Soundcraft Ui24R

I've had this mixer for 6 months and I have used it on a lot of large & medium sized functions, smaller pub & bar gigs, and even a small multi-band festival. I can happily say it's fantastic and it's handled every event seamlessly and without any problems.
The user interface is very intuitive, I personally prefer it to the apps on the A&H, Mackie, Pre Sonus and Behringer mixers that I am also familiar with.
20 input channels, lots of auxes, USB input for backing tracks & playlists, USB output for multitrack recording, the list of features goes on and on and is impressive.
99% of the issues people have with this mixers like this (with no physical faders, relying on only software control) are 'operator error', so don't be put off if you see some frustrated users on the Facebook user groups. This mixer will reward the user that reads the manual and puts in the time to properly learn how it works. If you think you can just take it to a gig and learn how to use it there during sound check, I guarantee you will not have a fun night.
I would also say that this is not the best mixer for somebody new to sound engineering.
It's worth inversting in a decent router to ensure stable WIFI connection with your tablet(s). I always have a laptop hard wired to my Ui24R too as a back up contol surface. I've never had any problems but it's always good practise to be prepared for anything.
I am writing this during the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown, and I'm keeping my playing chops up every day by playing along with the many gigs I have recorded since I got this mixer. The 'soundcheck' mode is awesome! I can play the gig back, minus the original bass track, and play my bass live along with the band. I'm monitoring /mixing the whole band via an aux with my IEMs in so I don't upset the neighbours. This function is proving to be a life saver at the moment.
Considering the price of this unit, the hardware and functionality that Souncraft have squeezed into it, it's amazing. And it's small and light, only 4U tall.
All in all, in the right hands, it's a fabulous mixer.

I use it in a community Theatre where we put on musicals, and host live bands. We have shows and rehearsals with overlapping times, and needed a desk where we could setup, store and recall settings. In addition, musicals require intensive dynamic mixing between songs and scenes for example different set of singers for each successive scene. The Soundcraft allows us to save the setting per song 'a snapshot' and recall it instantly (well almost, maybe a 1 second delay) as the scene changes. The recording and general clarity is excellent, built in lexicon effects, eq, compressors, noise gates are excellent quality and easy to use once you get used to it. I set it up as a permanent installation with an HDMI monitor, keyboard an mouse, and simultaneously have it connected to a wifi router for mixing on stage during rehearsals and setup using a Tablet or smartphone. Saves running back and forth to the desk which entails climbing up the ladder to our sound and lighting platform.
The only con I have found is that it would be nice to have a sub out that is linked to the master outs. I use an aux out for the sub which is controlled independently which is not ideal for my application. Apart from that it does more than I expected, is light and small for a desk with this many features.
I would recommend this without hesitation.

I bought this unit to replace a Soundcraft UI16 that I was using mainly as rehearsal mixer to feed individual monitors and record performances.

However, given the USB audio connectivity and the number of inputs, it quickly turned it into my main home studio hub. It sits behind two Behringer Ultrapatch Pro patchbays which make it easy to physically reroute more than 40 inputs into the 20 usable inputs.

There is a lot of flexibility offered by the internal patchbay, so much so that I haven't been able to make full use of it.

The AD/DA converters are pristine. The UI16 had noticeable noise but the UI24R exceeds all my expectations on this.

I am a big fan of the interface. Of course I would love to have all the buttons and faders to psychically touch, but the cost and space would be immense. And the ability to wander across the venue with a tablet with full control of the sound is priceless.

As for the wifi signal, I never used it remotely. It is physically connected to the network. The UI16 had an external router and I would probably use an external router as well in any "noisy" electronic environment.

EQ and Dynamics is effective, Reverbs are quite good. Never used the Automatic Feedback suppression, but it is good to know it's there :)

Sometimes I insert the effects into my DAW signal chain, specially for reverbs. They seem much more natural that the plugins I use, even being digital...

The only minor issue that I have is that my computer does not recognize any input above the first 8. I am using Linux/ALSA and this has probably something to do with my software setup, so not really a product shortfall.

All in all, for my modest amateur requirements, this unit does it all and with flying colors. I feel that for more professional use the product would continue to be a very useful tool. I just wish I could buy another one to use only for rehearsals!

I buy 2 of this mixers and use them connected to Cascade mode! Great GUI, easy to use, compatible with almost everything with touch screen (tablet, smartphone, display)... great feature is Ethernet connection and so many rooting options. You can record multi-track all channels in DAW or USB (just need USB faster than 25MB/s). Great feature is mixing your recorded tracks. So you can record soundcheck on USB, after that play it on mixer and make adjustments without your band members!
Quality of recorded tracks is very good! Lot of featurs and great plugins (Lexicon, Digitech, dbx)
5 stars to this product!!!

I use this mixer for live sound, usually acoustic music events with several artists/groups in one session. I've also used it for live streaming and video recording.

It's very easy to use and I love the interface, especially the browser-based approach so you never need to update an app.

It has an amazing range of tools in one box, the quality of sound I can get is miles ahead of anything I've had before, particularly the ability to 'tune' the system to the room (many different venues). The multitrack recording to USB drive is excellent, allowing me to remix for video recordings.

The range of digital tools really make life easier, being able to set up complex multi-artist stage arrangements in advance and use patching to configure the mixer for easier use, as well as fun tricks like running more than one channel for an input to allow for instrument changes etc.

