A Powerful Tool
Having owned many many mixers, from small format to large console I can confidently state that this mixer provides the same levels of mix ability and routing of mixers in the $10-20k range of price point. And even then you typically don't find recording capabilities included in that package. Are the Studer-designed preamps the best ever? No. A Studer-made preamp is usually $1k alone. What I'm saying is while this box has a great great deal of powerful features (AFS2)(VCAs)(MATRIX)
AND can function as a stand alone multitrack recorder also a 2TRK main mix recorder AND it can function as a DAW I/O box.....ANDAnDAND! Sure a separate piece of rack gear(or 3) can get you each of these other functionalities but then efx, comps, gates, desserts, 31 band eqs with HP & LP filters......24 rack spaces are full, not to mention all the cabling interconnects to spaghetti the rear of the rack.
For the $1100.00 price point you get a WORLD of powerful tools that in a pinch can be controlled by your phone if nothing else.
Just needs an HTML5 browser and WIFI.
I previously bought the Ui16 and I can say that the $400 I spent on it was over 1/3 the way toward the UI24R. Other than the similar outside appearance, the differences in power, quality and flexibility are factors of scale different. I Loooooooooove my analog gear! Dont get me wrong. It's quicker and because it is many components to the whole, short of a natural disaster, it can continue to function around a faulty piece of kit or two. While I do fear a massive failure, my analog back-breaking gear is going to mix closer to home for the forseeable future.
Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned