.
On a few rentals where other techs took the helm, they were also quite happy.

[Minka Matikainen]

What comes to the discussion between MixWiz and Onyx, I think there are several topic in this forum about that and I do not see any reason to go that path.

However as we happen to have at the moment ONYX1640, and I happen to like it, I would say "go for it".

It is a nice "compact" mixer that has all the features you need in a mixer of that size. It has the sub groups, if you like to use them, and 6 auxes that can be setup to be pre/post individually. This gives you the option to do whatever you like with the 6 auxes.

I.e I've done following:
- 3 monitor groups
- 3 effects

- 2 monitor groups
- 1 stereo IEM (was a bit tricky, but doable)
- 2 effects

- 4 monitor groups
- 2 effects

- 5 monitor groups
- 1 effect

And yes, this console was the one that typically was sitting in small size gigs in monitor land and the we ran all 6 auxes to 6 monitor groups.
-> Now we use either LS9-32 or ONYX 3280 for that depending on the needs and wishes from the bands (you know there still are a lot of bands that wants to have analog console in FOH booth).

So if a Perkins EQ does not bother you, I would say ONYX1640 is a good choice, especially with that firewire option it gives...

FWIW,
-Minka-

[Nathan Schwarzkopf]

Hello Justin

I was forced on to a 3280 a couple weeks back and it sounded fine from what I could tell.  The only thing I found that would be a true minus for what it is, is that the EQ gets sent to the mons.  I personally hate that when doing mons from FOH.  I have found the Mix wiz is pre EQ.  

If you are going to buy new don't let "digital" scare you off.  The extra money you spend you will end up saving on outboard.  Not to mention If set up time is an problem,  if its the same show and you use the same mics with the recall option your pretty close after you ring the room(house and mons).

Thats just my thoughts now that I am wishing I could trade in some of my knobs for pages.

Nathan

[Sean Hayes]

I recently put a 1640 in an install. I am (as well as the client) very happy with this board. I mixed a youth vocal concert on the boards first gig. It performed well and did everything that I asked of it. I found the sub groups to be very handy. Did not use more than one of the auxes for the gig but knowing they were there was very nice.

OP, you had mentioned wanting to put a multipin snake connection in this. All I have to say is that this is a VERY nice feature to put in a rig. It saves a lot of setup time.

Sean

[justin sircus]

Well, I did the measurements and the mixer rack I have only has 10 spaces available for the mixer, not enough for the 1640. I guess i'll try and grab a used 1604 VLZ. Not my first choice but it'll get me through the gigs and I can sell it after the series.

[Josh Oswald]

Justin,

Change your rack. You really build your system around your mixer, so get what you need in a mixer and get the rack that fits your needs. I'll probably be the first of many that will tell you that the VLZ 1604 is not in the same league as the Mixwiz and the Onyx as far and sound quality and functionality.

I've owned a 1604 before and it always served me well, but you will probably outgrow it very fast.

Either way, good luck.
Josh O

[Adam Whetham]

buy a new rack, don't go for the 1604.... there are enough bar bands in the world with that mixer.... I would not wish ribbon cable hell upon anyone again.

They are nice, and hold up well if you keep working the ribbons... but they are far from having alot of use.

a 1640 is a much better alternative.

[Josh Oswald]

Justin,

I just saw this on the used section of Banjo Center's website. It's a used Mixwiz 16:2 for $600; not a bad deal if it's in good shape.
http://used.guitarcenter.com/usedgear/details.cfm?listId=103 898490

[John Chiara]

Adam Whetham wrote on Wed, 16 January 2008 00:58

buy a new rack, don't go for the 1604.... there are enough bar bands in the world with that mixer.... I would not wish ribbon cable hell upon anyone again. They are nice, and hold up well if you keep working the ribbons... but they are far from having alot of use. a 1640 is a much better alternative.

I agree..I've run into 2 1604's in the last few months and both had issues that would require disassembly to solve..they wear out.

[Tim Padrick]

I like the Onyx, but after working on some real PITA to fix gear, I want a console that can be repaired with reasonable effort.  So I'd have to go for the MixWiz.