Soundcraft Notepad-5 Small-Format Analogue Analog Audio Mixer With USB Connection, Black

I was looking to add a karaoke setup to my existing home theater system, and did a bunch of research on mixers that offer the features and sound quality without breaking the bank. The others I considered were the Yamaha MG06X and the Soundcraft Notepad-8FX (the younger sibling to this mixer.) I chose the 12FX for its solid set feature set, enabling more than adequate karaoke performance while leaving room for expansion for when my talented musician friends come over and want to jam. The 4 x combo XLR / TRS inputs, 6 x TRS sockets, and dual RCA ins make for a versatile setup for mixing a range of instrumentation, voice, and analog audio inputs. The USB interface is perfect for recording to your computer, and the on-board effects generator make is possible to dial in just the right level of 'environment' to your voice (but turn it too high and it'll sound cheesy). Bummer the device doesn't have an on/off switch though, but the Soundcraft Notepad-12FX is otherwise a solid little device -- strongly recommended.

Great, compact and useful for a one man act. Need to work around the effects which once done are really good . Am happy with the performance

Works straight out of the box. Be ready to order the required cable/s sets at the time of ordering the product to start the action immediately. The product was as described and as per the various reviews, I had read. Best value buy considering the USB in and out feature (not available in many mixers at this price point with the features). Easy connect with the computer after installing the software from the Soundcraft website. The Lexicon effects are really impressive. Low distortion and noise.Tried over Youtube for live streaming and Google Meet for a Pod cast. Works perfectly.A few suggestions....The USB could have been kept in the back side instead of on the topCould have provided for a on off switch for the power in.Output level signal indicator could have a few additional bars in between instead of jumping straight from -20dB to 0 dB.Step by step video tutorial explaining all features in detail in Youtube etc. is needed and will help new users like me to understand all the features and the handling better.

Mixer is good but power cord is missing.. i called customer care but they kept on transferring my calls between them for atleast 2 hours.. i had to explain 4 people who work in customer care.. not acceptable! 😑😑

Really like the sound effects. Audio is really clean. I use it for recording as well as live performances. Only shortcoming is that I could not record directly on phone/ Insta live / as there is no android app for USB connection like there is windows app.

Works well . Easy to use . Lexicon effects works well.Better than buying the audio interface as it has USB in and out .Perfect for 2 person podcast and home studio requirements.I use it mostly for my sons online piano class . the usb in can be used as a line in to zoom which mixes audio from piano and the mic. The monitor out on the mixer is used as the headphone for zoom calls. Over all very satisfied.

Complicated lay out.Equalisers are ok but effects are not impressive at all.Absolutely not useful as a live mixer.On off switch unavailable.Phantom power always on, although no harm to dynamic mic.No idea about usb function.

Review on 06/09/2022 after more than 2 years of Regular Use. I use this as the external sound card for my PC as well as for multitrack recording of vocals and acoustic instruments.It should have the following facilities in spite of its small footprint:1. AUX and FX rows separated.2. More granular Level Meters, like -24dB, -18dB, -12dB, -6dB, 0db, +6dB, Peak.3. PFL and mute buttons for each channels.4. Phantom Power off/on button.5. Power On/Off switch.6. Include some recording software with the package.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Review on 22/08/21 after more than 1 year of use. The product layout and promised functionalities are impressive.1. I have recorded 4 track simultaneous recording. It was impressive because of its low self noise.2. The direct monitoring is very usable.3. The effects are up to the mark though not outstanding.4. The eq section is very responsive.In practice there are some pot holes in the path you may encounter.1. There is considerable latency problem. The round trip latency is about 14 - 19 ms with 256 sample size at about 44000 Hz and about 07 - 10 ms with 128 sample size at about 44000 Hz2. The second most annoying problem is the intermittent disconnection on the line inputs 5-6, 7-8, 9-10 inputs during recording when 3-4 recording channels are set to those with the driver software provided. There may be some issue with the firmware or the driver.This problem greatly reduces when the 3-4 recording channel is set to the 3 &4 mic inputs. I stick to this setting.3. The lack of a onboard power button is unacceptable.4. Sometime the signal from one channel is fully audible from another channel which gets corrected on switching off and onAs a concluding remark the firmware and the driver software of this may need correction. I hope Soundcraft will look into this. This device has full potential to be the best in its section.--–------------Review after 2 months of use. The device works quite satisfactorily as described in literature. External effects till not used.--------------------------------------------This is the 2nd day review. The packaging was extremely bad. The box came nearly opened. Only one plastic adhesive tape was merely holding the box. The Amazon seal broken. The outer box didn't contain any plastic bubbles which is a must for any such items. This is totally unexpected from Amazon. The Soundcraft packaging was good but with no company seal. The box had bruises due to transport weathering. The courier boy left it at the security.After all these said the item was somehow unharmed. Sound was very crisp and clear. Eq are not as warm as expected but working well. The LF should peak around 50 or 60Hz for more warm sound.Effects are moderate. Though I have read about the board before buying, the fx and aux should have been seperated with fx send to aux facility.The best part till now the stereo usb audio recording was crystal clear. 4 channel recording not done till now. The connection with pc was easy though. The board is just noiseless until to the extreme knob positions.I shall check further if any problem is there due to such bad packaging or otherwise. I wanted to give 5 star for the machine but could not due to the packaging.