Soundcraft Signature 22MTK

Did not meet expectations

Feature rich mixer at a low price, they had to make big compromises on quality. Do not recommend this at all.

Incredibly easy to create good multi-track recordings

User Case:

I have quite a few drum-machines, synths and effects units connected to this via three patch bays. 14 mono plus 4 stereo is enough for me most of the time so as I have sessions I fill up the channels and press record when I think I have something. I don't use it for live use but I suppose I could.

Recording:

I record into Bitwig with no issues whatsoever and using the USB return buttons at the top, I can playback my recordings just as easily. I don't tend to overdub so I don't know if there is any noticeable latency when recording and playing back at the same time. I don't have experience with really expensive interfaces/convertors so can't compare this to those but to my ears, the recordings sound good and clear but just as important to me, they were easy to make and don't interrupt my flow.

Mixing:

I don't really use the EQ much as I tend to edit and mix with software. One could argue that I don't need a mixer at all and could manage with just an interface but I like the hands-on feeling and being able to just look at it and know what is going on. Tweaking FX sends while recording a pass is fun too.

Quality:

It feels reasonably solid and well built. Admittedly it doesn't get moved around at all. There is no power switch which is a minor inconvenience. I don't think it would stand up well to touring use.

Limitations:

Some people are frustrated by the lack of insert points but as I use patch bays, this is a non-issue for me.

The internal effects cannot be recorded except as part of the stereo master. You could use the aux outs and bring them back on another channel but unless you don't have many other effects, this isn't really work the effort. Even though I like quite a few of the effects, I tend to not use them.

Summary:

Very easy to use and produces good recordings. There are lots of routing possibilities and I don't think there is are many other options which are so versatile for so little outlay. Highly recommended.

solid mixer

very good mixer.

some USB connection issues, but this can be fixed.

sound quality is good

effects are nice to have

routing takes some time to get used to, but in the end there are many possibilities in how you want to set it up just for your needs, so i would say that this is a very versatile mixer

currently using it as the center of my "hybrid" studio, taking advantage of the analog path with the direct ins for my hardware gear and the digital path through usb for ableton instances, loops etc coming from the pc or DAW into the mixer for further processing, and then recording it back into the DAW to make the final mix.

very happy with it so far.

if you are looking for a mixer with lots of inputs and can be the center of any hybrid setup, than this is your mixer, look no further!

One word Latency

Got it mainly to work with the 22 inputs. The latency makes it very hard to work with the DAW. Tried everything but it is what it is. As a stand alone it has great pre-amps.

Excellent choice !

This mixer was bought to be used in a small music production studio.

It?s capabilities are really much and the unit?s quality is really good.

Pros:

Multichannel recording

Built in FX

Nice EQs

Built quality

Connectivity

Cons:

Low master volume

No inserts

Audio Device Drops Out at some points

No problem about the phone output that plays simultaneously with the master because i use an external volume control before the speakers so i can still mute the monitors without turning the console?s master volume off.

Overall pretty impressed!

Superb Mixer

Forget the critics and the experts, look at price !!

Superb mixer, awesome warm sound - buy it.

Simples !!

I am a pro composer and outside of a real world studio, at this price point, nothing remotely as good.

Just great recording mixer

I use it to mix and record electronic music (synths, drummachines). Since it can record so much channels at once it can capture a performance of more instruments together. Its also nice to be able to mix in analogue. The sound is clean, maybe not as "heavy" as I was used with my soundcraft 200. Eq, preamps all sounds fine. Also the size is good, its not nearly as big as I thought.

Cons: No monitor output, no inserts. To be able to use realiably all channels I have to use higher ASIO latencies. No master insert.

Mixer = soundcard

I looked for mixer that allows to stream independent channels to computer for recording. Last 11 years I had small size mixers Phonic MKII 24 and Phonic Helix Board 24 universal and needed to find something similar for on-location recordings and sometimes also for sound reinforcement. Before buying Soundcraft Signature I tried a digital mixer that offered 16 tracks to computer, but, as I expected, I found that it is difficult for fast / one-the-fly work because everything is hidden - not like on analogue mixer where you can see everything. So I chosed Soundcraft Signature 22MTK that offers me even more - 24 channels to computer, stereo inputs, 2 effects, 5 auxes, 4 subgroups. Long - 10 cm - faders. Effect returns throught faders. I am satisfied.

