Hi
Well, I managed to install Win7 64 bits Ultimate on a motherboard with an I 9 9900K. What a nightmare!
Everything works.
The drivers and the Mackie Onyx 1640 I are well installed.
Manual
https://fcac.org/sites/default/files/Onyx 1640i User Manual.pdf
There are inserts for external hardware. One per channel, in fact.
and DB 25 connections. And FX sends. So I could buy some old second-hand gear for live use. I've already got a few pedals.
A delay (I have a mono pedal)
A reverb (I have a mono pedal)
A compressor (I have a mono pedal)
A flanger
Phaser (I have a mono pedal)
Rotator
saturation (I have a mono pedal)
I can also plug in mics for a guitar amp, for vocals, and a pedal that handles loops.
Okay, now I'm a little pissed off and tired of my sleepless night. Maybe I'm talking nonsense.
What do you think? What would you do?
I'd still have a little pc with firewire that I found second-hand to launch loops.
Actually, I want to play with faders. Microphones. Real effects.
See images below. Thank you.

Rear:

Front

 

Last edited: Jun 10, 2025

Effect pedals meant to be used with instruments will not be impedance adapted to your mixer's effect loop. You're supposed to use a reamp box or inverted passive DI. Anyway, it will work without it but you need to carefully watch the levels you're sending. You need to be low, at -30 dB or something. If you plan to use them as channel inserts, be aware that the insert is located after the preamp.

 

Yes, I know that now. Thank you. So I'm going to buy a reverb and delay hardware second hand for the fx sends subgroups and use plugins for the other modulations.

 

What you say is generally true, but I have pedals with instr/line input option (Strymon). The good part of Strymon pedals is that now they have an app to edit settings: no more crazy button sequences to memorize. I'm quite sure Eventide pedals also have instr/line switch

 

Interesting. I didnt know about those pedals with line/instr switches.

 

Thanks for the Eventide pedals. But they are very expensive. I've already invested in a lot of equipment over the last 15 years. I'm going to buy simple things like analogue delay :
https://www.leboncoin.fr/ad/instruments_de_musique/3003849269

 

Yamaha E1010 is a (not so) analog delay - 300ms. There are no tape loops inside and it uses a solid state circuitry. At that time (70s) they use to call it analog because of the distortion added on output, but it is 100% digital.
You know what? Vintage gear from 70 and 80 is becoming too old, delicate, problematic, expensive for what it is: I’m starting to step back from it. Also, if you’re not into soldering and stuff, you are forced to periodically spend extra money for assistance. I’ll never sell the vintage gear I already own, but enough with it: from now on, no more vintage shopping for me

 

I don't remember opening my E1010 when I owned it some 20 years ago, but I'm pretty sure it's 100% analog, Bucket Brigade Device (BBD) delay.

It doesn't have to have a tape loop inside to be analog.

 

Ok: if you want to split hairs, the Bucket Brigade device is an emulation of the tape echo, made with chips. Here’s an In -depth explanation on the topic:
https://thatdelaypedal.com/2019/01/08/what-are-bbd-chips/

 

@ptepper is right : this is analog. There's no digitization, just discharge of capacitors in series. This is explicitely stated in the link you quoted, @Dom_Perignon. This is some kind of sampling if you want, but without any conversion to numbers. There's a clock involved, but only for the delay time. Solid state analog delays were a blessing compared to the wear and mechanical problems encoutered with tape delays.

 

Hi
Thanks for the clarification. Very interesting.
I've been scouring second hand sites to find an acceptable reverb. But apart from old Alesis or Yamaha which I know from having used them (cheap sound), there isn't much of interest or they are very expensive things.
Do you know of any reverbs that are not too expensive but acceptable from a sound point of view.
Thank you for your help.

 

There's this but I don't know it. Do you have any advice?

Thank you.
Tc.electronic m300

 

Last edited: Jun 13, 2025

I used that a lot on live acts when I worked at music school, singers loved it

 

I found one for 90 euros.
Bought the unit.

 

Last edited: Jun 13, 2025

I can recommend Lexicon MX400. 2 good stereo fx for maybe 200 euro 2nd hand. DBX 166XL compressor will set you back a little bit more than a 100 euro - it's pretty good for compressing drums and bass. If you need a good cheap compressor for everything else, like vocals, FMR RNC 1173 for about 200 euro will get you set up. That would nicely complete your pretty neat setup.

Cheap TC effects are also cool to have. Their delay D-TWO can be had for like 200 euro or less.

 

I've never tried the M300, but I've had a M-One (not the XL version, the first one) and it was very good sounding.

 

Maybe look at the Digitech Studio Quad, it's a 4-in 4-out Reverb unit with a couple of configurations and presets. Not exactly Lexicon Quality, but for dubbing I guess you could do with less. There's actually a very affordable unit for sale from Reverb.com

 

Thank you for your advice. I'll looking for those devices this W.E.
And now let's have a beer with my friends!

 

Hi
Someone sell 2 units for 100 euros but I just need one! I'll call him...

 

drawmer dl 241
2 units for 200 euros
https://fr.audiofanzine.com/compresseur-de-studio/drawmer/DL241/petites-annonces/i.3445943.html