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Whether you’re tracking your latest song idea or doing a live stream, the Onyx Series USB Interfaces deliver true studio-quality sound with maximum headroom and ultra-low noise.​

Hear

The Difference

Combining high-resolution 24-bit/192kHz converters with premium Mackie analog circuitry and Built-Like-A-Tank™ hardware design, the bus-powered Onyx Series USB Audio Interfaces give you the power to capture your best performance and experience media with pristine fidelity at home or on the go.

Perfect for singer-songwriters and content creators, the Onyx Artist 1•2^™ features an Onyx mic pre plus a ¼” input with Hi-Z switch for quick and easy recording. The Onyx Producer 2•2^™ expands the versatility with dual Onyx mic pres and MIDI I/O for controllers, synthesizers and more.

Both models offer zero-latency direct monitoring plus a headphone output, L/R line-output and +48v phantom power.

Did you purchase an Onyx USB Interface on or after September 12, 2019? Get your Free Avid^® software here

Series Overview
Onyx USB Interfaces

Download Acoustic Samples Olyx Mach 3

Features

Everything you need to capture your next project with incredible fidelity anywhere.

PREMIUM

Analog Circuitry

Whether you’re tracking your latest song idea or doing a live stream, the Onyx Series USB Interfaces deliver true studio-quality sound with maximum headroom and ultra-low noise. Utilizing our proven Onyx™ mic preamps, everything from vocals to guitars to synthesizers will be captured with incredible accuracy and warmth.

ZERO-LATENCY

Direct Monitoring

Featuring a true analog monitoring path directly from the preamps to your studio monitors and headphones, you can track while listening in either mono or stereo to the direct analog source with zero routing. Not only that, it also means you can adjust your buffer settings to maximize your computer’s processing ability.

bus powered

Get Connected

Onyx Series USB Interfaces feature USB 2.0 connectivity for fast data transfer and minimal latency. Also, being bus powered, your studio can be truly mobile – just plug into your laptop and you are ready to go, no external power required. Compatible with Mac (Core Audio) and PC (ASIO).

PRODUCER

MIDI I/O

All that great MIDI gear shouldn’t go unused. The Onyx Producer 2•2 is equipped with MIDI I/O to keep you in touch with your favorite synths, controllers, sequencers, and more. Perfect for complex live performance and studio setups.

RUGGED

Built-Like-A-Tank™

Since Mackie's early mullet-filled days circa 1989, we insisted that everything we make be able to take the abuse of modern musicians, and Onyx Series USB Interfaces are no exception. With a beautiful all-metal enclosure, extended wear potentiometers, and robust internal construction, these interfaces are in it for the long haul.

AWARD-WINNING

Waveform OEM™ Recording Software

Included with your Onyx Series USB Interface is the powerful multi award-winning Waveform OEM recording software. This full-featured DAW offers unlimited numbers of audio and MIDI tracks, combined with a professional feature set, allowing you to compose, record, edit, mix and share your music with ease.

PLUG-INS

DAW Essentials Collection

Along with Waveform OEM, you also get a collection of 16 contemporary FX plugins for use with any DAW. Utilizing the very latest algorithms and coding techniques, the plugins feature extraordinary sound quality in an extremely efficient package, allowing the plugins to be used liberally across a wide range of native computer systems.

Software Bundles Included

Pro Tools | First DAW

An industry standard for decades, Pro Tools | First is easy enough for beginners yet sophisticated enough for experienced musicians. Get many of the same tools used by your favorite artists and recording studios. And now you can collaborate online with anyone, anywhere, and create at the speed of your imagination. Available for MacOS^® and Windows^® operating systems. Learn More

Musician Collection*

Mackie Exclusive

In addition to the powerful plug-ins within Pro Tools | First, you get the exclusive Mackie Musician Collection featuring 23 fantastic plug-ins.

• BBD Delay, Black Op Distortion, Black Shiny Wah, Black Spring Reverb, C1 Chorus, DC Distortion, Eleven Lite, Flanger, Graphic EQ, Gray Compressor, Green JRC Overdrive, In-Tune, Orange Phaser, Roto Speaker, Sci-Fi, Studio Reverb, Tape Echo, Tri Knob Fuzz, Vari-Fi, Vibe, Phaser, and White Boost

*Requires a new Pro Tools | First subscription at no cost

Waveform oem™ DAW

Waveform OEM is a multi award-winning workstation, featuring powerful and creative tools to inspire the modern musician. Unlike typical ‘Lite’ versions, it does not impose any restrictions – you get unlimited track count, powerful features, compatibility with all popular plugins and efficient performance on Mac^®, Windows^®, and Linux^® operating systems. Learn More

DAW Essentials Collection™

Introducing a collection of 16 contemporary FX plug-ins for use with any DAW. These plug-ins utilize the very latest algorithms and coding techniques to deliver extraordinary sound quality in an extremely efficient package, allowing the plugins to be used liberally across a wide range of native computer systems. Learn More

Included with the purchase of an Onyx Series USB Interface.

