Behringer X18

This desk has made my life so much easier during gigs. The fact that you can set everything at home and then just do a few adjustments at the venue, is bliss.

Great number of Midas effects which make vocals sound nice and edgy and even a good number of effects for various instruments. Presets galore!

It's plastic feel could have been eliminated if only aluminium was used instead, but all in all it still feels sturdy and very durable.

I have to say it did take me a while to get use to not having physical faders, but the easy to use software makes you over come that issue easily.

The built in WiFi is good, but fairly slow. The app on an iPad or Laptop takes about 5-10 seconds to sync with the desk when opened and if you need to adjust something quickly while on a gig, those 5 seconds feel like an hour. So suggestion is to have a laptop always connected to the desk just in case you need to do any quick emergency fixes.

All in all, great product!

A great mixer in it's own right, when co factoring price it's just unbelievable! We use the X18 both in studio and live. It has enabled us to have just one interface for:
1. Studio rehearsals, using the 6 buses for personal mixes through headphone amps (Behringer's own Personal Mixer solution - P-16M- still expensive for the 5 of us, but we'll get there!)
2. Studio recording, all channels simultaneously straight into the computer through USB
3. Live use, either only for in-ear mixes (we use a splitter to send signals to Front of House), or to make our own mix and send the final mix to FOH. Monitoring still with the 6 Buses through headphone amp, each musician using his smartphone to adjust his own bus/mix!

We've been using it for almost a year now, a dozen live situations, no problems whatsoever. Since we use no monitors on stage, the danger of feedback is almost zero (as long as gain levels on the mics are properly set), and the lack of physical sliders is therefore no issue. Small bar owners love the fact they can adjust the sound from a tablet being anywhere in the bar!
Highly recommended!!!

Again, Behringer is uppering the performance/price bar. This device is unbeatable, full of feature, rock solid, completely supported. It is a winner. Good preamp, MIDAS designed (be carefule, it's designed, they're not MIDAS manufactured), the sound is clear and powerful. I've also tested live, it is solid, it works like a stream. It is also a good audio card, it can go low to 2-3 Milliseconds OUT latency and about the same for IN latency. Good effects, I would say effects are at least as those in X32, which I've used quite a lot. In particular, I like vintage effects emulations.

What I like more: full routing capability. The routing is extraordinary and I like so much X18 configurability. It is

What I like less: of course the ability to configuration (you have no faders or buttons) and the 6 Aux outs, which are TRS and not XLR. A double phone out would have also been a Godsend.

Last two cents: Wonderful mixer, good audio card, extremely sophisticated routing, great configurability, the perfect companion for the studio and the live!

This is basically the XR18 in a different form factor, although it has a couple of small differences: it has RCA ins and outputs and the AUX outs are 1/4 jacks instead of XLR, but otherwise it's identical to its rack mounted counterpart. I chose this model because of it's great value, and I intend to use it mainly as a monitor mixer (the 6 independent AUX outs are GREAT), but it can also function as a mains mixer as well as a monitor mixer at the same time. Tried controlling it with an Android tablet, an Android phone, a Windows 7 pc and a Raspberry Pi (with raspbian) and so far no problem whatsoever regarding connection dropping etc. The possibility of using this as a standalone mixer as well as a 18in/18out USB2.0 recording interface is absolutely mindblowing, and really easy to setup in any DAW. The 4 onboard FX slots can be used in a multitude of ways, it even has an amp simulator for guitars connected directly into the mixer. Maybe the only lacking feature is a bass amp sim, mainly because it's more common to connect a bass directly into the board instead of guitars.

UPDATE: After owning this mixer for almost a year, I can confirm every good thing I said about it. Still going strong, no problem whatsoever, and the updates keep coming, both for firmware and control software. Highly, higly recommended.

UPDATE2: Just found out the grey "ears" of the mixer can be removed, saving about 3-4cm of footprint per side, revealing the metal "skeleton" of the ears. Maybe I'll try do DIY some rack mounting system to mount this mixer in an L-rack.

I use the x18 for mixing and recording band rehearsals, and other general multi-track recording. The sound quality is fantastic, and beats my TC Konnekt 24d firewire soundcard.

At rehearsal everyone uses their mobile phone to control personal foldback/headphones mixes and we get a full multi-track recording as a reference for later on a laptop.

The Windows, Android and iOS control apps work really well, and the wifi connection is glitch free.

The FX are quite good quality, the compression in particular is very helpful for the singer, who has a fairly dynamic voice.

I guess only real con is the lack of hands-on controls, but at this price-to-feature ratio you can't complain. There is a matching Behringer control surface if you must have hands-on control.