Zoom L-12 One Year Review: Still worth it? 

I’ve been using the L12 for over a year now and couldn’t be happier with it 🎸🎸🎸

Anxiously awaiting for this final review. Thanks for posting it!

I've been using this device for over 3 years now. more than satisfied) My band is especially pleased) says that this is my best purchase of musical equipment) home studio online lessons mixer for band rehearsal porta studio for recording demos with a band when I write music myself and do channel recording without a DAW perfect!

As a Zoom L-20 owner one thing that is missing from it is a MIDI interface. I had (still have it in my home studio) a Zoom UAC-8 before and that one has also a built-in MIDI interface, what I'm missing from the L-20... (I also have a Zoom H-6, so you can call me a Zoom user...). Pretty much agree with the other points, even I do use my L-20 about as much as an audio interface directly to the DAW and as a stand alone recorder to the SD card. For live use the L-20 has the optional bluetooth connection to an iPad for a complete remote operation, that has been super great when mixing bands live in bars or clubs. Just having the iPad with me in the middle of the audience and the mixer at the stage with all the instruments and mics connected and the soundchecks for different acts saved as scenes... that is great. I've had the L-20 now for couple of years and was originally planning to get the L-12, but when the L-20 was introduced, I decided to get that one instead immediately, and the extra channels have not been a bad idea... :)

I bought this mixer specifically after watching your first video on it, and I've been very happy with it so far even though I don't use all the features either. Thanks for the recommendation!

Thanks for your great content! I'd been deliberating about purchasing one the Livetraks and finally put an order in on the L-20 a couple weeks ago. I have some synth gear at home and also jam with a band weekly, where recording the tracks separately is a huge bonus... which I confirmed when renting the L-12 for a month. It's reassuring to hear that overall you've remained generally happy with it!

Wow, the perfect video to help me make this decision today! Thanks so much!

The video we’ve been waiting for!

been a sub for a few weeks now and love the content!

Iv had this mixer since 2020 and I’m still happy with it best purchase I’ve made so far

Nice one and spot on in all points! Always nice to watch your premieres, brother! Rock on 🤘 Love and light from Khao Lak 🇹🇭❤️☀️🏖🌴🥥🐘🌈

Thank you very much for doing this video!!! 🤩

Great video. I bought an mtk12 from soundcraft for a similar reason, but I like the efficiency of your workflow and will need to see how my setup fares.

Great vid thanks 👍 I looked at this unit and was very impressed. In the end got a tascam model 12 as having all the separate controls per strip won out. Was a close call. 😃

Have had the L12 since May 2020. It is my mainstay. One of the features I absolutely love is capability of using flash drive to export to. Have used multiple synths and DN on it. On occasion the record button goes wacky and you have to baby it to make it work. Other than that I have been gertting my money out of it. Was definitely a good purchase!

Great video - informative and entertaining!

I also bought the L12 after your first vid and am very happy with it (with minor caveats) so thanks! re your comment re monitor outputs->sampler - I find that does work well for me to feed channels to my Digitakt for sampling, routing through the digitakt FX / overbridge interface, without having to rewire. anyway, another great video. HULK SMASH! 😂

Good info for a potential buyer. Thank you!

I´ll buy it soon! It´ll be just awesome

Brilliant video dude, thanks very much. 👍

Great overview, I’ve had an L-20 now for almost a couple years and like you I’ve got my good things/bad things list. Overall I do more live band mixing than recording and have found the monitor mixing and band set up presets very useful. iPad control via Bluetooth has been good, I do wish Zoom had a feedback analysis similar to QSC’s mixers to help tame a room. The recordings I’ve done (full band and vocal overdubs) have turned out excellent, and like you I hate having to arm and then press play to record. I have a laminated sign that sits on top of the mixer in the case warning me about the process…. But overall I’m very happy with this product and have had zero issues with it. Oh, I did have one other “thing” about the USB outputs I’m trying to figure out. I recently downloaded Dolby On to my iPad to make videos of a recording session, the USB out put was connected via an adapter to the iPad, there was no master stereo mix in the output. I mitigated this by using a Scarlett 2i2 interface (analog outputs of the mixer into the analog inputs of the Scarlett) and then used the USB output into the IPad. That worked fine, not able to find any info on the live track to clear up the mystery. Perhaps the mixers outputs just aren’t compatible?