I also like the complex options for output control including using matrices and VCAs. I've learned a huge amount of new techniques since having the mixer. And there's a great supportive user group on Facebook if you have any problems. And of course the great thing about a stagebox mixer is the speed of setup and ability to mix from anywhere in the venue with a tablet or laptop.

There is a small cloud on the horizon. Soundcraft don't seem to be doing much development these days as their parent company doesn't seem interested in this kind of product, and there have been some questions over quality control, I had to have mine repaired under warranty when one of the inputs was noisy.

And like all stagebox mixers, you are advised to fit an external wifi router to ensure a reliable connection. The internal ones are underpowered because of regulatory restrictions that the manufacturers can't avoid.

Replaced my 16 ch version of this with the Ui24R. I use it mainly for our band and have it set up to have a separate 'show' for each venue. I use it also to record all of the individual tracks live (the Ui16 can only record the Stereo Out 2track output) and port them to Logic and edit there ( although this can also be used as a DAW interface). It is truly astonishing how much functionality this unit has. Finding problem feedback and sorting is a breeze. I have recorded bands by running a cat5 cable to my PCs (2) at the back of the hall and control from there. The RTA is very useful and routing and monitoring signals is easily managed.
There are 2 issues with this unit.
Wifi:
It's not reliable. In a real time situation there is only one solution imo and that's to hard wire your PCs to a hub and connect this to the network port on the mixer. Wifi is not comfortable to use in situations where you have an outage when you need it least and have lost connection. Very disconcerting!! This does not happen when cabled directly to the unit. Some people have added a better wifi router to get around this. Ok for going around the floor checking levels etc but I'm not 100% happy to just use wifi for full control.
Recording:
Multitrack recording has no option (I can't find it anyway) to allow the effects to be recorded also. Individual tracks in Multitrack, recorded on the REC USB port are PRE processing ( I think the 2track Rec Out does have the processing added)
There is no 'switch' to add the channel effects to the individual recorded channel track. This is a shame as tracks when ported to a DAW are totally dry and need to have all effects added in Logic or whatever. For simpler recording situations it would be SO useful to be able to port the porcessed tracks into Logic and balance them there because I generally find that the live sound is really good from the Ui24R. Soundcraft should be able to add this option in firmware easily in the record functionality. Maybe there's a valid reason why they don't.

I bought this unit mainly to be used for drum recordings due to the high number of inputs the unit had. After playing with it for a bit I found the amount of features available a bit overwhelming as I am more familiar with analog gear.

The unit itself is sleek looking and all of the I/O's are easily accessible. Only downside in design that i found was the positioning of the power switch which is difficult to reach when the unit is rack mounted.

Getting started is super simple: Connect your devices, set gain, set volume, boom. The fact that this unit has a real time spectrum analyzer for each channel, makes EQing drums a breeze. I haven't yet fully explored all the features of this unit but from a first impressions standpoint, I am impressed. I am looking forward to doing live mixes with this mixer.

The only negative thing I found was the internal WiFi dropping in and out from time to time, but this was fixed by using the internal LAN port when doing longer sessions. The machine remembers your settings and no device is needed for startup.

Sound Quality is transparent with minimal hiss.

Recommended!

I mainly use this for live recording and streaming performance. The feature is fantastic value for the money. You get everything you need as stage box and live digital mixer. The pre-amp is fair, not the best but really enough for demo or live situation.

Not the big fan of the digitec channel 1 & 2's guitar preamp, some of the preset shockingly much louder then other, so I suggest you pull down the gain before try them. USB record and playback is a charm, make sure to use very fast reading USB.

The reverb and delay are handy, I use them mostly for live vocals along with the parametric EQ section which also very nice and intuitive. Gate section also powerful for drums.

One of the confusing I had at first place (maybe because I'm new to this) is the DAW channel routing that have 10 digit jump. So for example when the analog input in the mixer is on channel 1, then on the DAW it will be input number 11, etc.

The best thing of this gear in my opinion is the web-browser mixing desk. Cause I hate the mixing apps that regularly needs to be update. Might not suits professional studio, but works fine for live and demo recording.

There are 20 XLR inputs you really can use. Sometimes it lost wifi connection and you cant reconnect without restart to the machine - it is not possible during recording and you dont know if it is still recording without the connection. There should be some rec light to visually be certain about that. Wifi strength is too low and it could easily loose connection about already 20-50m away. There have been problems with recording on the USB drive - sometimes it has error and it didnt record past that time, it is something to do with the format of the usb drive. Our sound engineers started to do the format manually (not the soundcraft format). To be always sure I record with laptop attached.

As a quick resume, this is quite a cool tool to use. I bought this console because I always wanted to record drums on separate channels and be able to mix everything separately (until now I only had a 2-input interface). With the 24 channels I am also able to record and mix live my whole band which allows us to make our own sound as we like, and problems like bad monitorization, unbalanced sound in front and on stage should be disappearing.
The software manages to offer all the necessary tools that a mixing engineer, producer or whatever the person has to do with the music this console is used to produce.
At first it may seem a bit hard to understand all the features it has and to navigate through them within the application, but definitely the effort is worth it.
Pros:
-number of channels
-frequency analyzer
-routing options
-control options (wifi,ethernet,interface)
-several cool digitech presets for guitars/basses
-quick record of channels through usb
(-many more that I still have to discover)
Cons:
-intimidating amount of features at start
-maybe the wifi connection (if you do not use its hotspot, did not yet manage to connect through a external wifi)