Digital Input - Mackie Onyx 1200F Owner's Manual

the DAW back to the Onyx 1200F outputs. All the
Output tabs are unavailable and the matrix mixer
cannot be adjusted.
You might leave the DSP Mixer off if your computer
has a lot of processing power and you are not con-
cerned about the low-latency contributed by routing
the audio through the DAW software application and
back to the Onyx 1200F for monitoring. Another sce-
nario is if you are just using the 1200F as an audio
interface to your computer.
• On: When the DSP Mixer is turned on, the Matrix
Mixer is enabled and the five Output tabs are active
and selectable. Each output tab controls the mix for
a pair of outputs (i.e., 1/2, 3/4, etc.). These mixes
are routed to the group of outputs selected by the
buttons on the bottom of the screen. Each mix is
comprised of the twelve analog inputs, eight digital
A inputs, eight digital B inputs, two S/PDIF or
AES/EBU inputs, and two channels returned from
the DAW.
Note: Each output tab has a different pair of DAW
channels available to combine with the mix (see
Onyx 1200F DAW Output Chart below).
The inputs to the Onyx 1200F are split off into two
directions after the A/D converters: one path goes
to the DSP Mixer and the physical outputs on the
1200F, and the other path goes to the ASIO/Core
Audio inputs of the DAW over the FireWire connec-
tion. These are not affected by the DSP Mixer.
Onyx 1200F DAW Output Chart
Analog Outputs DAW Output Channels
1/2
3/4
5/6
7/8
Digital Outputs A
1/2
3/4
5/6
7/8
Digital Outputs B
1/2
3/4
5/6
7/8
Headphones 1-4
1
2
3
4
SPDIF/AES
Note: When the DSP Mixer is turned on, each of
the Onyx 1200F Outputs has a different pair of
DAW Outputs that can be mixed into its output mix.
When the DSP Mixer is turned off,
the DAW Output Channels are automatically
routed directly to the Onyx 1200F outputs
indicated on this chart.
26
ONYX 1200F
1/2
3/4
5/6
7/8
9/10
11/12
13/14
15/16
17/18
19/20
21/22
23/24
25/26
27/28
29/30
31/32
33/34
This lets you use the DSP Mixer for tracking a band
and creating zero-latency headphone mixes for the
talent using the headphone outputs, or the analog
line outputs routed through a headphone distribu-
tion amplifier, while sending the tracks to the DAW
for recording.
Another scenario is for overdubbing, where you
are adding another track to some tracks already
recorded, which are routed from the DAW to the
1200F via the DAW Outputs.

Digital Input

This selects whether the S/PDIF digital input (S/PDIF
coaxial) or the AES/EBU digital input (AES/EBU XLR)
is used as a stereo digital input.
S/PDIF Format
There are two standard digital audio formats in com-
mon use: AES/EBU (Professional) and S/PDIF (Con-
sumer). The audio data is the same for either format,
just the non-audio data bits (subcode) are different.
In almost all cases, using the Consumer setting will
work just fine for the S/PDIF connection. Occasionally, a
S/PDIF device may want to see the Professional subcode
and cause problems when using the Consumer setting.
If you find that the S/PDIF digital audio is not being
tranmitted or received correctly, try using the Profes-
sional setting.
Note: If connecting a device equipped with an AES/EBU
digital output to the S/PDIF input on the 1200F using an
AES/EBU-to-S/PDIF converter, set the S/PDIF format to
professional.
Onyx 1200F
DSP Mixer ON
Onyx 1200F
30
Inputs
Onyx 1200F
DSP Mixer OFF
Onyx 1200F
Inputs
Onyx 1200F
Audio Outputs
FireWire
34
from DAW
DSP Matrix
Onyx 1200F
34
Mixer
Audio Outputs
30
30
34
from DAW
FireWire
to DAW
FireWire
to DAW
FireWire