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.
