---
title: "Soundcraft Ui24R: audio into DMXDesktop"
description: "Send a stereo music feed from a Soundcraft Ui24R mixer to DMXDesktop for Live Wire and beat detection, with a music-only setup."
canonical: https://www.dmxdesktop.com/knowledgebase/soundcraft-ui24r-audio
lang: en
source: /knowledgebase/soundcraft-ui24r-audio
---

# Soundcraft Ui24R: audio into DMXDesktop

The Ui24R presents 32 channels to a computer over its USB DAW connection, with a fixed and rather convenient layout: the masters and all eight aux buses are already on the first ten channels. A music-only feed for DMXDesktop needs no repatching, and in fact the layout cannot be changed.

This article is part of [Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop](/knowledgebase/connecting-a-sound-mixer), which covers the shared rules and the problems common to every console.

## [Models covered](#models-covered)

- Ui24R

**Ui12 and Ui16 are not the same.** They have USB media features but not the Ui24R's multichannel USB DAW interface. Use [the analogue method](/knowledgebase/analogue-mixer-audio-interface) for those.

## [How the Ui24R USB channels are laid out](#how-the-ui24r-usb-channels-are-laid-out)

- **USB DAW 1 and 2** are Master Left and Master Right.
- **USB DAW 3 to 10** are Aux buses 1 to 8.
- **USB DAW 11 to 32** are the input channels, from channel 1 onwards.

This layout is fixed. The **Patching** page in the browser interface decides where each mixer channel gets its input from, including audio coming back from the computer. It does not change what is sent to the computer.

## [What you need](#what-you-need)

- A USB Type-B cable to the **USB DAW** connection.
- On Windows, Soundcraft's Ui24R multichannel USB audio driver.
- On macOS, nothing extra.

Not the Type-A sockets. Those are for playback and storage media and carry no audio to a computer.

## [Connect the mixer](#connect-the-mixer)

1. Connect USB DAW to the computer.
2. On Windows, install the Ui24R driver.
3. In DMXDesktop, open **Settings → Audio** and select the Ui24R.

## [Fastest setup: the master mix](#fastest-setup-the-master-mix)

1. USB DAW 1 and 2 always carry `Master L` and `Master R`. There is nothing to patch.
2. In DMXDesktop, select channels **1** and **2**.

Channels 1 and 2, so this works on Windows with or without ASIO.

## [Recommended setup: a music-only aux](#recommended-setup-a-music-only-aux)

Because Aux 1 to 8 are permanently on USB DAW 3 to 10, building a music-only mix is just a matter of using an aux and counting.

1. Link Aux 1 and Aux 2 as a stereo pair and name it `DMXDesktop`.
2. Unmute the pair and set its master to 0 dB.
3. Send only the music channels to it, at 0 dB. No speech microphones, no talkback.
4. Aux sends are pre-fader by default, so the feed ignores the channel faders. Switch the sends to post-fader if you want the lighting to follow the channel faders.
5. Aux 1 is USB DAW `3` and Aux 2 is USB DAW `4`. No patching required.
6. In DMXDesktop, select channels **3** and **4**.

**On Windows this needs the ASIO driver.** On the ordinary Windows device DMXDesktop captures only the first two channels, which on the Ui24R are always the masters. An aux cannot be moved onto USB DAW 1 and 2, so without ASIO take the aux pair's physical outputs into a small interface instead, using [the analogue method](/knowledgebase/analogue-mixer-audio-interface).

Music channels

players, DJ, live band

Speech mics and talkback

not sent to DMXDesktop

↓→

Aux 1 / 2

stereo-linked, music only

↓→

USB DAW 3 / 4

fixed layout

USB↓→

DMXDesktop

channels 3 and 4

## [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting)

**Check the direction.** Every console has two USB patches and they are easy to confuse. You want the one carrying audio *from the mixer to the computer*. The other one decides what the computer plays back *into* the mixer, and changing it does nothing for DMXDesktop.

**Feedback risk.** The USB DAW inputs carry audio from the computer back into mixer channels. That only causes a loop if the computer plays back the audio it is capturing, and that return channel is sent to the same master or aux being captured. Keep USB returns out of the lighting mix unless you meant to include them.

### Silence on channels 3 and 4

The sends to Aux 1 and 2 are down, the Aux 1/2 master is down or muted, or the sends are post-fader and the channel faders are down or muted. Pre-fader sends keep working with the channel faders down.

### Windows offers no channel choice

The multichannel driver is not installed, or you selected the ordinary Windows device instead of its ASIO device.

## [Still not working](#still-not-working)

Work through the shared checks in [Connecting a Sound Mixer to DMXDesktop](/knowledgebase/connecting-a-sound-mixer), which covers the faults that are not specific to one console. If you need to contact support, have these five things ready, because they resolve most cases immediately:

1. The exact mixer model.
2. Your Windows or macOS version.
3. How the mixer is connected, and which USB port you used.
4. Which device you picked in **Settings → Audio**.
5. Which left and right channel numbers you selected.

For a console with a multichannel USB interface, a screenshot of the mixer's USB output patch is worth more than any log file.