Behringer X Air XR18 Reviews

XR18

Good and cheap, while other similar product have an high cost but similar features, perfect for small or medium bands, due to it's widely use, a lot of informations can be found on many forum and social environment, a bit tricky in the first approach but after learned it's very good product

Great piece of equipment!

It's very compact and easy to carry around, especially in the gator carry bag. Light weight and easy to set up. Blends easily onstage with rest of equipment - looks like a stage box. Can be fit into a rack with mounting brackets included. Some issues with connectivity, will recommend using an external router as signal tends to be lost at the most unfortunate of times. Still keeps on functioning normally if signal/connectivity is lost but you wouldn't have control over it. Connectivity can be secured with a password. Can be controlled by multiple devices at the same time. Can be used with ethernet cable. Great software/interface, easy to get used to and very user friendly. My first 'digital' mixer and managed to get it up and running in a few seconds. Would recommend to small to medium sized bands. Outputs can be assigned as necessary for live or recording.

I love this thing!

Have been using it for a few months now, for myself on stage with a band, and for mixing other musicians.

I use it with an iPad and it works perfectly.

A few pointers:

1- The phone app (as expected) is not the best. Much better to use a tablet, which works great.

2- Use an external router. The built in wifi is very weak. Don't find yourself stuck in a gig with no signal. Also expected.

3- If you're a band and want you mix yourself, get an ipad stand (K&M make a great one).

This mixer will definitely change your live gig experience.

Awesome Mixer for a Gigging Band

We are a four piece rock cover band and bought this mixer last year. We use it for weekly rehearsals and gigging. It has worked flawlessly throughout all of this use. I cannot emphasize enough how much capability this Mixer gives you for the price. Even just the dynamics processing available on every channel (noise gate, compressor, eq) gives masses of capability without any additional hardware, you can get an amazing sound/mix if you know a bit about sound processing/mixing. On top of this you get the internal effects which are excellent quality.

We control the Mixer wirelessly over wifi with iPads and MacBook.

Being able to leave the box on the stage and control it wirelessly from front of house is priceless. The only mildly negative comment I will make is in regard of the internal wifi router which is only 2.4g and doesn't have the best security. I now view this more of a token inclusion for self contained capability. We had a few latency issues (visual response of faders to movement on iPad). I would strongly recommend using an external 5g router plugged into the Ethernet port, this is what we did and the response is now flawless with multiple devices simultaneously connected.

Behringer support is also very good, there are period firmware and app software updates, so they are actively supporting and improving the capability.

This device is the best purchase a small gigging band can make, capability vs cost is phenomenal. Don't hesitate and buy one now! It is impossible to be disappointed with this product.

great portable mixer

Bought this mixer as i didn't have enough to buy the likes of a QU-16. Ive done a lot of iPad mixing in the past (mainly on QU-24 and Soundcraft Expression) so was interested to see how the app would shape up. i find that each app has its own pros and cons but i find that the x air app doesn't run quite as well as the others (tried on brand new iPad). The meters freeze a lot and the db reading on each channel would just read 0.0db even after moving fader. all in all great desk and a bargain at the price. would highly recommend and I'm sure the iPad app will be ongoingly improved.

Very good for club gigs

I use it to small / medium live rock gigs, has very good sound and very good connectivity by wireless with the laptop/tablet. I use it for over one year, in more than 50 gigs, if sometimes (rarely) looses connection with the laptop, you can easily connect back. It never had any issues at all. I am very happy with the purchase, I strongly recommand it.

easy, even for beginners

We are SULFEET, a heavy metal band from Belgium. We are 5 members, 3 of them never played in a band nor have been on a stage. To learn them how to manage their own monitoring, they use a wired in-ear system connected to the XR18, and their Android phone for in-ear mixing.

The thing that make this application very simple is, they can connect to their channel only, so they are not confused by all the other settings they don't need.

You get A LOT for a GOOD price.

And for the more ambitious and advanced user, there is enough to experience.

Playing without a PA in a small club is a peace of cake AND no fuzz carrying a lot of gear.