But there is some things that should be planned better by producer and some things that I really hate. 1) Phones is forever coupled to main mix, i. e., there is no possibility to listen to subgroups - just main mix or mono PFL even on stereo channels 2) No control room output. Of course, using different external devices I can manage everything I need, but... 3) It is easy to forget and get lost on which channels you pressed PFL button - no led indicator at channel buttons / fader, but position of buttons is not so easy remarkable. After using Phonic I feel really dissapointed about these things.

After my previous mixers this is much, much bigger and heavier, but offers approximately the same possibilities.

For all that, my needs, as described at the very beginning, was to get analogue mixer that streams at least 16 channels to computer, and I found it in Soundcraft Signature 22 MTK. If you have similar needs and can suffer that several insufficiencies described above, this mixer is a solution.

Great desk with compromises

I purchased this last year mainly due to the fact it has 22 USB returns removing the need to have a seperate soundcard.. My initial impressions were that the sound quality is incredible and the features and desk in general is very simple to use and set up. The desk bridges analouge sound with digital technology superbly.

Lexicon effects are really nice, no save option or recall though..

The workflow on the desk is great as you can just plug and play with your PC and route what you wish from your DAW straight to a channel on the desk.

Main issue I have with the desk is that there are no AUX returns, this means you will have to send audio out the Aux send but return into a seperate channel on the desk. Small issue but worth considering for those with lots of outboard effects.

Overall its the centerpiece of my studio and very very happy with purchase.

Great piece of gear but read through

INTRO:

I got super excited when I learned that Soundcraft was about to release these new analogue boards that could run multitracks. It's the heart and soul of my recreational studio. I basically use the PC as a glorified tape multitrack recorder and as soon as the recordings are done, I feed the tracks back to the board and mix with it.

PROS:

- pre amps are clean, though can be noisy if you drive them too hard. I guess the limiter is a nice feature but I didn't explore it too much; if it turns red I'll just take some heat of the gain knob.

- EQ is really nice. It's sensitive and easy to use for someone who is used to this kind of analogue pieces of gear.

- Tons of routing options though it feels like it's something more useful for live situations or to use with outboard gear which I don't have many.

- 2 separate DSP (Aux 4 and 5) which is nice but I guess you have to be really creative and experienced to take advantage from the majority of the effects. If you aren't you'll probably use 3 or 4 out of the 22 different options.

CONS:

- This one really bugs me: The phone output is not decoupled from the master! that is, if you want to hear on your headphones only, you can't. only way is to have every track routed to a group, say 3-4, patch that into a stereo channel with a couple of jacks, and press PFL button but even still you get a mono signal. What a shame...

- No inserts on channels! This is something that I underestimated. If, like me, you want to mix more outside of the box, you can't insert dynamic processing on each channel before the EQ. Only VSTs. If you like to use that analogue compressor you found on ebay, you have to patch the channels through one of the 3 Aux (assuming you have the other 2 Aux occupied with effects) and to bring it back, you have to occupy another channel on the mixer.

- For some weird reason, the USB send of the master channel is super low.

- Some channels can get noisy when you drive them too hard, namely the Group channels and the PFL.

WOULD BE NICES:

- An USB return on the master channel to listen to the Master after it runs through some VSTs and/or outboard gear.

- AFL/PFL toggle button, as there is none. It is set to PFL although on the LED bars you can read "AFL/PFL"

- 2 48V groups so you can use sensitive ribbon mics and condenser mics at the same time.

OVERALL:

It's a great mixer if you are an amateur and can tolerate some small poor design faults. It's the cheapest option for analogue USB multitrack I/O, apart from the ones from Behringer, which might be worth take a look into also.