behringer or alesis?

  • Thread starter Thread starter henry_mullis
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Im not trying to gear bash...just being objective.

I had worse than mackie when I started..I had a TAPCO ( supposedly made by greg mackie LOL)

sorry if it sounds like it...it just seemed like they were painting me in the " mackie is all holy compared to behringer " camp, and Im NOT
 
Yeah, I dig.
Probably my bad for being a jackass anyway. :rolleyes:

Anyway, I had a damn Tapco also. :D
It had the main board & an expansion module. The tie between the two was always shorting out. It was a POS for sure.
 
Mine was the rotary fader one, all pots, with 6 channels and 2 VU meters...rackmount...does that sound familiar ? Weird coming off that board, a LOT of "real " consoles didnt seem to sound as good as it did...either that or Im just nostalgiac
 
I'm going to back up Pipeline on this one.

Let's face it, lots of companies with diversified lines have a few winners and losers. It's just with some, it's skewed a little more in one direction than the other.

Let's take Alesis, for instance. They revolutionize the home recording industry with their ADAT's. But the trade-off was that ADAT's were flimsy and needed constant maintenance to keep from eating tapes or overflowing with error messages. Then they came out with stuff like the X2 mixer and the 3630 comp - both so badly designed that even Alesis was embarassed by them. But then they followed up with the Masterlink, which is amazingly enough a pretty nice piece. And technically I suppose the VIPRE can be considered an Alesis product too.

We can go through the same routine with almost any company you can name. How about AKG with the C1000 and C3000 losers? Look at Oktava with a proven winner in the MC012 and a proven loser in the 219...

The point is, any company aiming at the entry-level customer is going to constantly be making design and manufacturing compromises in order to meet the entry-level buyer's price point. Many of Mackie's products (exceptions being the D8B and the higher end monitors) are definitely aimed at the same market as the entry level Behringer and Alesis products.

So I agree with Pipeline's point that all such gear is "compromised" by definition. So it's silly to hold one up as miles above the other. We're not talking Cranesong here. That would be the opposite end of the spectrum, where quality is the primary goal regardless of how much the ultimate cost will be. The fact that you would have to look far and wide to find ANY criticisms of ANY Cransesong product is not merely coincidental to the fact that they make no attempt to compete in the entry level market.

The one area where I will give Mackie credit for being "head and shoulders" above all competition is in the area of manual writing. If all manufacturers could come out with manuals that were even half as understandable, informative and entertaining as Mackie's, it would be a giant leap forward for the industry.

Does this mean that for the home recordist all products are the same? Not at all... but the important differences may be as much in the area of reliability, road-worthiness, technical support, and repair turn-around time as in any actual sonic distinctions. That's why I agree with Pipeline that "Mackie (Greg, not Bob) as Calvin Klein" is a little silly. There may be real reasons why some might prefer Sears to Wal-mart, but let's not pretend either of them are boutiques!
 
Behringer = cheap ? yep
Behringer = crap? nope

For HOME recording people, Behringer will do you just as good a job as any of the other cheap gear. Some of us can only afford fairly cheap gear. I have made some very fine sounding recordings ( IMO ) with Beh.... gear. I have heard some very nasty recordings with high end gear. The price of the gear is not the defining variable in your recording equation.

And as for the poor chinaman who held up the tank.......LOL - I laugh. Sounds like something a woman polititian would say. The Chinese person who made the gear also made a bunch of the other stuff that is raved about here. And he may have starved had he not had the pay from assembling Behringer gear. And why do we insult the Chinese by insisting that their work and related values are somehow inferior to ours? Many of the Oriental people I have known have a much greater work and life ethic than the majority of Americans that I have observed. In fact, if we don't watch out, we (America) could be trodden underfoot by an Oriental workforce at some point.

Just get you some Behringer gear if you want to and don't worry about what STUDIO recording people say. This is Homerecording.com. If you don't like the Beh... piece, throw it away. It's cheap enough. :D
 
pipelineaudio said:
Mine was the rotary fader one, all pots, with 6 channels and 2 VU meters...rackmount...does that sound familiar ? Weird coming off that board, a LOT of "real " consoles didnt seem to sound as good as it did...either that or Im just nostalgiac
Click to expand...

Yep, about the same deal - mine was 12 channels, I believe (counting the expansion). "rackmounted" in an anvil case. It was already ancient when I bought it as a teenager. I only used it as a live board, but at the time I didn't even know the difference low and high impedence. :D
 
StevenLindsey said:

If you don't like the Beh... piece, throw it away. It's cheap enough. :D
Click to expand...

Actually, Steven, I love it! You may be on to something here... you should submit that thought to the Behringer marketing department.

I can see the ads now:

"BEHRINGER... THE DISPOSABLE MIXER!"

further, if you made it all out of bio-degradable parts you could please the "women politicians" (?) you seem to be so fond of.