Even the L8 is a great mixer..I went for the L12 about 2 years ago on your recommendation and its been a superb mixer for the money (£270 second hand as new condition)..It's down side for me is its size a bit too wide for my desk top setup.👍🏻

I was looking at either a tascam or Zoom. Two things swung the Zoom - this channel and and the complete lack of available Tascams. So I have just recently invested in an L-20! Also a patchbay an i connectivity midi interface. Totally over engineered for my my home studio needs but what you gonna do! The L-20 fixes the issues with the headphone outs as you can select headphone or monitors. I use mine to select external insert effects - could use the patchbay too but the monitor out is super accessible and flexible. Great review - love the channel

That intro segment was comedy gold

Awesome and helpful. Thank you.

Come on Tascam….. send this dude the 16 channel board to review! ;-)

For me I use my L20 as “Portable” recorder, live mixer and audio interface. I’m a college student studying music and music technology and part of the things I do even if not required is help music students with recordings (who don’t know proper audio tech), be an audio technician during club events (I’ve been paid for it once and been getting paid multiple times now) and/or create a Jamspace for the students in more Jazz situation and work on my own music projects too. Honestly it’s been a god send cause they’ll be so many times with my old mixer Mackie FX12: “I wish I had more inputs” “I wish I could send different mixes” “I wish I don’t need to record with my laptop” “I wish I had a better eq” (specially bass roll off) So many more quotes. It fixed all those issues for me and gave more flexibility and at $1000 it’s not bad for the all purpose use I have for it.

I was torn between this and the Tascam Model 12... I went with the Tascam in the end.. But to be honest i could have gone with the Zoom L-12 too.... the set up i was after was the one that you spoke about here.. just having a recorder that i could very quickly put ideas down on, but also use as a DAW if i needed or wanted to.. Those of us who grew up with 4-track cassette recorders are win-win here, just being able to drag fleshed out ideas in to a DAW as an option and work on them from there?? Whats not to like?? Great content...

Your videos are very pleasant to watch, I have the tascam model 12 and I love all this features.

good vids from this guy.

Nicely produced and informative. Thanks!

I asked around and discussed the L12 with some mixer experts and have decided to go for the Tascam Model 12 instead - it has all the features of the L12 but better input-output routing and better EQ, etc.

Loved the first min

👌 useful and interesting ! Thank you

The Hulk look was cool....and the info....💯

I really appreciate this year later review. I wish I could get this for not products.

Thank you for the great review! Likely they've copied the record engage workflow from Zoom H4n. That's exactly how you do it - first press "REC" to arm and start monitoring through headphones and then press "PLAY" to start recording. I am surprised that Zoom H6 uses a different approach.

Interesting that no one mentions the Allen & Heath QU-SB mixer, which is for me the ultimate dawless record unit. It's small, compact, has great graphic EQ, sidechain, many AUX outputs and can multitrack record up to 18 channels. Moreover it has ability to mix the hardware and USB inputs together so I can use my hardware and software (Kontakt Player!) synths in one dawless session. Great feature when you have a good hardware sequencer (like Deluge). Great video, thank you!

Great video thank you very much. Although I have l-8, still your informations are beneficial, regards

The content @ around 3.55 where you discuss workflow process was very helpful. As a songwriter the speeding up of what can be slow processes is invaluable. Thank you

"Needing a work around in the creative making process is like needing a fart in the love making process" - Krazy Wabbit Fantastic video. Coming from the podcast world, I have a Rodecaster Pro (and the Zoom H6). No, it's not meant for music recording. But the RU-vid "professionals" say work with what you have. So I've been tinkering with it vs going out and spending more money. The combo I have works. Is it perfect? Is life? Like the L12, it has quirks. Until the RodeCaster begins to fail me or break the creativity, I will save my money on the L12 especially seeing some of the small quirks you mentioned. They are not deal breakers but in the world of creativity, that can add up. Agree, if you have nothing, great option. Thank you for being one of the best channels in this space!

