Great mobility and flexibility!!
I purchased this mixer to replace a mostly analog system that had a combined weight of around 60lbs. This mixer does everything my analog system did, plus TONS MORE at a quarter of the weight. BUT one needs to have a moderate amount of sound engineering knowledge to understand the routing, dynamics, and bussing. Beginners will want to commit a moderate chunk of time to watching the tutorial videos found on YouTube.
This really isn't a mixer for someone that just wants to plug and play. It can be done, but the sound quality will definitely be lacking. This can cause some to blame the mixer. 9.5 times out of 10, the problem with a mix will be the operators error or lack of familiarity with the system.
Given its complexity and lack of knobs and faders at the fingertips, this mixer can be sometimes frustrating to use in a live show emergency. (insert Golem voice) Nasty ol' feedsbacks!! If you're running this via a tablet or small screened laptop, you'll have to learn to quickly navigate menus and sub screens to fix the problem. But, that's the trade one makes for this kind of flexibility and portability. For me, these are top priorities. Plan on having longer sound checks. Perhaps the best compromise would be a large touch screen monitor laid on its back. This would offer all the necessary screen real estate to have the most important elements of the mixer available at the fingertips. Once the foundation of the mix is set at FOH, the sound guy can grab a tablet and wander around the audience area to fine tune. Or, leave the mixer at the stage and do the whole job via tablet. Your choice! It's great to have that choice.
With built in WiFi, this mixer offers great versatility. If this mixer will be used to run a show with a large audience, keep in mind that there may be a lot of devices polluting the 2.4ghz channels. If you start noticing a lot of lag in the screen response, or dropped connection, outside interference is the cause. The built in WiFi uses the 2.4ghz band and has very limited range and security. This makes it susceptible to interference when competing devices are present. This includes some wireless mics and instrument packs. If you're using WiFi along with wireless packs, make sure to set everything on different channels. I use a WiFi scanner app on my laptop to show me the least polluted channel available. The best fix in this situation is to use a stand alone WiFi router that works on 5ghz band. Set the mixer's network switch to Ethernet and plug into the router directly. Or, set to WiFi Client and connect to an existing WiFi network. This will allow the connection between the mixer and your control device (if it works on 5ghz) to be cleaner and more reliable. As an added bonus, you'll have greater range and security. I use a Line 6 wireless mic and instrument pack. It took me a little while to figure out why the guitar kept cutting out, and my iPad kept losing connection. Turns out I had the mixer and instrument pack both on channel 6. They were competing and interfering with each other. See...operator error, not the mixer's fault. I've heard of some complaining about X-18's built-in WiFi being cheap and useless. They were probably unaware of the 2.4ghz conflicts they had going on. Behringer should discuss this in their manual.
This mixer was the perfect solution for all my musical needs/wants. I've been wanting to make multitrack recordings of my live shows, AND be able to easily have bumper music ready to go. This is all done with a single USB cord between the mixer and my MacBook. Simultaneously, all in the same laptop, I can control the mix, record to a DAW, and send iTunes music to separate channels in the mixer. This can be done on the console at my church, but I can do this at a fraction of the size, weight, and cost.
Another reason the X-18 is the perfect unit for me is that I was looking for a way to record in my home studio. No need to purchase an expensive 3 or 4 channel interface. I now have an 18 channel interface. The X-18 is small enough to set up on a computer desk and record directly into Garage Band. Or whatever DAW you choose to use.
As is typical with all my experiences with Behringer products, the manual will leave you scratching your head. They have improved a bit since Midas bought them, but YouTube to the rescue...again! There are plenty of X-Touch (mixer app) specific videos available from Behringer and other contributors. These will give you the basic nuts and bolts of the software, but to really learn how to properly use dynamics, EQ's, FX, etc, you'll have to find general sound engineering tutorials. Be careful though, if you have any nerd blood flowing in you, you'll get hooked! This mere "necessary evil" of having to amplify your band's sound for an audience will quickly become a passion for tweaking every setting the X-18/XR-18 offers to squeeze out the best sounding music your speakers will deliver.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
