Mackie Onyx

A mixer board might look like just a wall of dials to most people, but to a sound engineer it's a beautiful tool of the trade. Mackie has made a great name for themselves with their fantastic mixers, and the Onyx series definitely lives up to that reputation. The main goal of these mixers is to give you a professional level of performance without setting you back an arm and a leg. Whether you're looking for a small mixer for your home recording studio or a massive 32-channel console behemoth for a community center, the Mackie Onyx series has what you need. What can you expect in one of these consoles? Boutique-quality preamps, for one. The fine engineers at Mackie have loaded these units up with top-shelf components, not to mention updated analog hardware to help you get the best sound quality. You can also choose a board with Firewire or USB connectivity, bridging the gap between analog and digital.

For your recording studio, you'll want to take a look at the Blackjack and Blackbird recording interfaces. Not only do these come loaded with all the same premium electronics as the Onyx consoles and mixers, they also include Mackie's Tracktion software, so you can start using them right out of the box even if you don't already have any production software.

For the event organizer or a musician looking for a portable speaker solution, Mackie also offers complete PA packages in the Onyx lineup, which come with a mixer, speaker system and microphones—a complete, ready-to-go sound system in one bundle. Any Mackie owner will also appreciate their good accessory support, no matter what product you own. If you need a cover, carrying bag or rack-mounting brackets for your mixer, chances are good that what you need is here as well.

No matter what sort of Onyx-series product you're looking for, from mixers to interfaces to PA systems to accessories, you can rest assured that it will be a good investment. Mackie's sterling reputation came to them for a reason, and everything you'll find here is a good example of that.