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Old 01-18-2011, 03:51 AM   #11
Arbiter
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Austin, TX
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yep View Post
Looks very similar in concept to the Presonus StudioLive consoles, a hybrid software/hardware console with comprehensive processing on a one-channel-at-a-time basis.

$2500 is not a bad price at all for the capability, but I would not want to be an early adopter of a piece of Behringer kit at that price. I'm not religiously anti-Behringer, but in my experience the quality of their preamps, interconnects, and so on is spotty. Behringer gets widely derided as cheap junk, but in my experience their biggest problems are not with sound quality per se, but build quality, which trickles down into sound quality. Noisy pots, spotty connections, poor shielding, etc.

Especially for a device like this, with a lot of complexity and moving parts, I would very much want to hear how it held up after a year or two of live venue use. $2500 is frankly a great price just for 32 competent preamps and an automated control surface alone. But if those preamps are going to get scratchy/noisy/muffled, if the automated faders are going to get spotty/sticky, etc, then quantity starts to become meaningless, especially in studio applications. Better to spend $2500 on a good 2-channel preamp that can be easily re-sold for $2200 than spend $2500 on a million channels of dirty, noisy, unreliable sound with a bunch of digital functionality that will be obsolete in 2013.
This was pretty much my point. Sure, the price is good for the functionality/feature set.. but I can't imagine it becoming a staple for the reasons stated by yep.

$2500, in my opinion, is probably more than most would be willing to 'gamble' on a piece of gear.. especially when a large analog desk, a decent interface, and a laptop can be had for not much more.

It's certainly a bold move on their part nonetheless. I may not be on the edge of my seat awaiting this console, but I'm eager to see if and how other manufacturers respond.

Time will tell.
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