Behringer X32

I was impressed with this board for its spec. and price, and the fact that it could run on Cat 5 to a stage box. The fact that Midas had also helped in the design of the pre amps and the manufacturing process was another plus. So it was bought together with the S16 and the flightcase (Also reviewed).

We mainly use the X32 at different venues for musical theatre so the extra channels (32) were a plus over the Presonus 24.4.2 (24) which we previously used and still own. I had considered buying another X32 to provide us with 64 channels for the large shows we do with Orchestras. We currently feed that into the Presonus which is used alongside the X32.

I tried to use the X32 for a multi track recording of our latest show, but the software (Studio One 2 Pro on a Mac Book Pro) stated that the external hard drive I was recording too was not fast enough to record all 32 tracks. I changed to 24 tracks but still got the error. However, you can get an instant 2 channels mix using the inbuilt recorder. There is also the facility to play back wav files via a USB stick but I would like to see that further expanded to allow playlist to be set up to auto play or play a playlist rather than one track at a time.

I hadn't experienced the lag on the same external hard drive (Toshiba PA4144E-1HB5) with the Presonus 24.4.2 using their software "Capture", So it may well be I'll have to wait till the hard drives using "Thunderbolt" become cheaper.

The Midas pre amps have a nice analogue sound to them when compared with the Presonus 24.4.2 which can sometimes sound "hard" and "crisp".

I've found the X32 FX's to be varied and well thought out and the re-verbs on vocals are really nice. If you own the "Waves plug ins" there is also a way to use them through the board using a DAW. (See YouTube)

The DCA#s are great for controlling groups of faders and if set up correctly can minimise the need to keep changing to other layers.

I loved using the mixer when it was working, unfortunately, my board has developed a fault after approx 21 shows, (Outputs 1 to 8 are not outputting any sound). It's not a major problem for me at the moment as we can use the outputs 9 to 16, but for more complicated sets ups this is going to be a problem).

So it will be a call the Thomann tomorrow to test how good their support is. (I may report what happens in a later post)

The fact that it has a 3 year warranty was a plus point when buying it considering Behringer's past reputation for quality and poor support.

The Behringer web site community forum is very helpful for anyone using the board and there is plenty of help if needed and there are plenty of YouTube tutorials to get you started. (Check out Drew Brashler KD7QCU on YouTube he's a wiz and explains his tutorials in easy terms).

The fact that you can control the board by Ipad or computer is a plus point, I was able to feed the fold back monitors which on stage. This is also helpful when listening to your mix from different areas of the Theatre as some venues don't have the sound booth in the central position.

I purchased this desk after hearing so many great things, and don't get me wrong it's a good desk. However, there are far more intuitive products out there. The x32 probably has all the features you need, however the way in which you'll execute them is usually always more cumbersome than it's competitors.

App:
The iOS app has been discontinued and is no longer maintained - such a shame for a desk that isn't even that old, very disappointing. There are others out there that do the job, but the lack of proprietry app again add's unnecessary troubleshooting.

Stagebox:
The way the x32 comunicates with the proprietry stage boxes (tested with the s32) again is just short of its competitors. Not being able to assign the input maxrix per channel and instead having to assign the stack (1-8, 9-16 etc) is a major downside.

Mixing:
It's a digital console and does everything you probably imagine. The onboard presets for channels are OK. But channel management, and managing mixes is just - and I hate to say it again - but it's cumbersome.

Overall:
I've picked at the things I don't like about this desk - but it works. Once you get used to the way it runs, it's fine. However, as other consoles have come down to this price point (or close enough) in recent years, I would always recommend going with them... Soundcraft, Yamaha, A&H every day of the week.

Behringer have always come in for some real stick in the UK, most of which seemed to me as a long term Behringer user to be pretty unfair. If you have a limited budget, then this mixer provides a real benefit to your production quality and general usefulness. I'm writing this as a satisfied long term user, having bought the mixer just after it came out. Before saying all the nice bits - mine actually failed after just a few days. I rarely get too cross about these things, they can always happen - but what then happened really opened my eyes. I made a grumble on an internet forum. Two hours later I had an email from Behringer in America and a phone call from them in the UK. Next day a lorry arrived and collected it, next day it was back. The power supply had died - one of those things, but after this I noticed Behringer's presence all over the net - staff dedicated to sorting any issues and genuinely helping people, which in this complain first society is pretty stunning.

