ive thought about this time and time again: whether or not to sell my Mackie 1202 VLZ Pro mixer and get a 1202 Onyx, cause, damnit, i love faders!

Im curious if anyone here can say whether or not one or the other is better.

I would imagine that the VLZ would be better, but i wouldnt know.

Anyone have any experience with both of these and can help me decide whether or not to sell my VLZ and get an Onyx?

-Sin

Vlz, thinner, agressive, good when over driven. Lacks bass.

Onyx, fuller, soft, not aggressive, has bass, better sound.

The vlz can make things mean, the onyx cannot.

this is what I notice the most.

onyx is better sound quality, but kind of soft.

vlz is lacking bass, has a color that is mid range, can get mean if you over drive it.

Onyx is def cleaner and technically better overall. I never really liked the VLZ.. it has its uses like Bryan said but I would not want to run everything through it personally. I think of the VLZ series mostly as a live board first and foremost. For a smaller studio I guess it's not a big deal though. The Onyx board seems more designed as a live board and studio board in both build quality/cosmetics, sound quality, and expandability. Plus you can have the Onyx firewire run tracks from your DAW to the mixer and sum on the board (according to a video I saw).

If you go Onyx you might as well buy the firewire expansion for it as a sound card. Not sure what you are using now though. Personally, I run all of my gear directly into my Mr816CXS interface and don't bother with a mixer. It will just add noise to my signal .. at least at the level I can justify spending money on. Im not packing $ for an SSL What exactly are you using a mixer for?

mixing digital is annoying. i hate the mouse interface.

it has advantages, but i still dont like software fx, or eqs. i prefer the onyx eqs to any plugs i have used.

if you run live, a real mixer is the way to go.

i currently have a Motu 828mk3, thinking that would replace my 1202, but what im thinking now is doing this:

keyboards/guitars/drum machines blah blah blah into mixer
mixer into Motu
Motu into Macbook Pro

how does that setup sound?

-Sin

Unfortunately it sounds like a lot of wasted inputs. If I were going to do that i'd go for an interface in the same price range with less channels but better sound.

well, what i was doing, to save space, was just having everything that was hooked up (at the time, it was a JP8000, MC-808 and a guitar) into the Motu which was hooked up to my Macbook Pro.

-Sin

What if you replaced a couple of preamps from the Onyx with the ones from a VLZ.

I wish I was handier with this sort of stuff. It would be cool to have that option.