Soundcraft Signature 12MTK Reviews

Planned Obsolescence.

In the past, electronic devices I bought routinely functioned without problems for 5 years or more. I purchased this mixer in June 2020 and have used it exclusively in a home studio. The environment is clean, dry, smoke and pet free. It has never moved from it’s location on my studio desk.

After less than 3 years usage the integrated power supply is now failing! The mixer takes a few minutes to power up and the power supply will soon fail completely. There is also a problem with a channel fader malfunctioning and the leds on the fx section are faulty. This mixer has many great features but it contains electronic circuits/components that are clearly not built to last more than 3 years. Bear in mind when you purchase that you may need to have the mixer serviced/repaired in a couple of years. Maybe buy two so you have another as a backup! Lol

very good sound, value for money.. using it in homestudio with Ardour on Linux

I am using this for small home studio, recording tracks and record more tracks while playing recorded channels.

4 stars because..... it has no on/off switch.... what were they thinking....

I have not noticed noise, lag, pops, clicks or whatever. sound is good, dynamic reach is good. The equalizers are basic but good; I am not a fan of too many dials.....

You can have the recorded track in your DAW return to the console: press the USB RTN button (each track has it)

This way you can have your DAW do effects and then return the signal; the DAW as a insert as it were....

my DAW hardware is a (older) laptop on Intel Core i7 4th generation, 8 Gbyte RAM, and 2 SSD: so any modern day laptop should be able to cope with the workload easily.

Linux config:

Set memlock in /etc/security/limits.conf to unlimited or *much* (in kbytes!!)

==> note !!!: the hard AND the soft limit... or it will not work. can be done per user. (strongly adviced!! )

My DAW can then handle 5 msec delay or less easily once that memlock is set properly ( I have it on 2.5 msec now ) recording upto 20 tracks so far.

I have all instruments connected to their mono / stereo track ( 10 channels ) so I can just plug power in ( bugger: console has no on/off switch... ) and I am ready to go.

levels have been set up right. do not touch them again..

Once I am satisfied with a track, I move it to a separate track in Ardour : this way, I can leave the plugged-in instruments where they are, I have a clean empty track, and do not have to configure levels / equalizer/ track mapping again etc etc.

connected:

1 mic / 2 bass guitars / 1 el guitar / 1 roland guitar synth (stereo) / 1 drumset (stereo) / 1 keyboard (stereo)

that is 10 channels.

(*) The Console has 2 stereo inputs, not counting the line stereo input at 11-12 ; but of course you can combine 2 mono into a stereo track on any DAW.

Mixer has 2 channels with limiters and 2 with high impedance switch ( some types of directly plugged in guitars etc )

(*) One (slight) minus /issue to consider :

if you want to overdub, you loose 2 channels to get the sound out of your DAW to the speakers... while you are recording your next track ....

( using 11+12 is best; my DAW is Ardour on linux , but same applies to Windows / Mac )

So, for home studio use if you want to do overdubbing, this is a 10 track machine.

if thats not enough for you..... there is a 22 track ( 24, but again you loose 2 tracks )

I do not use it for mixdown to stereo; I use Ardour for that. because it is capable of many more tracks.

But, if you want to use the mixer, it does mixdown to stereo automagically on INPUT track 13+14 ... of course, your tracks must be on track 1 to 12 to make that work....

I have not used the track groups 1 / 2 / fx until now.

I have not used the FX either so far...

I will update as I progress ... :-)

Perfect for a particular price point

Purchased this mixer as a work-horse for twice weekly gigs, either as Solo, Duo, or small band formats.

It performs fantastic at every gig. I think it sounds great, we get lots of compliments, and the flexibility of the features are terrific, some of which I’ll detail below:

The limiters on channels 1&2 are fantastic. One of my acoustic guitarists likes to thump the body (and turn him self up a lot) and this helps keep it under control. I’d prefer he didn’t, but the limiter ensures the audience doesn’t know the difference.

The HiZ inputs are great and come in handy often.

The group outputs and routing buttons are fantastic, allowing us to send different levels to out PA system and the venue installed system, or choose which inputs go to the Subs.

Cons:

We bought this to replace an Allen & Heath Zed14 - the A&H felt higher quality in both build and sound, but we couldn’t justify the price based on a number of factors.

** HIGHLY RECOMMEND **

18 months use and now dead

It is broken after only 18 months use. No power at all. It was good while it workes. There is no power switch so left on all the time. There is a lot on social media about this.

The best for this price!

Exactly what you need to record a small band. It works like a sound card and records each channel on a separate track. Tested in ProTools.

Good analogue mixer

Top notch mixer.

If you are looking for a multitracker device this is real nice.

The EQs are actually pretty good for the price point and the effects are also on point with lexicon integrated.

If I had to point out a few cons, When using the USB return (sound coming from the DAW) to the mixer, you have to select a channel in which the sound will be affected by the EQ (unless I still haven't figured it out)

Also you can't record those nice effects..

Other than that I really recommend it

La clé de voute de mon studio

Bonne qualité Globale.

Signal bien respecté, EQ superbe, bonne conversion numérique.

