Thank you for your videos. I picked up one a year ago as a floor model from Sweetwater. I finally set it up today, and it kicks much ass. I’m still using Logic 9, and as soon as I launched Logic, it brought up a window with options to integrate the two products. I believe it was Mackie control. Just from only playing with it for about 1/2-hour, it’s extremely easy to get around on. Yes there are some buttons I need to play with like the function keys, but otherwise it just works. I can’t believe I finally have a surface with motorized faders. When I was taking my recording classes, they had just gotten a Nevé V60 with flying faders. And now I can do the same thing for $500. Technology is awesome.
Both units work well with Studio One. The set up is very easy. The X Touch DAW controllers are very underated because people believe that you have to pay very high prices for quality. Behringer produce quality items at affordable prices.
Good point but I will say this. Thus far, this is the "cheapest" feeling unit I have tried. It's not the same build quality as all the other products I have tested. However, it is the least expensive and it does seem to be built "good enough", but there is def a massive build quality difference.
I can’t agree with you more. I have two studio desk and I have two X-touches and extender. They work seamlessly with Studio One, Logic Pro and Reason. These are GREAT bang for the buck value; I even purchased the single fader version for my mentee for his set up. I thought of getting the Console One controller but it doesn’t integrate easily with the MCU protocol.
I have tons of Behringer gear. For the price you can't go wrong for a home recording environment. Got a whole rack full of stuff for the price of 2 Neve's.
If you remove the grey plastic sections that meet in the gap, the units sit more flush. I use a couple of sturdy laptop stands to angle them more. If you use Logic these are great out of the box for the price, no need for overlays
I have the X-Touch and 3 Extenders, so 32-faders. Also have owned and tried a bunch of others, but nothing could touch this combo not just in terms of cost per functions, but also in terms of fire-power per footprint and easy arms-reach workflow. Take off the plastic end caps! At least the two between the main and ext, and it becomes more like 1 device. I built mine into a Wooden frame that makes it feel Much more expensive. The other, and most annoying plastic part is the Jog Knob. The encoder itself is great, but the plastic cap feel like trash. There are mods online, but eventually I plan to 3D print a heavier one. I replaced mine with a heavy aluminum cap and it Feels great, but is a bit too small. As for the angle, yes it's too flat unless.... You put it on a keyboard drawer in your desk so that it pulls out directly over your lap and you're looking down at it, which is a fantastic configuration. Otherwise, if it's On your desk in front of you, you'll Need to angle it in order to actually read the scribble strips, otherwise you just see colors. An easy cheap solution comes from Ikea. They have these plastic angled things in the office section that seem purpose built. They come in small white and larger black. Your instincts will go for the black ones that fit perfectly and disappear, however the white ones sit at a steeper angle which worked better for me. Last point: All DAW Controllers really come down to the DAW their controlling. The DAWs have to implement the protocols well for any controller to work well.....out of the box. Your series seems focused on plug-n-play solutions, which is great, but I'd argue that if you're going to invest in a DAW Controller system, you should probably also invest the Time into really learning and customizing your configuration. There's a process where people buy these, plug em in, fight to get them working at all, then don't invest the time to build any muscle memory, and go back to a keyboard and mouse. Out of the box, most of these just do faders and pans well, and aren't all that useful if you don't configure your whole system, template, and workflow accordingly. But those who do put in the effort, don't look back. And while you do unlock incredible speed, it's not just about getting done faster. When you set yourself up, and learn your setup, it becomes second nature. Then you simple Hear something in your head, and your hands move accordingly until you hear the same coming from your speakers. With a mouse you Always have to watch the cursor to click on a screen, one function at a time. You're mind is partially thinking about where you're clicking rather than what you're mixing. Like driving a Manual Transmission car, at first you're thinking about every move, but eventually you just drive.
I dont dis-agree with anything you said but I dont have the time to spend months learning each unit before doing a video. That's not what my channel is aobut when it come to these DAW controllers. It's more about "how does it work straight out of the box". Can you get the basics up and running quickly? Hows the build quality? those sorts of things. I even say in EVERY video series. Once you spend the time to really learn a unit and get the muscle memory down, you can work with any of these products. They all pretty much do the same thing with minor variations. Thanks for watching!
