Behringer X Air XR18 Reviews

Perfect for small gigs

I have had it for over 2,5 years and no problems so far at all. Some mentioned bad wifi card, mine still works like a charm. Great for indoor and outdoor events, but mostly for small band/small amount of performers. Big plus is connectivity, wifi or cable (Cat6 works good). Overall small size, minimal power use and great control panel makes it perfect partner for small venue,event, F.O.H mixer.

Compacte digitale mixer ÉN betaalbaar

I am a musician myself who plays a few gigs a year in small cafes but I mostly help a lot of my friends with my Pa setup. Before, I used the Yamaha MG12 XU (which is a great mixer) but was unhandy if I played by myself because it couldn't be in the spot that I wanted most of the time because there was no room or I needed to use a snake instead. The Behringer XR18 is much easier because you just place it in the middle and everyone can plug in and you just take your iPad and stand wherever you want + you can save every setting for the next gig that you need to soundcheck for 2 minutes.

The Behringer XR18 is a great digital mixer that is really affordable and has great preamps with multitrack through USB for live/studio recording in a compact box which you can transport easily. One of the only flaws that I had, was the software on the iPad that wouldn't let me know what I was doing wrong in the settings but luckily Xair edit for PC/mac works fine and helped me out.

Nice mixer for a great price

I know this is a PA mixer, but I've purchased it for my small home studio setup after having read up on the extensive samplerate debate ;)

I'm doing every processing in the box (Harrison mixbus) and all I need is enough preamps and an easy way to control them.

I like the fact that you can just save several presets and recall them with the press of a button. This in conjunction with using templates in your DAW gets you on your way and recording in no time.

Figuring out how to setup the device to be used as a usb interface sending the signal back from the box wasn't without hassle though, but after I got it working I couldn't be happier with my choice.

As for how it would perform in the intended environment (as a PA mixer), I can only assume it does more than fine. The feature set is great (compressor, eq, sends, aux busses...) everything you need is there.

So in short, if you need something compact, versatile and clean sounding, look no further. :)

A fantastic gear!

i have bought it as a replacement for Steinberg UR-44 to have more in/out and I must admit it is beyond my expectations. The preamps are transparent and not noisy at all. The reverbs are fantastic and the addition of a multi-band compression (the Combinator effect) makes live mixing much easier. As far I have used it for a small gig with my band and for some recording and the results were astonishing good for it's price. Its is small, portable, esy to set up, versatile and provides very good sound quality. Definitely one of the best buy's I have made during the last few years.

Works great. Perfect match with X-Touch

I bought this XR18 together with the Behringer X-Touch. It is a perfect match. I had some difficulties to make a connection at first (net clear how to configure the X-Touch) but once configured correctly it worked like a charm every time. I am now using the XR18 mainly as an audio interface with Cubase Elements. Only drawback, even when you turn on the 'soft-mute', there is still a loud 'pop' coming out of the main outs when turning off the XR18. I thus always have to turn of my monitors before turning off the XR18.

Great but needs a dedicated app

Great mixer, easy to use! It needs a dedicated app to work, no web insterface, but its cheap :)

Good mixer for the price.

Check out the features in the XR18 description. The built in router is not so great. Better buy external router. Everything else worked great. Mixer is easy to set up and control. For rehearsals, small concerts and a project studio it does everything.

Almost perfect

We use this mixer for silent rehearsals, 6 buses perfect for personal monitoring for each band member.

Pros: many, many options, flexible routing and separate channel effects. You can save the full setup , and channel setups separate. You can use other users setup, you can change setups on internet.

16 channel recording.

Cons: the internal wifi router is very poor quality. I suggest to use an external wifi router.

Great Mixer

I'm using Behringer X Air XR18 in a 100 m2 sized hall and it is great! No more snakes, no more mixer tables, all you need is a reliable tablet computer.

Behringer X Air XR18 is very portable and does not take up much space at the stage. Setting up the stage is easy and I can set it up in any side of the hall.

