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I bought a Behringer


Jack Stoner

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I'll admit it up front, I bought a Behringer, UMC 1820, recording interface unit - and I like it.

I downsized my home recording studio from a unit with 8 preamps to one with 4 (along with some other items).  I was doing OK 

until I needed more than 4 inputs for a current recording project for a client and will need at least 6 for an upcoming project for

another client.  

 

After looking at what is available (I hate Focusrite and Presonus hardware) and what I've had in the past it came down to 

either the "inexpensive" Behringer (that gets good reviews) or something $1000 range similar to what I downsized.   So, I bought the

Behringer and used it yesterday on a recording session, and did good.  Surprisingly the Cakewalk reported latency for a

64 buffer is lower than the MOTU 4pre that I have.

 

If I had a full bore studio or like I was before with high end equipment I wouldn't have looked at Behringer but for a home

studio its very adequate.  Its not "throw away reverse engineered  junk" like early Behringer was.

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@Jack Stoner   Thanks for sharing your review of the Behringer UMC 1820 audio interface.

4 hours ago, Jack Stoner said:

If I had a full bore studio or like I was before with high end equipment I wouldn't have looked at Behringer

Since you've had an opportunity to use the equipment, do you now believe it is suitable for use in a "full bore studio"?  Would you recommend it to a studio engineer looking to add additional interface; perhaps for a mobile setup or as needed within the studio?

4 hours ago, Jack Stoner said:

(I hate Focusrite and Presonus hardware)

Would you care to share why?

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11 hours ago, Jack Stoner said:

I'll admit it up front, I bought a Behringer, UMC 1820, recording interface unit - and I like it.

I downsized my home recording studio from a unit with 8 preamps to one with 4 (along with some other items).  I was doing OK 

until I needed more than 4 inputs for a current recording project for a client and will need at least 6 for an upcoming project for

another client.  

 

After looking at what is available (I hate Focusrite and Presonus hardware) and what I've had in the past it came down to 

either the "inexpensive" Behringer (that gets good reviews) or something $1000 range similar to what I downsized.   So, I bought the

Behringer and used it yesterday on a recording session, and did good.  Surprisingly the Cakewalk reported latency for a

64 buffer is lower than the MOTU 4pre that I have.

 

If I had a full bore studio or like I was before with high end equipment I wouldn't have looked at Behringer but for a home

studio its very adequate.  Its not "throw away reverse engineered  junk" like early Behringer was.

Whenever you need 16 more inputs I have two ADA 8200s Ultragain units I'll sell you. One Benjamin for the pair + shipping. I'm the original owner, used in smoke free home studio only.

Edited by Bapu
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7 hours ago, fogle622 said:

Since you've had an opportunity to use the equipment, do you now believe it is suitable for use in a "full bore studio"?  Would you recommend it to a studio engineer looking to add additional interface; perhaps for a mobile setup or as needed within the studio?

If I had a commercial recording studio, I wouldn't be looking at this unit.   Not that its not "bad" just not the high end audiophile equipment.  

7 hours ago, fogle622 said:

Would you care to share why?

In ref to my comment about Focusrite and Presonus.  My own thing.  I don't like Focusrite preamps - do not sound full fidelity to me.  I had a Saffire Pro 40 and I recently tried a 2nd gen unit, still sounds the same.   I won't consider Presonus as EVERY recording Presonus interface unit I tried had a hardware problem of one thing or another, new.  The last Presonus I tried was a Studio 192.  Worked the first day, although very poor latency, powered it on the second day and would not power off with the power switch - was sent back.    

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1 hour ago, Jack Stoner said:

If I had a commercial recording studio, I wouldn't be looking at this unit.   Not that its not "bad" just not the high end audiophile equipment.  

In ref to my comment about Focusrite and Presonus.  My own thing.  I don't like Focusrite preamps - do not sound full fidelity to me.  I had a Saffire Pro 40 and I recently tried a 2nd gen unit, still sounds the same.   I won't consider Presonus as EVERY recording Presonus interface unit I tried had a hardware problem of one thing or another, new.  The last Presonus I tried was a Studio 192.  Worked the first day, although very poor latency, powered it on the second day and would not power off with the power switch - was sent back.    

That's interesting, and just shows how subjective the sound of preamps can be.

Personally, I find the Focusrite preamps to be the closest to my Neve 1073 clones (GA Pre 73) - in fact to my ears they're indistinguishable until you start to drive them... then the Pre 73 comes into its own. So yes, the Focusrite preamps do have colour to them, but I find them more musical in that respect.