Series Line-Up

Perfect for home studios, content creators, and mobile recording.

Artist 1•2

2-in x 2-out USB Interface

• Boutique-quality Onyx™ mic preamp with class-leading fidelity and dynamic range
• +48v Phantom Power for use with studio condenser mics
• 1/4” TRS input with Hi-Z switch for connecting guitar, bass, and more
• High-resolution 2 in x 2 out 24-Bit/192kHz recording
• Zero-latency direct analog monitoring of inputs
• Dedicated 1/4' TRS outputs for connecting studio monitors
• Bus-powered for easy mobile recording
• USB 2.0 connectivity
• Built-Like-A-Tank™ design to survive day-to-day abuse
• Powerful headphone output
• Waveform OEM™ Music Production Software included
• Compatible with all major DAWs on Mac or PC
• 1.1 lbs / .5 kg

Producer 2•2

Download Acoustic Samples Olyx Machine

2-in x 2-out USB Interface with MIDI

• Two boutique-quality Onyx™ mic preamps with class-leading fidelity and dynamic range
  • XLR/TRS combo inputs accept mic, line and instrument sources
  • Hi-Z switch per channel
• +48v Phantom Power for use with studio condenser mics
• High-resolution 2 in x 2 out 24-Bit/192kHz recording
• Zero-latency direct monitoring of analog inputs
• Dedicated 1/4' TRS outputs for connecting studio monitors
• MIDI I/O for connecting synths, controllers and more
• Powerful headphone output
• Bus-powered for easy mobile recording with no power adapter needed
• USB 2.0 connectivity for fast transfer speed and low latency
• Built-Like-A-Tank™ design to survive day-to-day abuse
• Waveform OEM™ Music Production Software included
• Compatible with all major DAWs on Mac or PC
• 1.35 lbs / .68 kg

Manual

SOFTWARE/FIRMWARE

Driver

Driver Install Instructions

SUPPORT DOCS

Reviews

PRODUCT PHOTOS

Suggestions

Check out these other great products to complete your home studio.

Last Updated on August 14, 2020 by

Having a good drum sound in your mixes is essential, be it real drums, sampled drums or synth drums.

Not everyone has the luxury of having a drummer available to record whatever they need 24/7, so making your own drum tracks and getting them to sound good is a great way of doing things.

Luckily, there are many free drum VST plugins available that should get you sounding amazing in no time.

These are the best free Drum VSTs;

1. MT Power DrumKit 2 (Windows, Mac)
2. Drumatic 3 by e-phonic (Windows)
3. DrumMic’a! by Sennheiser (Windows, Mac)
4. Beatfactory Drums by BeatSkillz (Windows, Mac)
5. MiniSpillage by AudioSpillage (Mac)
6. SM Drumkit by SMM (Windows, Mac)
7. EXD-80 by Third Harmonic Studios (Windows)
8. Drum Pro by StudioLinked (Windows, Mac)
9. TheDrumSource by Witech (Windows)
10. REX 606 (Windows, Mac)
11. Line of Legends (Windows, Mac)
12. Sean Pandy Drums (Windows, Mac)
13. Dub Turbo DrumTROOP (Windows, Mac)
14. Single Cycle Vintage Drum Elements (Windows, Mac)

1. MT Power DrumKit 2 (Windows, Mac)

The MT Power DrumKit is a free sampler which offers high-quality samples of an acoustic, realistic drum kit.

The Samples come pre-processed which should make them sit nicely in any mix without any tweaking.

In addition to the incredible drum sounds that cut through any mix, it also has a fully pre-programmed groove library, which makes it extremely easy to set up a quick drum track for any song.

It also comes with a mixer where you can adjust the levels of each component, plus you can control the level of compression and panning.

Make sure to check out the official website here.

If you’re thinking about building a home studio, then make sure to read this entire post about the essential home studio components you need.

2. Drumatic 3 by e-phonic (Windows)

Drumatic 3 is a virtual-analogue drum synthesizer.
All sounds are 100% synthetic and allow for huge flexibility and variation.

