Introduction

Thank you for choosing a lovely Mackie Onyx 1220i professional compact mixer. It has built-in FireWire, our premium precision-engineered studio-grade Onyx mic preamps, along with the newest features and latest technologies for live sound reinforcement and analog or digital studio recording, all in a durable, road-worthy package.

We realize that you must be really keen

to try out your new mixer. Please read the safety instructions on page 2 and this page, and then have a look through some

of the features and details in this quick start guide. A full manual is available on www.mackie.com.

Setup

Use the mixer in a nice clean and dry environment, free from dryer lint and dust bunnies.

Zero the controls

1.Fully turn down all the knobs to minimum, except for the channel EQ and pan controls, which should be centered.

2.Make sure all buttons are in the out position.

Connections

1.Make sure the AC power switch is off before making any connections.

2.Push the linecord securely into the IEC connector on the rear panel, and plug it into a 3-prong AC outlet. The mixer can accept any AC voltage ranging from 100 VAC to 240 VAC.

3.Plug a balanced microphone into one of the mic XLR (3-pin) connectors. Or connect any line- level signal (keyboard, or guitar preamp) to a line input jack using a TS or TRS 1/4" plug.

4.If your microphone requires phantom power, press in the 48V phantom power button.

5.You can connect a guitar directly to line inputs 1 or 2 without the need for a DI box. Press a hi-z switch if you connect a guitar directly.

6.The insert jacks of channels 1 to 4 can be used to connect an external effects or dynamics processor into the channel signal chain.

7.Connect the main outputs of the mixer (either XLR or TRS 1/4") to the line-level inputs of your amplifier (with speakers already attached) or to the line-level inputs of powered speakers.

Part No. SW0804 Rev. B

©2010 LOUD Technologies Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Set the levels

It’s not even necessary to hear what you’re doing to set optimal levels. But if you’d like to: Plug headphones into the phones output jack, then turn up the phones knob just a little.

1.Turn on the mixer by pressing the top edge of the power switch.

2.For one channel, press the solo switch in, and the rude solo light will turn on.

3.Play something into that input at real-world levels.

4.Adjust that channel's gain control until the right main meter stays around the 0 dB LED (marked "level set").

5.Disengage the channel's solo switch.

6.Repeat steps 2 to 5 for the remaining channels.

7.Turn up a channel fader to the "U" mark.

8.Slowly turn up the main mix fader until you hear the signals in your speakers or headphones.

9.If needed, apply some channel EQ wisely.

10.Adjust the channel levels to get the best mix. Keep the gain controls and faders fully down on unused channels.

11.During the performance, if you notice a channel OL LED turning on during peaks, carefully turn down that channel's gain control until OL does not turn on.

FireWire

•See page 15 for details of getting started with FireWire. PC drivers are on the supplied CD-ROM. Mac OS X contains built-in drivers.

CONTENTS

 

IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS ........................

2

INTRODUCTION ......................................................

3

FEATURES...............................................................

4

SETTING UP A SYSTEM............................................

6

MICROPHONES.......................................................

8

LINE-LEVEL SOURCES AND GUITARS.........................

9

AUX 1 AND AUX 2................................................

10

CONTROL ROOM/PHONES/METERS......................

11

MAIN MIX............................................................

12

ALT 3-4 ...............................................................

13

TALKBACK ............................................................

14

FIREWIRE .............................................................

15

TECHNICAL INFORMATION ....................................

18

TRACK SHEET........................................................

20

BLOCK DIAGRAM..................................................

22

MACKIE LIMITED WARRANTY ................................

23

Quick Start Guide

3