There have been considerable advances with small-frame digital audio consoles, but lately I've become quite intrigued with the buzz surrounding the Behringer X32 digital console. When I was approached about giving it a test-run I jumped at the chance. Having always been quite partial to full-frame Midas consoles, I was interested to find out what “powered by Midas” meant in the description of the X32.
Right out of the box, this didn't resemble a console from any manufacturer boasting a street price of just $2,899.99. With the exception of the interesting built-in iPhone holder, the X32 has a much more sophisticated feel about it than the price point would suggest. Let's check out some of the high points....
From all angles
The X32 is a 32-channel digital mixing console with 16 discrete outputs. What throws this console into another category completely is the implementation of Midas programmable preamps on each input channel. It also feels like Behringer has paid a considerable amount of attention to the layout and design of the user interface—dare I ask if Midas had a bit more influence on this design than just the preamp? Additionally, it incorporates a 100-mm fader, eight DCA groups, and rotary control knobs that have LED collars—these collars are a nice touch because you don't have to actually view the knob control on the screen before making an adjustment. Vaguely reminiscent of the knob on the Yamaha PM-1D.
Being quite skeptical of most new gear, especially when the Midas logo has been slapped on it, the proof for the quality of the X32 would be in the mix. Going straight to the deep end of the pool, I slated this board to be used for a full band gig that would max out most of the inputs and outputs, and put most of its considerable assets to the test. The gig was for a professional pep band for a high school football game: full drum kit, bass, guitar, and keyboard rigs, eight horns, one vocal and 10 aux mixes. We were using a large TurboSound PA and had to create maximum punch and SPL out of the mix as we were pushing the sound a pretty good distance. Admittedly, I was a bit apprehensive about using a “budget” console for this job, but forged ahead anyway.
Before heading out to the field, I set the console up in a controlled situation and spent an hour or two getting to know it a bit. After getting familiar with the thought process used to lay out the various screens and controls—it was a breeze to get going. The 800 x 480 color TFT display was easy to see and it took no time at all to have everything configured, labeled, and ready to rock.
When I started tuning up the PA, it was immediately apparent just how smooth and silky this console sounded. I should note that the only system equalization used was from one of the X32‘s 31-band graphic equalizer inserts, and it reacted perfectly—clean and precise. As I started pulling up band inputs, I honestly couldn't believe it—the console sounded great; the band inputs were exactly what I would expect to hear from any large-frame console. The first song the band fired into came out slick and powerful, full-bodied and punchy—I ran the X32 through its paces trying to make it run out of preamp headroom and could never get it there.
Having had some negative experiences with latency issues on a few other budget-priced digital consoles I thought I'd go for broke and implement as many equalizers, compressors, gates and such as I could get away with, but it made no difference—the 40-bit floating point DSP appears to have that issue covered. This is a powerful, powerful console. Enough to completely win me over.
Further usage + reviewer feedback
I continued using the X32 for another gig the following week with the same band and setup configuration, and it was exactly like the week prior—big and polished as if I were mixing with a console of considerably more physical stature than this. In fact, it was a bit embarrassing when people walked up to comment on the mix and saw that this huge sound was coming from this smallish console set up on top of a plastic AV cart.
A plus side of this type of event was that the band played off and on for about four hours, giving me plenty of time to play with all the extras they've packed into it. Anyone familiar with my mixing style knows I employ a large amount of effect layering, and these shows were no different. The internal effect engines have some stunning performance parameters from the usual suspects: plate and room reverbs, tap delays, heavy chorus, etc. Honorable mention goes to the effect screen graphics that mimicked actual rack devices—a visual representation with effect parameters is usually a welcome sight.
There are a couple of great options on the recording side, such as a stereo board mix function that outputs to a USB-jack located on the control surface. I popped in a thumb drive and was up and going immediately. The cassette tape user interface graphic was also quite awesome for someone from my generation. The mixes turned out nicely—exact representations of what I was hearing with no apparent noise floor. We also utilized the FireWire output to capture the 32-in/32-out combination straight to Pro Tools. This is a perfect setup for a recording situation, as one could use the X32 to pick up the Midas preamp and then send a pre-fader/pre-EQ signal to a DAW with relative ease. It was surprising that we didn't encounter any hiccups with this—I fully expected it to be a complicated setup, but it worked immediately.
I was pleasantly surprised to find some of these other details: the six ¼-inch TRS aux inputs, balanced control room outputs, and UltraNet connectivity for Behringer's P-16 personal monitoring system. There are some other expected items, such as a headphone output delay to apply some time-alignment to the headphone cue bus, and the built-in input delay on each input channel—quite useful because I needed to time-delay the stadium press-box announcer feed to the band. I was impressed to find a set of quite intuitive, fully assignable user controls: four rotary knobs with displays and eight buttons—a very cool way to access tap delays, change effect parameters on the fly, and assign to just about any other console function. Oh, did I mention there are three banks of these? A total of 24 assignable options—nice job on that one, guys.
Behringer also offers a free XiControl iPad app, and true to form for this whole experience, it connected to the console on the first try and worked fabulous. Simple to operate with most of the main parameters available, it was no problem to keep a handle on both the house mix and the band's monitor mixes. You can also connect multiple iPads at once, making it possible to have individual monitor control. I haven't been a fan of most of these apps in the past, but I did notice that the Behringer app allows you to make simultaneous changes at once, such as keeping your fingers on four DCA faders at the same time. It was pleasant to feel like I was still mixing even while working from an iPad.
While it's a bit out of the norm for me to carry on about one specific piece of gear, I will say that this console performed amazingly well while maintaining a useful complement of extras. Although I'm [somewhat] picky and opinionated about any FOH console I'm using, the power of the X32 lies [in] its superb sound quality, coupled with a surprising amount of versatility.
I was quite happy while mixing on this console, happy enough to start coming up with a few reasons not to send it back. Oh, and I'll also stand corrected on my judgment of the built-in iPhone holder—turns out I really did need a place to put my phone.