:D
 
Correction:

Steven Lindsay--you are an 'official' dumbass".

Littledog: Maybe he could get some of his "oriental, chinamen" friends to back him up.

-Jett
 
jetrocker who is scott lindsey, you genius you? What I wouldn't give for your incredible powers of perception and recollection!
:D

ld maybe I'll just rip off Behringers design and make my own disposable mixer. The DM1604. Available in blue, pink and dark brown. Just flush it when you're through with it. Or maybe burn it. Put some fragrance in it so's it'll smell like Ancient Times #9. What a great idea! I'm gonna be rich!
 
oh and would love to have your keen grasp of the art of English punctuation. He he he good try jett

I've known some Orientals that could write very well also.
 
theres a BIG fat difference between oriental labor, and SLAVE labor. China is trying to appear as a democracy to the west, but they havent walked the walk yet...look how they dealt with hong kong. If you want to tell me that 797 microphone and behringer's chinese labor force is paid, never mind in prison, that would sure seem capitalist...last I checked it was a communist country. I'd like to really see some proof behind free chinese people building these things...I dont think they would, I think theyd make them BETTER. And dont even begin to tell me about the oriental work ethic...I KNOW all about it, and am enough yellowman to feel it.

If the oriental work eithc were being applied to 797 we would be arguing about how the !@#$ to get our hands on some of their mics because they would be in short supply!

anyway, back to my challenge, not that Im making mackie the king turd of poo hill:

name the behringer mixer that you think would compete with a mackie 32-8 and lets do an unbiased comparison
 
I'm sorry I had it all wrong.

Pouring hastily through the message boards while at work, I was blinded, probably by those same villanous women politicians of which Steven speaks.

I only saw the surface of what was a brilliant argument, hence my slopply reply. Steven was correct on several counts.

1. My improper use of punctuation completely negates what I was trying to say. How could I EVER be taken seriously. Tsk. Tsk. Shame. Shame.

2. I was up against a bulletproof argument. Here's an analogy that demonstrates its airtight nature. (I have Polish and Italian blood, so this is a tad less offensive.)

"To suggest that those dagos, whops, and polocks don't produce quality products, is highly disrespectful to them."

And so, I respectfully and completely recognize the error of my ways. Buy Behringer and don't walk in front of tanks.

-Jett
 
Ok, maybe I'll admit the comparison to Calvin Klein might have been a little too presumtuous... but I'm not taking back my stance on going against the whole litigation factor of it.

Enough of the bickering though, let's get into the real shit. I searched for Mackie 32-8 and this is all I came up with.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/sid=021009202049066176064094408185/search/g=home?q=mackie+32-8

I don't think that my MX2004a could compete with this, foremost because it's about $250... and the other one is... well, a shitload. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that this wasn't the Mackie 32-8 that you speak of.

Maybe we could compare these two:

Mackie DFX12 (althought I don't think we should consider the onboard effects that come with it, the behringer is about $160 cheaper)- http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7...4094408185/search/g=home/detail/base_id/59449

Behringer MX2004A -
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7...64094408185/search/g=live?q=behringer+mx2004a

So does anyone care to do a shootout with the two? =)
 
As a owner of some of Behringer gear , I can offer some insight to it's quality, operation, construction and overall usage!

Mixers- SUCK BIG TIME!!!! Extreme heat buildup w/o adequate ventilation for dissapation. Certain models don't even come equipped with a simple on/off switch. Pre's that introduce noise when fader is @ unity. Mid-sweeps in each channel that offer minimal, below-avg boost of mid freqs bet 12-63khz. Channel fader contacts constructed of cheap metallic-combo's susceptible to quick oxide buildups rendering fader useless after nominal use. Plus many,many more flaws found during normal ops.

Comps-Decent, mid-of-road, processors offering acceptable
limiting,gating and comp'ing for most uses. Not inherently transparent as an RNC or DBX, but capable of performing adequate signal processing.

Efx- The DSP1000 & 1000PRO offer adjustable parameters in only .5 increments rendering efx such as delay's,chorus,tremolo
useless when fine-tuning a desired effect. Hi-Lo eq/filter introduces unwanted tonal artifacts when boosted pass flat.
'Verb's can be adjusted by left engine (=length from signal to rear) or right engine(=length of signal from wall to wall), however
proximity,distance and return-speed of proc'd signal will be difficult to duplicate natural Room,Hall,Studio,Stage & Concert
that can easily be produced using even a Lex or TC.

i bough several pieces of Beh gear 2 1/2 years ago when Sammy's was practically GIVIN' the sh#t away! However over-time
I've learned that even though one may obtain the best out of any specific unit, there will come a time when one realizes that said unit has it's limitations and that an upgrade will eventually will be needed to satisfy one's desire for the best possible recording.
After upgrading from theDSP1000,adding an RNC (plus several thousand purchases of gear;like I said b-4, I gotta' SERIOUS addiction) i've found a certain level of satisfaction found now than when I was using Beh gear! All I use now is the AutoCom,Composer,Intelligate and the Edison,
Believe me Steve Lindsey, I was like you,but after taking the advice of many peeps here, I realized that there is so much one can do with Beh gear!
Peace and Learn my brutha'!
Mr.Q
 
