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FEBRUARY 10, 2004 Behringer's DDX3216 Digital Mixer
The unit lacks a jog wheel and dedicated transport controls. It would have been nice to include a jog wheel right above the preset display.[an error occurred while processing this directive]
I found the best way to use any digital mixer is to route all your DAW channels back to separate channels in the digital mixer. Then you have the capability to add the mixer's effects, use the headphone jack, the control room, and create separate mixes through the Aux outs. The meters on each channel will also light up on playback and show the signal strength. The DDX3216 as a Controller You cannot use the DDX3216 to directly control the mute and solo buttons in the Cubase (or Nuendo) mixer. But there is a way to work around this. When you route all your channels from Cubase into the DDX3216, this allows the solo and mute buttons on the DDX3216 to be functional. So when you push the solo or mute button, it will affect what you hear in your monitors, even though it won't affect the controls in your Cubase mixer. I found summing in the digital mixer to be just as good as doing it in the Cubase mixer. There was no degradation in quality while doing so, and it also puts less work on your computer's CPU. The mic pres are quiet, uncolored, and very useable. However, as with most lower end digital mixers, I would recommend getting a voice channel strip for recording vocals, bass or acoustic guitar. The Focusrite Platinum series mic pres or the Presonus pres give a little better result than those on the DDX. To bypass the DDX3216 pres when using an outboard channel strip, have the output of the unit go into the inserts on the mixer. All in all, I found the DDX3216 to be a very good digital mixer that was easy to use, at a great price. (Under $1,000). I was very pleased with the EQ sound, which has an analog/digital blend. It is very useable in many situations, and much better than the older Yamaha digital mixers. The older digital EQs just raised or lowered frequencies. The DDX3216 has a little character where it rounds off the lows, and smooths out the highs. It is not the same as a good analog EQ, but I found it to sound less sterile than the standard EQ in Cubase. The DDX3216 is one of the best buys for under $2,000 to work with a DAW. Behringer has updated the firmware to fix minor bugs, and also given the unit Surround Sound capabilities. Electronic Musician gave its Editor's Choice Award for mixers to the DDX3216 in 2002. Compared to the competition, the 01V96 has better mic pres, and can record at 96 kHz (with a reduced track count). However, it lacks the metering capability, and has more limited I/O. For instance, it only has one fader knob on the entire unit, and also costs twice the price of the DDX3216. The TASCAM DM 24 is limited to two effects per channel, but like the 01V96 has better mic pres, and dedicated transport controls. It can also record up to 96 kHz. For an extra cost you can purchase the meter bridge for the DM 24. I have found many of Behringer's more recent products to be much better than what they offered several years back. The DDX3216 is not only a good-priced digital mixer, it also offers a lot of features and quality. Prev 1 2 Related sites: • Digital Post Production • Digital Pro Sound Related forums: [an error occurred while processing this directive] 
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