X32 Discussion

re: X32 Discussion

Quick question:
I have been using the powerplay system since the day they started shipping in the US. I own 10 mixers, 1 input module and 1 distro. I love em and so does everyone who uses them. My problem seems is that now with the X32 (that i own) I can only use one distro out of the mixer which only has 8 outputs. And behringer says you cant run a distro into a distro, and i really dont want to have to start powering the mixers individually and running the thru port...does anyone have any ideas? Bc without the input unit it seems that you are limited to 8 mixers powered over ethernet? I assumes that once the S16s start shipping I can get another distro but what can I do now?
 
re: X32 Discussion

Forrest Houghton said:
Well....I am having a little problem and cant seem to figure it out. I had been using XControl 0.5 with the X32 (1.08) seamlessly. Everything worked as it should. I just downloaded the new XControl 0.7 and got it up and running but when I try to connect it to the console it throws up an error saying incompatible console firmware even though I am at the latest version.
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The new Xiremote version needs the firmware 1.09! Should be up in somedays I guess. So better roll back to V 0.5.
Christian
 
re: X32 Discussion

Richard Simpson said:
New version of xicontrol available today ver .7 gives 200 scene capability.
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That’s what it says it does but I downloaded it and ran it and I can’t see a way to make it handle more then 100.

Also have you tried saving a show? It writes a headed file and a file for every scene. So if you have 100 scenes that’s 101 files. There also seems to be a bug when you go to import a scene they aren’t all showing up in the file list even though if you use windows to look at the files it has made they are all there.

I still don’t see a way to insert a scene.

I looked at all the info in the files with a text editor. It looks interesting.
 
re: X32 Discussion

Installed the console and I'm testing every channel. It appears I can't get input from channels 9-16 or 25-32. Haven't test all the outputs yet except for 15/16.

I've verified the routing is all set to local inputs, and when I assign inputs 9-16 to local 1-8 I get signal on those channels. Perhaps I have two bad 8 channel input cards. Unless this is something I'm missing I'm none too pleased about this. To be fair, the same thing happened with our SC48 output card so I'm not gonna knock Behringer on this, but can someone from tech support please contact me?

I've been on hold waiting to speak with tech support for 20 minutes and have don't have time to sit on my phone all day.

Thanks.

EDIT: Also tried doing a firmware update but when I plug in the usb stick and power on it won't update so I'm stuck on 1.02.
 
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re: X32 Discussion

Shy Clyman said:
Quick question:
I have been using the powerplay system since the day they started shipping in the US. I own 10 mixers, 1 input module and 1 distro. I love em and so does everyone who uses them. My problem seems is that now with the X32 (that i own) I can only use one distro out of the mixer which only has 8 outputs. And behringer says you cant run a distro into a distro, and i really dont want to have to start powering the mixers individually and running the thru port...does anyone have any ideas? Bc without the input unit it seems that you are limited to 8 mixers powered over ethernet? I assumes that once the S16s start shipping I can get another distro but what can I do now?
Click to expand...
You can get another distro and try anyway ;)~;-)~:wink:

Very little is known about the Ultranet, but it would be a strange thing if it didn't work, because there is no indication that the net keeps track of the devices. If it doesn't work off the distributor, daisy it off one of the P mixers. If that doesn't work, you won't really have lost anything since you are buying another one anyway. ( If for some strange reason it blows up, the only thing I can imagine would be the P16-D trying to draw power from the connection and overloading the other P16-D, that would have to be a design flaw)
Remeber also that you can have almost as many daisy chained P-16 mixers as you want, but only the ones plugged into the distro will be powered by the distro, the other P16s need their power supply.
 
re: X32 Discussion

Per Søvik said:
You can get another distro and try anyway ;)~;-)~:wink:

Very little is known about the Ultranet, but it would be a strange thing if it didn't work, because there is no indication that the net keeps track of the devices. If it doesn't work off the distributor, daisy it off one of the P mixers. If that doesn't work, you won't really have lost anything since you are buying another one anyway. ( If for some strange reason it blows up, the only thing I can imagine would be the P16-D trying to draw power from the connection and overloading the other P16-D, that would have to be a design flaw)
Remeber also that you can have almost as many daisy chained P-16 mixers as you want, but only the ones plugged into the distro will be powered by the distro, the other P16s need their power supply.
Click to expand...

