XR18 Gig Report

Chad Young

Freshman
May 17, 2011
59
0
0
North Central FL
Finally got a chance to run an XR18 through its paces at a live gig this week and thought I would share my results, thoughts, and observations on this unique little mixer.

About me: I am an IT guy by day and local sound guy on nights and weekends. I've been mixing off and on for a few decades, but only recently started doing some pro-level work with regional acts and c/d-list nationals. My digital desk experience is 01v, 01v96, X32, XR18, DL1608, and Soundcraft Vi series. My specialty is jazz and cabaret sound, but most of my recent pro work has been everything from punk to reggae.

A few weeks ago, I bought and received an XR18 and promptly had it set up in my work room for testing. Using the built-in access point, wired ethernet, and an external wireless access point, I was able to connect to the mixer easily via iPad (version 3) and a Windows 7 PC. The beta XAir Edit app on the PC was workable, but incomplete, as expected, and the iPad app also did not seem to be fully realised.

Fast forward to last week, Behringer releases a final non-beta XAir Edit app, firmware v1.09, and updated apps for iPad and Android. After installing the firmware and updatig the related apps, my personal XR18 mixer finally seemed to me to be complete enough to do a full gig. Lots of useful tools were implemented, the number of effects expanded, and the layout made cleaner and more useful.

Other posts are out there that go into great detail about the features and known issues, so I am going to focus instead on my experiences doing my first live gig at a local venue with their new XR18.

The gig: Two Regga/Ska bands at a local punk dive bar. This venue is not large, and tops out at about 75 people, but is a popular and well-known stopping point for up and coming punk, indie, and reggae artists. Volume is typically quite loud in this venue, especially for punk shows. The venue owners had purchased their own XR18, but the house tech had some issues and had not used it much yet. I decided to throw caution to the wind and dive right in with the house XR18.

The gear:
Mixer: XR18 (of coure) connected via 100BaseT to a Cisco/Linksys E3000 wireless access point. I was not sure if the house sound guy had locked down the built-in wireless so I brought my own.
FOH: 2 x Mackie 1530 powered speakers and 1 x sw1801 sub (aux fed)
Monitors: 2 x EV ELX112P downstage, 1 x Mackie 1530 for drum monitor
Mics: Shure 58/57, but one singer had his own Telefunken M80. Beta 52a for kick drum.
Mixing hardware: iPad 3, Windows 7 laptop with 17" screen, connected wirelessly via 802.11a/b/g.

Band number one was an indie Reggae band from Montreal. Three vocals up front (all SM58) and one drum vocal (SM57). Two guitars via Fender DeVille amps and bass via Ampeg 4x10, IIRC. I wound up putting the vocals and kick drum in the PA and left everything else out. Guitars and bass were plenty loud without my help. Band kept the volume levels sensible and overall balance was very good.
Band number two was a well-known local Regga/ska band. Three vocals up front and one singing bassist. Lead singer had an M80, the others brought their own SM58s; also had one sax (with his own clip-on condenser), one Roland keyboard, and one guitar player. In the end, I put the vocal mics, sax mic, keys, and kick drum in the PA as the bassist and guitarist were plenty loud without any help - once again DeVille and Ampeg 4x10. This band had some volume creep as they went, but overall balance was fair and the vocals were especially nicely done.

The good:
Setup was easy, once I got the venue's XR18 up on the latest firmware. Until then, sometimes the iPad and XR18 would lose connection. Using the iPad, it was ridiculously easy to line check the inputs and dial in monitors from on stage with the musicians. Overall sound quality was superb and much cleaner than the clapped out MixWiz and dodgy 31-band EQs that they have been using at the venue. The compression presets were useful and easily tweaked to my tastes. EQ worked easily and the RTA overly was quite handy in locating and notching out some ringing on stage (had an odd LF feedback that was a combination of the bass, kick drum mic, and hollow stage). The interface on iPad and PC was responsive with zero disconnects. The bands, crowd, and management loved the sound, especially the fact that the vocals were clear and distinct and the kick drum was tight and clean, not sloppy as it had been before - the old system had no processing other than EQ. The house sound guy stopped by and was shocked when the singer of band #2 pulled out a harmonica and it could be heard clearly. Of course, I am sure the M80 mic helped quite a bit - that is an awesome mic.

