Behringer X32: New Baby Born
The very first item produced of Behringer’s buyout of the Midas/ Klark Teknik group is actually a potent digital mixing console. Can it truly challenge an audio professional’s opinions with Behringer X32 ?
Tendency can be a highly effective point. It can be something which a rater have to confess to possessing within the previous towards Behringer X32 – so we do not assume we’re on its own. On the other hand, we’ve already been prone to adore Midas items. This audiophile snobbery might be followed to your roots of each corporation.
Behringer is manufacturing audio gear for twenty years, possessing began being a ‘kitchen company’ when Uli Behringer noticed that he could make inexpensive options to founded, high priced results and transmission processors.
Things change constantly
Unfortunately, for many years Midas has been the no-compromise high quality selection. The average pro-touring band’s tech rider commonly specs a Midas as their preferred selection of mixing console, and truly generally states ‘NO BEHRINGER!’ in unsightly daring letters.
Therefore once the Midas/ Klark Teknik group was obtained by Behringer X32, several audio specialists took recognize plus the Behringer X32 would be the initial item born of this not likely combination.
Behringer X32: Features
The Behringer X32 comes inside a massive pressboard box, but, after from its substantial packaging it is actually nicely sized. They weigh a reasonable 20kg, making it smaller and lighter than the majority of analogue 32 channel mixers. It also comes with a fabric cover, which can be great for retaining the surface clean and cost-free from debris. It will take a respectable 16 seconds to boot up, or only eleven seconds that has a good USB key linked, and powered up it seems and feels really strong and fairly expensive. For us the largest plus would be the colour-changing scribble scripts, despite the fact that many of the colors manufactured the text difficult to go through. We ended up labelling channels by colour alone, it is quicker to recognize. Labelling directly isn’t fast, while there are presets with images available.
We have been just a little annoyed that there’s no means of utilizing a USB keyboard (still) to identify channels, even though the Computer and iPad remote computer software will allow this. Even though the faders may well feel just a little cheap, they even now come out on best, when compared with other manufacturers’ price range choices.
The Behringer X32 features a stack of input and output connections – everyone identified the sole things absent are some digital ins along with a term clock. These plug-ins can be expanded with the AES-50 multi-core in/out and Ultranet personal mixers, and Behringer are seeking into option cards this kind of as Dante and MADI.
The Appearence
Design is wonderfully thought out along with the workflow is very intuitive. Nevertheless, we had been unhappy the automation control only operates in the Behringer X32 to your DAW, fitting the Mackie HUI protocol. Because the Behringer X32 has now replaced the audio engine of my DAW, I wanted to automate from the DAW towards the Behringer X32, but cannot nevertheless.
Jumping amongst combine snapshots is rapid and sleek, and could be used for shedding into crazy impact scenes just for specified sections of a song and back out yet again. MIDI scene recall is obtainable.
The Scene saving/recall characteristic is brilliant, far better than a lot more costly competitors. Most digi desks only enable global USB stick recall of desk startup, so in case your output settings alterations in between diverse displays, then it may turn into difficult. Less than using the Behringer X32 – just opt for what is secure from recall, and off you proceed.
Versatility
Appreciate that it’s a number of ways of carrying out factors – devoid of excessive of a sweat we are able to do two issues, or have two engineers utilizing it at the moment. As an example, aux bus sends may be accessed on a channel by channel basis (using the rotary encoders from the channel strip) or by utilizing eight sends at a time on the centre bank of faders (by selecting a channel and pressing ‘sends on fader’).
In case you select a master output fader before or immediately after demanding this, the 16 input faders then give you the send degree to that output in excess of each and every from the input channels.
The majority of the capabilities are incredibly quickly to have to and 3 pages of assignable buttons and encoders ensure it is even quicker. We didn’t just like the sensitivity on the assignable encoders – they’re wonderful for fine management, but it took too many finish rotations to acquire the place we desired. Building these knobs velocity sensitive can be an improvement.
However, we imagined it was fantastic how you could set the buttons to leap anything at all. We employed our last web page to leap to graphic EQs, in case you leave the ‘GEQ on faders’ chosen, then a single button press will get you to your pertinent graphic, and maps the graphic EQ on the eight master faders. Handling the dreaded feedback is speedy on this undesirable boy!
Used to taking a look at the controls and thinking negatively, only to discover there’s one more way. For instance, there is no automation but, as it truly is digital, it is possible to bounce audio by means of it with no conversion reduction, and record the output to run dwell FX automation and so on on the fly.
You can find extremely few issues it doesn’t do. We did not miss a lot – with lateral contemplating a get the job done all over could be identified for distinct applications and utilizes. We loved using the group mutes mixing dub type with results. We might divided an input across two channels, have one particular designated to the group mute, and also have the results sent off that. Staying ready to include reverb blooms to snare, or delays to a vocal, no matter what webpage our faders have been on with the time is fairly handy!
Any specific routing is incredibly straightforward, and is done in blocks of eight, but you are able to transform every single channel’s input one by one, or even the sidechain input to the dynamics swiftly and effortlessly.
Midas touch
Not perfect at all
Although there are some items with regards to the Behringer X32 that may not be excellent, there are lots of things about it which are. We experimented with quite difficult to break or confuse it. At a single point we succeeded and upset our DCA master solo and a couple of other items. Behringer, with standard German efficiency, sent us firmware update one.09, which arrived two days later and fixed the situation. The Behringer X32 feels like a stealth-Midas. At some time it needed to halt staying a Midas, and develop into a Behringer. We just hope that the make high quality will demonstrate itself worthy as time passes. Design and style from the mic pres is formally attributed to Midas but, yet again, it feels they had quite a bit a lot more to accomplish with all the product or service than that.
The Behringer X32 manufactured us query our prejudice, and we hope other people will as well, as this disposition could deny them some severe, reduced price range audio energy. This is a bridge among Midas and Behringer and, for this reviewer, it is also a bridge amongst dwell engineering and DAW working environment.