I thought I'd offer up my impressions of the new D2D recording card for the X32.
First up, some info about me. I do not work for Cymatic. I live in the UK and have owned an X32 for just over 3 years.
Up until recently, I used a laptop to record 32 tracks of audio over the USB connection. I found this less than reliable, mostly due to the age of the laptop.
I switched to a Dante card and found this more reliable, but the laptop was still the weak link in the chain.
Faced with upgrading the laptop to something that would be out of date in a few years time, I was keen to look into alternative ways to get multitrack audio recorded from the X32.
The uTrack32 card came out at just the right time.
I got in early and got my card for around £550 rather than the £600+ RRP. It's still a bit expensive, but not that much more than the Dante card (which is now used in my studio X32 having improved playback reliability).
The card itself is just like another other X32 expansion card, with the exception of its colour. Yes, it's orange. Very orange.
Fitting it is as easy as removing two screws, removing the old card, putting the uTrack32 card in place and tightening up two screws.
Behringer could have used thumbscrews rather than plain cross-head ones, which would have made loosening and tightening them a tool-less job, but as swapping out expansion cards is not something that is done very often, it's just about bearable.
One in position, I found that the uTrack32 card faceplate is thicker than the Behringer ones, meaning that it sits proud of the back panel slightly. Not really an issue, as this part of the X32 is closed off by the dogbox of the case its in, so it's never seen anyway.
Following the instructions, I connected the network connection into the wireless router I had in the dogbox. My laptop also plugs into this. I use an iPad for the wireless stuff.
I installed the uRemote software onto the laptop.
I purchased a 256GB external SSD drive to use with the uTrack32 and I connected that to the relevant USB connection on the card.
As per advice I had read online, once the SSD was connected, I used the card to format it.
You can initiate a disk format from either the card itself or from the remote software.
The latter is easier to do, as to do it from the card, you will need a hairpin or similar to press the relevant switch on the card (it's sunk into the card like this to prevent it from being pushed accidentally).
256GB takes around 6 or 7 minutes to format this way.
Once done, the card is ready to go.
It's a fire and forget solution, what more do I need to say?
Using the uRemote software on my laptop, I was able to start the recording at the top of the show and stop it again when the show finished.
I should also point out that I also use the laptop to run XEdit as well. I can report that both programs co-existed and ran concurrently with no issues or conflicts.
The only thing I noticed was that the time elapsed clock in the uRemote software did not refresh very often.
I would switch programs from XEdit and see that the clock on uRemote was frozen.
Whilst I wasn't sure at the time, I put this down to the age of the laptop (5 years old) and it not being able to keep up with the data it was handling from XEdit and uRemote at the same time.
It wasn't until I hit stop on the uRemote software that everything looked more normal, with a recording time shown as the same length of time as the show.
It looks like sending data out of the network port is a lower priority for the card than audio data going to the USB hard drive is. That's how it should be.
My particular show that night was in two halves. One being 75 minutes and the other 90 minutes.
Stopping the recording at the end of the first half created a "Take 1" in the uRemote software.
The second half of the show was referred to as "Take 2".
That's only terminology. Recording live shows as I do, there aren't really the opportunities to grab a second or third take.
With the show over and the uRemote software showing no errors, I can safely say that half the first half of the overall job was done without issue.
The other half would be determined by how useable the recorded data would be.
Taking my SSD drive into my studio, I took a look at its contents.
There were a dozen or so 2GB WAV files in the Multitrack folder, which may seem too few at first glance, but is perfectly normal.
The uTrack32 card records all 32 channels from the desk as a single WAV file (multitrack).
Once these files get to 2GB in size, a new file is created with no break in the audio stream.
These files do not play back in Media Player.
To do anything with the multitrack audio, you need uTools installed on your PC (I can't comment on Mac compatibility as I don't have one).
This allows you to access the recorded data and to do things with it.
If you want to, you can play back direct from the recording, into a 32 channel mixer screen, complete with faders, pan, mute and solo buttons per channel.
I'm not sure how useful this is, as the mixer software has no FX available to it, nor automation.
Still, it's there and it works.
You can also load a multitrack file into another screen where by it is split into individual tracks that you can playback one at a time.