Only con that I see is wireless signal of the mixer itself. You should have external router to strengthen the signal so it would not get lost. When I started using external router, all signal problems disappeared.

I really recommend this device!

game changer

this unit is game changer. great one

Amazing gear for unbelievable price

I've dreamt of a digital mixer that would allow six different monitor mixes for my a cappella band. These would usually start at a couple of thousands. Amazingly, this one does the job as well!

I use it in combination with a PreSonus HP60 headphone amp. I would mix a common stereo master signal with X Air, and then additionally do the mono monitor mixing for the six aux buses. (HP60 is probably the only one that can turn the aux signal into mono with a button while keeping the master stereo.) Then I would mix them in the headphone amp, thus getting both stereo monitoring and individual control over the added levels for each musician. The best solution you could get for the price!

The ipad app is great, and for extra five bucks or so you can get one for an iphone too. Android should also be supported.

Contrary to the reports on the internet, I have not yet discovered any issues with the wireless connection through the built-in wifi.

Getting all the input channels sent individually to a computer via usb is also a great feature which allows recording all the rehearsal sessions for future analysis.

Additionally, the effect section was a pleasant surprise, including the sub-octaver!

Behringer to take over the world

After the last rebate, this box is a total winner.

First of all, it can record 18 channel to PC, cheaper than any sound card out there; this was the dealmaker for me.

The mixer itself has that modern clean and no fuss sound that pretty much every box nowadays has. It's no Neve, but again it's clean and low noise enough to be very usable.

The interface is neat (I use it on android phone & tablet, and on osx) and the mixer, for this price, has pretty much anything you could want, routing is impressive, you can tap sound from wherever, you can assign things around, it could even work as an inline mixer with your DAW if you set USB correctly, channel layout is clear and full of options.

I'm utterly impressed, overall, this mixer has been very well thought out with the final user in mind.

The very few cons: use an external router, and on board effects are short of good (reverb in particular sounds the same crap whatever option you pull up).

Great overall but the Windows app could be better

I bought the mixer at a ridiculously discounted price which makes it difficult to criticize anything about it because the quality to price and features to price ratios are almost insane. However I allow myself to add two remarks to the XR18?s short list of cons you can find here and there in other reviews.

1. Two first channels labeled ?Hi-Z? right above the input socket make it possible to plug a guitar of a bass directly without a DI box and while the idea is great and the sound in signal to noise terms is identical to the one you get using a nice DI the high impedance affects somehow the performance of these channels when you plug in a typical dynamic microphone whose low sensitivity requires a solid boost from the preamp. In such a case the level of noise vs. the signal seems higher than in case of the other 14 channels with the same mic plugged in. The first two channels seem to produce a slight noise even with nothing plugged in if you don?t mute them. According to a manufacturer?s representative who explained this phenomenon at a web forum it?s normal as those two Hi-Z-capable channels have no impedance switch built in so the ?Hi-Z? feature remains active even with an XLR cable plugged in and hence the extra noise. I know nothing about electronics but this speaks to my imagination somehow as well as the promise of extended lifespan of such a switchless preamp but still it seems weird that the noise just resides there nonetheless. My first thought was that the first two channels were defective and I almost sent the unit back as the main purpose of the mixer for me is to do multichannel recordings including those of acoustic instruments and voices so the signal to noise ratio is a key factor to me. Now that I know the truth I just remember to use high sensitivity condenser mics with those two channels to reduce the preamps? drive and improve the noise performance.

2. The Windows app, while easy to use and generally clear, lacks a full screen fader only view I know from another manufacturer?s app. Big, tall faders are sometimes the only thing you need to set your levels properly and you could easily forget about other features of a selected channel like compressor or eq settings that you always see in a window over the row of faders whose scale remains reduced to less-than-half-window-tall. On the other hand, the row of meters above the faders in the ?mixer view? could have been easily integrated with the then magnified faders. And while the app?s GUI allows the user to scale it as a whole, you can scroll the magnified view only horizontally so the faders and MUTE buttons disappear behind the lower edge of the screen and remain invisible until the ?standard? scaling is restored. Maybe it?s not something you would hate the app for but in some situations during live mixing you may get confused while in that very moment you?re supposed to react quickly.

