What exactly is wrong with Behringer brand mixers?

Of course the other thing to say is that, for 90% of home studio folks, there's no need to have a mixer at all. An interface with the right number of inputs plus monitoring outputs will do the job and at far better quality.

I know!

A lot of companies are cleaning up with the notion that you need a console to record - It's nice - but not necessary.
 
Also had a peavey that was set up like a keyboard (you had to screw the legs on the bottom then stand it up) With knobs that were the size of tea plates! Real Sci-Fi looking.
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I had one of those! And they had the numbers on the volume knobs in reverse because a volume knob is going to infinite ground at zero .... so the numbers started with an infinity symbol and went backwards from the infinity to like, 64 or something and got smaller until at wide open they were marked zero! :D

I had the 16 channel model and they were huge!
Also had pretty good patching capabilities for the time and a built in electronic crossover!
Memories.
 
Then went pretty much high tech from there and got an EarCraft PA. Nice stuff at the time but needed a 22 foot box truck to carry it all.
 
I understand the mentality that Mixers are not a "need" for most home studios. However, in my case, it is a need. I often sample music and or do mic and music tests with my daughters when we play a certain song, which does not involve the computer at all. I have KRK Rokit 8s for reference during actual recording, but I use Peavey PR15s through a crown amp to practice vocals and backgrounds during practices. So the mixer serves doubly duties. Sometimes live practices, other times actual recording.
 
I continue to use mixers ..... I just find the abudance of knobs and patching capability, ease of EQ'ing and so forth is something I want and prefer. But then I'm pretty old school ... having done it the old way so long it's kinda intuitive for me now ...... why change?
 
I also use a mixer--but mine is orders of magnitude more capable (and expensive) than an entry level Behringer.

As Lt. Bob says, you get to a stage where the patching capabilities become at very least convenient, if not essential. However, unless you're very careful about what you need, most entry level boards will come back to bite you when you discover that you can't get a signal from "there to there". They also do no favours in terms of sound quality.

This is why, if somebody DOES need a mixer, I tend to favour the idea of a decent one second hand rather than a brand new cheapie.

(Or, in my case, I squandered a large chunk of the lump sum I got when I collected my pension.)
 
I also use a mixer--but mine is orders of magnitude more capable (and expensive) than an entry level Behringer.

As Lt. Bob says, you get to a stage where the patching capabilities become at very least convenient, if not essential. However, unless you're very careful about what you need, most entry level boards will come back to bite you when you discover that you can't get a signal from "there to there". They also do no favours in terms of sound quality.

This is why, if somebody DOES need a mixer, I tend to favour the idea of a decent one second hand rather than a brand new cheapie.

(Or, in my case, I squandered a large chunk of the lump sum I got when I collected my pension.)
all of this .... plus, for me, I've done it so long now ( 1st 4-track reel to reel in 1970 I think) that I've accumulated lots of hardware that I still like to use and most of that stuff is easiest to quickly toss in the mix if you have a mixer.
 
all of this .... plus, for me, I've done it so long now ( 1st 4-track reel to reel in 1970 I think) that I've accumulated lots of hardware that I still like to use and most of that stuff is easiest to quickly toss in the mix if you have a mixer.

Consoles and and outboard gear rules!

+1. It is the way I learned and I have no desire to change it at this point in my life. I kind of admire the people who learned or evolved to learn in-the-box, but that will never be me.
 
+1. It is the way I learned and I have no desire to change it at this point in my life. I kind of admire the people who learned or evolved to learn in-the-box, but that will never be me.

-1. I've gone in the opposite direction. I started with a whole bunch of outboard gear, and accumulated more . . . but now I've shed it all. Effectively I now only have my firepod and a headphone amp. Everything else is in the box. It took a while to get used to it, but it satisfied my carving for simplicity.
 
I have a split personality on this.

For me, the mixer is a quick, easy way to set levels when tracking and (more important) created highly customised monitor mixes for clients. As I have things wired, it also lets me do a "quick and dirty" mix to play back to the musicians as the track count goes up.

However, once the clients have gone to the bar and I'm mixing solo, everything moves ITB.

Of course, I also still do a reasonable amount of live mixing to give me my fix of knobs and faders!
 
I have lots of really good gear and yet I keep my old Berhinger Composer Pro compressor in my rack. I've had it for over 10 years and I still use it occasionally on guitars and basses. Very inaccurate and aggressive to be sure but it has remained useful and has never failed. I also have an Ultragain Pro. The one with the light bulb behind the tube! I have pulled that out once or twice because of its, well, character.