I got one of these just have as a backup solution for my iPad as a controller for my Midas M32C in live situations...it works! It synchs with my iPad and has saved my ass live more than once when the iPad just wouldn't play nice with wifi router. The reason I got the Midas M32C was to not have to lug a giant board around, but still have 32 Midas inputs and recording capabilities.
Thanx for this video! I have an X Touch plus 2 Extenders for a total of 24 faders. I am not sure how many you can connect, but I have seen a 32 ch setup. You cascade the units which leaves one of the The USB ports available as a true USB hub that provides bus power! I have my X Touch connected to my iMac via the "To computer" port, then out of one of the USB ports into an Extender's "To computer" port, and so on. This leaves the last Extender with 2 open USB ports which can be used for an external drive, thumb drives, etc. I frequently use them for thumb drives. I have my full size keyboard from my old MacPro connected to my Extender and also my Fire Tablet. The soft keys match up one to one in Logic perfectly and I also use my setup with Reaper. Apparently you can connect them via wi-fi as well and use them with the Behringer X 32 series of digital mixers and stage boxes.
Wanted to co-sign this comment. The X-Touches give you three ways to connect: USB, Ethernet, and/or 5-pin MIDI. (All three are actually MIDI information over different connections) The easiest is USB, and Yes you can simply daisy-chain them. I have 4-units, so 32-channels plus an X-Touch One so 5. No problem, they each have a USB 2.0 hub on the back. (However I've actually run them all into 1 powered 7-port hub instead for two reasons: it was cleaner for my configuration, and if you don't power them up the USB doesn't pass. Sometimes you don't need all the controllers to be on, but you still want the USB. Plus hubs are cheap.) (And while I'm at it, the same is true for a 5-port Network Switch, a Power Strip, and 1-foot USB, Ethernet, and power cables. Hub, Switch, Strip = Clean)
@@HomeRecordingMadeEasy I am using it with Logic and Reaper and have used it with Studio One, Waveform and Ardour. I have to say that the "out of the box" experience has been superb in Logic..it is seamless. It's as if Behringer used Logic to develop/test with. Reaper is integrated well with just a few quirks that are different. Same can be said for Studio One, Waveform, Ardour. Ableton is pretty well integrated too. Although I really don't spend much time in Ableton TBH. I really wish that the scribble strips would colorize to follow my session. But it seams that the color function is relegated to having the X Touch integrated with the Behringer X 32 series of digital mixers. There are some scripts for getting the color scribbles to work in certain DAWs but they are not worth the hazzle (at least in my experience). Having the color scribble strips would certainly help in identifying fader assignments quickly for those of us who use color for different instrument groups, busses, sends, etc. Not a deal breaker. I took the ends off of mine and butted them up together. www.mixingtable.com/x-touch-lux-ext-l-r sells custom wooden enclosures for a variety of desktop studio gear and they offer a really nice one for the X Touch and the Extenders.
@@meshica7 I believe the excellent compatibility with logic is because it’s a clone of a mackie mcu if I’m not mistaken. Logic (emagic) sold their own version of a controller back in the day which was yet another mackie clone, so it was always going to be a great pairing. It’s the reason I chose it over other units, the price was just a bonus
My first controller was the 1st generation Korg Nano Kontrol. Yes, it’s very tiny, but it works pretty well. I really wanted to use it as a software plug-in manipulator more than to mix tracks, and it kind of worked for that. My Novation V-Station worked flawlessly once I used the software to assign continuous controller values. What didn’t work was Logic’s internet synths like the ES2. I was hoping to assign multiple parameters, and there are only few available since Logic doesn’t have CC as far as I’m aware.
The side panels can be removed. Some users’ DIY videos on Y-T show how to do that to save some desk space and make the two look better. Of course doing so will void the warranty. Note. With the UF-8, having two units doubles the number of programmable controls available to the user. The UF-8 is the most customizable DAW control surface. So buying two of them does add greater functionality. Having pointed that out, I am hoping that SSL comes out with a dedicated transport / single fader unit (similar to the Faderport One and X-Touch One) and also an 8 channel extender.