It sounds pretty good, just remember that the sounds are nowhere close to a real drum, but that’s the whole point.

Sounds: Bassdrum, Snaredrum, Handclap, 2 Toms, Hihats and a Rimshot / Bell.

Features

• Graphical envelopes for amplitude and modulation
• Load / save presets for single sounds
• Simple but effective effect section for each sound with distortion and bitcrusher and a filter.
• 6 Stereo outputs, assignable for each sound.
• All parameters can be automated (midi-CC not yet supported)

You can download it here.

Are you also looking for 20 of the best Free Orchestral VST plugins? As it so happens, I wrote an article about the ones I think are the best!

3. DrumMic’a! by Sennheiser (Windows, Mac)

This is a Free drum sample Software which loads inside of the free native Instruments Kontact Player. This one allows you to change between Sennheiser and Neumann Microphones, which will change the drum sound a bit.

This one also comes with a mixer where you can adjust the volume of each individual component of the kit and also allowing you to EQ, Compress, add reverb and delay, pan, etc.

This is a fantastic option, especially because it’s free, check its official website here.

Related: I love free plugins, so I put together a list of the best Free Synth VST Plugins out there which you can check out here,

4. Beatfactory Drums by BeatSkillz (Windows, Mac)

Beatfactory Drums is a free drumkit/drum machine plugin which works in any DAW on Mac OS X and Windows 32/64-bit.

The kits included in the plugin were created using the MPC 2500 passing through high end outboard EQ, compressors, tube and solid state gear, for a gritty and punchy sound.

It’s a very fun plugin to use and it sounds absolutely fantastic!

Features

• Sampled from MPC 2500
• Created with High End OutBoard Gear
• Volume and Pan for Each Sample Pad
• ADSR Envelope for Shaping the Kit
• 10 Kits Included
• Built in REVERB

Here’s the to where you can download the Beat Factory Drums.

5. MiniSpillage by AudioSpillage (Mac)

MiniSpillage is a free professional quality drum synthesizer plugin featuring high resolution 64-bit DSP processing that includes 3 exclusive drum synthesis algorithms along with distortion effects and resonant filters.

Features

• HD 64-bit Digital Sound
• 3 Editable Drum Pads

You can Download it here.

Now, maybe you need some truly powerful Drum VSTs and the ones on this list won’t cut it; Here’s a post about the best Premium Drum VSTs out there.

6. SM Drumkit by SMM (Windows, Mac)

This is one of the best free acoustic drum sample packs available. The samples are from a Vintage Ludwig drumkit which just sound fantastic.

The intention behind this was to provide a sampled collector drum kit in an easy to use format (Kontakt) as well as the open WAV samples to map in your own samplers of choice.

To use in Kontakt, however, you will need the full version since the free version of Kontakt only allows you to use it for 15 min.

This Pack adds up to 3.7GB across 3614 samples recorded in 24 bits, and each piece has up to 64 velocity layers and up to 8 round robins.

Here’s a link to the official website.

If you’re looking for a Free DAW to use these plugins with, then make sure to read this guide I wrote on the best free DAWs available today!

7. EXD-80 by Third Harmonic Studios (Windows)

EXD-80 is a free 32-bit virtual analog drum and percussion synthesizer plugin for Windows.

It is a flexible drum synth that can produce a wide variety of drum and percussion sounds.

From emulations of classic drum machines to crazy, mangled glitch sounds – all synthesized, no samples here!

It is suitable for many EDM styles including electro, glitch, industrial, ambient, dubstep, drum & bass and hip hop.

Download Acoustic Samples Olyx Machines

Features

• 8 Modules – kick, snare, open and closed hi-hats, 5 x percussion sounds
• 4 Stereo output pairs
• Each output pair has its own stereo effects section featuring a Granulator and Waveshaper
• Supports VST host automation and MIDI continuous controllers
• User definable MIDI note mappings
• 128 User drum kit patches (comes with 16 preset drum kits)

Note: It’s only 32-bit.

You can download it here.

8. Drum Pro by StudioLinked (Windows, Mac)

Download Acoustic Samples Olyx Macbook Pro

This is a fantastic drum machine plugin no matter how you look at it. The sounds you can get out of it are great and the ease of use is unmatched.

It is ideal for Hip-hop, Trap, EDM, etc.

Features

• 20 drum kits.
• Global ADSR / reverb.
• 12 pads.
• Volume and pan for each pad.

Also, you can add some paid expansion packs if you’d like.

You can download it here.

9. TheDrumSource by Witech (Windows)

TheDrumSource is a sample based drum machine with a built in browser and sequencer. It has a simple, very clean interface and very fast workflow which is ideal for beginners.