Idéal en autonome et en liaison pc, routage flexible avec le Daw.

Moins cher qu'une carte son avec autant d'entrées/sorties.

La prise usb pour la lampe est un bonheur.

Les effets sont moyens et celui sélectionné est perdu à l’extinction.

Pas de On/Off, doit être mis sur une multi prise à interrupteur.

Un très bon choix.

Great!

Excellent product and easy to use.

Every home studio hardware setup must have IMHO.

a phenomenon multitrak console. your can record your rehearsal at 8 tracks separetly

Great multitrack comunication with the daw in both ways

Warning !

I had too send back 3 times, keeps going faulty one channel at a time.. something to do with the gain pods ..

Great little mixer/interface

My application:

Using as a studio 'patch bay' and interface. Like most people in a home studio, I'm tracking only one or two tracks at a time, but I like to have lots of instruments/inputs setup permanently. I mix all my source channels through the aux bus to one stereo out. In my daw I just have to arm the track. Very convenient when you're in the flow and continuously reaching for the next instrument.

Pros:

Superb sounding and quiet preamps and really musical, easy to use EQ.

Easy routing.

Hiz inputs can be handy.

Built in limiter is useful for some no doubt. But I doubt I'll find a use.

The built in FX are really nice sounding. Shame I won't use them much.

Ability to multi-track so many inputs at this price, with this quality is very impressive.

Stable, easy to install and use software.

Cons:

At this price there are some compromises...

No inserts

USB out is pre EQ and not switchable. As I've said, for how I use it, it's not a problem as I patch all the inputs through the AUX to 1 stereo out, so I can feed EQ to the output that way. If you want to track a drum kit with on board EQ, then you have a problem.

No off switch.

Bus metering is difficult to see at an angle.

Although sounding nice FX introduce a high noise floor To the board whentherwise this is pretty good on such a cheap unit.

I should also say for this price you have some compromise on the build also. The pots, faders etc are cheap, mounted on a single board etc. So I will just be careful with it. However the main case is sturdy enough.

Phantom power is universal. This is not the problem people sometimes think it is though. I won't give OP advice on this here directly though.. ;-)

All in all, Soundcraft have made an incredibly cost effective home studio/live mixer, with great sound quality and a useful feature set. I understand some people may gripe about the less good things here, but then you're looking at a much more expensive unit. I have an Allen and Heath Zed R16, and it IS AWESOME, but it's mostly in the way as I never lived that dream of mixing OOTB all the time and it's a big hunk of desk space in my world and I think I might prefer the sound of the Soundcraft preamps. I now match this little mixer with a presonus faderport and I have the best of both worlds... almost. Great inputs with hands on routing and tactile ITB mixing.

Not a professional review

Bought this mixer with high expectations and you know what?

It is amazing. Do not know if this would be really good for professional use but overall amazing.

- Shipped quickly, came in one piece (no shipping carnage).

- Used it on live event with a lot of singers/ announcers.

- Used it for live streaming on OBS and talking with skype/ discord a like.

- Local church uses it.

For the price I think it is hard to beat.

One drawback would be no ON/OFF switch. Once you plug it in into outlet it is on.

Really love the effects (just a bit hard to use from the start if you are familiar with different mixers)

For those who want to use it for live streaming ect. and are afraid of reported drawbacks like:

- sound coming only through L/R side in discord/skype or similar program.

(USE mixed channels 7-12)

- Not being able to control the sound via sliders (only gain, no effects or low, high, mid cutting) SEND everything to main mix and fiddle there ;))

I

Nice little mixer

I bought this for a mini setup. Works great!

Does of course not sound like a real console.

Great for smaller setups without the need of premium quality.

build quality is great en features wise it's a nice machine.

Crystal clear sound

I'm using it for almost an year and it sounds very clean. I can hear all the instruments from the drum machine, synth and bass sounds impressive good as well the effects. On top of it you can record 12 tracks at one shot. I cannot see in this price range and maybe 2 times more a better solution.

I'd recommend this diligent ''asian'', but...

For this cash is it a great mix, sound is fine, effects as we know them, ratio cost/features awesome. Unfortunately quite a big disapointment are flimsy knobs, leds off the pattern..something what I have not expected form Soundcraft..that's why I have sent that boy after two weeks of testing back and bought A&H ZED12FX.. now absolute contentment.

not the best, but its good enough

I like the multitrack function. For this price, this is amazing. The buttons are not to quality. And the sound is good enough. It's worth it.

Great mixer for a small band

Used this mixer for recording live my 5 pieces band. Also great for overdubbing as there is no latency issue when you monitor from the mixer. Holds high levels of channel volume overload with no distortion. Feels like real "British" fat and juicy sound. Also you can boost built in reverb while recording multi tracks with no fear as it records dry sound.

Superb

I used the 12MTK in a rehearsal studio and to be honest the quality of the sound was excellent. Really good preamps, the EQ section does make a difference and the effects were ok although we were mostly using revebs.

The quality of the multi-track recordings surprised me and the usb return functioned as expected. I would like to see the support of a higher sample rate.

I highly recommend this product and I will probably buy the 22mtk since I am running out of channels!