Anyone have experience with these? Seem like a lot of bang for the buck. Its just about perfect except for the fact that I don’t use more than 1 mic, so I wish more of the inputs were line inputs. I’m curious to know, if I can use 1/4 inch to XLR for synths into those XLR inputs? I’m guessing I’d definitely have to turn the gain all the way down? Any other thoughts on this machine? I really like the way you can route and patch stuff all around, it’s gonna make it easy for me to use different samplers and effects without unplugging stuff.
It’s so annoying when manufacturers skimp money on combo inputs. Have you considered the XR18?
im not at all anti-behringer, i own a few things from them. but now that i’m getting more serious and trying to achieve more consistent and professional results, i really want something that is better than just “bare minimum”, and something that’s gonna be really pristine and last. but this is just a snap judgement on the xr18- if it truly is a solid interface i’ll definetely check it out. i’ve played around with one at a live venue once and i wasn’t dissapointed by any means, but i do wonder if it’ll stand up in the studio.
Well, don’t take just my word on it, as I’m just a bedroom producer, but quite a lot of pros seem to like it as well. I’ve had it for a couple years by now, and it works like a charm. My only complaint is that its not expandable. However, if you don’t need more inputs, it’s a really serious contender.
Can’t say anything about the FX quality though, I don’t use them.
I use one for my band. All 20 inputs accept line level and mic level inputs. Input 1 to 10 have a combi input so these accept 1/4 inch directly. The others can indeed be used with XLR. With line level inputs you need to turn down the gain indeed.
I’d say the device is more aimed for live usage than for studio use, although I also use it to record my band in the studio. The pre-amps are pretty decent, just as the onboard fx.
One pittfall though: You can only control it via a web browser, or via a supported touchscreen directly connected to the device.
The software is very user friendly though, but sometimes it has some little quirks. It also takes some time to understand all its features, routing options (matrix sends?!) and preset management (global vs local vs settings per browser etc).
It also takes some time to boot, let’s say a minute or two.
I don’t know how many inputs you need and if you are going to use it for any live usage, but for a pure studio synth/gear only solution I would say it’s not persé the perfect solution.
well that makes it even more attractive honestly. i can just buy a bunch of quarter inch to xlr adapters and i’ll be set.
to be honest, i’ve been on the hunt for a solid multitrack interface for years now. and whenever i do research, i’m always led to these more live suited options. i just cant for the life of me find a solution that’s technically marketed/made for studio use that suits my needs (in my budget).
yes this is a real bummer honestly. i’m very used to having my controls handy on my analog mixer. but for an otherwise seemingly perfect interface i’m thinking its a worthy sacrifice. I have a (really) old Ipad I can setup alongside for controls
I need about 18 comfortably but really important too is having good routing options. I have a lot of hardware samplers and effects I use a lot and it’s important for me to be able to patch anything into anything without too much messing around with cables. But yeah pure electronic studio except for 1 mic and 1 guitar input the rest is synths samplers and drum machines so stereo line ins are 
. Wouldn’t use it live, i use a zoom l-12 for live and it’s really nice. I was looking into their l-20r and it looked almost perfect but then I realized how lacking it was on routing. Curious about your recommendations about what you think is a good option for this use case
Hi its me again! Found your other thread.
Be very careful with this approach. If you have phantom power turned on you can accidentally send it to the line outs of a synth or other box and fry them permanently!!
My A&H SQ5 has ONLY XLR sockets that can pass phantom power on the first 16 inputs because it is designed for live use primarily. So I protect my hardware by putting 16 channels of DI in front of the SQ inputs. This prevents phantom power being passed and stops my line outs on my hardware getting fried if I had accidentally forgot to turn off phantom on a channel after using the desk out of the studio for a live gig.
This is another cool feature about the U24r that I mentioned in the other thread - you can activate a ‘turn off phantom globally at start-up’ option. But even so I would still put a DI in front of any XLR inputs that can pass phantom power to be 100% safe.
This is a sacrifice you make to get the feature set at a lower price than a mixer with the faders and built-in screen/touchscreen. Less hardware = cheaper.
Check that your old iPad will run the control software before you buy the mixer! You can usually get the control app for free and try it out.