So, about the headache with pressing "Rec" and then "Play", to record, yeah, I can see that being a thing, BUT, think about it this way, and it becomes intuitive: in 1985, when I wanted to record a song off the radio, I pressed 3 buttons on my ghetto blaster - first I pressed Pause to hold my cassette at the correct place, then Record AND Play, which were always 2 separate buttons, controlling 2 separate functions. When the song started, I unpaused it. This recorder behaves in exactly the same way. Not a solution, I know, but an understanding of how it works, that hopefully makes it a bit more intuitive. Also, just wanted to say - fantastic video, thanks for the info!

I love my L12! 2:14 That's exactly how I use the headphone outputs to sample to an SP404SX. I haven't experienced noise or low output. I sometimes get confused with the fader modes so make sure you have that set right. I'd be happy to discuss details. I love your channel. Great content!

I only activate the usb 1-2 when i want to listen to what got recorded on to the daw. Once you disengage ,, you get that channel back and can use it as a USB interface. For the recording feature , i like it this way as i can just connect a start/stop pedal and use a foot switch to hit play and start recording drums or any other instrument w/out letting go of that instrument to hit play.

Useful and entertaining. Well done. Thanks for sharing. I am curious… Given the option, in May of 2023, would you still consider this mixer a viable purchase? Or would you make another recommendation?

If you get low output, you may have the plugs wired wrong. The outputs are set up for phones, with tip and ring both separate hot signals, not balanced out. So to get a line level signal use a stereo plug but hook hot to tip and ground to sleeve and leave ring unconnected. I am using the unit as a 4 channel recorder to archive my collection of quad SQ, QS, and CD-4 lps. Each input and monitor channel is used for one of the 4 channels from my quad decoder. The mixer monitor outs drive the "discreet analog surround inputs on my Marantz receiver with plenty of volume. My only beef is the inability to label tracks with names more easily.

A year after i bought a L-12 the Tascam Model series came out. I wished i had bought one of those. There are many more differences and more features…of course the cost more. Anyhow…i use my L-12 almost everyday. It has not crashed or lost tracks. It records what it hears and processes quite quickly…my zoom H-5 takes a long time to process files. I suppose if my only choice for a mixer that records to SD card was a Zoom, i would have bought the L-20.

Ha haaaa! That is a killer thumbnail!!!

I’m sold I have a beach show coming up and I’d love to use this thing to record

cool thoughts

Love this video, thank you! I am between this and the 18i20. If mainly be recording drums in my home studio. What do you think? What would you go with?

Fantastic

When you got the L12, I had got the Presonus Ar16 usb c mixer. I chose the Presonus over the L 12 because I did not want the screen to deal with on the zoom. After about 8 or 9 months, one of the xlr outs stopped working and I had to send the mixer to have it fixed. Presonus fixed it but while it was out, I got an arturia studiofuse. I got to say that the studiofuse is everything and anything I need. The Presonus came back all fixed and I have not used it. I lose out on the sd card recording the Presonus offers, but the studiofuse offers me so much more and at a higher quality and simplier interface. To your point on what features we use, I had not used the sd recording on the Presunus yet and I have already used almost all the features in the studiofuse. Plus the studiofuse takes up so little desk space vs the mixer. Thanks for the follow up. As always, I enjoyed the video!

Hi...First time on your channel. Very informative. I am looking at purchasing the L-12 for as much or more live performance mixing than recording, even though it appears the benefit of the recording feature is an automatic when mixing live which is a great tool to review and tweek that live performance. Question.... is the L-12 a great hands on mixer for live performances? The only real issue I can see is the extra steps needed to EQ each seperate channels with a central control panel. Or am I wrong in my assumption? Maybe the Tascam Model 12 is a better option? Thank you

Super interesting, thank you for the follow up. I am slowly accumulating a few synths and trying to figure out how to make them work together and this seems like a good approach, if a bit expensive. That said, I wonder why mixers in general (not just the Zoom L-12) have so few stereo inputs. Don't most synthesizers that have some kind of effects (reverb, delay) warrant a stereo input into the mixer? Any newer mixers you think are worth looking at? Thank you for all the videos.

Gripes is the best stuff ever...dude is super trustworthy...looking at purchasing the L-12 now. Any used ones?

Awesome video! Thanks for this. What's the stand you use for the LiveTrak? Thanks!

thanks

Great review! Could you please tell me what stand do you use for the Zoom? It looks great, is there a link maybe?

