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.

Because a great mixer starts with great mic preamps, we invested significant research 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.

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.

We rounded out the Onyx 1620 feature set by answering some common requests from our compact mixer customers: adding individual 48v phantom power and balanced direct outputs on every channel; a full Auxiliary section with Pre/Post control; and a new Talkback section with a convenient built-in mic. We even developed a ''Planet Earth'' switching power supply for worldwide use.

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 14 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.

Features:

• Premium 16-channel/4-bus small-format analog mixer
• 16 new ONYX mic preamps comparable to boutique preamps
• New 4-band Perkins EQ with dual sweepable midrange controls provides warm, musical sound
• 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
• 6 Aux Sends w/ Pre/Post andamp; Solo switches
• 4 stereo line-level Aux Returns
• 4-bus architecture for flexible sub-grouping of channels
• Built-in Talkback section for use w/ internal or external mic
• True hardware EQ Bypass
• ''Planet-Earth'' switching power supply for worldwide use
• Linear taper 60mm faders with ultra-smooth response on all channels
• Balanced direct outs for every channel via DB-25 connections
• Selectable Instrument inputs on first two channels-no DI box needed
• Rotating I/O pod for desktop or rackmount operation