so really just how god awful are behringer mixers?

[diezdiazgiant]

i dont know if this really fits into this section of the forum but it definitly doesnt go "general synths"...

but what makes them so worthy of contempt in your opinions? shoddy build quality?

ive never used one, but the prices are so alluring... haha and then i remember all the people ive met who have warned meet not to be tempted by that and just go for a mackie.

[i_watch_stars]

i dont know if this really fits into this section of the forum but it definitly doesnt go "general synths"...

but what makes them so worthy of contempt in your opinions? shoddy build quality?

ive never used one, but the prices are so alluring... haha and then i remember all the people ive met who have warned meet not to be tempted by that and just go for a mackie.

They are however aweful you need them to be in order to satisfy your elitest desires, to compensate for the fact that the person believing this probably coudn't produce good music on a gold-plated 64 channel mackie

They're just fine, soundwise and noisewise. The reason they are cheap is that the components and build is lower quality. I mix "in the box", and just use all my hardware mixers as submixers...so I could care less about the build quality.

[diezdiazgiant]

i dont know if this really fits into this section of the forum but it definitly doesnt go "general synths"...

but what makes them so worthy of contempt in your opinions? shoddy build quality?

ive never used one, but the prices are so alluring... haha and then i remember all the people ive met who have warned meet not to be tempted by that and just go for a mackie.

They are however aweful you need them to be in order to satisfy your elitest desires, to compensate for the fact that the person believing this probably coudn't produce good music on a gold-plated 64 channel mackie

They're just fine, soundwise and noisewise. The reason they are cheap is that the components and build is lower quality. I mix "in the box", and just use all my hardware mixers as submixers...so I could care less about the build quality.

hows the eq and headroom? ive been using a cobblestoned setup of cheap dj mixers for the longest time. hows the distortion when you intentionally overload the channels?

[Meso]

The only Behringer mixer I have used was a dj mixer closely resembling a Pioneer DJM-600 cant remember the name of it,
but long story short it was the worst mixer I have ever used,
it came with a sound system me and my friend rented for a gig and it was so bad we actually drove home to pick up my friends old gemini mixer.
The headphone output on the Behringer was so quiet that if someone was talking near you the conversation would overpower the sound from the headphones.
And don't get me started on build quality, I have a BCD2000 and it looks as if it was assembled by blind monkeys, gaps between panels and overall crappy,
ok controller though but the soundcard part of it came broken.

My advice would be if you can afford something better don't buy Behringer stuff.

[Analog Freak]

Just get a used Yamaha or a Mackie mixer, and save yourself the trouble of having to learn the hard way why hardly anybody has any real love for Behringer equipment. A used mixer from a reputable brand will probably be the same price or less than a Behringer model, yet will have much better sound quality, construction, and will probably outlast you if you take care of it. If you want an example, I bought a 16 channel Yamaha MC1602 for forty dollars.

[Altitude]

Just get a used Yamaha or a Mackie mixer, and save yourself the trouble of having to learn the hard way why hardly anybody has any real love for Behringer equipment. An used mixer from a reputable brand will probably be the same price or less than a Behringer model, yet will have much better sound quality, construction, and will probably outlast you if you take care of it. If you want an example, I bought a 16 channel Yamaha MC1602 for forty dollars.

Agreed, there are plenty of decent budget mixers. Check out a soundcraft compact 10. Look online for A/B comparisons with Beh and somethings else if you need proof, its night and day

[Huppo]

I have 4 Behringer mixers and they all work fine and do what I need them to do but I imagine I am a lot less fussy than a lot of people here. None of them have broken or seems unusually noisy. All this stuff lives in my studio and doesn't get taken out for shows or anything or maybe reliability and build quality would become an issue. Some of the recordings I make with it have gotten compliments on production quality from people who work in real recording studios, so take that for whatever you think it's worth. Maybe they were just being patronizing, but then again they didn't ask me what kind of mixers I was using. I personally think in a blind comparison test plenty of people who dump on the B stuff wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

In fact, I have a bunch of Behringer gear (because it's cheap) and it all works the way it's supposed to. I have a Vintager 112 guitar combo amp, a Kx1200 4 channel keyboard amp, two 16ch line mixers (used as submixers for synths), a patchbay, a rack effects processor, a small 10 channel mixer that I currently use as a master volume in front of my monitoring system (though it has done lots of other things since I bought it) and another rack mount mixer w/fx that I use in another part of the studio to mix inputs. I also have a BCR2000 which performs as advertised.