Separate mixer/sequencer/standalone is guaranteed something will get lost (record, "remember" the fx/mix for a session) and likely never transferred anywhere. My DAW-less setup with Push2 and Ableton behind it is the best "Standalone". No, seriously, I just learned how to use it like "IF" it is true DAW-less. Most handy "Standalone" this way. Just don't get into tweaking VSTs and all, like you DO NOT have them, until you want switch into DAW-like editing. I have so much more Creative time making music, instead of worrying where/how/if it connected/recorded/remembered :) immediate

I have missed entire sets on my L20 with the 2 step recording issue. Otherwise i love it for capturing our bands live shows

I really like mine but it went a little buggy when I messed with attempting to upload sd card samples. Otherwise, great sound, very good, useable effects, perfect size to have a lot of the studio connected, and the ability to record stems is ace. love it.

You can use rather extreme settings on the compressor, EQ and gain (distortion) knobs as sound sculpting tools when performing live (e.g. for thickening up kick drums or when notch filtering pads, etc.). Also, the phones outputs can be used for Aux FX. It's like an instrumental extension on its own.

The 1010 bluebox is awesome

Would have loved to see you actually walk thru the complete recording process.

I ended up selling mine for a few reasons. The first reason was my fault. I thought it could double as a control surface when using it as in interface with my DAW- it can’t do that like their older models could. Second, I bought it mainly to record small group jams in my space- but with COVID I haven’t been playing music with anyone. I know that will change soon. I might look into a Tacsam model 12 instead in the future- because it seems you can use it as a control surface. Thanks for the video love your content.

Nosotros compramos la L20 y es lo mejor. Salvo detalles, cómo el hecho de comprar el dispositivo usb aparte o la bandeja de rack que al parecer tampoco queda muy ajustada dado el del mixer.

Nice

As you use a lot of analogue gear, have you considered analogue mixers? Behringer X1632USB is £200. Analogue signal path. Then there’s the high end solid state logic SSL SIX and SSL BIG SIX. £1200 and £2400 respectively. They have insert functionality, which is fantastic for all your effects pedals and reverbs etc. digital mixer seem a bit limited. They have their advantages but so do analogue mixers. Cheers 🍻

I think you should edit and reupload your last video. I almost bought it specifically to have a sub mix for sampling.

Hi! I stumbled across your video when searching for some VERY specific workarounds on some issues I had with my own L-12. Turns out it wasn't the L-12, it was a limitation of the software I was trying to sync it with. Anyway, my question to you is about that stand seen with the L-12 on it towards the end of the video. I'd love something like that, is that a custom stand, or is it something that is commercially available? I'd love to find out, I hope you see this and reply. Best of luck and keep these videos coming!

thanks for your channel. Does the L12 has aux sends for external FX?

Hi - I subscribed to you today. I am considering the hybrid route of recording onto a hardware based device like the Zoom L8 and the mix down into a DAW later. As I understand it if you took all those recorded tracks into your DAW, there are just really RAW tracks without compression, EQ or effects? I would only need 6 tracks so I'm wondering why not record everything into a Zoom F6 in 32 bit float and then put the 6 tracks on the SD card into your DAW? - of course you would eradicate the opportunity to play live this way, but I have a live set up already. What are your thoughts? Peter.

record is set up that way to help with getting levels, always helpful to know your gear

That 2click record does the magic in my usecase though, I think you shoul develope a habits to double check if it is recording before play 😀

Olso plastics makes sound when on the sun or when it cooling of after being under the sun. My desk is near the window and sometimes it makes strange noises. Beside that, yeah, really cool console

yoooooo sport mode is great for passing and getting on the highway tho lol

hi, I wanna ask you, is this mixer good for live stage performance for the music groups? I have no idea about mixers in detail especially digital ones. So I will be appreciated for your answer and also for a recommendation. Thx

Great video. So you can plug in all instruments and record them all as a separate recording at the same time?