Again, not sure of the usefulness, but it works.
Gimmicks aside, what anyone would really want to do is to split the multitrack audio into separate audio tracks so that they can be loaded into a DAW for proper mixdown/processing.
Sure enough, that function is there.
Locating the multitrack file is not as easy as it could be (it's referred to as a 'take' if you remember), as you have to locate the folder the recording is in rather than the file itself, but once done, it really is a case of hitting "Expand" and waiting for the program to do its thing.
Once done, you have 32 individual WAV files sitting there ready for you to work on.
Each file is a mono WAV taken from one channel of the desk and can be played using Media Player if you so want to.
I'm typing this from memory rather than being sat at my studio computer but I can remember being a little bit frustrated at the fact that channel names are not carried across from the desk to the recording. So rather than having meaningful track titles such as Bass, Kick, Snare, etc, you have Track 01, Track 02, Track 03, etc.
You'll have to do that mapping manually.
So there it is, my user review of the uTrack32 card.
It really does what is says on the tin. Plug in a hard drive to the USB slot on the card, hit Record on the software and it's done.
No messing around with software, network connections, USB drivers, mappings, etc.
Just Plug and Play/record.
In fact, you don't really need an external device running the control software. You could just push the record button on the card itself and you're off and running.
Using the uTool software for post-production expansion of the single WAV file is straight forward enough, despite the track naming frustration I mentioned. There aren't many things that are 100% right from day one. It does what it is supposed to.
I have not tried playback into the card for a virtual soundcheck, as I have no need for that function.
For multitrack recording from the X32, I am considerably more confident about the reliability and consistency of the recordings that I was about when I was sending data through USB or the network via Dante to my laptop.
Yes, the card is not exactly cheap, but it does mean that you don't have to carry a top spec laptop with you (actually compared to a top spec laptop, the uTrack32 card is cheaper), or mess around with connecting it, loading DAW software, enabling record on every channel and then pressing the record button. Life is too short for all that messing around.
For me, it meets my requirements.
I would recommend it to anyone who is serious about multitrack recording with their X32.
Karl.
First up, some info about me. I do not work for Cymatic. I live in the UK and have owned an X32 for just over 3 years.
Up until recently, I used a laptop to record 32 tracks of audio over the USB connection. I found this less than reliable, mostly due to the age of the laptop.
I switched to a Dante card and found this more reliable, but the laptop was still the weak link in the chain.
Faced with upgrading the laptop to something that would be out of date in a few years time, I was keen to look into alternative ways to get multitrack audio recorded from the X32.
The uTrack32 card came out at just the right time.
I got in early and got my card for around £550 rather than the £600+ RRP. It's still a bit expensive, but not that much more than the Dante card (which is now used in my studio X32 having improved playback reliability).
The card itself is just like another other X32 expansion card, with the exception of its colour. Yes, it's orange. Very orange.
Fitting it is as easy as removing two screws, removing the old card, putting the uTrack32 card in place and tightening up two screws.
Behringer could have used thumbscrews rather than plain cross-head ones, which would have made loosening and tightening them a tool-less job, but as swapping out expansion cards is not something that is done very often, it's just about bearable.
One in position, I found that the uTrack32 card faceplate is thicker than the Behringer ones, meaning that it sits proud of the back panel slightly. Not really an issue, as this part of the X32 is closed off by the dogbox of the case its in, so it's never seen anyway.
Following the instructions, I connected the network connection into the wireless router I had in the dogbox. My laptop also plugs into this. I use an iPad for the wireless stuff.
I installed the uRemote software onto the laptop.
I purchased a 256GB external SSD drive to use with the uTrack32 and I connected that to the relevant USB connection on the card.
As per advice I had read online, once the SSD was connected, I used the card to format it.
You can initiate a disk format from either the card itself or from the remote software.
The latter is easier to do, as to do it from the card, you will need a hairpin or similar to press the relevant switch on the card (it's sunk into the card like this to prevent it from being pushed accidentally).
256GB takes around 6 or 7 minutes to format this way.
Once done, the card is ready to go.
It's a fire and forget solution, what more do I need to say?