If you have mixed on an X32, you will adapt to this interface with ease. It took me a minute to find my workflow, as there is more than one way to do things like set up monitor sends, but most folks should be able to sort out the interface quickly.

The bad:
- Super-loud crunch/pop/thump on power off. If you are not careful, this one will break stuff. Mixer should be first on and last off every time.
- The presets for gates are set rather tight for my tastes; in the end, I was able to tweak the kick drum gate to my liking, but really had no need/use for it on the other inputs. I did, however, succeed in accidentally clicking the kick drum gate preset while tweaking the sax channel and basically gated it out of existence for a song or two until I realized what I did. That, however, was operator error, not a board issue.
- Some effects can cause a loud burst of noise when inserted in the main LR outputs. I noted it most when testing the effect 'Precision Limiter' by inerting it onto the LR bus on my home unit. Not all effects do this, but others can have varying amounts of noise when inserted. For now, if you insert anything on a bus, I suggest you turn it down first.
- Maybe it s just me, but I cannot seem to find a way to edit scribble strips on the PC XAir Edit app.
- Changes made on the iPad might not immediately get updated on the PC; I find it helpful to resync the laptop to the mixer after initial on-stage setup via the iPad and before the band gets rolling.
- If you have the mixer on stage, you will not have any easy way to solo channels and listen to them via headphones or control an iPad or other device for the bump music. There are workaround for this, of course, but this was a minor issue, especally in this small venue.
- The XR18's wireless access point only operates in the 2.4GHz band and only supports WEP encryption. This one earned a WTF?! from the computer side of my skill set.

Summary and thoughts: A lot of mixer for the dollar, provided you are comfortable with the fact that the only control surfaces are what you bring. In my mind, this mixer is what would happen if an X32 and a MixWiz had digital offspring. Just like its bretheren in the X32 family, I expect more features and tweaks to be made as the product matures. The curiously outdated and sub-par built in access point is the only real negative I can give this thing.

So, that's my $0.02. I will happy to answer questions.
 
Re: XR18 Gig Report

I originally ordered an X18 several months ago. The place I ordered from said it looked like the XR18 was shipping faster, so we changed the order to one of those. Still waiting for it. Behringer is advertising the shit out of these things (like the banner at the bottom for this very page), but they still appear to be in short supply. Looking forward to getting one, someday...
 
Re: XR18 Gig Report

- Maybe it s just me, but I cannot seem to find a way to edit scribble strips on the PC XAir Edit app.
I see they've made it easier to find in the iPad app - can't find it either in the PC app yet...

EDIT> right click the black label just above the channel's solo button.
 
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Re: XR18 Gig Report

I originally ordered an X18 several months ago. The place I ordered from said it looked like the XR18 was shipping faster, so we changed the order to one of those. Still waiting for it. Behringer is advertising the shit out of these things (like the banner at the bottom for this very page), but they still appear to be in short supply. Looking forward to getting one, someday...

Wish I had known. I moved the last 2 I had here out sideways to another dealer.
 
Re: XR18 Gig Report

Ron, good catch and thanks for the update. That will save me some headaches down the road.

Going to be doing a few more shows on the XR18 in the next few weeks; I will post further thoughts and updates as I get more time on this mixer.
 
Re: XR18 Gig Report

My XR18 is now all dressed up and ready to go to work. The power strip is around back and the wireless access point is on top when in use. Amps are Peavey IPR1600 and Crown XLS2500. The open spaces will be used to add other items later as needed (wireless, speaker processing, etc.).