BillFitzmaurice.info

They advertise it as a game changer and maybe it will be: 32 channel digital console with Midas preamps, VCAs, motorized faders, total latency ins to outs of .8ms., lots of bells and whistles for under $3000. Great reviews. And Uli Behringer is saying that they're serious about quality control and warranties. Hmm. I know Greg and Brent have talked about them but anybody on here use one yet?

That would be tempting.

I have a love hate thing with Behringer. They make some real good units and the rest is made from cheapest bidder stuff that meets the minimum spec and leaves you stranded in the middle of a show. Had that with a crossover, don't want it again.

My mixer is old and never misses a beat, go figure, other guys don't rate their mixers at all.

I think even Bill uses the DCX2496 processor, but 3K is a lot of money to take a punt on an unproven design.

I'd buy the Presonus StudioLive all day long before I'd buy a Behringer mixer. Until they prove they can build a good mixer - I sure wouldn't be the guinea pig.

Yeah, I love me some SL. I mean it's gotta be good if they include a recipe for jambalaya in the manual! It's just that Behringer seems to be sticking their neck out on this one. So far the 3 or 4 reviews I've read are pretty sold on it. They all talk about the love/hate thing too and everybody is saying, "Time will tell" but it sure looks tempting. Hopefully next spring I'm getting a new mixer so I'm gonna be watching it pretty close.

They sort of cut their own throats with some of the cheap junk they flogged in the past. I think it'll be awhile before they can build any sort of decent reputation, even if some of the newer product is actually designed and built well. All the bells and whistles don't mean squat if for example, the power supplies are poorly designed and prone to failure. In the recording studio, a major piece of equipment going down can be an inconvenience; the same occurrence at a live show is the stuff lawsuits are built on.

They'll have to catch up with and surpass Mackie's target market, and that's still not saying much....

I don't believe they cut their own neck by selling cheap junk, craigslist tells me they still sell boatloads of junk. I'm glad for the reviews on their XM5800 mic, it's been a winner.

OK, so motorized faders sound tempting. But...what do you think would be the first thing to fail when the board gets toted here and there? I'm not saying that Behringer cuts corners on costs by using cheap components because I don't have to (somebody else will say it for me).

I believe the Germans are quite capable at designing the architecture to rival the Yammies, but it's the pots and faders that I worry about. For digital gear, most of the processing is in the digital realm. It's the analog interfaces that will fail due to wear and tear, dust, and smokey environments.

Chris

gzc_stageTech wrote:OK, so motorized faders sound tempting. But...what do you think would be the first thing to fail when the board gets toted here and there? I'm not saying that Behringer cuts corners on costs by using cheap components because I don't have to (somebody else will say it for me).

I believe the Germans are quite capable at designing the architecture to rival the Yammies, but it's the pots and faders that I worry about. For digital gear, most of the processing is in the digital realm. It's the analog interfaces that will fail due to wear and tear, dust, and smokey environments.

Chris

We all know about Behringers history with pots & faders... but this aint no cheap entry level mixer. I guess when they are aiming for the higher segment they would start with improving the stuff known to fail.

Anyone know if Mackie are going to double up their ipad controlled 1608? That would be 32 channel and be well under 3k all up, even with a brand new ipad included.

Bas Gooiker wrote:We all know about Behringers history with pots & faders... but this aint no cheap entry level mixer. I guess when they are aiming for the higher segment they would start with improving the stuff known to fail.

It is a cheap entry level digital mixer. No other digital mixer does 32 channels cheaper than the X32. Behringer's stated MO is to cram as many features into its products and build it to meet a price point. The X32 and its accessory products are no different. The first batch had production issues, which delayed them past the drop date in the US... then they sent them all to Guitar Center stores instead of to national distribution as planned.

I've spent three years eliminating Behringer from my rig. All I have left are four XM8500 microphones (stickers removed, at least) and a FBQ2496 in the B rig, which I use when I need a parametric EQ. When it fails (not if), I won't replace it with another.

I don't like Behringer's business practices. I don't like their design principles, and I don't like the results in their equipment.

gzc_stageTech wrote:I'm not saying that Behringer cuts corners on costs by using cheap components because I don't have to (somebody else will say it for me).

That would be me.
Behringer electronics are as good as anyone's, because everyone uses the same DSPs and op-amps. They do cheap out on the pots and jacks. If it's a DEQ2496 or DCX where there are few pots and jacks OK, but their mixers are known to fail within months when the cheapo pots and jacks wear out. PreSonus would be my choice.

Bill Fitzmaurice wrote: but their mixers are known to fail within months when the cheapo pots and jacks wear out.

Bought a X1204USB mixer around June because I'm stupid, and by September, three faders had failed. Thankfully, they fixed it ($11 to ship it back, boo) pretty quickly, but after having owned two Behringer mixers with problems, I won't be repeating the same mistake again..

The whole idea of the digital snake and mixer, processing etc. is putting all your eggs in one basket. If it fails on the job, you're done for the day, possibly lost a client, and may be facing legal action depending on the terms of the contract.

I normally have a little Mackie mixer and a spare electronic crossover on hand should things ever go horribly wrong. Just try and integrate the Behringer digital snake with an analog Mackie mixer. At least with the big heavy multi conductor snake, you can limp through the show with the analog gear on hand.

I agree partially with Bill F's comment about the electronics, but much of the quality is in the engineering and implementation of the electronics, staying within safe operating area and ratings of the components and the build quality itself. Many corners can be cut at the PC board level and add up to a less than reliable product.

Just found the recommended retail price for the X32 in the Aussie market.
$5549.

I don't think that's going to win me over...

I've had my Presonus 1642 for two months now and really like it. Nice sounding preamps and tons of headroom. It just seems to be a very quality peice of equipment for the price. My only dissapointment is that I thought it had eight assignable 31 band graphics. As it turns out, it only has two for the main outs. I mistakenly was reading the manual for the 24 ch. version.