Using the uRemote software on my laptop, I was able to start the recording at the top of the show and stop it again when the show finished.
I should also point out that I also use the laptop to run XEdit as well. I can report that both programs co-existed and ran concurrently with no issues or conflicts.
The only thing I noticed was that the time elapsed clock in the uRemote software did not refresh very often.
I would switch programs from XEdit and see that the clock on uRemote was frozen.
Whilst I wasn't sure at the time, I put this down to the age of the laptop (5 years old) and it not being able to keep up with the data it was handling from XEdit and uRemote at the same time.
It wasn't until I hit stop on the uRemote software that everything looked more normal, with a recording time shown as the same length of time as the show.
It looks like sending data out of the network port is a lower priority for the card than audio data going to the USB hard drive is. That's how it should be.
My particular show that night was in two halves. One being 75 minutes and the other 90 minutes.
Stopping the recording at the end of the first half created a "Take 1" in the uRemote software.
The second half of the show was referred to as "Take 2".
That's only terminology. Recording live shows as I do, there aren't really the opportunities to grab a second or third take.
With the show over and the uRemote software showing no errors, I can safely say that half the first half of the overall job was done without issue.
The other half would be determined by how useable the recorded data would be.
Taking my SSD drive into my studio, I took a look at its contents.
There were a dozen or so 2GB WAV files in the Multitrack folder, which may seem too few at first glance, but is perfectly normal.
The uTrack32 card records all 32 channels from the desk as a single WAV file (multitrack).
Once these files get to 2GB in size, a new file is created with no break in the audio stream.
These files do not play back in Media Player.
To do anything with the multitrack audio, you need uTools installed on your PC (I can't comment on Mac compatibility as I don't have one).
This allows you to access the recorded data and to do things with it.
If you want to, you can play back direct from the recording, into a 32 channel mixer screen, complete with faders, pan, mute and solo buttons per channel.
I'm not sure how useful this is, as the mixer software has no FX available to it, nor automation.
Still, it's there and it works.
You can also load a multitrack file into another screen where by it is split into individual tracks that you can playback one at a time.
Again, not sure of the usefulness, but it works.
Gimmicks aside, what anyone would really want to do is to split the multitrack audio into separate audio tracks so that they can be loaded into a DAW for proper mixdown/processing.
Sure enough, that function is there.
Locating the multitrack file is not as easy as it could be (it's referred to as a 'take' if you remember), as you have to locate the folder the recording is in rather than the file itself, but once done, it really is a case of hitting "Expand" and waiting for the program to do its thing.
Once done, you have 32 individual WAV files sitting there ready for you to work on.
Each file is a mono WAV taken from one channel of the desk and can be played using Media Player if you so want to.
I'm typing this from memory rather than being sat at my studio computer but I can remember being a little bit frustrated at the fact that channel names are not carried across from the desk to the recording. So rather than having meaningful track titles such as Bass, Kick, Snare, etc, you have Track 01, Track 02, Track 03, etc.
You'll have to do that mapping manually.
So there it is, my user review of the uTrack32 card.
It really does what is says on the tin. Plug in a hard drive to the USB slot on the card, hit Record on the software and it's done.
No messing around with software, network connections, USB drivers, mappings, etc.
Just Plug and Play/record.
In fact, you don't really need an external device running the control software. You could just push the record button on the card itself and you're off and running.
Using the uTool software for post-production expansion of the single WAV file is straight forward enough, despite the track naming frustration I mentioned. There aren't many things that are 100% right from day one. It does what it is supposed to.
I have not tried playback into the card for a virtual soundcheck, as I have no need for that function.
For multitrack recording from the X32, I am considerably more confident about the reliability and consistency of the recordings that I was about when I was sending data through USB or the network via Dante to my laptop.
Yes, the card is not exactly cheap, but it does mean that you don't have to carry a top spec laptop with you (actually compared to a top spec laptop, the uTrack32 card is cheaper), or mess around with connecting it, loading DAW software, enabling record on every channel and then pressing the record button. Life is too short for all that messing around.
For me, it meets my requirements.
I would recommend it to anyone who is serious about multitrack recording with their X32.
Karl.
