Behringer's X32 is one of the worlds most popular digital mixing consoles in the lower price range and is now into its 3rd Generation. Country to Behringer's reputation for cheap products that break after a few years, the X32 pushes the boundaries of modern digital mixing. The X32 was originally released in 2012 and has been a massive hit with the industry, so big in fact that Behringer have introduced many other consoles in the range such as the Compact, producer, Rack and Rack Core as well as the addition of the X18 series.
The vibrate colour scheme and motorised faders make mixing on the X32 an easy job, the console is extremely easy to pick up and fairly self explanatory with there being several ways to get the same job done. A channel is easy to set up and you can name the channel and give each channel a colour, this is incredibly useful as you can assign your groups a colour which makes them very easy to recognise when mixing. The sound quality through a channel is impressive with the added effects of all the EQ options such as Low Cuts and Parametric EQs. Furthermore you can take advantages of the built in gates or compressor very easily reducing the need for external effects units.
The motorised faders are easy to use and quite responsive allowing you to mix with ease, furthermore the ability on the Compact to overlay your 16 channels on to the group faders means you don't need to worry about the loss of space. The pages are sensibly organised on the menu allows you to adjust effects quickly as well as levels for holdbacks etc. Whats more Behringer have included some pre-built scenes and settings for different instruments allow you to get the desired effect immediately.
When setting up your multicore to you digital stageboxes it is important to use Cat5 Shielded Cable (STP) as it will stop unwanted interference and using unshielded cable can occasionally damage your board or cause unwanted noise. The X32 allows for up to 2 16 channel stage boxes so 32 inputs from the multicore are available hence the name, each multicore also has 8 matrix outs for foldbacks etc.
However there are a few hitches, the X32 contains Midas inspired, not actual Midas, pre-amps which are found in the M32 (Midas' Version) - exactly the same hardware and software. However there are a few tricks you can pull if you want proper Midas Pre-amps for you X32. With the addition of the digital snakes, the standard being the S16 contains again Midas Inspired pre-Amps but you can buy the M32 version called the D16 which gives you a 16 Channel Digital Multicore over Cat5 Shielded containing real Midas Pre-amps which make a huge difference to your average sound tech, but to the people in the audience, they won't have a clue.
Finally the Android app is a brilliant addition to the already near-perfect board, this allows you to control there majority of your board from a front of house position of just use it as an extra wing for your faders however the Apple app isn't so great....
To sum up this is a brilliant board however if you are prepared to spend just that little bit extra you may want to consider the M32 but it may not be worth it!
Coming soon: Comparison between the X32 and the M32!
The vibrate colour scheme and motorised faders make mixing on the X32 an easy job, the console is extremely easy to pick up and fairly self explanatory with there being several ways to get the same job done. A channel is easy to set up and you can name the channel and give each channel a colour, this is incredibly useful as you can assign your groups a colour which makes them very easy to recognise when mixing. The sound quality through a channel is impressive with the added effects of all the EQ options such as Low Cuts and Parametric EQs. Furthermore you can take advantages of the built in gates or compressor very easily reducing the need for external effects units.
The motorised faders are easy to use and quite responsive allowing you to mix with ease, furthermore the ability on the Compact to overlay your 16 channels on to the group faders means you don't need to worry about the loss of space. The pages are sensibly organised on the menu allows you to adjust effects quickly as well as levels for holdbacks etc. Whats more Behringer have included some pre-built scenes and settings for different instruments allow you to get the desired effect immediately.
When setting up your multicore to you digital stageboxes it is important to use Cat5 Shielded Cable (STP) as it will stop unwanted interference and using unshielded cable can occasionally damage your board or cause unwanted noise. The X32 allows for up to 2 16 channel stage boxes so 32 inputs from the multicore are available hence the name, each multicore also has 8 matrix outs for foldbacks etc.
However there are a few hitches, the X32 contains Midas inspired, not actual Midas, pre-amps which are found in the M32 (Midas' Version) - exactly the same hardware and software. However there are a few tricks you can pull if you want proper Midas Pre-amps for you X32. With the addition of the digital snakes, the standard being the S16 contains again Midas Inspired pre-Amps but you can buy the M32 version called the D16 which gives you a 16 Channel Digital Multicore over Cat5 Shielded containing real Midas Pre-amps which make a huge difference to your average sound tech, but to the people in the audience, they won't have a clue.
Finally the Android app is a brilliant addition to the already near-perfect board, this allows you to control there majority of your board from a front of house position of just use it as an extra wing for your faders however the Apple app isn't so great....
To sum up this is a brilliant board however if you are prepared to spend just that little bit extra you may want to consider the M32 but it may not be worth it!
Coming soon: Comparison between the X32 and the M32!