Behringer x32 v3.0 is out

[Jay Ashworth]

Just in case you missed that. (I had -- since September)

There are a lot of cool new features -- release notes link below -- but the nameplate addition is...

8 channels of "Dugan-style" automixing.

I'm assuming that it's a knock-off, not licensed Dan Dugan code, though that's not 100% clear, but it seems worth trying out, if that suits your uses, and you have the box already.

They've also completely rewritten their PC and iPad remote surface programs (they cover Win 7-10, OS/X, iOS, and Raspbian as native tested platforms, and there's still a 3rd-party Android app available (which I strongly suspect is written by one of their employees)), so that they can go full-screen and do multiple monitors, and you can have 4 attached to each console simultaneously, etc, etc, etc.

They also talk to Behringer's inexpensive fader wings now.

If you don't need the full control surface, the rack mount models are presently a grand with analog I/O, and $500 without, which is a helluva deal. It presses the XR-18 *really* hard, pricewise, though the smaller X-Air's will still find a market, I think.

If you need to spec a sound board, and you can get over what you used to think about Behringer, these are probably even more worth looking at than they were before.

If you have one already, they're up to 3.07 in the last 6 months, so it's probably safe to try upgrading now. Back everything up first, as always.

Release notes 3.0.7

Downloads

I do note, with minor annoyance, that they have not done a new manual for 3.0, even in PDF; the accumulated upgrades absolutely justify that, IMO.

#nopecuniaryinterest

 

[Footer]

We've been running it since release on both our M32 and X32. The automixer is "dugan style". Remember, Dugan patented the way he did it... and the patent has expired so his IP is out there and free to use. The argument is can they use the name or not.

With that though, it does work very well. Used it for a dais of 4 and a podium today in fact. FYI, the X-Air stuff also has this feature and it works great there as well. They even threw it into the Midas Pro line... and it works well there too. Corporate season has never been so easy!

 

[Jay Ashworth]

Aha. I hadn't realized it was near old enough to have an expired patent; never heard the man's name before 2 years ago.

 

[RonHebbard]

Aha. I hadn't realized it was near old enough to have an expired patent; never heard the man's name before 2 years ago.

You never heard the legend's name before two years ago! You must be a child @jayashworth.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.

 

[Footer]

Aha. I hadn't realized it was near old enough to have an expired patent; never heard the man's name before 2 years ago.

Most of the work was done in the 70s and 80s... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automixer

 

[jonliles]

We've been running it since release on both our M32 and X32. The automixer is "dugan style". Remember, Dugan patented the way he did it... and the patent has expired so his IP is out there and free to use. The argument is can they use the name or not.

With that though, it does work very well. Used it for a dais of 4 and a podium today in fact. FYI, the X-Air stuff also has this feature and it works great there as well. They even threw it into the Midas Pro line... and it works well there too. Corporate season has never been so easy!

Ever use it on a musical?

 

[Footer]

Ever use it on a musical?

Some people do. Keep in mind that an automixer does "gain sharing". Essentially when multiple inputs are present it drops the gain on all the inputs. So, nothing gets louder but it is hard to get certain inputs out front. You are better off doing line by line mixing on DCA's.

 

[Jay Ashworth]

Based on what I've seen of broadway guys mixing musicals (there's a guy on YT who's posted a lot of it), I can't see you could -- you *always* need more than one mic/channel hot.

 

[FMEng]

The idea behind gain sharing is feedback prevention. Let's say you have a sound re-enforcement mic turned up to just below feedback. Then, turn on a second mic to the same gain, the system goes into feedback. Lower both mics -3 dB, and the system will become stable again.

There is a very useful rule for the number of open microphones (NOM). Every time you double the number of open microphones, you have to lower the the gain of all of them 3 dB to prevent feedback. This is based upon all the mics being at the same, combined amount of acoustic and electronic gain. If you have a bunch of voice mics running near the feedback limit, that's a good assumption.

NOM is one reason why more mics isn't always better.

 

[jonliles]

FWIW's, I just ran a High school product of "Young Frankenstein" with the leads mic'd and ensemble covered by area mics.

I routed all the wireless mic, tracks (iPad), and sound effect (PC) inputs to the monitor position (X32 Producer), routed all hanging mics through FOH (X32 full size). Routed the Overheads from FOH to Monitor through AES 50. Created my sub-mixes at monitor position and sent the whole shebang back to FOH which fed the Mains.

Ran the whole show from Monitor console since it was closer to what the room sounded like. The FOH position is elevated 20 feet above the audience and is problematic for live mixing, - you simply can’t hear the room correctly. Start of the evening, set the FOH to the pre-determined levels and adjusted Monitor console as needed. Toss in a cheap Netgear wireless router and my iPad, ran most of tech week away from both consoles. Final dress and shows where all from Monitor position.

I programmed all my routing, mutes, and general levels using X32 Edit 3.0. Exported it USB. Imported to Monitor console. Same for setting initial routing on the FOH console. I will say export the cues and import the cues is a little cumbersome. I did create a “preset cue/scene” that had the initial gain, level, dynamics, & EQ structure on both consoles.

Overall, I am very please with the new interface of the X32 Edit app for both the iPad and PC.

 

[Jay Ashworth]

When you have time, Jon, could you expand a little on how you connected and routed your audio sources? I got lost a little in the language, and the idea of using a Rack as a stagebox is in my list of Things To Know -- given the difference in pricing...

 

[jonliles]

When you have time, Jon, could you expand a little on how you connected and routed your audio sources? I got lost a little in the language, and the idea of using a Rack as a stagebox is in my list of Things To Know -- given the difference in pricing...

Don't have my paper work with me at the moment, so I will attempt to summarize here.


Monitor Console X32 Producer----------------------------------------------------------------------------|FOH Console X32 Full
Inputs:>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Sub Group>>>>> Outputs |Inputs>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Outputs
1) ......................................................................................................................................... | Channel 31/32 Input Local Mic Preamp (Hanging Mic)>>AES-50A-13-14
2) Channels 1 through 11 Local Mic Preamps>>>>>>> 11/12>>>>>>>> AES-50-A 11&112 | Channel 9/10 input set to AES-50-A 11/12>>>>>>>>>Main LR
Channels 17-24 input set to AES-50-A 1-8>>>>>>> 13/14>>>>>>>> AES-50-A 13&14 | Channel 11/12 input set to AES-50-A 13/14>>>>>>>>Main LR
3) Aux Ins Set to local input w/>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 9/10>>>>>>>>> AES-50-A 9&10 | Channel 13/14 input set to AES-50-A 15/16>>>>>>>>Main LR

In this set up, on the FOH console, everything was set to Unity for Channels 9-14 & Mains. The Hanging Mic's were dialed in from FOH and then set at -5dB. This allowed me to have local control all from Monitor as I was the only operator on console. I did have 2 student interns operating the Sound EFX & Tracks
1) Shure MX-202 Hanging Mic to pick up spoken lines & ensemble singing
2) ATW 3000 series Wireless System 1-10 Body packs on the actors & 11 Handheld for curtain speech From Monitor to FOH
3) All of the below were set to the above "Aux Ins" From Monitor to FOH
Aux In: 1/2 Sound EFX PC
Aux IN: 3/4 iPod for Preshow music
Aux In: 5/6 iPad for MT Pit (Also sent to Matrix Sub Mix 6 post fader which fed monitor wedges)

This is what worked for me in this situation. If I could hear the sound field from FOH, then I would have set all of the Monitor Console outputs to AES-50-A on a 1 to 1 basis and would have mixed from FOH. YouTube was heavily leverage to learn how other folks cascaded the consoles.