Mackie 1640 mixer

We spent the day using the Mackie Onyx 1640 mixer, and I think it's definitely a keeper.  The Perkins EQ is a great improvement, and much more usable than the previous Mackie EQ on VLZ and VLZ Pro mixers.  If your a Mackie user you'll certainly appreciate this improvement.   Mackie has also added an EQ in/out switch which is a great help in auditioning EQ adjustments.  The new Onyx mic pres are also an improvement.  I'll be doing some more microphone recording with them, but so far I'm pleased with the results of the song I've recorded.  

We're using the 1640 as the front end to the Roland 2480.  Though the pres are good on the 2480,  I think the pres on the 1640 will add some more flexibility and choice in my studio.  Some have complained about the 1640 tapping the audio signal directly after the pres for the Fire Wire card which leaves the user unable to use the inserts or the very nice EQ.  This is only a problem if your recording 16 channels simultaneously.   I am tapping the signal after the EQ section via the aux sends which allows me to record 6 sources simultaneously,  which for tracking is just fine for me.  Doing this allows me full use of the insert jack and the excellent EQ on the 1640 should I choose to track with it.   I just patch the 6 aux send lines  into the 2480 line ins.  Roland informs me that with their gain knob fully counter clockwise, their pre is fully bypassed so it's just an input with gain being supplied by the Onyx 1640.  The A/D conversion on the 2480 is perfectly adequate.  I may consider something from Apogee later, but at this point I don't feel the slight fidelity difference is really worth 2-3 grand.

I'd also like to comment on the low noise of the 1640.  Single channel tracking with hefty gain at the 3 o'clock postion at several stages is very quiet.  Even six channels with gain stages at 12-1 o'clock postions, the 1640 exhibits very low self noise.