Overview of the Yamaha MG12XU

Yamaha has been known to have established a legacy, and infuse great craftsmanship as well as exemplified innovation when it comes to the making of musical instruments. The company has been able to dish out a whole range of world-class professional audio systems and musical instruments. The Yamaha MG12XU professional music console is simply one of these excellent devices that the company has been able to develop in recent years. With an interface that is fairly easy to use, this compact mixing console is great for use in a number of different applications. The flexible designs of the mixing console also make it the perfect device regardless of whether you are performing live or simply recording in a music studio.

Yamaha MG12XU Features

The MG series of musical instruments is the third dishing from the brand and has retained some of the most appreciated features and technologies of the previous two editions. Subtle improvements have been made in the designing of the console, with it transforming to a product in the very epitome of excellence. Retaining the technologies of the previous two editions along with subtle improvements on those technologies has ensured that the current console has been developed for great use in high-end professional performances. The Yamaha MG12XU is also a generous 12-channel mixer, and also comprises of six mono XLR, a total of three inputs of stereo line and hybrid inputs measuring a quarter of an inch.

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Interface

The MG12XU is also laden with a great interface that has the capability of suiting a diversified range of uses and applications, both professional and personal. Whether you are using it for the purpose of making music within a recording studio or you are giving a live performance and using the console to mix the music according to your choice, this console works perfectly for all settings. The mixer console also possesses a sturdy construction base complemented with a flexible design that will be of great help to you creating and shaping your sound mixing with great confidence. You will be able to use this console to delivery great quality music on a continuous basis and can rely on it to deliver whenever you are in need of it. These great qualities of the mixer console have propelled the MG12XU to become a leader in the world of music consoles.

Microphone

The microphone preamps of the Yamaha MG12XU mixer are of the distinctive Class-A D-PRE quality dished out by Yamaha. This allows the microphones to deliver a great sound of supreme quality that is also natural and clean at the same time. After all, who would like to hear microphones that make use of distorted and thin preamps that are also greatly underpowered? The transparent and distinctive D-PRE preamps of the mixer console also help to offer greater power during a performance, while lowering the impedance of the sound produced. This also ensures that the bass sounds natural as well as deliver smooth highs.

The D-PRE of Yamaha also ensures that the music you mix simply has a great sound to it, and is devoid of any hype for any of the specific components of the music that you have mixed. It will also help you to save a lot of time because you do not have waste any of it to maintain the EQ of the sound. The high quality of the microphone preamps will ensure that you will not have to endure the embarrassment and humiliation that you would feel if you got a sound mix of a barely acceptable quality developed due to the use of low-quality microphone preamps.

Compressors

The Yamaha MG12XU uses compressors with a single knob, and this facilitates a dynamics control that is fairly easy to use when mixing sound. This comes in handy especially when you are performing live in front of hundreds of people. During such occasions, you will not be able to gather the time to deal with and tweak a large number of outboard units that are also fairly complex and difficult to work with. Even during a more relaxed sound mixing session, why would you want to deal with complicated control units?

The compressors in the Yamaha MG12XU can save you a lot of time in this aspect due to its single knob. This also makes the analog mixer greatly simple to use. One simple twist of a particular rotary control would be enough to make use of the punchier basses, the livelier guitars, well-defined vocals or even the tighter drums.

EQ Filter

The Yamaha MG12XU is also fitted with a high-pass and EQ filter that is very effective in the process of shaping sounds according to needs and requirements. Powerful as well as effective EQ is greatly necessary for the creation of any successful sound mix. Regardless of whether you are getting rid of a few unwanted and unnecessary frequencies in the sound or whether you are simply modifying and fine-tuning the sound to get that perfection, an effective EQ filter always comes in handy in the creation of the ideal sound mix. The Yamaha MG12XU also features an equalizer for each of the mono channels on the units, which allows you to enjoy a great deal of control over the overall balance of the tone as well as your mix.

Moreover, the analog mixing console is also equipped with a high-pass filter that will help you to get rid of any discrepancies of unwanted and unnecessary frequencies that may be hampering the mix. This will help you to obtain a great sound of the greatest quality.

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Digital Effects of the Yamaha MG12XU

The Yamaha MG12XU analog mixer features an SPX digital effects system that has been incorporated into the mixer to polish the music and add professionalism to the sound you create. This system comprises of an entire complete collection of 24 digital effects that can be edited according to your mixing requirements. The analog mixer also comprises of the acclaimed multi-effect digital processor of the SPX range from Yamaha. This will help you to deliver great quality music and sounds that include reverbs, chorus, delay, flanger, phaser, auto-wah and tremolo.

