Soundcraft Signature 12 MTK (multitrack usb mixer)

The Lounge Other Gear
#161

I have a K-mix and there are a couple of things I can tell ya:

You should definitely have a computer that is a bit newer than mine. I’m on a late 2011 MBP 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 running yosemite, and I have issues with the audio. It will crackle out every 5-15 minutes and I have to restart it to fix it.

It works perfect when stand-alone (no usb) and I love having it with me wherever I go. It’s when I try to interface with it that I have the troubles.

I have communicated a whole bunch with KMI about it, and they assure me the crackle issues will go away if I update to Sierra, so I haven’t sold it yet because I plan to do that one of these days.

I think it is resolved in El Capitan as well, but it’s not very good with yosemite and my computer.

So right now my K-mix is only being used to run the midi expander so I can slave ableton to my OT (master)/ rytm (thru).

I can probably answer more questions if you’ve got 'em.

#162

This is probably related to the OS-wide USB driver change that made many USB devices inoperable with certain versions of OSX. Updating to sierra could therefore fix your issues. Therefore I wouldn’t seel the kmix yet if you like it otherwise.

#163

You can record all the channels pre-fader and pre-eq via the USB, and connect the 2-track recorder to either aux sends, headphone out or the group 1-2 outs.

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#164

so from what i’ve read, the usb out to the DAW is ‘always on’, right? so it can record the dry tracks while the master 23/24 records the full mix with fx?

#165

yes, that is correct. There is no way to switch off the USB inputs.

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#166

excellent! i can’t wait to get recording with it. i hope to do a bunch of songs in february for the rpm challenge.

#167

Remember to make some test recordings first to optimize your buffers :nyan:

Hope you’ll like it.

#168

well, i’m not too worried about latency since the DAW part will mostly be for preserving the tracks for editing later.

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#169

Yeah, of course you don’t need to worry about monitoring latency, since you can hardware monitor. But getting the buffer size right will prevent crackles in the final recordings. This at least should be tested before doing anything serious with it. I wouldn’t mention it otherwise but if you’re going to be recording all 24 tracks simultaneously, can’t hurt to check it.

#170

good point. i’ll mess around with that. currently, i have a mackie sdr 24/96 but routing is a pain. and the usb 1.1 connection to pull audio off is WAY too slow. i needed a larger mixer anyway so this should work great for me!

#171

so i bought the mixer yesterday afternoon on ebay and it came early this morning! got to love it when you have a GREAT ebayer who ships fast and lives about 200 miles away.

it was really easy to setup. almost TOO easy…i have it running into my chuwi hi12 windows 10 tablet. it’s a surface pro 4 close. intel atom processor, 4gb of ram and a 64gb internal emmc drive. i installed reaper and the asio audio driver from the soundcraft site and it worked. no hassling around. i just setup my inputs to map to the tracks and started recording.

i had stuff playing on 20 of the 24 tracks and just recorded silence on the other 4 tracks. zero issues. i’m using it like i described where i’m jamming on some things and then have the ability to edit later. the nice thing is that it also records my master signal as tracks 23/24. though i don’t have a way of routing that back into the mixer so i can’t hear it.

i’m using really large buffers in ‘safe’ recording mode so i don’t get any glitches. recorded 10 minutes of stuff twice without any glitching. latency was about 28ms in that mode. i could get it down to about 4.8ms and recorded a few min of that without any glitchiness that i could tell. but that was all without ANYTHING running on the channels. no fx, no inserts, nothing.

i was even able to record live to the onboard microsdxc card without any dropouts. sweet!

the board sounds great. it is a little tricky to get all the levels just right. lots of stuff recorded quiet. need to get used to that gain knob and really push it.

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#172

glad to hear it’s working ok!

I recommend setting the channel gains with the PFL metering on the mixer, helps a lot IME.

#173

I’m in the market for a new audio interface as I continue my journey OTB and came across the MTK 22.

It seems really cheap for the number of audio inputs you get and can’t find an audio interface at comparable price to match the inputs.

I think the mixer for me at this point is just one big bonus that I don’t need really but can see me having loads of fun with and can use as a hub for starting new ideas without the computer switched on and some analog summing.

But primarily for now I’m focusing on it as an audio interface.

I read here good reports but I suppose the question is am I looking at the wrong tool for the job?

#174

I enjoy my signature mtk 22 for basic recording thru mtk over usb its great. In retrospect, i wish i would have saved some more money and just gone for an Apollo 8 quad, but its all good! Quality stuff from soundcraft though, my only gribe is now i’d have to outsource a midi interface.

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#175

Apollo 8 quad would be sweet, but the pricetag is not exactly comparable :cry:

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#176

Is that because of the covertors or access to UAD plugs? I’m selling my Twin and Octo satellite to fund this and some other purchases. Will it be a let down?

#177

Not at all, I love my Mixing Console. and for the price, you cant beat it.

#178

Cool. Thanks. Think I’ll bite the bullet on this then.

Cheers

#179

Hey folks! So much info on this thread!

I too am in the market for a mixer and love the soundcraft form and sound. I have a rytm and analog4 that would be affect by an eventide space, roland space echo, and elektron heat.

right now i am very happy with my motu ultralite mk3 interface but i would like to use all three effects as aux inputs if possible.

i am not sure if i should get the mtk12 mixing board and sell my motu interface - or just get the regular signature 12 and route into the motu… i realize i would get less channels into the motu - only 8 inputs, but that is ok for me.

any thoughts?

#180

Best multitrack mixer for your daw integration… one thing that’s very important with this console is to use a High-Quality USB cable from elektron or silver dragon. I am very impressed with the onboard fx … another thing I recommend is getting the 22 trk you will find your self-running out of tracks to record your external aux sends. The input gain needs to be hot for a nice recording, which is pretty standard for most analog consoles.

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