Mackie Onyx Producer 2x2

Disclaimer: I've only used this interface for a couple of days and am returning it now. Not that I was dissatisfied with the product; as the other reviews already say, this is a pretty good interface especially for its price. The drivers have worked without fail so far, the sound seems pretty clear (though I'm not one of these people who claim to hear a huge difference between different interfaces), the build quality appears to be very solid, the amplification goes up pretty loud, the input / DAW mixer is a nifty feature etc.

So, why am I returning it then?
Well, it seems there's a fundamental feature that some interfaces have but this one doesn't - that feature is multi-client ASIO support. This interface can run the sound of many applications at once in high-latency (=non-ASIO) mode just like you'd expect, but on ASIO it only supports one application at a time. This means that when I want to work in my DAW with low latency, I have to manually turn the DAW's audio engine off if I quickly want to consult spotify / iTunes / youtube, which is a HUGE hassle and a deal-breaker for me. I had never come across this concept, for some reason neither the specs on this site (or any other site) nor the reviews ever seem to mention whether or not an interface has multi-client ASIO, perhaps I'm the only one who cares about being able to quickly switch between applications and not having to constantly change settings.

So, if you know about multi-client ASIO and can live without it, this is probably a great purchase. If you, like me, were unaware that this is not something that all interfaces are naturally capable of and are the kind of person that likes to quickly check out audio from other applications while making music, I STRONGLY suggest you read this thread which opened my eyes to this issue:

Still giving it five stars since it's not like it was advertised as having multi-client ASIO, it was my fault to expect so, but I will probably go and get an NI interface instead.

TLDR: Good interface but doesn't have multi-client ASIO which means you can't have sound from other applications while you're working in your DAW and you have to manually change drivers all the time.

I've been using this interface for a month now and I do have some things to say about it.

First of all, it's a pretty good interface for the price. The sound is clear on headphones and the onyx amps are great. I haven't used the main outs for studio montors because I dont have them yet but by the looks of it, the sound is gonna be great aswell on the speakers. The drivers work without a problem and it comes with a nice software package if you wanna record something. It also brings some nice plug-ins.

It has a lot of funcionalities for such a low budget product. the High impedance buttons are pretty usefull for instrument use, aswell as the phantom power button. Buildwise, this little guy has a great feel to it. The texture on the top feels nice and overall it looks really good. The knobs have the perfect amount of resistance and the buttons have have a beautiful clicky feel, also all the lights (signal and hi-z/48V buttons) are bright enough. Overall the interface feels sturdy and well built.

On the other hand, there are two things that bother me a little bit. The knobs have a logarithmic scale, which means that on the first three quarters of the knob, theres not much of the difference (i mean there is but not that strong of an increase in volume/gain) and on the last quarter of the knob, the volume and gain go up a lot more than all the knob until that point. It's a nice concept, I can live with that, but sometimes it isn't that handy.

Now, the last thing that i really hate is that when you turn the mix knob all the way to DAW (so you can hear only your laptop's sound) and you need to turn the headphone volume down, when you get the headphone volume knob close to Minimum, you notice that all the sound starts panning to the right. Also, if you crank the headphone volume up to the max and start turning the Mix knob to Input, when its almost fully monitoring your inputs, you notice the sound coming from the laptop panning to the left. I dont know if theres something wrong with my unit or if it happens to everyone but, since I'm using headphones with an impedance of 250ohms, i probably shouldnt be noticing this all that much.

I don't know if anyone has this problem but I would like to know if someone noticed it aswell.

Besides that, i dont have any complaints. It serves its purpose and for the price it sounds great.

I'd do a proper build quality test, but I still need that hammer.

The Onyx Producer isn't particularly fancy, it lacks some of the features included in other interfaces, but it does what it's supposed to do well. And it sure is sturdy. The headphone amp deserves notable mention, it easily drives 250 Ohm cans despite being USB-powered.

Don't let the cost efficiency turn you off. If all you need is a solid 2x2 USB Interface with good amps, this unit is a great choice.