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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Joined: Feb 2010
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OP
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Hi! I have had my eyes on the Behringer Flow 8 digital mixer ( https://www.amazon.com/Behringer-Digital-Mixer-FLOW-8/dp/B08NDBQM5W) for Live use with the Big Band I play in (one vocal mics, one talk-in-between-sings mic, two brass/sax soloist mics and a digital piano on line-in). It is super cheap, so I realize it won't be studio grade sound. We are however on a tight budget, so a premium digital mixer is out of reach. Being able to operate it via a mobile device is the key benefit I'm seeking. Does anyone have experience with these mixers? I'm very grateful for any opinions or advice! /Björn
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I wouldn't worry about studio grade sound (especially for live; it has decent specs), but it seems to be pretty much a MONO mixer. I don't see a way to pan any of the inputs. That may be an issue .. unless I'm missing something. Maybe the app does this?
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Joined: Feb 2010
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OP
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Yes, panning (as well as eq, compressor, effects etc) are controlled via the app.
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Although it does claim to be a stereo mixer, you want to find and download Manual and read it before purchasing.
Except for background music, I run mixers mono for live performance.
Since great analog mixers from Mackie and others can be found in the same price range, ask yourself why you want a digital mixer controlled by a smartphone when all you want to do is tweak a few levels in performance — after you read the manual.
Behringer makes cheap gear and their tech support absolutely, completely sucks. Any question is met by a quote from the manual and, if it isn't in there there, you are out of luck. This is after you register on their site and select the groups and teams you want to be on — I am not kidding.
I own some of their gear and went through this nonsense recently. Cheap don't mean a thing if it doesn't do what you want.
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Joined: Feb 2010
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OP
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Well, I guess you are right. The convenience of tweaking levels via the phone may turn out to be not that convenient after all, if there are issues with the software. I guess we just stick with our old, analog mixer until it falls apart.
Thanks for the feedback!
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Hi. I am using just the left xlr output to a Bose l1 2. Does that take the full mix out in mono. Regards
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I concur with Mike about Behringer equipment quality and support, having had two pieces of their equipment.
I love my Mackie stuff.
I find that I do not go to my phone to control anything even when I can. An iPad to control a mixer is different; Mike mentioned phone but I think you said 'device', and my older Mackie mixer works great using a dedicated iPad; the mixer itself doesn't even have faders. You can take the iPad into the audience and make adjustments to the mix.
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<< Being able to operate it via a mobile device is the key benefit I'm seeking. >>
Operation via mobile device becomes a useful feature for live shows when there's many more inputs/outputs and digital audio features than what you've listed. Otherwise, a good analog mixer is a much better option.
The top failure point of live shows is cables and mics, not mixers. Wireless failures is the number one issue with digital mixers followed by being at a venue where overheating is a possibility or bright lights/sunshine masks the mixer's lights and displays. All digital mixers are, for all practical purposes at a live show, a computer. Venue voltage issues, long power runs, heat and operator error can easily cause a digital mixer to shutdown or reboot. Lose the digital mixer without backup and you lose the show.
I worked sound for a high-end tribute band for several years where we used digital but most time set up two Behringer X-32 mixers so if we did have some sort of mixer failure, we could transfer between mixers very quickly. We never had to, but were prepared had a failure occurred.
The digital mixer you're considering is in my opinion a niche device and as others have noted, there are many better options. If operation using a mobile device is a particular need of your group, one of the Behringer XR units would be a better solution.
Nearly anyone can stand in and operate an analog mixer that's been initially set up, not so for a digital mixer. It has a computer O/S and dives deep into menus for nearly every possible configuration change necessary when mixing a show. EQ, Compressors, gates, routing, sub-groups, aux sends and returns are all menu items. Someone needs to know what they're doing in order to step in on short notice for the regular sound person.
Anything can fail for any number of reasons during a live show. I've personally owned and used a lot of Behringer equipment and never had a single Behringer device fail. That includes mixers, monitors, tops, digital stage boxes, headphone amps, digital in-ear monitors and more.
Our shows have experienced failures of Mackie tops and subs as well as QSC Subs and Crown power amps.
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I bought the Flow 8 anyway, since our analog mixer started to fall apart. I'm actually quite impressed by it so far. It is really compact, and feels overall sturdy if it wasn't for the power supply which uses micro-usb. Hence the dedicated hard case is essential, in that the mixer may remain in the case during the show, with the power cord duct-taped to the hard case bottom.
The mic preamps are decent, as are the digital reverb. Feature-wise, it fullfills all our gigging needs: Individual low-cut filter, compressor, parametric eq, digital effects and monitor sends on all channels, enough input channels and 2 monitor mono output channels. The app is clean and straight-forward, with access to all settings within a few clicks (no scrolling or deep menu structures).
The balance between physical and app control is quite clever: The physical knobs and faders allow all mostly used settings to be made (changing channel levels, effect sends, monitor sends, master volume etc) whereas the more advanced settings (gain staging, compression, eq, phantom power, eq, etc) are more convenient via the app. The faders are not motorized, instead there is a clear "mode" indicator for each channel: If the level for a channel is recently changed via the app, and the value doesn't correspond to the physical fader's value, a led is lit for the channel to indicate that the channel is controlled by the app. Any changes to the fader is then ignored until the fader is changed to be in sync with the app setting. When that happems, the led is turned off, and the fader is used to control the level. It sounds complicated, but actually feels quite intuitive once you start using it.
The app connects via bluetooth, not Wifi. Hence the range is limited (8-10 meters according to the manual), but it is rock solid. I have used it a couple of times during gigs with lots of people (and hence lots of mobile phones) without any dropouts. The convenience of being able to quickly adjust levels via the app is really great (playing saxophone in a big band, it's quite cumbersome to physically move around).
Hence I'm really satisfied so far. Let's see how well it resists the inevitable wear and tear of gigging.
/Björn
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