Anyone using a Mackie Onyx Artist 1.2?

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greta1989
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Anyone using a Mackie Onyx Artist 1.2?

Post by greta1989 »

Hello everyone!

I've decided to trying some amateur recording just for fun. I'd like to record my bass, possibly using a digital pedal I have to add some nice effects.

I have a pretty old (I would say 10 years or so) notebook running Linux Mint 20 with LXDE desktop environment, pulse audio server and audacity.

Today I went in a music shop close to my house and asked for an audio interface. The cheapest one was a Mackie Onyx Artist 1.2, which, after seeing some reviews, should be fine for recording bass.

The main problem is: I could not find anywhere if this audio interface is compatible with Linux and if it would work with audacity.

Does anybody have experience with it, or know if it would work?

Many thanks in advance!
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bluzee
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Re: Anyone using a Mackie Onyx Artist 1.2?

Post by bluzee »

It says no driver required for Mac so that is usually a good indication that it will work. It also has real knobs and switches so that usually means no weird proprietary software controls. If the store has a good return policy then no risk to take it and give it a try.
greta1989
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Re: Anyone using a Mackie Onyx Artist 1.2?

Post by greta1989 »

It says no driver required for Mac so that is usually a good indication that it will work. It also has real knobs and switches so that usually means no weird proprietary software controls. If the store has a good return policy then no risk to take it and give it a try.
Thanks for the feedback!

The seller told me that I can go to his store with my laptop and test it, but I can't bring it home and return it after I buy it.

I have all the latest updates installed and I was able to record and hear my voice in Audacity (v2.4.2) with a normal headphones and its mic (of course, super noisy ;)).

As I said in the first post, I have pulse audio installed and working, along with its volume control interface.

In order to be ready to test it, I thought these could be the steps:
1- plug the bass into the inst port of the audio interface (and possibly with a pedal in between)
2- start Audacity and see if in the recording device drop down menu (the one with the little mic icon on the left) I see the card and select it
3- play a bit with the knobs and switches on the audio interface to regulate the sound
4- press the record button and play something

Also, I'd like to be able to hear what I am playing while recording, so for this:
1b - plug the headphones into the out port of the audio interface
2b - ensure the playback device is set to wherever the headphones are plugged in

Would this be ok in your opinion or should I check for other things?

thanks
greta1989
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Re: Anyone using a Mackie Onyx Artist 1.2?

Post by greta1989 »

I did the test and I had bad luck...

The sound card showed up in the pavucontrol GUI, but not in audacity input and output lists.
I made sure no other programs were running before starting audacity.
In the terminal I saw an error that I will post when I will be able to retrieve it from my laptop related to ALSA and hw:0 (which I suppose can be the sound card).

So apparently, the problem was in the software (audacity)?

I don't know...

I will post the exact error in a following post.

Cheers
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bluebell
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Re: Anyone using a Mackie Onyx Artist 1.2?

Post by bluebell »

My Audacity can connect to ALSA or jack only, not to Pulseaudio.

So you could try to stop Pulseaudio and see if you can access the ALSA device with Audacity.

Linux – MOTU UltraLite AVB – Qtractor – http://suedwestlicht.saar.de/

greta1989
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Re: Anyone using a Mackie Onyx Artist 1.2?

Post by greta1989 »

bluebell wrote: Fri Dec 18, 2020 5:55 pm My Audacity can connect to ALSA or jack only, not to Pulseaudio.

So you could try to stop Pulseaudio and see if you can access the ALSA device with Audacity.
Thanks for the suggestion.

I did try to stop pulseadio service when I was making the test in the music store, but then I was left with no option to select in device input / output dropdowns in audacity unfortunately.

Anyway, I bought a Behringer UMC22 for cheap that will arrive soon, so that I will be able to comfortably make tests at home.

I'll try again with audacity and PA and if I have problems I'll try either using JACK in place of PA or/and another DAW (maybe Ardour).

Although it's not relevant to the title of this thread anymore, I'll post my results here as soon as I put my hands on the audio interface;)
greta1989
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Re: Anyone using a Mackie Onyx Artist 1.2?

Post by greta1989 »

Today I tried the Behringer UMC 22 with Audacity, my Linux Mint 20 installation and Pulse Audio and....it worked :D

I am so happy! I am able to record my bass while listening to other tracks (e.g. rythm track for metronome) using my headphones with direct monitor. With a 13 years old laptop.

Absolutely amazing...

Merry Christmas to everyone!!!
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Re: Anyone using a Mackie Onyx Artist 1.2?

Post by bluzee »

That's great. I have a UMC404 that I use for guitar as well. I love it.
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Re: Anyone using a Mackie Onyx Artist 1.2?

Post by bluzee »

OK, so I actually just bought one of these. They had an open box unit for half price and I was looking for a USB interface to plug into an Android TV box to use as a snapclient receiver.

It is class compliant. Just plug it in and it works. To get JACK to start on it I had to set midi to none.

Build quality seems good. Pots and switches all feel solid.

Mic pre is quiet right up to the last tiny bit but once you hit the maximum it's suddenly very, very noisy. Unfortunately for an SM58 it needs to be at maximum to have enough gain. Rode NT1 condenser can work OK while still in the quiet zone. Tested the 1/4 HiZ input and there is plenty of gain for guitar.

So if you use a dynamic microphone I would not recommend the Mackie Onyx artist 1-2. For my purposes it sounds fine.
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