Soundcraft Notepad-12FX Mixer

This is a great little mixer and packs a lot into a compact footprint. There is a definite feel of quality to the build and all the buttons and knobs feel great, better than you usually get in units at this price point. Sound quality is good, noise levels are low, even the FX are not bad at all.
I was drawn to this model due to the ability to run 2 FX simultaneously. All I really needed was reverb and delay but most other mixers with inbuilt FX seem to limit you to using only one or the other at any time. Here you can combine them both, albeit with only a modest degree of control over each, but certainly enough to be useful if you don't want to attach a full blown multiFX unit.
I have been very very pleased with this purchase - my only gripes would be the limited LED metering and the bizarre omission of an on/off switch, but the positives far outweigh these niggles and overall I would thoroughly recommend this mixer

I recently purchased a Soundcraft Notepad 12FX for recording with DAW software, for live performance and possible Zoom calls. I haven't yet used all its features but I am impressed with the quality of the unit and all its features packed into a small footprint. I purchased the mixer from Bax Music as they offered the best price for the unit and I am impressed with their service.

I'll start straight away with one big disappointment though, and that is that Soundcraft do not provide a block schematic of the mixer as they do with some of their other mixers. This would certainly help. A drawing speaks a thousand words in any language and a schematic would have saved me a lot of time when researching mixers and clarify its many fuzzy issues.
For example, FX Return and the AUX jack functions. I can use a TS (MONO) Jack for Mono Line O/P to from the Aux buss, and this 'MONO LINE OUT' is great for connecting to a guitar amp with limited inputs!
But if a mono jack remains in place when the OUTPUT TYPE is switched to STEREO PHONES, then the
(Ring) channel output will be shorted out to ground of the mono jack's sleeve, so be careful!!
(I don't know whether there is some sort of overload protection built in to prevent this.)

The O/Ps from the Aux Jack are pre-FX, so you won't hear the FX in that Aux socket, but will in
the phone jack to its right.
The AUX MASTER knob seems to have two separate functions probably using ganged pots. One pot adjusts the (mono) level out of the Aux buss (i.e 'MONO LINE OUT'). The other pot (L&R I assume) seems to be a ganged pot for separate left and right channel levels to the i/p of the FX unit. (Quite clever economy of functions. But of course a blcok schematic would have confirmed this or otherwise.)

One has to assume that the 'External FX' (TRS) Jacks are standard send/return configuration where the tip of the jack sockets will carry the L & R signals from the mixer to the external FX unit via a two core screened cable and the ring of each jack socket will receive the O/P from the external FX unit back into the final stages of the mixer.

Other points:
The 'Hi Z' inputs '1' on the Notepad 8FX and '1 and 3' on the 12FX have a fixed gain of unity, i.e. no increased amplification.
The separate AC/DC power supply is a good feature in any audio kit as it eliminates any 50Hz mains hum from inside the mixer chassis and high-gain amp stages.

CONS:
The LED Output Level 'meter' is a little too basic.
There are no RCA 'phono' sockets for a 'stereo out/Monitor' facility.
There is no 'Power On' indicator.
There is no switch to switch off the phantom 48 volts which is always present on all the I/P XLRs but NOT on the embedded stereo jack of course.
You CAN however use BALANCED DYNAMIC MICS (i.e with NO inbuilt pre-amp circuitry) with the XLRS but perhaps it's best to plug these in before turning on the mixer. (I have a Beyer dymanic mic connected to my Notepad 12FX.)


Overall I found the User Manual somewhat confusing as the function descriptions seem far too
dispersed through the manual compared to others I've used. The documentation for a possible Notepad rival, the Allan and Heath ZEDi-10, is clearer I think and a block schematic for that mixer isavailable. But for it's price and it's impressive spec, the Soundcraft Notepad is good value for money and is light weight (unlike the A&H mixer) and is a very convenient and 'cute' size.

I hope this helps. I am not a sound engineer, but these are my first impressions.

GG

ps SOUNDCRAFT could you PLEASE provide us with a block schematic for your Notepad series!