I am having trouble deciding which mtk interface/digital mixer to go with.

Requirements:
- Min of 22 Physical inputs (all being able to be mult-tracks via usb)
- Solid Drivers
- Not more than 1500usd

This will be in a studio environment so it doesn't really need to be portable. Would be great if it had multijacks. Would be great if you could even use the built in effects that come on most of the boxes POST fader. I will be using lots of synths/ drum machines/ effects. Also, by me saying "physical" inputs that's what i mean. I will be recording multitrack straight into cubase and thus the function to be able to record on the actual unit itself to like usb stick or sd card is not important for me. Also, I understand the x32 has 6x returns, but I am counting those as just other physical inputs.

One big problem for me is that is use a lot of external effects. So right now I have an old Mackie with tons of effect sends. The 3 boxes below all have at least 6x aux outs/sends I can use to route channels to my external effects. The issue is that I will have to return all those external effects back into physical channels on the interface. That's the only way I can think of to use the external effects and actually record them as basically a separate "track". eg: lets say I have my 808 clap on input channel 2 send that signal out one of the aux's into my reverb pedal, and that wet signal would then be coming back in on lets say physical input 19. The dry clap would be sent to cubase mtk via usb channel 2, and the wet reverb part would be sent to cubase mtk via usb channel 19. So no matter what unit I get 6x of the physical inputs will be eaten up by effect returns alone.

X32 Rack
(1200.00)
Physical Inputs = 16x XLR |4x 1/4 returns |2x rca returns (22 total)
- Notes: Lots of knowledge resources. I think it can do everything under the sun for routing. The negative for this one is it's all xlr inputs (in which i will be coming in 1/4 from everything so I need to factor in the cost of 16 XLR to 1/4" adapters).
I'd probably get and sd8 as well just to have extra inputs pumping this price to around 1600.00

SoundCraft ui24r
(800-900)
Physical Inputs = 10x 1/4 |10x XLR| 1X stereo rca (22 total)
- Notes: It's been around awhile now. Big user base. Drivers seem solid. I don't think you can send the internal usb effects POST fader. How is this UI? Hows the routing on this thing? Why would you chose this?

Mackie DL32S
(1200-1400)
Physical Inputs = 16x XLR | 16x 1/4 (32 total)
- Notes: Notice I listed the 32(S) not the 32(R). The R I don't even think they make anymore. What are the pro's and cons of this one? I do not see that many reviews or anything regarding this unit. The attractive thing about this unit is the channel count. I get 32 channels right off the bat without having to spend extra's to get like a digital snake or buying a 2nd ui24r to cascade. Is anyone using this unit? The few reviews I've read was that some people don't like ver5 of their mixer software while others love it.

If your budget was wanting to stay around 1500 or less, and this was your first digital mixer, and you were in my boat regarding external effects. What would you get and why?

Thanks for any opinions or help.

p.s. I know everyone on almost every unit will say the wifi sucks and to get another router or just use ethernet. If the unit is not going to be moved and hooked up to my computer via usb why would I not just run whatever mixer software over the usb cable? I know you can do that on the xr18, so I probably guessing you can do that on the x32. Can anyone confirm if you can do that on the mackie and soundcraft as well?

I went for the X32 Rack cause I can expand it easily with another 16# or 32# stagebox

Not to mention the pretty good built in effects and Midas preamps.

FWIW (long term X32 rack user here) the X32 racks has sixteen XLR inputs, and six inputs on 1/4" jacks, it also has two RCA inputs but these are doubled from two of the 1/4" jacks

You also get 8 outputs on XLR and another 6 on 1/4" with again two of them being doubled

If you add digital snakes, you get an additional 8 outputs on each unit plus an additional 8,16, or 32 inputs

Any input can be assigned to any of the 32 main channels with another 6 to the AUX channels

In this category and price range, I would not consider getting anything but the X32, long term I would worry about driver support from the others, and since Behringer has sold crap tons of X32 and they all use the same drivers, you can be sure they will be easy to get and supported for a long time, there is also a much larger used market for digital snakes

You will have no issues using a cable that is TRS on one end and XLR on the other. It won't matter if the synth output is balanced or not, the MIDAS preamps will have no issues with it, you will lose 8-10 DB of signal but you have so much gain available and you are already running a hot line level anyway it won't matter

For outboard effects the SD8 snakes are really handy as you get 8 outs and 8 ins and since they are rack mountable you can mount them easily in the same rack as the effects

EDIT: another option if you have the space and really have a lot of outboard is getting a used Yamaha PM5D console, these have come way down in price as of late. They will be 10-15 years old but they are built like tanks

The big advantage with them is they have 48 inputs and 24 outputs and they have 24 buss channels, they can also run at either 48 or 96 KHZ and can support DANTE so you can connect to your PC via CAT5 instead of USB

I have used them professionally for a long time, they pop up used for around $2000-$2500 quite often these days, lots of churches used them at least here in America and seem to be liquidating them to move to other platforms, so you can get one that has not been toured. I have come very close to getting one

May i add another suggestion?

The presonus studiolive r24 has an actual interface configuration, has much better preamps & conversion than any of the forementioned and some amazing dsp plugins on board. Also the drivers are rocksolid and zero latency overdubbing is no problem.
U can also extend them over network and it has avb support but im not sure how well the avb works.

After a lot of researching this turned out the most affordable and descent way to get 24 inputs for multitracking and i am extremely happy with my choice.

Yeah I had looked at the presonus, but the reviews on their stuff are really polarizing. Sweetwater people love it, on gearspace not so much. Also, it's a bit more expensive than the 3 above for less inputs.

I do appreciate the suggestion though.

Only the mackie has more physical inputs tbh and the 24 xmax preamps are superclean but yeah,
Presonus has a bit of history of having strange workflows. Especially on the older models (they are a young brand compared to the others).
I must say though from a user and seller perspective they have been producing nothing but good and affordable products in the last few years.

I'm in a similar spot myself. What did you end up deciding on?

Same situation here. The Mackie DL32R is indeed not available anymore, but I really like the DL32S !
What was your final choice ?

After tons of research, hands down the x32 rack is the way to go. Even with it being just about 10yrs old now it does more than any others with costing less. The build quality is robust, there's a lot of resources for it. I bought an sd8 along with it to use as kind of a effects/ bus. The routing takes a bit to get your head around, but once you figure it out you have it. Don't get me wrong there's a lot of work for them to do with the routing. Like to get around firmware limitations of having to set things in groups of 8, they give you a user mode, but it's kind of wonky. I am sure in the next year they will release like a 32ch wing or something as the x32 is way long in the tooth, but it covers my needs so far. I also love the built in effects.