I'm not doubting people who say they've had problems with B stuff, I'm just saying I haven't had any problems with it and I own over a dozen pieces of their gear. I do question whether some of the issues are just psychosomatic snobbery, though.

[Meso]

Just get a used Yamaha or a Mackie mixer, and save yourself the trouble of having to learn the hard way why hardly anybody has any real love for Behringer equipment. An used mixer from a reputable brand will probably be the same price or less than a Behringer model, yet will have much better sound quality, construction, and will probably outlast you if you take care of it. If you want an example, I bought a 16 channel Yamaha MC1602 for forty dollars.

Agreed, there are plenty of decent budget mixers. Check out a soundcraft compact 10. Look online for A/B comparisons with Beh and somethings else if you need proof, its night and day

I had a Soundcraft Compact 10 and I wouldn't recommend it, its volume pots got scratchy after a few months use and last month it spontaneously lit it seelf on fire somehow,
so I bought myself a Allen & Heat Zed14 which has been great so far.
Also the little things bugged me like that the knobs were not all equally stiff/loose, and I hate stuff that doesn't have a power switch.

[Altitude]

Just get a used Yamaha or a Mackie mixer, and save yourself the trouble of having to learn the hard way why hardly anybody has any real love for Behringer equipment. An used mixer from a reputable brand will probably be the same price or less than a Behringer model, yet will have much better sound quality, construction, and will probably outlast you if you take care of it. If you want an example, I bought a 16 channel Yamaha MC1602 for forty dollars.

Agreed, there are plenty of decent budget mixers. Check out a soundcraft compact 10. Look online for A/B comparisons with Beh and somethings else if you need proof, its night and day

I had a Soundcraft Compact 10 and I wouldn't recommend it, its volume pots got scratchy after a few months use and last month it spontaneously lit it seelf on fire somehow,
so I bought myself a Allen & Heat Zed14 which has been great so far.
Also the little things bugged me like that the knobs were not all equally stiff/loose, and I hate stuff that doesn't have a power switch.

Ouch. I cant really say anything about build quality of the compact but when I was using it, the sound and features were very good.

[JSRockit]

so I bought myself a Allen & Heat Zed14 which has been great so far.
.

Do you use the USB or only as a mixer outside of the computer? Is it noticably better than the $200 budget mixers? I was thinking of one of these.

[wiss]

I have Eurodesk MX8000 and its ancient and I have never had a problem with it. I picked up 2nd hand for next to nothing from a video production company.

I also have smaller 6 channels mixer and its been issue free for the last 5 years or so.

Are they my 1st choice, h**l no but they are an afforable choice.

[Meso]

so I bought myself a Allen & Heat Zed14 which has been great so far.
.

Do you use the USB or only as a mixer outside of the computer? Is it noticably better than the $200 budget mixers? I was thinking of one of these.

I don't use its usb functions I have a Focusrite Saffire LE for that, but I tried it out and it works fine,
though I would like to use it with the Saffire, only use the usb send/return for effects but still use the Saffire for recording and output from the computer,
guess i could just open cubase alongside live and use it for the effects.

*edit*

Is it noticably better than the $200 budget mixers?

Yes, it is by far the best mixer I have used, the build quality is excellent and the eq is really good, nice to have 100mm faders as well in a mixer this size.

[insky]

Hmmm...I've been thinking about getting their 1U Rack Mixer because it's the only 1U rack mixer that's not absolutely outrageous in price. I prefer 1U because my keyboard stand has an attachment for a 1U rack space and that's the only place I have left for space. My Yamaha MQ1602 is too big to fit anywhere but in the closet. So it's intersting to see what other people think. I'm assuming most of the problems are with cheap build quality.

[tunedLow]

I have a Behringer mixer, but got a a soundcraft spirit because I needed more ins, but I really don't think it sounds any better. I haven't done side by side recordings to compare the two as a test, but I'd agree with Huppo. In that price range mine did a fine job.

[Windreaper]

As with pretty much any cheap mixer nowadays - decent sound quality, not too noisy if you mind your gain staging, don't expect it to last if you abuse it. The EQ is, of course, c**p. Mind you, the older Mackies aren't any better (shouldn't be surprised, really, since that's what B copied).

I liked the RX1602 btw, good features and perfectly acceptable sound quality, definitely recommended for (live, set-and-forget) keyboard submixing.