Yeah Im probly just gonna try. I really dont want to have to power any mixers, it keeps a cleaner stage that way
 
re: X32 Discussion

Kevin Maxwell said:
That’s what it says it does but I downloaded it and ran it and I can’t see a way to make it handle more then 100.

Also have you tried saving a show? It writes a headed file and a file for every scene. So if you have 100 scenes that’s 101 files. There also seems to be a bug when you go to import a scene they aren’t all showing up in the file list even though if you use windows to look at the files it has made they are all there.

I still don’t see a way to insert a scene.

I looked at all the info in the files with a text editor. It looks interesting.
Click to expand...

I tried different ways to make up a show of more than 100 scenes, but no luck.

Edit: Now I've got it, from the remote you can access both the show loaded on the console and the show loaded on the remote. Haven't updated the console, so I don't know if you have the same dual access from the console.
 
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re: X32 Discussion

Has anyone had issues connecting their X32 to their Macbook using Windows XP in Parallels? Every time I open the X-UF control panel and plug-in the USB cable, Windows restarts. It's an endless loop! :x~:-x~:mad:
 
re: X32 Discussion

Per Søvik said:
Very little is known about the Ultranet, but it would be a strange thing if it didn't work, because there is no indication that the net keeps track of the devices.
Click to expand...

I have never seen inside any of he boxes... actually never even held a p16m... but I strongly suspect the format is just balanced ADAT. Two pairs of wires carrying 8 channels each = 16 channels. This leaves the other 4 free for power.

Why do I guess this?
1. Behringer are very smart and reuse designs where possible
2. The Ultranet bus is unidirectional
3. It is an established technology although not a standard. I used a bunch of converters to send ADAT over ethernet like this from my DDX3216 years ago - I didn't send power though.
4. Look at the input box... why do you think it has ADAT inputs?
5. Look at the s16 stage box... if you go to the effort of including ADAT outputs then there's very cost adding Ultranet and vice versa.

I hope Behringer don't mind me posting this guess. Please don't anyone base decisions about plugging things in based on what I've guessed above. If you are a competent person with a multimeter or scope you can see if I am right.

In relation to your question about feeding distributors from each other... it may be as simple as just not connecting all the wires in the Ethernet cable. Just don't connect the power wires.

I think the idea of the personal monitors are great. I will be buying at least one soon for our drummer who uses headphones.
 
re: X32 Discussion

David Emery said:
Has anyone had issues connecting their X32 to their Macbook using Windows XP in Parallels? Every time I open the X-UF control panel and plug-in the USB cable, Windows restarts. It's an endless loop! :x~:-x~:mad:
Click to expand...
You know what breaks Windows? Frustrated Mac users throwing their computers thru' them!

Sorry, couldn't resist :twisted:
 
Event Photos

Hi,

Just some quick photos from last night's event.

Room is about 5,900 sq ft. Seats about 450 people.

This was our 29th time in this room, over the past 11 years. This was the best audio we've ever had in the house, and on stage.

Worked out that we had another X32, so we quickly set it up for monitor duty. (A few people at Behringer made that happen – thank you! That was an unexpected surprise.) Four monitor mixes, in addition to one P16-M feed.

Ran the mics to FOH via the analog snake, and then back to the monitor board via a 150' shielded CAT-6 cable. FOH was the master.

The X32 is really easy to use. The guy sitting at the monitor board has been mixing for 7+ years, and has mixed on the X32 twice. (Although, he has watched me mix on it for a few weeks.) It was his call if he wanted to mix monitors from it.

We had an initial problem getting them connected. There was sync on both ends, but they weren’t showing a connected device. I set a 30 minute time-frame for a go/no-go decision. After checking all of the routing, I eventually tried power-cycling the monitor X32. That did not resolve the problem. I powered-cycled the FOH board (the master, in this case). It connected, and all was good.

We did have a problem with playing back a previously recorded show from Firewire.

Signal chain was: Computer (running Reaper) ---> Firewire ---> X32 (FOH) AES50A ---> X32 (Monitor) AES50.

I had full audio at FOH, just as though it was live. But, at the monitor X32, complete audio was missing from at least two channels. There was just no signal on those channels.

One of the channels was 9, the other was 13. The other channels were fine. (Including 11 and 12.)

