We currently use a bunch of Blue Snowball USB microphones to do our Podcasting. These are great mics if you're only going to plug one of them in to the computer, but if you need to have many people talking at once the solution does not work as well. Recently I went on a quest to get a great Firewire audio mixer that I could use to bring each microphone into Logic as a discreet input. Why? By having each voice on its own track I'm able to tweak audio in post-production and make sure that everyone sounds great. If I mix it down to one or two tracks I'll have a much more difficult time fixing issues with one particular voice.

I looked around for a while at MOTU but they didn't have any really good hardware control surfaces. M-Audio has the ProjectMix I/O control surface with Firewire interface, but I wanted some aux outputs to route into my VoIP return audio feed (so anyone joining us via VoIP could hear a return of the audio without their own voice in the mix). I will say that the flying faders on the M-Audio and direct DAW integration seems very nice. That aux return is fairly important for us though, so I don't think I can do that. The Tascam FW-1884 has the same issue as the M-Audio box but without a sleek, sexy looking surface. Then I stumbled across the Mackie Onyx line of mixers. Analog mixers with aux out AND an optional Firewire board. This is the one! Or at least, I that's what I thought.


As I researched the board more I got increasingly excited. I started with the Mackie Onyx 1220 then decided that I wanted more aux outputs and a few more mic inputs. This would allow me to run a couple of computers with my VoIP application of choice, each on a discreet track and with the ability to re-route return audio back into the unit, minus their own voice. I decided to move to the Mackie Onyx 1620 which has 8 XLR inputs and 4 stereo 1/4" inputs (total of 8 additional jacks) with 4 aux outputs. With this system I could run 8 people in the studio with 4 unique VoIP conversations all on their own audio track in Logic. This is a bit more than I need, but versatile enough to work in just about any situation. It's perfect! I continue my research only to find the killer: the Firewire board is a direct pass-through of the input only. The Firewire output bypasses the EQ, gain, faders, etc. If I want to make any adjustments to my audio it must all be done on the computer. So, what the heck is the purpose of even having a board then? This makes the Firewire board just a glorified analog to digital converter! This won't work in a live environment where I need to be able to make quick changes on the fly. Having a tactile interface is the whole point here! It should be easy to conduct a live Podcast, record it to discreet channels in my audio application, and make minor tweaks after the fact. I don't want to have to do major editing when we're done, I want to just clean it up quickly and post it ASAP!


I'm a bit disappointed that Mackie didn't include a switch that allows me to chose pre or post effects on each channel. What could have been the perfect audio interface for Podcasters turns out to be a really expensive analog to digital converter. The board will still allow me to run aux outputs and route the audio as I need, so it's not an entire loss, but it's still a bit of a let down. I did notice in the Mackie forums that there's a modification that I can apply to get the board to act a bit more like I want. I was hoping that the board would interface with Logic and add keyframes every time I move a slider. This modification is a bit different and just adjusts the audio on the fly before it hits the Firewire board,so I don't actually get to see the end keyframes in Logic. Not as sexy, but a workable solution. I really suck at soldering, so I may need to ask around to friends who are better at this stuff and see if they can help me mod the board.

I've actually not purchased anything yet. I'm still thinking that while it's not the uber, super cool solution I was hoping for, the Mackie Onyx 1620 is still the best option for me. What do you think? Do you know of a board that allows me to do analog to digital conversion, each channel is discreet, has analog analog aux outputs (multiple) and allows me to control my DAW on the fly? Is it just me or isn't that the ultimate Podcasting machine?!?