In the past I've used Behringer and Yamaha preamps. Both are very clean, although personally I found the Behringer mic pres to be a bit harsh on the ears (compared to the Yamaha, which were just very clean but a tad clinical). The Behringer line inputs were flawless though.

In saying that, that's my experience with the ADA8000 which is before the Midas takeover... the ADA8200 (and any other Behringer with Midas preamps) will sound much better.

 

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The Focusrite sound isn't bad.  My first "real" recording interface was a Saffire Pro 40.  I had done some recording with my Saffire Pro 40 and it developed a problem (power switch was bad and wouldn't power on).  I needed to fix a Pedal Steel part in a recording to finish it and used my backup MAudio Fastrack Ultra 8R and it was brighter and cleaner and I had to EQ it down to make it sound close to  the Saffire Pro 40's sound.  Later as I moved on from the Saffire Pro 40 to a Roland and then MOTU they all had the almost identical sound to the MAudio.  

My recent experience trying a Focusrite 2nd gen when I was downsizing my home studio, I was back to the same sound as the Saffire Pro 40.   Thus I settled on something other than Focusrite.

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On 8/24/2019 at 12:36 PM, Jack Stoner said:

Surprisingly the Cakewalk reported latency for a 64 buffer is lower than the MOTU 4pre that I have.

This does not surprise me!

I have a Behringer UMC404HD and a Scarlett 2nd Gen. Lately I was digging into the latency stuff and so I was doing measurements with the RTL tool and searching results of other interfaces in the internet. With 44.1k/48k the UMC driver comes to the top of the USB interfaces (if you deselect "Safe Mode" it comes near to the RME Babyface ~5.6ms/64 samples!!! Runs stable on my Daw). Also with "Safe Mode" the Behringer interfaces have low latency, especially with higher buffer sizes >= 128. Brands like Motu, Presonus, Focusrite, Roland, ... are behind (USB!). Also concerning driver stability I cannot say any bad about the Behringer!

My 2 cents to the discussion about microphone preamps:

I do not hear a lot of difference with the preamps of diverse manufacturers (maybe because my hearing is so bad! ? No joke!). IMO the microphones are much more relevant to the sound and most important is the vocalist or the mic'd instrument itself! ?

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With phantom, preamps matter less. That's part of the idea around ribbons that take phantom... Any preamp works.

Different pres make a difference, but none as much as the Mic. Don't forget shock mounts for the mics too.

Edited by Gswitz
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22 hours ago, msmcleod said:

That's interesting, and just shows how subjective the sound of preamps can be.

Personally, I find the Focusrite preamps to be the closest to my Neve 1073 clones (GA Pre 73) - in fact to my ears they're indistinguishable until you start to drive them... then the Pre 73 comes into its own. So yes, the Focusrite preamps do have colour to them, but I find them more musical in that respect.

In the past I've used Behringer and Yamaha preamps. Both are very clean, although personally I found the Behringer mic pres to be a bit harsh on the ears (compared to the Yamaha, which were just very clean but a tad clinical). The Behringer line inputs were flawless though.

In saying that, that's my experience with the ADA8000 which is before the Midas takeover... the ADA8200 (and any other Behringer with Midas preamps) will sound much better.

 

I have nothing to add to your post, other to say you are always helpful, and knowledgeable,  and I always appreciate reading your posts. Thank you!

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By the way,  just if someone is interested in my RTL measurements of the Behringer UMC404HD and the Scarlett 2nd Gen (Solo) interfaces, here it is!

Real round trip measured with the free RTL Utility (http://www.oblique-audio.com/free/rtlutility)!

Computer (self-built in 2018, not top notch):

  • Processor:                     Intel i5-8600K 3.6GHz, 6-Core
  • Motherboard:             MSI Z370-A Pro
  • Memory:                        16(2x8) GB Ballistix Sport LT
  • Recording Disk:         Crucial MX500 500GB 2.5" SSD
  • Operating System:   Windows 10 Pro (1803)

Information on the UMC safe flag: The Behringer UMC driver has a "Safe Mode" flag in the ASIO setting panel. I think it activates or inactivates the usage of additional safe buffers.

MeasuredRTL.png.7e11ee3630a8946c11768ea866ac2e42.png

Really not so bad for the Behringer interface IMO. With CbB, 64 samples buffer size and safe=off it runs stable with all of these sample rates on my system. ?

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Just to add to what I said about the difference between the Pedal Steel sound on a Focusrite and others.  I was recording direct from the steel to a D.I. box to both the Focusrite and MAudio.  No mic involved and there is no tone control on the steel, just direct connection to the pickup (in my case a Bill Lawrence 710 model  humbucker).

 

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