Any Behringer X32 users on here?

Deijavoo

I'm gonna track some jams, live stuff etc..... both as Multi track recordings into my iMac/Logoc Pro X and as direct USB. However I've had zero hands on experience with that desk so any tips would be good.

mike257

Lost count of how many gigs I've used the X32 and M32 for. Feel free to ask any questions you've got and I'll try and help.

No drivers needed for Mac, plug the USB/Firewire in and it just appears as an available audio interface, no messing. I've tracked gigs to Reaper on plenty of occasions with no issues.

If you're using the on board USB stereo recorder, make sure you remember to press stop before you turn the desk off! Otherwise you'll have a right ballache trying to repair an incomplete wav file. If you're recording a gig to the USB and have time, try setting the source to a spare mix bus rather than the main LR and then you can put together a mix that's balanced for later listening without worrying about how changes to your FOH mix affects it.

Deijavoo

Cool, thanls for the help mate.

I'm gonna track some drums using that desk in a few weeks. So literally just plug into my iMac? I assume that will need some sort of drivers installed but was just gonna plonk next to the desk run my guiyar through a plug in and get about six songs of drums down. The onboard USB recording spunds ace for a quick clip. Does it record each mic as a wav file?

mike257

No drivers to worry about at all, just stick your USB cable in and it'll work. When you go to your audio device settings in Logic (or whatever software you're using) it will appear as something like X_UF or X_USB and you'll have 32 inputs to choose from. Just assign each track the appropriate input and you're away.

By default, the desk will take the feed for the recording from straight after the gain/HPF, so none of the other settings on the desk (eq, fader level, dynamics etc) will affect your recorded signal. You can change that if you want to, but I wouldn't bother.

The onboard USB recording (where you just stick a pen drive into the port on top of the desk) is a little more limited in that it will only record a stereo mix. It will be a wav file at whatever sample rate you have the desk set to (44.1kHz or 48kHz). By default it will record your main mix, so the same thing coming out of the master outputs. If you were recording a gig, this might not be ideal as you'll probably end up with loads of vocal, a bit of guitars and not enough drums because you haven't got the room sound filling in the gaps. If you've got a stereo mix bus or a matrix spare you can choose that as your recording source and knock up a separate mix to record, which will probably give a slightly better result. You're always limited to a stereo pair with the onboard recorder though.

Deijavoo

Awesome, thanks fpr the info mate.

mike257

No worries man, if there's anything else you need to know then give me a shout! You'll have to stick some recordings up on here when you get finished!

Deijavoo

Cool, the last recording my band did was through that desk. I didn't track it though, I just mixed it. That's on my signature links just down there \/ \/ \/

mike257

Ah, I'll have to jump on the laptop later, can't see sigs on my phone!

Deijavoo

Ah, 

 https://drollman.bandcamp.com/releases

https://soundcloud.com/drollman

Deijavoo

mike257 said:

No worries man, if there's anything else you need to know then give me a shout!

I'll take you up on that offer Mike. Regarding using the desk USB I've just spoken to my mate who uses that desk each weekend for live use and he reckons I'll need to configure it from live mode to record mode. Any tips on that as he's at work so not able to get into detail.

He also said that I will have to use the omni outs to use a headphone amp for me, the drummer and bass player when tracking next weekend

 I thought it was an easy out from the headphone output but again all advice is very much appreciated.  

Cheers mate. 

mike257

Just seen this mate, sorry for late response. There's no "live" or "record" modes for the USB. The desk just sees it as another 32 ins/outs that can be routed around as needed. I'm calling this from memory so slight details might vary, but here's how to route your inputs to the card, and the card inputs back to the desk if required.

On the "Routing" page of the desk, the "Card Out" tab allows you to select which signals go TO your computer over the USB connection. It's done in four blocks of eight, so if your mics are plugged directly to the desk, select "Local 1-8", "Local 9-16" etc. If your mics are connected to a digital stagebox, select the appropriate source for that, "AES50 A 1-8“ etc.

