Music Recording Equipments

I bought this primarily to work on my Vista 64-bit system, which is primarily where I do podcast work. The hardware the system includes is good stuff, particularly for beginners. The documentation on setup is thin, but if you read the manuals you can connect everything with few problems.

When I connected everything, my system wouldn’t recognize any driver. A quick look on the web for information yielded the fact that Behringer has drivers for Vista 32, but not Vista 64. After looking for any workarounds and finding none, I decided to use it on a laptop with Vista Ultimate (32-bit) and everything worked flawlessly. The firewire interface is fast and reliable and I didn’t have any problems recording in Audacity (which is supplied … but I already had a copy loaded on this system).

The hardware is good and for the price is far cheaper than the components would have cost separately. I am giving it 4 stars for the following reasons:

1. The setup documentation assumes you know a lot about pro audio setup and is a little thin on detail. The manuals are better on detail, but still assume you know all the terminology.

2. There is no mention that this will NOT work on a Vista 64-bit system. This should be made clear to potential buyers as 64-bit becomes more mainstream. Even better: Behringer should develop 64-bit drivers.

3. The included software is great for producing music, but the package was developed for podcasters, not music producers. How about bundling something useful to podcasters in the kit?

One of the things that many podcasters like to do is record Skype conversations. I had to scour the Internet for information about this and found nothing specific to this setup. If you want to do it with this kit, here’s how I did it with an M-Audio Microtrak recorder (which takes balanced inputs). Note that the person on the other end of the conversation will not hear what you say into the mixer mic, so you will need a regular mic attached to your computer in addition to the mixer mic. The regular mic will not be recorded using this method, as your voice will be recorded from the mixer mic, but it’s what the person on the other end of your conversation will be hearing you through.

1. Unplugged mixer outputs from the firewire box and put them instead into my recorder balanced input jacks. If you don’t have such a recorder, you should be able to use an adapter cable (dual RCA Y to single 3.5mm stereo jack), connect the RCA to CD/Tape Out and the 3.5mm stereo plug into the line input jack on a computer and use Audacity on that computer to record. If you do this, you will need to buy this cable separately, as one doesn’t come with the system. Actually, you will need two, as the input from the Skype call will use an identical cable. Also note that this will need to be a second computer … NOT the one running Skype. Alternatively, an mp3 player with recording capability could be used instead. Note that I did not test this method, since I was using a pro quality recorder.

2. Make sure you push the buttons that send CD/Tape to control and CD/Tape to mix.

3. Plug your headset into the Control Room Out jacks.

4. Using a 3.5mm to dual RCA cable (you’ll have to purchase separately), plug the 3.5 end into the computer headphone jack and the other ends into the RCA inputs on the mixer. This captures the other end of the Skype call into the mixer.

5. Make sure Skype output volume on the computer is fairly low. The other person’s volume will be controlled by the computer running Skype, as there is no volume control for the RCA inputs on the mixer.

6. Press record on the M-Audio (or your recording device or computer) and conduct the conversation

7. Stop the recording operation and save the file.

After using this method and fiddling with levels, I was able to get a nice Skype recording … very high quality, especially from my end.

Be ready to spend some quality time with this setup before using it for any real production. Ultimately, it will work well for creating podcasts.
Rating: 4 / 5

I know all the piece parts, i have the mic and two behringer mixers. so with the firewire box, i thought it was a real deal.

Until i tried to install it and it didnt work. i hadnt read the fine print about vista support. so i googled the unit, and found a bunch of frustrated purchasers.

I was ready to return it this morning, until i found a beta driver for vista on the behringer site. I had it up and running with no problems.

So I guess it is a keeper.
Rating: 4 / 5