Our band (we're a Beach Boys tribute) is a four piece, and all of us sing - and because the style of music was heavily produced in the studio, it's tough to sing - so our melodies float around the band - maybe somebody starts a line, but half way through they have to hold a note while somebody else finishes it, then somebody else will take the chorus. So the poor sound op has to follow the melody throughout, and reverbs come in and out throughout. This mixer lets us make this so much simpler, even down to song by song presets for one busy section. Two of us do IEM monitors and use the P16 personal mixers. On some of the bigger shows we simply slap a Macbook on the firewire connection and record the gig - currently about 21 tracks. We're not exactly a cheap band, but as long as the clients want us, we don't mind what kinds of places we play. A Cat 5 cable is so much more friendly than our old snake - which used to fall foul of the Health and Safety people. In many entertainment venues, a clear route from stage to FOH is really tricky - but a thin bit of cable is so much simpler. We now have a rack with the S16s in, plus it houses the radio transmitters and all the amps. So just the flight cased X32 and the stage rack. It's really helped with van space. Sonically, the sound is better than it's ever been. The people at Behringer keep updating the software with new features, so the only negative aspect of owning one is the snobby attitude of some 'experts' - however, I note it's falling away very fast. Often we turn up with the X32 and the Yamaha in the venue doesn't receive the praise it used to, with more than one house engineer owning up they've bought an X32 too! One even said that as you can buy two X32s for one Yamaha, he can for the first time actually afford to have a spare, which can also be hired. Out of my own circle of muso friends, we now have 3 X32s between us, and if for any reason our own mixer was to fail, we've already formed a collective where we would share.

It's an amazing product, very well thought out, and the best thing is it's still growing - so lifespan works for me.

Add to this the extras with iPad/iPhone/Macbook control and editing and what is there to dislike. It also works for non-expert users too - because you can colour code and label faders it makes operation on the surface very simple. Would I buy another if this one got smashed and I had the money sitting there? Absolutely without a moments doubt.

The mixer has completely shut a lot of people mouths.
As for myself, a producer and technician working in a professional studio, I find it more than awesome for what it can give out. The sound is so flat (a little darker than from some other mixers though, but that's completely my style), that until you touch the EQs it actually sends natural sound to the output. The EQs are more than perfectly responsive, you can hear every turn of the encoders, and also see it on the display within a millisecond when you scroll... The sound of the EQs is awesome, but the gate/compressor sounds a little plastic on some instruments though... but their response and job is completely ok. Enough of gracefulling it, since it is indeed the best mixer I've seen lately under 15k€....
The fact is that I'm more satisfied with this one than with the sound of LS9, which can literally go hide itself even if it would cost 3k€, not to mention that it actually costs over 9k€....
What bothers me though is software limitations they give:
You can patch mixer inputs in a group of 8 - that's fair enough, if there are 8 input selectable boards inside. The problem gets in place when you simply cannot rearange inputs on the faders as you wish, but are presetted and cannot be changed. I also miss custom fader layer, which would be useful to put some auxes, fx returns along with the inputs on one layer, when not needed more than 16 channels. It's fast to switch, but confusing though...
Next thing are FXs that are installed. Most of them, when changing some settings, breaks the sound for half a second, with every encoder turn. (so you basically get popping sound of the channel if you're correcting some settings within the show...)
The next thing is channel linking - you can only link in pairs, and only in evenly channels. So you can't link 2 with 3, nor 6 with 7, but only 1+2, 3+4, 5+6.... And also, when linked, you can't have different gains linked, and can't put a phase reverse on one channel only... which is completely wrong, since in many cases you'd need phase reverse on one channel only, and therefore you can't link them...
What I miss is also EQ on FX returns, which should be implemented... :(
The DCA group layer can't be selected, (because it controls more channels etc, I get it) but still should have fader level shown somewhere!!! (I couldn't find it). It's also too bad that on the meters layer of the view, where you see all faders on the screen and their position, doesn't show an actual fader level in numbers/decibels as well. It would be more useful if I'd see the level of the fader, rather than it's position on a trackbar!!! So basically for each channel to see it's fader level precisely, I need to select it and see it for a channel only.
Also, the phones amplifier is bad. But then again, if we're talking about live mixer, it did the job 6 times so far and I'm more than happy to have it. Also, the usb/firewire 32ch card works like a charm! With a little higher latency I was able to record all 32 channels on a i3 4gb ram laptop on a field.