I have always thought that it doesn't matter about the name on the gear or the model # or product line. If it works, does the job I need it to do and is reliable than I'll use it.
 
I recently switched from a Behry 1204 that snap, crackled and popped all on its own to a used Mackie 1202 vlz3 - night and day in terms of sound quality. Even my half-destroyed ears could notice the difference. Besides the sound difference, after a while, the Behringer had to have cables wiggled and seated just so, sometimes you had to push down on the headphones jace for channel 3 to be heard ...

Maybe I had a bad Behringer, but it sure didn't want me ever to buy any of their products again. Ever.

YD
 
I have read thru' the various comments and agree with much of it.
Behringer kit can be unreliable (I went thru 3 BCA2000s and #3 still sits, broken and unused in the corner) but they really are not at all bad electronically.

I have just setup a Xenyx 802 into my 2496. Gain at max and Main Mix to "0". Channel control adjusted such that "Mary had" on an SM57 at about a foot gave -20dBfs (Samplitude SE8) and oddly enough the pot landed on "0" again!

Replaced the mic with a shorted XLR and the noise descended to -67dBFS. Now that might not look impressive but it is completely inaudible ref the voice on playback and it is also WAY better than any tape machine without Dolby and about on a par with Dolby B.
Replaced the 57 with an AKG P150 SDC and I have to back the gain way off to get back to neg 20. Shorting plug in again and this time the noise has fallen to -79/80dBFS. You will be very lucky to get your room so quiet!

I repeated the tests with my A&H zed10 and found it only some 3dB quieter which suprised me but then a response plot showed a 100Hz spike some 24dB above the noise floor...Always fekkin' something to sort out!

What you have to watch with all this cheaper audio kit is headroom. I do not let the X802 go above the "0vu" LED but that is not a problem since that is 0dBu=-775V and my 2496 clips at 2volts and I never go NEAR that!
In truth the ZED10 might not be that much quieter* than the Berry but it has some 10-12dB more headroom (which is why I want an AP 192!) .

*Which is as theory would predict. It is not at all hard to make very low noise pre amps these days very cheaply.

Dave.
 
Years ago I recorded one of my best albums ever (stands to this day!) on a Behringer MX8000. I have no idea if their mixers have gotten worse or not, but the one time I used one it was not bad at all. Whatever works. Forget what people say. If it works for you why bother to change?
 
Sorry but I have NEVER had any problem with Behringer gear and I have used (and still am) a very large amount of their stuff.

Sure, there might be the odd piece of equipment that is a 'lemon" but isn't that the same for virtually every piece of equipment manufactured today (howmany thousands of vehicles have Toyota recalled over the past few years, didn't Ford have to recall hundreds of vehicles for a major tyre problem , but how many people do we hear rubbishing either of these two companies?????).

I believe that a lot of the complaints about Behringer products come from people who have NEVER owned a piece if their equipment but like to talk knowingly because of some deluded idea that if it is not worth mega dollars then it obviously is no good --- I think it is generally known as "the BS factor".

My first Behringer product was a microphone I purchased while working at the Sydney Opera House (you can't get much more professional than that !!!!!). When I heard the result I was amazed as the other microphones we were using were worth in the thousands. I did a recording with the Behringer mic and one of our normal mega dollar mics (on a world famous symphony orchestra) and could not hear the difference. I then played the recording to a number of "professional" sound recording engineers from both within and outside of the Opera House --- most of whom had previously rubbished all Behringer products --- and none of them could tell the difference, but ALL were amazed when I told them the brands of the two mics I had used.

Since then, I have purchased three Behringer consoles for professional live theatre applications (MX800, MX9000, MX3282) and all have performed excellently for more than ten years (just about to update one of these to the new Begringer X32 digital console --- 20K+ sold even before it was released), numerous items of their outboard equipment.

My own studio uses their Truth monitors (I have no idea why they stopped producing their Thuth Sub as it was possibly the best on the market for studio use), numerous active DI boxes (as have all the theatres) and I have never had a failure and I have just finished designing and building a recording studio for a local community music association and apart from the recorders (Alesis HD24 and Alesis Masterlink) the entire studio (mics included) is Behringer and the studio is producing the most supurb sounding recordings.

By the way, have a look at the X32 console as it is going to be a world beater (Midas pre amps, etc and Klark Technik DSP and you can't get much better than either of these companies and a $20mil production facility in GERMANY to manufacture it !!!!!)---- I do not not work for Behringer and have no association with them apart from being a very happy user of their products for many years.
 
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