Soundcraft UI series mixers?

[Sixstring]

I just bought the Soundcraft UI 16 and so far I'm liking it! I haven't dove too deep yet still getting used to the interface. Im not really mixing any gigs with it yet but my wife participates in the local Hula show and I play the tracks for them to dance to.

I was using my Presonus AR12 that I had bought a few years back but that was somewhat frustrating. Having to work on stage with CD's was annoying so I opted to run with the Soundcraft unit.

So far I like the sound I'm getting from it seems easy enough to work with. I do know about the WiFi issues but that seems to be an issue with most of these types of mixers. I haven't had a chance to mess with the onboard DigItech amp software or the Lexicon effects.

Anyone using it? would like to hear about the pros and cons

 

[jclemensfl]

I just bought the Soundcraft UI 16 and so far I'm liking it! I haven't dove too deep yet still getting used to the interface. Im not really mixing any gigs with it yet but my wife participates in the local Hula show and I play the tracks for them to dance to.

I was using my Presonus AR12 that I had bought a few years back but that was somewhat frustrating. Having to work on stage with CD's was annoying so I opted to run with the Soundcraft unit.

So far I like the sound I'm getting from it seems easy enough to work with. I do know about the WiFi issues but that seems to be an issue with most of these types of mixers. I haven't had a chance to mess with the onboard DigItech amp software or the Lexicon effects.

Anyone using it? would like to hear about the pros and cons

I previously used Presonus gear and loved how solid it was.
But the features offered by the Soundcraft gear were too interesting to pass up. They have surpassed the other companies in innovation. I use the Ui24r.
PROS: Great signal routing flow with the patching grid for both analog, USB and DAW channels. I'm happy with the signal processing, particularly the EQ options and the compression. The overall feedback suppression options are really useful once you learn how to use them. The Digitech amp modeling is usable, if anything ever happens during a gig to your Fractal unit (and it's a good reason to always route your guitars to channels 1 and 2). The rack ears are great, as they allow you to run cables into the rack through the ears. And best of all, being able to record to a USB stick, either full multi-track or a mixed-down stereo track, is really the star of the unit. A super useful feature that every mixer will soon have, I expect.
CONS: As just about everyone notes, the internal wifi is a great idea that is virtually useless. It drops out and doesn't have nearly enough coverage power. There's no reason they couldn't have made this more reliable, as you can by a $30 router that works better. It also sucks this unit is four rack spaces tall. When the Presonus units are two spaces, this seems excessive. The Soundcraft doesn't work with every touch screen in hard-wired mode. I'm not sure who designed the unit to have USB and HDMI connections, as well as the power button, on the SIDE of a rack mountable mixer, but they did. Silliness. And finally, the documentation is horrible and the company won't be updating it, or the firmware, any longer.
All that being said, I've had good luck using the unit as an IEM monitor mixer. It sits in the same rack as my AXEIII, splitters and IEM transmitters, and I haven't had any major issues at shows. Join the FB group for tips and questions, it is helpful.
Still, it's been several years since any company has released a new rackmount mixer in this space. I keep wondering when Presonus is going to finally release something new to compete.

 

[Sixstring]

I previously used Presonus gear and loved how solid it was.
But the features offered by the Soundcraft gear were too interesting to pass up. They have surpassed the other companies in innovation. I use the Ui24r.
PROS: Great signal routing flow with the patching grid for both analog, USB and DAW channels. I'm happy with the signal processing, particularly the EQ options and the compression. The overall feedback suppression options are really useful once you learn how to use them. The Digitech amp modeling is usable, if anything ever happens during a gig to your Fractal unit (and it's a good reason to always route your guitars to channels 1 and 2). The rack ears are great, as they allow you to run cables into the rack through the ears. And best of all, being able to record to a USB stick, either full multi-track or a mixed-down stereo track, is really the star of the unit. A super useful feature that every mixer will soon have, I expect.
CONS: As just about everyone notes, the internal wifi is a great idea that is virtually useless. It drops out and doesn't have nearly enough coverage power. Thee's no reason they couldn't have made this more reliable, as you can by a $30 router that works better. It also sucks this unit is four rack spaces tall. When the Presonus units are two spaces, this seems excessive. The Soundcraft doesn't work with every touch screen in hard-wired mode. I'm not sure who designed the unit to have USB and HDMI connections, as well as the power button, on the SIDE of a rack mountable mixer, but they did. Silliness. And finally, the documentation is horrible and the company won't be updating it, or the firmware, any longer.
All that being said, I've had good luck using the unit as an IEM monitor mixer. It sits in the same rack as my AXEIII, splitters and IEM transmitters, and I haven't had any major issues at shows. Join the FB group for tips and questions, it is helpful.
Still, it's been several years since any company has released a new rackmount mixer in this space. I keep wondering when Presonus is going to finally release something new to compete.

Thanks for the insights on the unit! The main reason I bought it was for the recording and playback from USB! I thought long about getting the 24CH unit but 1 Sweetwater didn't have any in stock and 2 I didn't really need that many channels so it was hard for me to justify the extra cost. Though if I ever start gigging again I will be stepping up to it!

I also looked really hard at the Behringer X Air but the Soundcraft won me over with the record and playback on the 16ch. The power button and in the 12-16ch 's case a power transformer, I agree, why all that crap is not on the inside and on the front of the mixer is just stupidity. I have a 4 space shallow case on the way so I was willing to overlook those issues providing the mixer would do what I needed it to do.

I have an old Netgear router that I'm going to run it with so I didn't really care about the known issues with either unit I was looking at. I did look at the RCF M18 for a hot minute but they appear to not be making that unit any longer. A reviewer on YT said the router in that unit is way better than any of the others out there.

I like the concept of a software driven mixer they can pack in so much stuff and gives the users the ability to control the FOH mix and their own monitor mix.