Perfect mixer in all views, except for some minor software issues, but they'll hopefully be repaired soon, as they're putting out new firmware from time to time..

A must-have thing! Don't even think of Ls9 anymore.. I'm more than serious!

We had some reservations when considering the X32, especially considering Behringer's less than stellar reputation, and the price point of this digital console. We were also concerned that our team of mostly volunteers would struggle with the system, as it seemed overly complicated, coming from a simple analog desk.

However, we rented an X32 for a weekend, and our fears were immediately put to rest. The X32 is an outstanding console, and it is astonishing that Behringer can pack so much into the unit for such a competitive price.

Setup was simple, and we have replaced all of our cabling with CAT5 connections to our S16 stagebox, which the X32 recognised immediately. The routing took a little time, but in hindsight it was intuitive and straightforward.

I will preface the next statement by saying that I'm a volunteer sound engineer, so my opinion may not carry the same weight as a professional, but in terms of quality, the sound of the desk is excellent and is warm to my ears. In fact others who have been introduced to the system have noticed that the sound quality has improved over our old system, which is great.

The other area we felt might be of trouble to our team of volunteers was the ease of use of the desk, but other than some initial training and a few days getting used to the 'new' way of doing things, our team has caught on surprisingly quickly, and are starting to delve into the more advanced FX scenarios that the X32 can provide. We have found there are sometimes several different ways of accomplishing the same task, which is useful as some people find it easier to use it one way, while others enjoy the flexibility of another method. (EQ is a prime example, either using the knobs, or the main display screen).

Many of the additional features we can now no longer live without, such as using a laptop or smartphones to allow another team member to control a second mix for our live video broadcasts, or adjust mixes for our musicians while on stage.

In short, an outstanding console that we wonder how we managed for so long without it!

I've used many digital consoles from Yamaha, Midas, Avid etc and i'm amazed of the value of this console. I've been working for a long time with the Avid S3Lx console and I really love it. It's important to notice that S3L is a console with a price tag almost ten times higher than the X32 and they both share virtually same features and abilities.
Live multitrack recording and playback, ipad and android control over Wi-fi, 8 powerful FX processor and now as I recently discovered the ability to use Waves plugins via Firewire card make the X32 the most advanced and powerful digital console in its price range on the market!
For a long time I was hesitating whether to buy the X32 or the M32, I mean the choice to me was easy, it had to be one of them, that because of the ergonomical and logical layout and the powerful and advanced features, I read tons of reviews, talked with dozens of FOH engineers and worked with both M32 and X32 consoles myself and discovered nothing on the midas console worth the extra 2000¤ price tag. Sure the design is more conservative and professional looking and supposedly the preamps and the overall sound is "warmer" and better and in a way that might be right but they both sound great and in general they are the same!

I use this mixer to mix different events of medium and large size.
I have sounded choral concerts with live band.
It's great what it offer so much imputs/outputs.
Easy control, helped with an external wireless router.
What helps me a lot is that I can use the auxiliary outputs to create the in-ear system for the band.
Good mic preamps.
Easy to operate by the man at the mixer, by those in the band who can make their own in-ear adjustments with the app on the phone.
So far, there is nothing to bother me.
I have been operating this mixer for several years without any problems, I was a little afraid that the fairs or small LCDs will give up, but beyond expectations it works very well

I just second all bit of praise that's been given the X32. I have owned it for almost 1.5 years now, and I absolutely love it! It's so much mixer for the money in all fields. Absolutely brilliant.

Everything's already been said really, so I will only add this: For the DAW Cockos Reaper, I can add two-way communication with a small, free program called X32Reaper. That opens up an entire new world for studio use of this console! You suddenly got transport and ALL faders to use!! DCAs, buses, inputs, you name it!

So I would definitely recommend that everyone who owns this console, checks out the opportunities for third-party support between the X32 and their DAW of choice.

The standard drivers are, sadly, very limited, as you basically only can use the bus faders on the right for control of the DAW. That's so limited in my option, that it's not worth much.