We don't regret the risk bying something we had no experience with!!

Love the X Air XR18

Absolutely amazing... love it. I have been using this since the day I got my hands on. Value for money and I definitely recommend this little monster to anyone who wants to perform live with the best quality audio.

There is no competition...

Bought it to use it as back up console ~10 months ago for a small live performance only band and i ended up using it as main console...

we are very happy with the device and never regret it we bought it.

excellent compact device

very good sound. Everything you need in a small box!

excellent control apps i use pc, android and ipad versions all are very good.

cons:

the network switch is not the best quality... it didn't gave me any problems yet but i am afraid to use it much...

we had some serious problems with the build in WiFi in some very WiFi congested areas it was impossible to establish connection with the device. even at very close distances.

but i don't consider that it is a device problem since we had the same issues when we used a cheap 2,4Ghz router with both consoles. at the same areas.

Problem solved temporarily with an Ethernet utp wire connected to a laptop.. and the job was done...

we bought a dual band (2,4Ghz/5Ghz) good quality

wireless router (i highly recommend to do it ASAP) and we have no problems since then.

another problem is that the device have not relays or other kind of protection at outputs.

it may seriously damage your speakers if you forget to turn them off BEFORE you power of the console. please remember that.

Taken my recording and live work to the next level!

I bought this desk to replace my analogue system, I'd used the X32 before and knew it was great but this desk is phenomenal for the price. I play every weekend at wedding/functions. We have gone from 1 floor wedge and 2 vocal mics open and using backline to being able to at the drop of a hat mic up the entire stage, multitrack the show full 16 tracks into Logic and mix 3 sets of IEMs and FOH all from my iPad and Mac... all from the stagebox?? It's insanely good and sounds great. Also the only reason feature is only 4*s is because Behringer haven't made an iPhone App for the mixer yet which would be amazing. Never had any trouble with drop outs in the situations I've used it in, I know some people have but as the front man/sound guy everything is close by so I'm never more than 6/7m from the desk and it always works well. Also the recordings from this desk are great, the preamps are actually all they're hyped to be by Behringer, nice and clean with loads of headroom and theres enough features to make the cheapest microphone EQ up and sound great.

Steep learning curve....

The lego-kit of mixers for anyone not experience with digital mixers. Initially, a nightmare getting to grips how everything relates to something and is adjustable in all directions.

In the end, trying - > watching "how-to" videos->trying again, and then repeat pays off. This really delivers and enables such control and a wealth of features. A great buy and never looked back. We where unfortunate with the 1st one arriving dying within a week without any warning. Returned and got a new one and no issues since.

Excellent product

Behringer are going to clean up with this device. A very high quality digital mixer with stunning effects and great preamps. Plus you can operate it from the stage with an iPad!!

Great compact digital mixer

This mixer is a bargain for the price. It has 16 mic inputs and 4 effects engines. 6 aux/bus . It is very versatile with scene settings so you can save all your settings for particular songs or genres of music. We operate this through a large tablet. Never had any issues at all. Excellent sound quality. We carry it in a 4u short Gator style case. Its very light and easy to handle. Comes with rack ears for easy mounting in rack or rack style carry case. Much lighter than heavy analogue mixer we used to have. No more effects units, simply place on floor, cable up and turn the tablet on and away you go. No knobs get changed accidently. Select scene and all settings go back to original setting.

Amazing value for money, it's pretty much a slightly stripped down X32

If the amount of inputs are enough for the application, then this unit has pretty much anything you might need.

Some of the more sophisticated options the X32 has aren't available, but I guess they did that so there's some incentive to buy an X32 if you're in a more pro setting.

I'll do a pros and cons list.

Pros:

Very compact, especially considering what you get for that tiny size.

Huge amount of sonic control with parametric and graphic EQs, gates and compressors around, not to mention the big collection of effects/outboard-gear-simulators.

Very versatile routing options with Individual channel and bus(aux) settings.

Built in router can get you started or work as a backup in an emergency.