Features

• support for many sample formats.
• Sample preview.
• Separate output channels.
• Very fast sample browsing.
• Resizable GUI.
• 24 patterns.
• 16/32/64/128 step sequences.
• Each channel has pan, volume, pitch, length knobs and swing.
• Formats (including 24-bit): WAV, AIFF, AIFC, AU, SND, RAW, PAF, IFF, SVX, SF, VOC, W64, MAT4, MAT5, PVF, XI, HTK, CAF, SD2, FLAC, OGG.
• Sample pack included

You can download it here.

I’ve also put together a list about the top Free Bass Amp VST Plugins which is definitely worth checking out!

10. T.REX 606 (Windows, Mac)

The T.REX 606 is a rompler of classic 606.

It’s got a vintage and Modern GUI Design featuring 7 Classics Sounds and knobs for Main Volume & Simple Reverb.

It’s really straight forward to use, very simple and intuitive. The sound quality isn’t the best, but you should definitely try it out since it’s free.

It works both on Windows and Mac OS.

You can download it here.

11. Line of Legends (Windows, Mac)

Line of Legends may look extremely simple to you, but don’t let it fool you, it’s a great plugin

It features high quality drum samples from the eponymous free sample pack released by realdrumsamples.com.

The interface is divided in 8 sections (Kick, Snare, Clap, Snap, Toms, Hi hat, Ride and Crash).

Each section uses its own individual output for an easier handling in a productive environment.

Features

• 47 high quality samples.
• 8 individual outputs.
• Punch knobs for attack sculpting.
• Release and Pan knobs

Important Note: Some people have reported that in order to get sound you might need to set up the output channels in your DAW.

You can download it from the vst4free website.

12. Sean Pandy Drums (Windows, Mac)

Sean Pandy Drums is a VST/AU drum rompler plugin with Kick, Snare, 4 Toms – and a Sub Blower.

Every drum consists of 6 velocity layers and up to 10 random-robin samples, which means that you should get no machine gun effect even with fast repetitions.

This plugin sounds pretty nice to be honest, on the official website you will find two songs that have been recorded using this drum plugin and it surprised me, so make sure to check it out.

Also, it comes with a reverb, but it sounds a bit metallic, so go easy on it.

You can Download it here.

13. Dub Turbo DrumTROOP (Windows, Mac)

Ok, this has to be one of the best free drum machines available, it’s just capable of doing way too many things and it does them far too well.

DrumTROOP is a great alternative to constantly creating kits from scratch or messing around with bloated on board functions in most drum vst’s.

Features

• 20 free drum kits.
• 16-20 sounds per kit (some kits are full = 100+ samples)
• 128 triggers on every kit.
• 16 outputs.
• 32x/64x – mac/pc – vst/au
• Universal drum placement on the first 8 pads
• Vol, Pan, Attack, Release per pad.

You can download it here.

If you’re looking for a high quality guitar sound without investing in gear or even software, then make sure to check out my article about the top Free Guitar VST plugins available!

14. Single Cycle Vintage Drum Elements (Windows, Mac)

Vintage Drum Elements is a virtual drum machine featuring the sound of the Yamaha RX5.

The 12 pad interface is super intuitive and easy to use, making it an ideal choice both for beginners as well as experts.

The preloaded samples are of top-notch quality.

The plugin drum machine comes with 4 drum kits, 1 FX set and 4 instruments featuring;

• Yamaha RX5 Kit 1
• Yamaha RX5 Kit 2
• Synthetic Kit
• Ethnic Kit
• FX
• DX Bass
• DX Clavecin
• DX Marimba
• DX Orchestra

The plugin is available as a VST & AU instrument for Mac & PCs both in 32 bit and 64 bit.

Here’s the link to the official website.

Learn how to Produce music

If you want to learn how to produce music at home the right way and without making too many mistakes, then I’d recommend that you read these posts;

If you need real drum sample sounds, then I’d recommend either the MT Power DrumKit 2 and DrumMic’a! by Sennheiser.

If you want to create some hip-hop music, then the Drum Pro by StudioLinked is a good starting point.

Special Deals at Pluginboutique!

Get up to 99% off of Premium Plugins!

Is EZ Drummer free?

EZ Drummer is not free.
However, you can try it for free for 10 days before having to purchase it!

What is a drum VST?

VST stands for Virtual Studio Technology, and there are different kinds of VSTs.
As far as drums go, there can be VST libraries, beat machines and drum Synthesis, and they all work in different ways.