Behringer XR18

Musicwolf

Danny1969 said:

I can group 2 auxs as a stereo bus for IEM's but in aux mix mode there's no option to pan anything. Could be I'm missing something though so happy to be educated. 

No, I don’t think that you’re missing anything.  The pan on the stereo aux bus mirrors the main bus.

If you use the P16M then you do have independent control of pan.

andyg_prs

Danny1969 said:

@andyg_prs ; I don't think you would regret that decision, I'm thinking about one myself 

What are your thoughts on it using an app rather than a webpage.....does this lend itself to control going obsolete?

ChrisCox1994

the allen and heath is not as full featured as the XR18/MR18. 

bus routing/grouping, DCAs, FX routing, FX amount and range of FX, amount of nodes on EQs, no insert graphic EQs, no multi band compressor etc etc...

Yes the wifi is crap on the midas/behringer, but a £20 tplink router solves it, and youre gonna rack case it anyway if you're gigging seriously, so hide it in there. 

The multitrack recording, always better to have a laptop there to monitor the input levels anyway, so not much of an advantage IMO as I always have my laptop with me at every gig for background music / the Xedit app over a hardwired connection. 

For a 10+ year old unit its still the best overall at its price. 

If you want the better preamps get the MR18 from midas.

andyg_prs

ChrisCox1994 said:

the allen and heath is not as full featured as the XR18/MR18. 

bus routing/grouping, DCAs, FX routing, FX amount and range of FX, amount of nodes on EQs, no insert graphic EQs, no multi band compressor etc etc...

Yes the wifi is crap on the midas/behringer, but a £20 tplink router solves it, and youre gonna rack case it anyway if you're gigging seriously, so hide it in there. 

The multitrack recording, always better to have a laptop there to monitor the input levels anyway, so not much of an advantage IMO as I always have my laptop with me at every gig for background music / the Xedit app over a hardwired connection. 

For a 10+ year old unit its still the best overall at its price. 

If you want the better preamps get the MR18 from midas.

Interesting.....as I only have passing knowledge of PAs I'd have to look into those things......I'm aware you might want some delay reverb on vox....and EQs are needed.....but amount and range of FX I hadn't considered (still don't know if I'd need those).  Nodes on the EQ - you mean how many bands ?  Insert graphic EQs and multi band compressors....so what does it have?

The auto-gain settings and feedback suppression looked very useful to me on the A&H, does the XR18/MR18 have that?

onyir

Danny1969 said:

Musicwolf said:

Danny1969 said:

 The way you have to mix stereo IEM's sucks ... you basically have to assign stuff to left ear and right ear and use the amount you send as a pan control rather than just assign to a stereo IEM bus and pan to taste like on a normal desk.

Can you not link aux sends to form stereo pairs as you do on the XR-18?  Obviously each stereo pair takes up two of the six aux busses but you don't need to mess around with left and right aux busses.

I can group 2 auxs as a stereo bus for IEM's but in aux mix mode there's no option to pan anything. Could be I'm missing something though so happy to be educated. 
One a normal desk you just hit the IEM stereo bus, say the bass players IEM feed and adjust the level of any instrument and it's pan position in the same way you would if you were on the master bus / FOH page. Quick and easy. 

I can pan channels into 2 auxs in stereo (at least using Mixing Station app; worth using it if you aren't already) but I need to pan the buses first (after linking them)

ETA At least it is letting me do it on the app offline. I haven't actually tested it with the physical hardware

ChrisCox1994

andyg_prs said:

ChrisCox1994 said:

the allen and heath is not as full featured as the XR18/MR18. 

bus routing/grouping, DCAs, FX routing, FX amount and range of FX, amount of nodes on EQs, no insert graphic EQs, no multi band compressor etc etc...

Yes the wifi is crap on the midas/behringer, but a £20 tplink router solves it, and youre gonna rack case it anyway if you're gigging seriously, so hide it in there. 

The multitrack recording, always better to have a laptop there to monitor the input levels anyway, so not much of an advantage IMO as I always have my laptop with me at every gig for background music / the Xedit app over a hardwired connection. 

For a 10+ year old unit its still the best overall at its price. 

If you want the better preamps get the MR18 from midas.

Interesting.....as I only have passing knowledge of PAs I'd have to look into those things......I'm aware you might want some delay reverb on vox....and EQs are needed.....but amount and range of FX I hadn't considered (still don't know if I'd need those).  Nodes on the EQ - you mean how many bands ?  Insert graphic EQs and multi band compressors....so what does it have?

The auto-gain settings and feedback suppression looked very useful to me on the A&H, does the XR18/MR18 have that?

the AH is better in terms of preamps than the behringer, sounds similar to the midas version - but these are minor differences that you'll only be able to tell with a good mic in a nice sounding room with a good singer based on my testing with both units.

I've spent more time with the behringer/midas units but have done a few gigs now on the AH.

From a usability point of view maybe an argument could be made that the AH is easier to work with for beginners with the auto gain and auto feedback features - but in my opinion if you need those features you wont be really hearing the differences in the higher quality preamps and FX and you'd be better learning how to do it anyway - proper gain structure and learning how to ring out a room are fundamental skills that are worth knowing with any mixer, buying a cheaper mixer and spending the money elsewhere, like speakers, mics and cables - might be a better option when starting out.

The AH is good for installs at club / bars due to its simplicity but as a gigging musician I would go xr18 / mr18 (or an x32 / m32c with dl16 stage boxes) for the routing options, fx count, busses, virtual channel re patching, eq scope and general flexibility.