RCF M 18 5-stars Reviews

RCF M18 - A Good Little Unit

After lugging around my A&H QU-16 to solo acoustic gigs for too many years I decided I wanted a smaller console without having to sacrifice too much on features. As a bit of a RCF fanboy I stumbled across the RCF M18. This sleek little unit really caught my attention with its powerful processing and aesthetic design!

I use this console for gigs where space is limited and when paired with my RCF 705 ASII Sub and ART 310A MK4 top boxes this package really packs a punch for such a small foot print.

Here are some of the pros and cons of the RCF M18.

Pros:

Great design - sits nicely on top of a sub for an all in one look

Sound shaping features are a plenty with parametric and graphic EQ's

Totally useable FX and great AUX options - good for multiple monitors

Just about everything you need to get your solo or acoustic duo up and running

Cons:

iPad app is a little clunky at times especially when using the parametric EQ

External antenna is prone to damage - internal one seems to work fine though

Could have done with at least a "mute all" button on the unit for those "cant't make sense of it" moments

Don't forget your iPad and keep both the iPad and M18 up to date with each other

All in all the M18 is a really good unit. Its got all the features and more of your more conventional 8 XLR in desks and does it in style! Once you get to know the often clunky UI and usual iPad mixing muck abouts you really can get a lot done with the RCF M18.

Amazing digital mixer at a reasonable price

This product packs lots of features in an affordable price.

In general digital mixers are the only serious choice if you want an in-ear mix and this one packs all these features that you would need. If you play live you do not need to worry again for your stage monitoring or ask your sound engineer to increase a bit this or that. You simply open your smartphone and do it with a few clicks.

Another great feature is the stereo recording in a usb stick. It's so easy to create demos of your band, record your live or simply an idea of yours. Valuable for drummers or bands.

For a live situation you can either send your final stereo mix to the house (if it is a really small venue) or combine this with splitters in a small rack and your mics/inputs will feed both your d.mixer for your monitoring and the venue. Software is straight-forward and easy to learn. Finally, the wi-fi is ridiculously strong and stable. No need for an external router (as in the Behringer competitor).

Being now really strict given the price, here are some cons:

- only 8 xlr input out of 18 total inputs (so you need pre-amps to connect more mics. Thankfully e-guitars and bass can go directly from amp to the mixer without mic)

- no USB audio interface in order to separately capture the 18 inputs + 2 mono tracks

- only 1 stereo headphone jack (you can of course use the 6 additional mono aux outs for more in-ear or combine them in couples for 3 more stereo mixes).

Wish RCF was releasing their M24 as announced in 2016 as that would cover all of the aforementioned cons.

All in all, this is a great quality product for the price. I would definitely recommend it.

USB recognizing is not allways 100 %.

Multiple track record is missing.

Otherwise very good choice, way above average.

Great value

This is really a great item. Easy to use and set up. I bought a swissonoc router with it....have not needed it yet. I can walk about 30m from the mixer and its perfect, so hold of on the router until you test the mixer. It is worth reading the manual. The EQ is easy to use both on the main outputs, and the AUX outputs....which is very useful for monitors. you can connect many ipads to it, this is handy if you want an AUX mix on one ipad, and the main mix on another ipad.

Its wort keeping in mind, when you save the settings....they are saved to the mixer, not the ipad. So if you loose ipad simply get another and download the app, and you are ready to go. (This was obvious when i though about it)

The only down side is the cost of the rack mounts....far to expensive, but RCF know you will buy them, as you really have no choice. i am using an ipad with the RCF software, and its easy to navigate. The maximiser, and the HPF are amazing and well worth reading up on. One thing that is very badly needed is a LED light on the front of the unit. There is no light to show you if its on/off. (there is a light on the back, but this is useless if the unit is in a flight case.

use in the bandwidth test at home, which makes it quiet with headphones for everyone (band of 5 elements each with your smartpone controls your mix), you can record some idea or change music directly on a USB stick and listen on the spot . With a signal splitter is an optimal monitor circuit in ear closed to the band and unleashes to a situation where the PA fails + the mixer being wireless is top ... I recommend 5 stars