Soundcraft Ui12

I now own 3 of the Soundcraft Ui12's.

The first one I bought years ago has had a lot of use. Over that time it has dropped 6 of its 8 channels. I sent it back to Thomann for an out of warranty repair and their third party repairer (Soundcraft I presume) said it was too costly to bother with. Much cheaper to buy new.

The second unit I bought relatively recently as a replacement for the first. It had a fault where the power supply connects directly to the unit. Sent it back for an in warranty repair and all is well with it now.

The third unit I purchased recently as a backup to the second. All running well with it, so far...

As a regularly gigging musician you need to be able to rely on your gear. Most of the items in my setup are extremely reliable (RCF EVOX 8's, Sennheiser e865, NS Design electric cello) but I can't say the same for the Ui12.

Apart from the reliability I really love its features and here are three of my favourites:

A: The multiple shows you can save, load and backup.

B: The ability to record directly to a USB stick and instantly playback to hear how your balance is. Great feature for doing your own sound engineering and getting your setup just right

C: Graphic eq on each channel and compressor

I recently changed my solo setup and I'm no longer using the Ui12 for that. A bit relieved to get away from it because of the reliability. Always on the back of my mind when doing a gig. Will continue to use for my other projects.

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!

I have used this mixer is every situation. From small band gigs to running PA for a high school sports carnival with 2,000 people.
For the price, it's awesome.

Pros:
- good price to performance ratio
- straight forward to use
- Good Sounding DAC and ADC
- Built-in guitar sims are a cool feature
- ability to connect multiple devices is really handy.

Cons:
- Built-in WiFi antenna/hotspot is hit and miss. Works for 2 meters away. Highly recommend ethernet to an external router.
- Sometimes the HTML GUI glitches out and requires you to refresh the webpage to fix.
- No delay or phase inversion control on outputs (for cardioid subs)
- Difficult to setup foldback's when using stereo inputs - has issues combining both channels without phasing correctly.

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.