I have a question are the headphone mixes stereo or mono or summed mono? I can't find any info in the manual or the other zoom documentation? Thanks!

hi. great video. i just found it now. i own the L-12 for a couple of years now and in the last months it started to change the main-volume on its own randomly and some days the audio just stops working in general ( i have to switch between output devices on windows 11. i have tried to find the Zoom L-12 support but there is none. there is no email-adress, no chat, no help form nothing. and yes, i have tried to find an answer to my questions on their support page, but havent found anything. any help would be appreciated.

I'm struggling with the same issue on the aux outs/Mon outs - lack of volume. Have you found any way to EQ the aux outs?

You've said nice things about it before, and that after using it for some time, so I hope it's still all good. I am actually planning to order one in the next few days (I'm just being a good boy and waiting for the money from selling a synth to show up in my bank account first...). If it works well enough it might replace three things for me: mixer, audio interface, and recorder. I have been a bit curious, though: can it handle Eurorack levels directly without any attenuation? I only have one device that outputs audio that hot, so it's not a big issue for me if it doesn't as I can work around it, but it would still be nice to know.

Hi sir. Please advice. Does it have the output delay option? I try to search everywhere but i cant find any review about it. The delay im talking about is the output tp adjust video and audio lip sync. Not the deley effect. Thank you sir!

What about recording midi.don’t you need it for your projects? Like your vids, they are a great inspiration!

Great video. I use th L12 the same way. I record my drums to the sd card then drop those tracks to Adobe Audition. Works great. Do you know if I can separate the click to a separate ch. and not the master ch? while recording?

Is it possible to have different effects on different channels at the same time? And will the final recording have all the eq changes and effects recorded?

Can you assign programs like Discord, Games, Chrome (for like videos and things) as inputs in different channels? Like if I’m practicing a song and playing along to a backing track, can I put chrome into one of the channels to mix the RU-vid audio with my guitar in my headphones/monitors and then send that back as a master mix to record or stream it?

Quick question; the R24 lets you run two units as master and slave to get 16 tracks, I have not found any info that clarifies if this can do the same (with another L-12 or other ZOOM products) ?

Can the headphone outputs be used to drive amplified stage monitors. Are they stereo? How are the jacks wired? Is tip left, ring right and sleeve common as is normal for headphones? Or are they balanced outputs where tip and ring are balalnce signal and sleeve is shield? I can't find this in the manual.

How does it compare to the Tascam 12? Trying to decide which one to get for recording live tracks and import to a DAW like Ableton or Pro Tools.

Curious why you don't just go with the 1010 bluebox? Super small and can record 12 mono takes at once. It also slaves to other gear so all the recorded files are synced up. Sound quality is awesome. It's perfect for Dawless recording and then exporting into the DAW like you are doing. I originally got mine to track out from an old MPC while capturing the feel of the machine and not having to worry about DAW sync. But it does a lot more than that for me now.

In the first video you said it had FX send per channel. Just wondering if this is useful for you. In my mind, a more useful mixer would be something with dedicated aux send WITH returns, so you don't have to sacrifice inputs to return external FX to you mix. Have you found this to be a limitation?

I can't figure out how to video record with multiple track recording audio . I use a head phones to phone dongel it's just sending sounds from phone not to phone any ideas or is it not possible

Very curious how this will go. I got one largely on the recommendation of synth RU-vid but have been very unimpressed by the build quality and persistent, annoying bugs when trying to use it as an audio interface.

Is it possible for to connect your iPhone directly into this audio interface? And have the audio from there be played onto discord or zoom?

How do you Simply record in Logic without hearing the mains? I literally have my head phones plugged into MixA and two monitors plugged in L & R. I cant hear anything in my headphones except when i have the master turned up. This is so frustrating on this device

im having massive problems with the l-12 disconnecting from my computer via usb, it looked everywhere, tried everything, and it still happens. I record directly into my daw which is ableton, the mixer sometimes would create static noises in the recordings and all i there was to do was wait until it took off, i dont have that problem anymore now the mixer randomly disconnects from my new M2 pro chip mac so i know its not my computer. I used to just restart the mixer and it worked but now that doesnt work. never had this problem be this repetitive. any suggestions?

can you share what is the stand you're using with your L12 in the video ,

New at this can somebody answer if I could use the zoom L 12 with my Dj controller for the club Or should I just by a Mackie or Yamaha mixer for my Dj controller but I hear good things about the zoom L 12