Our band leader’s former group had a digital mixer with Wi-Fi. Their sound technician could walk around with a touch-screen device. He listened at various locations and tweaked the mix as needed. I am a technology geek so the inherent flexibility of wireless appealed to me.

Another factor that contributed to my choosing a digital mixer was actually the cabling. Since the mixer sits on the stage, cable installation is simpler. There is no need for a snake cable to a fixed, front-of-house mixing desk.

Why did I choose a Soundcraft Ui16 digital mixer?

• Price – this was probably the largest factor at the time. I was new to the band. I felt like their equipment was inadequate for the level of service a “sound guy” should provide. I needed to buy a whole bunch of gear. Among the digital mixers available on Reverb, eBay, and Craig’s List, the Soundcraft Ui16 was the least costly. It also met my (ignorantly determined) minimum requirements and included a 4U Gator roto-molded case.
• Features – reliability is very important in live performance. An attractive feature of the Ui-series mixers is that they have a web-server. A wirelessly connected device does not use an app. Instead, your device displays a web page through which all settings are done directly. If you lose connection, you do not lose the settings you just made. You don’t have to download anything to connect a new device. There are no latency or driver issues.

My first mixer was a Soundcraft Ui16, which has twelve combination XLR/TRS inputs, USB and RCA inputs, two main outputs, and four auxiliary outputs. This mixer’s only shortcoming was its capacity. In every other way, it performed as required. It is perfect for a smaller band and probably overkill for a home recording studio.

With a five-piece band, however, it did not take long to run out of inputs. More instrument microphones delivers the band’s full sound to the mains, and provides greater control in the mixer.

So, my second mixer (the one I am using currently) is a Soundcraft Ui24R, which has twenty combination XLR/TRS inputs, USB and RCA inputs, two main outputs, and eight auxiliary outputs. In addition to the neat features included in the Ui16, the Ui24s can be daisy-chained together for even more inputs. They can also record single and multi-track simultaneously.