This problem only happened when playing back. It did not happen when I switched the FOH board back to Local inputs. Nor were there any problems with the monitor board on Local inputs. Nor were there any problems when the FOH board was feeding the monitor board with Locally sourced inputs. The problem only occurred when the FOH board's inputs were set to Card, and was feeding the monitor board via AES50A.

Although my monitor tech couldn't do a virtual sound check, a traditional sound check went great.

The equipment at FOH has been minimized. Rack on the left has a CD player, a DCX2496, and some storage. Rack on the right has a computer for recording and Power Point. The other screen is a tablet PC, running a spectrum analyzer.

Eric H.

IMG_9121.JPGIMG_9126.JPGIMG_9116.JPG
 
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re: X32 Discussion

Per Søvik said:
You know what breaks Windows? Frustrated Mac users throwing their computers thru' them!

Sorry, couldn't resist :twisted:
Click to expand...

I wish I had another option :) I run parallels for one piece of software and don't have any true Windows based system. Was hoping to play with the X32 via the virtual soundcheck but falling at the first hurdle of getting the computer & X32 to talk is disappointing, not that I'm blaming Behringer here. I'll have to try and rule things out and just keep on trying!
 
re: X32 Discussion

Per Søvik said:
I tried different ways to make up a show of more than 100 scenes, but no luck.

Edit: Now I've got it, from the remote you can access both the show loaded on the console and the show loaded on the remote. Haven't updated the console, so I don't know if you have the same dual access from the console.
Click to expand...

I don’t have a console to play with I have just played with a demo unit in a store. I am just looking at the off line software at the moment.

The fact that they came up with a way to increase the number of scenes the way they did is discouraging to me. If the DSP in the X32 is limited and can’t handle more then 100 scenes I would like to know that and stop wasting my time looking at the X32. I don’t want to HAVE TO use a computer hooked up to the surface. But it’s nice to be ABLE TO if you want to.

Now don’t get me wrong I think the X32 looks great just maybe not for my use for theatrical shows.


BTW I am 51% Norwegian.
 
re: X32 Discussion

Joshua Bessom said:
It's on the server just not the website: http://www.behringerdownload.de/X32/X32_Firmware_1.09.zip
(hope I don't get in trouble for that!)
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That cat is already out of the bag.

If they want, they'll just find another way to distribute pre-release versions to people doing testing. Or, maybe not. Maybe they’ll leave it alone for people quick enough to figure it out.

Problem is... If a tester found a problem, that Behringer subsequently fixed before public release... Would they call it 1.09 or 1.10 (and skip 1.09)?

If I were Behringer, in that case, I would skip 1.09, and call it 1.10. (Either that, or 1.09.01 or 1.09a.)

Once a version has even been made semi-public, its version reference should be set in stone.

I do like Behringer's "release early, release often" model.

That said, unless I have an immediate problem, I usually let updates sit for awhile.

The cutting edge can sometimes be the bleeding edge. (This isn't a knock on Behringer, at all. There's just a big difference between the results from a handful of testers, and the results from thousands of end-users.)

Eric H.
 
re: X32 Discussion

Kevin Maxwell said:
The fact that they came up with a way to increase the number of scenes the way they did is discouraging to me. If the DSP in the X32 is limited and can’t handle more then 100 scenes I would like to know
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DSP and memory are two separate items. But, they are related.

DSP (Digital Signal Processing) requires processing time.

Memory is finite, too. However, it can be allocated differently.

Maybe Behringer figured out a way to store more data, in the same amount of space.

As an aside, it used to be, programmers were very good at designing efficient software, because hardware was so limiting. (Both in memory and processing.) It’s still limiting, but not like it was 30+ years ago. Quite frankly, a lot of programmers today don’t have the same skills as those in retirement now, because those skills aren’t as critical. (That’s why we have so many Windows applications that leak memory. Quite frankly, it’s just poor programming.) I digress.

In any event, I believe we're only talking about Scenes within a Show. Worse case, there might be points in the production where maybe you could load another Show.

Eric H.
 
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re: X32 Discussion

Remember that it's way easier to modify the PC app than it is to do the work to modify the X32 firmware. If you make a change on the PC app and it has unintended consequences that lock up the app well - just release a new one. You'd want to to a whole lot more quality assurance testing with any firmware update. Any error introduced into the firmware could lead to very unhappy product owners. I would expect a few people have to check and sign off any changes to firmware before release.
 
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