The X32 is a capable system with more processing power and I/O options than many churches ever take advantage of, sometimes because they haven’t taken the time to fully understand it. Still, there are good reasons to upgrade or invest in something more robust.
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In the world of church production, some of the most frequent questions are in regard to upgrading an audio console or PA. Recently, I received a question from a friend who wanted to discuss the idea of upgrading from a Behringer X32 console to a more capable one. Given the frequency of this type of question and the high prevalence of the X32 within the church community, it seemed like a good topic to write about.
The X32 is a capable system with more processing power and I/O options than many churches ever take advantage of, sometimes because they haven’t taken the time to fully understand it.
John Spicer is the owner of Broken Soul Studio & the FOH Engineer for Nikki Lerner Music (www.nikkilerner.com).
Why Move Away from a Workhorse?
The first thing to acknowledge is that the X32 has been around for a number of years and is a workhorse for houses of worship all around the world. It provides a lot of capability for a very reasonable cost and is an easy system for both new and experienced engineers to operate. And while my conversation was specific to the X32, there are aspects of it that are applicable to anyone who is considering whether or not they should be looking for something more capable.
In the big picture, I consider there to be two main reasons why an organization would want to move away from the X32; usability and Bus/IO count. But before we discuss those let’s consider what are not good reasons to move up.
While an Instagram of us next to a huge mixing console will get many a church tech's motors running, it's not a good reason to get more console than you need.
Let’s get the big emotional one out of the way which is the ‘coolness’ factor. Allow us to be honest, many of us fall in love with the newest and most capable gear, especially ones with big displays and lots of processing power. We can imagine a hundred scenarios ‘sometime in the future’ that would demand such tech. But, in reality ‘sometime in the future’ rarely comes and coolness is costly. While the Instagram photo of us sitting in front of the flying saucer seems like I would be awesome, and it would be, it’s not really a good reason to move past a trusted workhorse.
Engineers will need to adapt to the X32 more than the X32 adapts to an engineer.
The next red flag against moving beyond an X32 is if your organization doesn’t understand or isn’t maxing out the capability that it already provides you. I have worked with a few churches who felt limited by their console but were unaware of all its features --- including some that would have alleviated their frustrations. The X32 is a capable system with more processing power and I/O options than many churches ever take advantage of, sometimes because they haven’t taken the time to fully understand it. As a corollary, I have found that the better informed an organization is regarding their consoles’ capabilities the easier it is for them to articulate the reasons for moving up or staying put.
The last update temptation that I want to discuss is the increasing prevalence of consoles that can expand their processing with support of plugins. Lower tier consoles tend to limit the size of the onboard virtual ‘rack’ in which to host fx processors. The X32, specifically, only has eight available slots (split between channel insert processing and send/receive fx processing), though it does provide a fairly rich set of fx and equalizers for its price range, even including its own version of multiband compression. Admittedly, however, this falls short on plugin capability that is becoming mainstream in the audio production world (ie. generous use of dynamic eq, stereo field processing, hardware emulation, etc.) While this may sound like a reason to upgrade, to do so may be a bit quick on the trigger. While it has limited on board processing, the X32 can make use of outboard plugin hosts such as the Waves multi-rack or Audiostrom’s LiveProfessor. The latter is a very inexpensive plugin host that can run on a laptop interconnected via a simple USB connection. I know of a local engineer who successfully mixes his church’s live stream using an X32 in this configuration. These can be ways to extend processing capability without forcing a pricier console upgrade.
Does Your Console Support Your Bus Count and I/O Needs?
So, when would you upgrade? I believe that the two best reasons for upgrading past the X32 are related to its ability to support the bus count and I/O needs of your ministry, and whether or not the system’s workflow is usable to your team. Both concepts are somewhat interconnected.
Likely the largest reason for upgrade is that the X32 has a smaller limitation on the number of busses and inputs/outputs available. The console has 32 inputs with mic pres and 16 XLR outputs which could support LR mains with a number left over for bus outputs, etc. However, with a maximum of eight stereo busses available (not including its six matrix buses) any desired bus processing for mix elements (such as vocals, instruments, drums, media, etc.) can quickly eat through your bus count, even for small to moderate sized services. It is for this reason that most mix elements are likely to be handled via DCA, which would forego your ability to do group processing. Additionally, these busses also need to be shared with send type fx processors for the internal fx racks. Stage monitors, if you use them or want them as backups, would also need to make use of these busses. Lastly, anyone who desires IEM (in-ear monitor) transmitter support via aux buses will find the X32 limited in its capability. It should be noted that the X32 does support a digital snake-based IEM system that places individual mixers on stage for each IEM position. While the X32’s bus allocations do a great job of supporting smaller church activities, any moderate sized worship band would stretch the X32 based upon the engineer’s workflow. And as with most consoles, this limitation is built in and not able to be changed. Hence it becomes a driving factor in the upgrade decision.
This leads us directly to the second reason that one might want to upgrade to a more robust console, and that is that the X32 workflow can be limiting. Engineers will need to adapt to the X32 more than the X32 adapts to an engineer. For instance, many engineers appreciate the ability to create custom layouts in order to facilitate a workflow for a weekend’s service specific content. The X32 struggles in this area in that it does not allow you to layout the console as you would want without doing so by repatching the inputs. Additionally, the limited bus and matrix count tends to cut down on routing options for more complex mix setups. While this limitation can be beneficial to those who are new to mixing, it can also be limiting as engineers grow in their capability and desire to expand their approach to mixing. This leaves the engineer with less than optimum decisions such as how to deal with the need for more fx than you have fx buses, etc.
To what extent these two issues are affecting your ability to succeed will likely be the biggest influence on an upgrade decision. In the end, however, it doesn’t matter on which side of the decision that you end up as much as it is how you get there. I encourage you to do your research and really examine how it is that your current console does or does not meet your needs and where the hard limitations really are. That will provide better confidence in your decision-making process.
