Soundcraft Ui12

The first thing that strikes you when you open the box is how small it is. Literally not much more than a shoe-box. It really is an incredibly compact mixer. I have used many Soundcraft mixers previously, including the EFX8 and MFXi12 - and I was curious as to how this would compare. The first thing to note is that one unit I tested (a different supplier) had a very noisy preamps (hiss and instability) and a PSU fault. That was returned and I replaced it with this one from Thomann. Fortunately, this one is perfect. The preamps are quiet and sound very good, similar to my old EFX8. The ability to control it across a wide range of devices, without needing special apps is brilliant. I had it working on iPads and Android Tabs with no problem at all. The wi-fi hotspot was strong and stable, with no connection problems. The GUI is very clear and very logical. Ease of use is excellent. The effects included are very good. Nice reverbs. The AFS-2 feedback suppression is highly effective. For those mixing at small gigs, for example solo acts, duos and small bands this is a superb mixer. The EQ's (with RTA) are outstanding - it is like having a whole rack of gear with you. I have been involved with pro sound for over 40 years, and what they have managed to pack into this is simply amazing!

This is a 2nd review of the Ui after using it for a while.

On my first review I said that the mixer is fantastic, yes it still is. BUT here's the downside..

There can be an issue with wifi signal strength and loss of signal and this happens on most units by the looks of things with some owners plugging in external routers to overcome this problem or having to use a wire to connect.

The bigger issue is a lock up or crash of the unit where all sound is lost until the unit is rebooted, this can happen at any time and with warning. Some owners have had no problems at all yet others have had to have there's exchanged as the frequency of lockup is too much.

If Soundcraft can sort this problem out then this is one excellent mixer but until then you'll be rolling the dice every time you use it and if you're on a paid gig you may not want to run the risk.

We've been using this mixer for 2 months... no problems for now, only great experience.

It is very usable, and easy to understand and use. It runs very smoothly and response is very fast. The possibility to run mains with 4 independent auxes was one of the reasons why we purchased this amp and we are very happy with it. We can also pair the auxes together to reach stereo out. It is packed with great features to use.

There is only one issue that we managed to solve - gain structure. It is hard to reach ideal 0 - unity gain. The reason is that after we set up levels to wanted, you still have to turn up volume on knobs that are on the mixer itself. After reading a few reviews and testing the mixer itself, we can advice to reach unity level by turning the knobs almost all the way up, approximately to 2/3 of full volume. This way we get the best possible sound. Another issue that we also managed to solve is that the mixer doesn't have any RCA outputs which comes handy if the club has a PA that you can connect with only via RCA cables.

All in all it is a great mxer for the money and we are sure that most of the people who are thinking of getting one will be happy with it after the purchase.

Very tidy little mixer packed with features. Has everything you'd need for a small mixer and more. The interface is the best out there, bar none. I also have the ui24r and that is brilliant as well. If I was nit picking, the power connection is a liability. If you're going to be taking this in and out of a bag or something, I could see the lead breaking over time. The usual iec would have been a better idea but maybe that would have increased price etc. And the WiFi connection might have problems in a crowded space if you plan to be far from the box when mixing as its 2.4ghz only. But this can be easily solved with an external router.
I'd highly recommend this mixer.