This will give you the signal tapped straight after the preamp and before any processing, eq etc, which I assume is what you'll want for recording.

To get playback from your computer into the desk, send your tracks from your recording software to whichever of the outputs you need - on the X32, go to the "Routing" page, "Inputs" tab and (in blocks of eight again) pick a spot for your returns from the computer. For example, if you have mics plugged in to the first 16 channels, you could use the next 16 for computer returns by setting "Inputs 17-24" as "Card 1-8" and "Inputs 25-32" as "Card 9-16". You can route a total of 38 inputs like this by using the main 32 channels in four blocks of eight and the six Aux Inputs.

As for headphones, there's two headphone outs on the desk, but they both receive the same signal and can't be controlled independently. I can't remember off the top of my head what sources you can select for this.

To give individual monitor mixes, you will need to use some of the desks many outputs (omni outs is Yamaha terminology for assignable outputs and isn't used on the Behringer, but it's the same thing - you can pretty much route anything to them). You can use the XLR outputs or the Aux Outs which are on jacks if that's more practical. You will need something external to function as a headphone amp. I'd do this in the same way as for live monitor mixes, by using a Mix Bus for each monitor send and routing them to an individual output on the desk. You could run one set off the internal headphone amp but for multiple simultaneous mixes you'll have to do the above.

If you're not sure about configuring the routing, feel free to PM me a breakdown of what you need to do and I can build a desk file in the offline editor and email it to you.

Hope that helps, I'll remember to press the subscribe button on the thread now so I don't miss you posting next time!

Deijavoo

Mike, thanks for this mate. What a great answer. I owe you a beer next time I can catch up with you!!

mike257

No worries at all mate, happy to help!

Deijavoo

Tested out 16 tracks of tapping and whistling into mics and it was unbelievably easy.

Was just using the gain dial on each channel but was literally just to test tonight for Sunday. Had it set to 48khz and my desktop to 64 samples. Everything seemed all good.

Thanks again Mike.

Deijavoo

Deijavoo said:

Was just using the gain dial on each channel but was literally just to test tonight for Sunday. 

Actually, just re-read this:

mike257 said:

By default, the desk will take the feed for the recording from straight after the gain/HPF, so none of the other settings on the desk (eq, fader level, dynamics etc) will affect your recorded signal. You can change that if you want to, but I wouldn't bother.

 

ha ha, it's all sinking in, honest!

mike257

Haha, glad to hear it's working!

Deijavoo

Tracked drums all day today, was smooth, sounded great and yeah really happy so far. Thanks again for all your help Mike.

Gonna track guitars on Tuesday, now to decide whether to use the two mics I want through my Apogee Duet or this X32. 

I'm gonna use a Beyer M201 and Rode NT1A. 

mike257

Glad to hear it went well! The 201 is a cracking mic, seems to work well on almost anything.

As for choosing between the desk and the Apogee - have you got to take your kit to wherever you're doing the tracking? I know which one I'd rather carry

Deijavoo

I've got to carry my iMac and Duet along with monitors etc....to our venue where the x32 is. Either is just as easy, I've always really liked the way my recordings with the Duet sound and the X32 seemed pretty good and neutral. So if it's a negligible difference then the Duet may get the nod. :-)

mike257

How did you get on mate, all going well?

Deijavoo

All going pretty easy so far mate thanks. 

I spent Monday night in there late on doing clean guitars only to scrap them and do them again on Tuesday night. Now I've found an out of tune octave that I played, relatively easy fix though. Gonna get in early Tuesday morning to get my amp wound up really high and then bass stuff maybe Tuesday night.

Then it's gonna be with our singer for him to get his parts bang on for what we have down, that'll maybe be in a fortnight, then the real fun starts.

Thanks again Mike, you've been a massive help on this for me.