Scene saving and recalling (goes without saying for a digital console...).

Also works as an audio interface.

Cons (most are just minor incoveniences to be honest):

Behringer kinda rushed to put the XR series on the market and to this day there's no official manual to my knowledge, there's a wiki and plenty of stuff online though so you're not thrown in the deep by yourself.

You will eventually probably need an external router.

Some delay options for more sophisticated PA setups would be handy.

Scenes do not recall effects correctly and generally the android app, though quite good, could use some more refining (haven't tried out the iPad app).

Sockets-plugs are not bad, but I would be willing to pay a bit more for some higher quality ones like Neutrik.

No expansion capabilities for more inputs-outputs (I estimate that if Behringer made a 24 channel version of this mixer, it would sell like crazy because 16 is kinda minimal for a typical band).

I leave this for last and outside the list because it must be a personal issue cause I couldn't find anyone else having the same problem online, but for some reason I can't get the unit to work with system sound in my Windows PC (everything related with the ASIO drivers works fine).

Using Dan Duggan automix

I bought this for its automix feature. We had 16 DPA microphones being used at a large conference with mix for live TV OB. Over 2 hours of TV not one glitch.

Subsequently using as live mixer for events found it very good. Only small issues that when using the app their is a small lag in control very small but noticeable. On hardwired PC not as noticeable at all.

Great mixer for small gigs

I use this mixer for small gigs in bars, in tents.. Whenever 16 mic channels is enough. It sounds great! I used to use analog mixers in the past for small gigs (like zed or mixwizzard), but this one made my job much easier! No outboard gear.. Everything You need packed in a few kilos.

Of course, working with x32 is easier because you have actual faders and knobs there and you can do some changes more faster.. But when you are in a situation where you can't put your mixer in FOH, these little machine does great work!

I like the sound of effects, channel processing sounds good, everything does god job!

Shame that you can't use USB like mp3 player and press play via your tablet.. And built in Wifi could be better.

And I don't like that IOS and android tablet have different apps.

In the end. I would buy it over and over again! Maybe soon and xr12 for even smaller gigs :)

all is nice, but dificulte to understand, how to adjust setings... Information is poor, maybe for specialists is good. Mixer works exelent.But dont possible adjust on ipadad equalising

Great step to the world of digital mixers

Before this digital mixer I have used an analog PMH3000 powered mixer from Behringer for over 8 years. The analog mixer was a great starting point for my band, but after a while we had many requirements that was solved by the XR18. Very compact and small so nobody knows it's inside our rack. PC interface is simply great, and I can save my settings for different live situations. There's a built-in 18/18 usb interface which is amazing, and I can play and record multiple tracks simultaneously. The sound quality is surprisingly clean after listening the analog mixer, and the ability to use parametric or graphic eq on every channel is fantastic. Measuring audio spectrum and feedback is also an easy thing to do with XR18. There's a built-in 100 band RTA. I can configure the decay so I can measure room acoustic with pink noise and an RTA mic. Huge difference compared to the analog mixer.

Built-in router is good but I suggest to use an external router becasue of the simultaneous wired and wireless connections. I missed the security lock from the xlr connectors. And XR18 may become hot.

I like it

Replacing our older mixing table with the Xair 18 . first impressions: space saver, iPad mixing gives me the possibility to go in the room to create a good sound while the connection box is on stage. some good presents . controlling depends on the pc, iPad or android device you are using.

device has 48 volt for condenser microphones ;

I hope to be able to test all features of this box, but it looks ideal for our small band performances.

Best I ever had.

I bought the XR-18 as an alternative to lugging around my larger analog mixer and rack mounted interfaces and have no regrets! Sound quality is great, the multiple control options are a plus and wireless control with an external router is secure and rock solid. The USB interface works great with Studio One 2 Pro and Logic Pro X.

The EQ's, dynamics and effects are useful but I would like to see channel inserts for external processing favorites that I use in the studio and live. Doubling the channel and aux count would also be a nice touch. Overall, you cannot go wrong with the power and performance the XR-18 provides at this price point!