In addition to these, you can also obtain the perfect pitch effects as well as several distortion sounds and many more. All of these sound effects will only help you to dish out great quality sound mixing on a regular basis. You will also be able to have access to a great number of musical effects to use with sufficient ease when performing live in front of a live audience.

The Yamaha MG12XU analog mixer console features an op-amp of great quality that helps in the production as well as a reproduction of transparent sound mix with sufficient ease. Op-amps that are below par in terms of quality and sound production can really damage the tone and transparency of a sound mix and cause you to come up with a very poor quality of music. This is the reason why the MG12XU features the new and improved MG01 op-amps that are of greatly superior quality than most others in the current music industry. This ensures that the music and sound that you produce are of the finest quality.

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At the time of designing the analog mixer and the op-amps, Yamaha has laid a great deal of emphasis of the quality of sound produced instead of giving more priority towards the efficiency or even the electrical designing. Hence, what you have with the MG12XU is a console that offers signals that are as pure as possible. This has been a trend with all musical instruments from Yamaha. They have very rarely made attempts to impart their musical signature in your sound production through any of their instruments, and this analog mixer is no different. Hence, what you will get with the use of this analog mixer is a sound quality that is completely transparent, articulate and natural.

Yamaha MG12XU Review On Sound

Our Yamaha MG12XU review on sound is that the effects are very natural sounding with loud, audible highs. The head amp is what makes the sound quality so good on the Yamaha Mg12xu. It is a very important part and this new series of mixer comes with the highest quality custom made MG01 op-amp which is developed with Semiconductor manufacturer. 

Pro’s

We have already discussed a number of different components and areas of the Yamaha MG12XU analog mixer console from Yamaha. Now, let us take a look at some of the critically important general features of the instrument.

The mixer console features an LED output meter accompanied by a peak indicator. You will also find a Pre-Fader Listening, or PFL, device that will help you to monitor as well as meter the various individual channels on the console. Each channel on the console has separate power options along with pan and assignments controls for stereo or group recordings.

• The console is also equipped with output channels for headphones and even monitors. This analog music console comprises of a metal chassis that will help it to withstand use in rough conditions and will allow you to use the instrument for a longer period of time. With a meager weight of about 9.3 lbs or 4.2 kg, the Yamaha MG12XU music console is fairly lightweight, and you can easily carry it all around to places where you would eventually be using it to make music.
• The dimensions of the unit measures at 308 mm or 9.6 inches in width, 118 mm or 2.8 inches in height and 422 mm or 11.6 inches in depth. Hence, the console is not particularly large and can be easily carried from one place to another.
• This 12-channel mixing console has a maximum of 6 microphones as well as 12 line inputs that comprise of 4 mono inputs and 4 stereo inputs.
• This console is equipped with 1 Stereo Bus and 2 Group buses. It is also equipped with 2 AUX outlets including the FX AUX. The console uses a microphone preamps system from the acclaimed D-PRE series from Yamaha, and uses a dynamics compressor with a single knob. The microphone preamps also use an inverter circuit from Darlington. The Yamaha MG12XU console uses the SPX sound effects control comprising of 24 effects that can be edited as per needs. These sound effects are of very high quality.
• This music console works fine with all kinds of devices. Starting from iPads to computers and USB camera adapters, you can use this console with absolutely any device and create music. The console basically uses 48V of power when fully operating.

The power supply of the music console is of the internal universal type. This facilitates for the console to be used with great efficiency regardless of which part of the globe it is being used. The Yamaha MG12XU is equipped with great quality High-pass and EQ filters. This enables you to create transparent sound and removes any low-quality frequencies and discrepancies that may be present in the sound created. The console also features a USB connectivity port, which helps to connect this console to common devices such as computers and laptops for making music.

Cons

• Item can get hot in heavy use (common)
• Some units experience hissing (click to read MG12xu reviews)

Compatibility

One of the best things about the Yamaha MG12XU analog mixer console from Yamaha is that fact that you can use it with almost any device of your choice to make music. Whether you have a computer or a laptop, or you simply use a tablet device or an iPad, this amazing music console is simply compatible with all devices. The user interface is also great when you are using the console with such devices, and this makes it even better and easier for you to make the music of your choice. Hence, you do not necessarily need high end and expensive instruments and devices in order to use this music console for making the music and mixing the sound of your choice.

Conclusion MG12xu

The Yamaha MG12XU analog mixing console has been one of the finest musical instruments to have been created by Yamaha in recent times and is packed with a world of exciting features, form just the right instrument that you need for bringing out your musical talents to the fore. Regardless of what kinds of music and sound you want to mix, this music console can certainly be of great help towards your endeavors in the mixing the sounds of your choice.

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