Soundcraft Signature 12MTK 4-stars Reviews

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 ... :-)

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

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 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.

Works as expected. Lots of features for a relatively cheap mixing console. 12 inputs, of which 2 are used for either RCA stereo or USB master return and then send to master. All 12 inputs are also USB interface inputs, or usable as USB returns for analogue summing. When used as USB interface for both in-and output, channels 11/12 are always the PC/DAW outputs and not usable as inputs.

Used with OSX and Logic X, works flawlessly. No drivers, no hassle, immediately recognized by both DAW and OS.

Operation of console is straightforward and easily learned.

Haven't used the Lexicon effects much, but are well known. Effect options were a little bit limited in terms of customisation but, for this price and build-in effects, more than enough.

Feels sturdy and solid. Faders and knobs are rigid enough, and replaceable.

4 stars because there is no on/off switch and the PSU is in the middle at the bottom. Not very accessible and removing the plug from the outlet is inconvenient too. A power switch at the back was the least they could add. But in this price range there is hardly anything better.

ganz gut, aber

Ich habe das schon mal in englisch für ein Forum verfasst, daher lasse ich es einfach so auch hier:

It is a great mixer. 3 pre/post aux (mono), 1 subgroup (or 2 mono). Nice faders. Wobbly knobs. Great gain range. Pre-Amps a bit on the ?warm? side. ?British? EQ is to my taste. Effects are usable (2 parameters adjustable). Sounds good. So that?s a bargain.

The USB interface is pre-fader/pre-EQ/post-amp and allows to make an insert via your DAW for all channels. That?s neat.

The record levels do not match, though. I need to push output levels of all mono channels by 7.5dB and stereo by 12dB in the DAW to achieve a seemless integration. I do not understand what the engineers thought there?!

Latency is 2.7ms on my system (Linux, JACK, 48kHz/24bit/128 samples).

When working with the DAW you need 1 stereo output for the DAW master and that cannot be put directly onto the 12MTK master fader (another inexplicable engineering decission) - so that blocks 1 stereo channel.

This device allows you to jam making use of sends and groups without computer and to record or use a DAW plugin as insert it takes minimal effort to do so.

It just has some inexplicable technical caveats and some very weak knobs.

Great deal for the price...

This is probably the cheapest analog mixer with multi-channel sound card on board. I use the mixer for my live setup for almost a year and had not experienced any serious problems so far. Pots feel a bit cheap, faders are good. Lexicon on-board effect is superb!

Tip for travelling musicians, this one fits perfectly in Peli 1560 case (+ you are left with some space for other gear, cables and so...), and if you remove plastic sides from mixer you can even put foam around the desk to protect it even more.

For the price it is a good deal, probably the best you can find for a 12 channel analog mixer with on board soundcard...