NAMM 2020: Korg and Greg Mackie announce the SoundLink compact hybrid mixers

NAMM 2020: If you know anything about hardware mixers, you’ll almost certainly know about Greg Mackie, a man who’s been designing and using them for 40 years. Now, in collaboration with preamp perfectionist Peter Watts, he’s helped to design the new SoundLink range for Korg.

Available in both 16- and 24-channel flavours - the MW1608 and MW2408 - these are hybrid/analogue mixers that contain the new HiVolt mic preamps. Promising a warm and musical sound similar to that generated by the Peter Watts-designed preamps from the legendary Trident mixing console, these are said to give you more headroom than on any similarly-priced analogue or digital mixer.

Other tell-tale signs of SoundLink’s illustrious pedigree include the presence of Mute Groups, which instantly let you call up different combinations of channels, and the Musician’s Phone feature, which provides one-knob boost of the complete mix into a musician’s individual track.

Korg, meanwhile, has used its expertise to contribute a new proprietary custom chip that delivers 24 digital effects, including six reverbs. These are easily accessed and can be tweaked to taste.

The MW2408 is expected to be available in April priced at £1,199, while the MW1608 should land in May for around £999. Find out more on the Korg website.