Behringer X32: The Bunker 8 Review

Behringer X32: The Bunker 8 Review. Well, it has come to this, after YEARS of loyal Mackie service, our beloved 32-8 and 24 e side car are going out to pasture, making way for a fully digital front end to the mixing experience.

Sigmund, for years you have been calling yourself Bunker 8 Digital Labs, what gives? Well, it is like this, we have been using two channels on a 32 channel mixing now for years. It is something that worked. But in spending time with this digital board and recognizing that it could be an awesome front end to our workflow, we are getting rid of the 32-8 and the 24 e side car.

Make no mistake, these boards have been tremendously good to us, and they are still in rad shape, for analogue mixing, you cannot touch their sound, but it is time to say bye.

You notice how long it has taken me to actually get around to talking about the Behringer X32, well, my friends, it is a BEAST!

There are so many features that I simply cannot list them all in this hands on review, so go to their site and check it out.

But, one of the best things is that this is SO much more than just a place to dump your inputs and outputs. It contains a collection of insanely great plugins, both modelled and new right in the box.

he X32 feels like a stealth-Midas. At some point it had to stop being a Midas, and become a Behringer. We just hope that the build quality will prove itself worthy over time. Design of the mic pres is officially attributed to Midas but, again, it feels that they had a lot more to do with the product than that.

A sound engineer friend said this of the sound quality: “We jumped between different mix projects, and I’ve yet to hear the sound of the desk. All I’ve heard is the sound of your mixes.”

Another engineer friend has spent much time on the Midas Pro2, and he feels the X32 has ’75 per cent as much quality and functionality’ as the £18,000 Midas.

The X32 made us question our prejudice, and we hope others will too, as this prejudice could deny them some serious, low budget audio power. It is a bridge between Midas and Behringer and, for this reviewer, it’s also a bridge between live engineering and DAW operating environment.

We have taken the ‘No Behringer’ comment off our tech rider. Digital is now an affordable, better choice….

Here is a cool video of someone showing its basic mixing features…