That being said I?m very satisfied with the mixer as well as the quality of recordings I?ve made with it. The driver is stable with the DAWs I use (Reaper and Bitwig Studio) and mixing the DAW output with the mixer?s input signals is also seamless which is important when artists need tailored monitor mixes for overdubbing.

Small and clever

For the price, it is a very very good gadget!

The sound quality is fairly good and enjoyable.

The feature set is rich and it has everything you need for a small or medium size band but in some situations, you will wish some other channels.

The software provided on several platforms (Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, etc.), and it is clear and functional.

Unfortunately, you can use a wifi router in case you want to control it in a wired and wireless mode simultaneously.

Built in wifi seems to be not enough stable, but you can try to use a better antenna in a higher position above the stage.

It would be nice to have a 24in//10out version of this equipment.

So far so good

We have only used it once at one of our gigs and it worked well. Sound engineer was very happy when he saw he would be using it and all went as planned with no issues. So far so good and looking forward to many more gigs with it.

:-)

This is a killer digital mixer. I'm using it with my PC and android tablet and I experienced no problem. It is better than I expected and it is the best mixer I have ever had.

There is just one thing I had preferred to see different: the connections are all on the front panel, so that if you put it in a rack (and you can) and you have other gear on the same rack to be connected to the XR you might need a patchbay, to allow cables to pass from the rear of the other rack into the frontal input of the XR. Moreover, rack mounting it prevents you to access the power switch, that is positioned on the right side. But that's the only minus. For the rest it is easy to use (there are several videos that explain how to use it, a better source of information than the manual), light, small and providing really outstanding capabilities.

Each input, then has several dedicated and independent processors (compressor, eq, gate) and you can also add up to four other processors that have to be shared among the 18 inputs. Really not bad!!!!

A game-changing digital mixer...just brilliant!

Behringer have an absolute winner here. Compact, loaded with functions and features, solid, functions incredibly well and looks fantastic.

I have used this for over two years now, in a full live band situation and it has performed superbly. The XAir software is very flexible and provides a level of control that is hard to beat. It's an all-in-one solution that allows you to get rid of your old mixer, stage box, effects units and more...

New users may find it slightly tricky to get their head into this set-up, as opposed to a traditional analogue desk. But very quickly it will all fall into place. And they won?t look back!

very good mixer

nice mixer, easy to carry everywhere, I recommend it and also recommend the gator bag - made especially for this mixer.

cons: the incorporated wireless has a weak wi-fi signal and you lose it's not strong and you lose your connection easily the wi-fi connection

ecxellent sound

Excellent sound with the Midas preamps . Using it in small gigs indoor and outdoor never let me down . Always using Lan connection beacause wifi some times is not responding but with two long usb and Lan cables problem solved . No need to carry heavy rack with effects instead.

The future is here...

This desk has changed my life! No more lugging around outboard or having to set up a sound booth. I use this for festival bands and speeches and love the freedom it gives me, both in the amount of processing and the wireless connectivity.

I use the XR18 with a 4.2k Yamaha DSR PA, SM58s, AKG blueline condensors and AT MBK instrument mics. the system sounds great, my only negative comments would be that the parametric eqs are a bit weak and that the reverbs could be better.

You can hardwire a laptop to it, set it as an access point or connect it to a wireless network. I have only experienced connectivity issues once when controlling it from my android phone via its built in access point. This was in a packed nightclub. You can switch control devices without interrupting anything. The actual box itself has never glitched or failed and ive been using it intensively for 6 months.

As an added bonus it has 18ch I/O via USB. Awesome machine.