Soundcraft Notepad-8FX Small-Format Analog Mixing Console with Usb I/O and Lexicon Effects

This is a great product. Easy to set up and use, can connect to Laptop for recording etc and can import music/ backing tracks from phone or other devices via RCA. I connect my guitar multi FX pedal into it using mono TS jack then out to studio monitors using XLR cables. Sounds wonderful. The mixer also has delay, chorus and reverb built in which works very well. Also you can connect a microphone. At this price point I personally don't think there is a better product on the market.

Just what I wanted. A superb mixer without too much and too little. Dead quiet inputs. I see some mention no off switch for phantom power. No need for that really. Standard mics don’t get impacted by it. If using a condenser mic remember to switch off power to the desk before connecting the mic. The same if you use mic boosters.

Didn't like the only way to turn it off was to disconnect it - on a mid/high range product I would have expected a simple switch. It also underwhelms when turned on, the lights flicker briefly (while everything gets full of electrons, presumably) then it appears to go off... in fact it is on, and when a signal is sent it lights up, but no tell-tale light to confirm a mains lead attached and providing power... so, that apart, seems to work OK, noise free, and nice controls, especially the main slider. Lots of connection options, and works well for what I need, but not a fan of leaving electronics attached to the mains, so the power cable is draped over the main body when i unplug it and do something else...

I only want USB output to my laptop. You have to download a dashboard app for it, update firmware drivers and God knows what else.There are NO instructions to help get USB connection to a laptop working. The few words they give you are meaningless.Virtually all other USB output mixers are simply plug and play, so this is a downside.However, I bought this because Soundcraft had been around for a long time, but clearly their focus is 100% on professional sound engineers.For those of us just wanting to record podcasts, sound engineering is not our focus (for most of us) and the only reason I bought this is because I wanted phantom power for a Rode NTG-2 microphone that I already had and simple output to my laptop via USB, meaning simply plugging in a cable!There is nothing on the device that identifies a button to turn on/off phantom power either. It's always on. So really you can only use a mic that needs phantom power by the looks of itThe description of this product makes NO MENTION of the fact that you have to go through a process of downloading and installing an app (pffft!) and then giving no instructions on how to get the damn thing outputting via USB to your laptop.I have accounts with Zoom and Riverside FM. and I did get them to recognize the mixer thoughI did a test recording with the mic plugged into the channel 1 XLR slot. I had the VOLUME knob turned up to between 3 and 4 o'clock, the GAIN knob between 2 and 3 o'clock. A little bit of hiss in the background there when listening with headphones plugged into the mixer....I opened Riverside fm studio on my laptop, then plugged headphones into my laptop.I did a 30 second test recording.In the riverside edit suite, the sound played back with no hiss and the sound quality was really good, so the combination of this mixer and my Rode NTG-2 mic is right on the button for me. I suspect you'd get results with any decent mic too.Haven't tried any of the effects yet, but really, this quality is so good I doubt if I'll ever need to use them for what I'm doing - recording podcasts. Actually, I gave 4 stars originally because of having to load the dashboard and drivers etc. But that was done in a couple of clicks (with my fingers crossed) but it all worked fine. So 5 stars from me. Great kit.

Excellent, for the money it has a good fx unit in lexicon, and does everything you want, I’ve seen some reviews saying it hasn’t got a footswitch insert or an on off switch and some other things but as I said it’s very good for the money! be happy with what you get, an great little mixer

As reviewed all over the web, a great build and top quality sound.

I’ll start with the positives:+Versatile+Loads of gain+Mic pre-amp works well, great quality sound however…Negatives-Phantom power always on-No on/off switch-When monitoring output through USB, it records a quiet output of your mix. So if you are recording vocals over a song it records that song if you have it playing back through headphones, in a nutshell it is not possible to route output to headphones for recording (I have no idea why it does this, even a basic audio interface doesn’t do this). The quality is good but it’s virtually unusable if you need to monitor output while recording.Wish I could return this as for my use case this is useless and an absolute waste of money - but haven’t given it a totally negative review because for some people it will have a use case. For what it does right it does it well.

The Soundcraft Notepad-8FX was exactly what I needed to play back sound effects from SFXv6 on a windows laptop and also to boost a live keyboard for a village hall pantomime. The Auxiliary send was also useful for sending both sources to a Foldback channel as well.Didn't try recording to windows or the Lexicon effects capabilities.