Yamaha MG20XU 20-Input 6-Bus USB Interface Mixer with Effects

I looked at buying a few different mixers before deciding on this one. I was looking for something that was reliable sounded great, and had a good feature set. This mixer is great for a few reasons1) It's yamaha. They are generally pretty reliable. I own other yamaha music equipment and haven't had any issues with any of those items2) Has good fx including a compressor. The mic compressor alone makes this product so much better then other mixers in terms of versatility. For recording its nice to have a little compression for the vocal before it hits the AD converter.3) You can use this as an interface. I can't comment on its use as a an interface as I own a universal audio solo 610 interface that I love. But its a good feature to have.4) The reverb: sounds wonderful. Particularly room 1, fx 3. It helps to glue everything together and put it in the same space.5) The use the fx send and it has been great for a ton of uses. I use it mostly as an external bus.Whats great here is that you can use the internal effect like say a reverb and mix in a little. You can simultaneously use the fx send and send out to a delay unit, and then place the return on another channel. Other units its fx send or internal fx, you won't be able to use both.6) Feels sturdy and seems well built. So far i've had it on well over 20 hours of use and its been good. I'll update this in a few months.7) Value. For the money if you compare the comparable mixers like behringer and mackie I think the choice is clear. Both of the former companies have reliability issues. Mackie preamps are good but fx are bad. Behringer preamps are hit and miss but fx are good. Yamaha is overall great.Cons: For me nothing really except I wish the EQ had three bands for every channel. And I wish I could have an fx send that wasn't tied to the internal fx.

This is a high quality, great sounding mixer that's easy to set up and use. I originally bought the 10 channel version to connect media source (iTunes/Apple Music) to existing amplifier for practicing drums. Once I got it, I connected a few low quality mics to my Kick and snare drum and Oh Man! this really woke up my drums. I immediately bought the 12 channel version to mic up the rest of my drums (8 pc set) and record my playing.PROs: Easy set up (plug and play to MacBook via USB for playback (Apple Music) and recording (Garage Band) with great sound using 5 low end mics. (2 overhead, kick, hats and snare). FX really adds to overall sound/experience. Excellent mixer for live performances.CONs: Only has 6 mic inputs and 6 balanced (RCA-1/4" Phono jacks) so I wasn't able to mic up my additional 6 toms (used overhead mics for toms and cymbals). Also, the "final mix" is done on the mixer itself, pre recording, meaning the output is stereo only (2 tracks using left/right if you use pan knobs on 2 channels) vs. multi track recording, so no adjustments/fine tuning can be done on individual channels/mics in the mix post recording.Due to the cons and wanting "best of both worlds" (live performance with multi track recording) and more importantly, more mic inputs for toms. I ended up returning this mixer.I've considered the 16 and 20 channel versions of this mixer by Yamaha but overall cost would get me more inputs but still not have multitrack adjustment flexibility post recording.Leaning towards an audio interface by PreSonus or Focusrite for recording and possibly feed the output of that to the 6 or 10 channel Yamaha MG**XU for live/practice.This is a great mixer and sorry I had to return it. I would definitely recommend this mixer if you don't need excessive mic inputs with multi track, post recording processing.

Purchased as an at home or event option to mix a podcast when we can’t make it to the studio. I’d consider myself a novice when it comes to gear, and just a little picky when it comes to quality, just so you know the angle I’m approaching this with. Here were some highlights for me:- With the right mics in the right space, the quality of audio and control we get with this little guy was surprisingly good.- Really sturdy, and fairly compact for what you get.- simple to set up with Adobe Audition to record- I get really level recordings with minimal tweaking to the settings. Its easier to match my low volume speakers with high volume speakers compared to some more expensive/complex mixers I’ve used.- I don’t use the effects much. While they are fun to play with, I’ll note they’re a little tedious to change on the fly, but you can only expect so much for how compact they are here. I love the texture the “phone call” effects add. If anyone ever does a bit where someone is playing a call-in guest, it sounds great.- Doesn’t record individual tracks, so test those levels before you record and be wary of speakers who drift from the mic.- While you cant split and control levels of several sets of headphones with just the mixer, you can get three pairs of headphones to work if you don't mind using the left out, right out, and stereo outputs all at once. Suitable option for less picky podcast hosts.- I’ve seen some reviews where people mention the mixer getting hot. I haven't experienced this yet, and I’ve used this mixer for almost a year. It was accidentally left on for about 4 hours after recording once and still didn't feel surprisingly warm to the touch.My round-up: for a non-gear-head podcaster, this mixer provided the right balance of ease of use, quality, and price for my needs.