"Enough of the bickering though, let's get into the real shit. I searched for Mackie 32-8 and this is all I came up with.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7...e?q=mackie+32-8

I don't think that my MX2004a could compete with this, foremost because it's about $250... and the other one is... well, a shitload. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that this wasn't the Mackie 32-8 that you speak of"

yeah that s the one
that console is not even 5 k new!!! 1500 used..I thought we were comparing ultra low budget recording consoles

but ok...

these two consoles you picked are apples and oranges...one is a blatant ripoff of mackie's 1604 rackmount recording ( HAHA ) console and the other is an attempt at a live console ( I actually had to use one to mix a band live ! )
but lets look anyway

the behringer being a copy of a recording console should be way better for homerecording right ? lets see:

wow!!! they even copied the solder jumping mods that you can do to a mackie to change the placement of the aux sends!!!! I am trying to be objective here, but seeing this BLATANT copy right at the beginning of the fact finding is kinda hard to ignore:

manual page 24...anyway...

power...assuming behringer's power supply isnt a glorified wall wart, they did a good job here....mackie's as a live mixer requires a quick plug and go IEC cord instead...apples and oranges, but for home, I give behringer the round

...ok behringer's web page wont allow you to open the photos and manual at the same time so Im gonna type the rest of this offline
 
jett * pitiful..

q - I have learned very well. I have learned that just because one person has had a bad experience with a certain product doesn't mean that all of the products are bad. I have heard many people who were satisfied with their B.. mixers - in fact, in looking at peoples' responses in general, it seems that many more are satisfied with them than not. I can tell you from experience that you can make a fine recording with B... gear and it doesn't all tear up with 3 months. That's all that matters. I just get tired of a bunch of bleeding heart ladies here trying to denigrate the Behringer owners on this board. Maybe I am just not enlightened enough because I don't have a fake name or have "audio" or "studio" or "mix" or some other meaningless group of letters in my name. :D I keep forgetting that it is the "name" that infallibly recounts the depth of knowledge and viability of opinion here. It is very entertaining to watch the puffs rise though. I've also learned that "the first one to make an argument always seems right until the other side is heard." ( King Solomon )

I'm sure we're going to stop the slave labor in China by wringing our hands because foreign companies are there using Chinese labor. The rest of the world should probably just stay out of there and let the Chinese government employ them all. Yeah! That's the answer. Let the communists provide the capital and manufacturing processes for their own people. They don't need any outside interference. They have done quite well without it don't you think?

Behringer people -- just record your music. If Hilary Clinton, Laura Bush, Tipper Gore, Janet Reno and Barney Frank ( or whatever that lady's name is ) appear to you in a dream and rebuke you, sell your Behringer stuff and get some Samson gear. Maybe it's made in a democratic country by middle aged white women with god bless ......... on their t-shirts.
 
Sorry, I haven't followed the entire thread, but let me set a few points straight:

1. Living in a communist country does not in itself mean you are treated like a slave. People are getting paid for their work in China, albeit not as much as in America or Europe.

2. People working for American or European companies are not necessarily happier with their jobs than Asian laborers, nor do they necessarily identify with the product they produce any more than Chinese workers. Do you really think Shure microphones or Fender pickups are made by dedicated enthusiasts? They're made by people who want to earn a living.

3. Mackie are downsizing and moving their production to China. Yes, folks, that's true. Samson already have their products made in China, just look at what it says on the back of the S-class line: "Made in China". Right now, it seems, they're all copying ... Behringer.
 
Well yeah, a few points I wanted to make as well:

The labor wage in communist countries is a little more practical for living in those countries. It's balanced out (not completely, but a little more than people making $5.50 an hour in this country). It costs a shitload more to live over here and in Europe than it does to live in China. And if you haven't been anywhere else, you don't know the difference, so you do your job... business as usual.

I don't have "Mackie Pride", I frankly don't care if Behringer copies every single thing that Mackie has ever done. Why? Because I am not Greg Mackie. I am the consumer, and if they rip off a good thing and do it well... I reap the benefits. =)

I don't think we should include the production aspects of anything here, because if you look around you, everything was pretty much made over there. It's a gruesome story, but that's American business. Mackie and Behringer are now going to be made in the same factories, by the same people... yet Mackie is always going to be 3x more by default.
 
"I don't have "Mackie Pride", I frankly don't care if Behringer copies every single thing that Mackie has ever done. Why? Because I am not Greg Mackie. I am the consumer, and if they rip off a good thing and do it well... I reap the benefits. =) "

hope noone pirates your CD
 
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