Also some general thoughts about the topic and choices.
There are some excellent value units that are designed for live use that can work very well in a hardware studio BUT you need to read their manuals closely to make sure any limitations they have won’t get in the way of your intended purpose.
There are lots of excellent audio interface solutions that are purpose-built for the studio use case but they tend to be more expensive for the same feature set. For example the Antelope and Universal Audio stuff is very good but costs a fair bit more than the Behringer, Soundcraft, Presonus and A&H ‘mixerfaces’ for a comparable number of features, channels and mixes.
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In the price range of the Soundcraft: hard to beat. I’d say one of the Tascam Model mixers because of their hands on controls. Not sure if they are flexible enough with routing though. And maybe one of the Motu’s, see below.
The UI24R luckily doesn’t have an app: It has a build in web server with a web application. It uses web sockets though, so your Ipad needs to be 3rd gen+. You can test this at the Soundcraft website, there is a demo version of this web app.
I would like to add the Motu’s here as well. I’ve owned a Motu 8A AVB interface: excellent onboard DSP, flexible routing and they do also work standalone.
With the AVB protocol you can extend the IO via ethernet, so if you need more inputs it’s easy to plug in another AVB device. Heck, you can even connect the interface via ethernet to your Mac: No more USB crackles or problems.
I think the Motu 16A is still for sale, which comes close to OP’s requirements: It doesn’t have an onboard mic pre-amp though.
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less bang for your buck, keyboard only but multiple devices can be linked: KL-8 - Radial Engineering
yeah i was looking at the model series for a while but input:price ratio nothing seems better than the soundcraft other than behringer options. i’m seeing one of these soundcrafts for $850 USD which is hard to pass up. as much as i hate software in general (it took me ridiculously long to be evangleized to ableton/hybrid setup), the routing possibilites on this unit are unmatched. even with a solidly setup patchbay i couldnt do some of the things i’d be able to do on this (unless i bought a couple submixers which would be cable hell). plus i’m pretty limited on space so having a rack unit will afford me enough desk space to get another synth/sampler/drum machine haha
yes i really wish i had the budget for a good UA, rme etc. i’m starting to be more professional and take myself seriously with how i go about music in general, so hopefully (soon) down the line i’ll be able to upgrade to something of that calibre.
how have you setup this DI thing? 16 individual DI boxes or is there some kind of rack unit that has many DI ins/outs?
Yes there are rack DI in 4 and 8 channel formats.
Cheapest option is Behringer DI800 (active type). Not brilliant audio quality compared to the more expensive options but totally usable. You can power these using phantom power and I’d recommend that over using the built in power supply because that gave me a lower noise floor.
Palmer Pan16 (passive type) is another option - UK based company. It’s called Pan16 because each channel has 2 inputs that sum to mono on each of the 8 channels which might be useful in our use case if we have lots of stereo sources that we don’t mind summing to mono e.g. Volcas etc.
I have one of each of those giving me 16 channels.
Radial make one but it’s very expensive.
Whirlwind I think also make one which might be more available if you’re in the US.
You should research active vs passive DIs and the benefits/drawbacks. Basically either type will be fine for synths, samplers and drum machines, but if you also want to connect a passive guitar to your DI you should use an active one.
Here’s a good article:
I’ve never used any of these so you can basically ignore this comment, but I’ve also spent a lot of time looking at these rack mount tablet controlled mixers and it bugs me that they almost never have a master volume knob or fader on the hardware. I mostly get why, and know of external solutions, but it just bugs me.
This one does. It’s separate knobs for left/right master. They’re on the front of the unit
Oh yes indeed it does. I think it’s a slight exception to the rule. Can I complain that it’s separate knobs and not one? At least with LR faders you can still turn them down quick haha
I guess I will get one those Behringer rack units. I definitely don’t want to fry anything lol. $150 is not bad for the peace of mind! Excited for the workflow improvements this will bring
Lol! I kinda hate that it’s separate knob but it’s a price to pay I guess. Maybe just have the unit turned backwards on my desk and then have a monitor controller type thing on it
You can connect a foot switch to the UI24R and select from a few options what it does. One of them is to mute all channels. This footswitch with this selected option is always near me 