Comparing prices on the market, I first thought this hardware combination would go very well with my Presonus setup (jog wheel was also a big factor)... Big Mistake! Spent a lot of time remapping non working buttons with PureData, tying both units together (some good videos on youtube about that), re-arranging space on my desk (This setup is a monster)... to finally come to the conclusion that using a FaderPort 16 was soo much of a compact trouble-free solution (with an awesome ShuttlePro V2 for the jog/shuttle functions and extra key shortcuts)....
Thanks for the info. My guess would be for Studio One, you would be way better off with a FaderPort. However, so many people asked me about this specefic unit that I will give it a shot.
Interesting! I too spent a bit of time with Studio One (which I like) and mapping my X-Touches to it and was More happy with it than my Faderport 16. My next time investment will be to learn PureData (and/or Max which looks like an expensive version but does the same?). Do you have any pointers or links for me, maybe videos you watched or forums focusing on Control Surface mapping? I also wanna mention that with Studio One there is a Mackie Control file that you open in a text editor and can modify. That allows quite a bit of customization between what happens on your Control Surface and how the DAW responds to those commands. And what is sent back to the Controller. My point in my first comment was that setting up a Control Surface for any DAW is not really a plug-n-play operation. Especially if the DAW and Controller aren't manufactured by the same company. The integration of the "universal" MCU or HUI protocols are different in every piece of software. Some integrate them better than others, but no two are the same. So what you get when you first plug them in is a coin flip. However, if you've investment the money, you might want to invest the time, and that's when you can get your system to really fly. Which Control Surface you want on your desk is just as personal a decision as which DAW you want on your screen. The integration of the two is a journey. I you've tried all the DAWs, then tried all the Controllers, the you should be able to pick the best fit. But I've tried Many of both over decades, and unless you're willing to use Pro Tools with an Avid S6 or SSL Duality, in order to get that level of software parameters at your fingertips, you're gonna have to put in some work.
I had one, thought it was great. I recently sold it only because it took up too much space on my desk. I'd get the One channel version if I got another one.
I'm primarily using Reaper and X-Touches. (Also Studio One, PT, Mixbus, and others. First let me say the Reaper is the most customizable DAW software in existence. With something called Reaper CSI (Control Surface Integrator), it also becomes the most customizable hardware/software system by a mile. But it's not plug-n-play. CSI basically let's you program each individual button, knob, fader, display, etc on whatever hardware you choose, to do whatever you want. For some that's too daunting, for others it's pretty easy once you understand a few basics. But it is a time investment. At the end though, you have a system with the level of control and integration only available from Avid and SSL for 5-6 figures. As you know, as a Reaper user, the value proposition of Reaper is untouched. As of now, the X-Touch, Extenders, and the X-Touch One offer the most features for dollars of anything else available. Last thing I'll say is that while CSI is really all about building your own system, many people have already been using the X-Touch and you could just load thier profiles and be done with it. I think the CSI downloads include an X-Touch profile that was pretty useful over a year ago. Use that until you get comfortable with tweaking it for your purposes.
Thx for the video. I am about to buy one of those daw controller. I am on studio one , watched your video and am about to take the faderport 8. Will this thing change my mind ...
@Home Recording Made Easy your welcome thank you for sharing your expertise I have an x touch one I enjoy it .looking forward to your review of these models of the x touches 👍🏾
Get your FREE 90 mixing course! www.homerecordingmadeeasy.com
Thank you for your videos. I picked up one a year ago as a floor model from Sweetwater. I finally set it up today, and it kicks much ass. I’m still using Logic 9, and as soon as I launched Logic, it brought up a window with options to integrate the two products. I believe it was Mackie control. Just from only playing with it for about 1/2-hour, it’s extremely easy to get around on. Yes there are some buttons I need to play with like the function keys, but otherwise it just works. I can’t believe I finally have a surface with motorized faders. When I was taking my recording classes, they had just gotten a Nevé V60 with flying faders. And now I can do the same thing for $500. Technology is awesome.
Thanks for watching and sharing your setup
Both units work well with Studio One. The set up is very easy. The X Touch DAW controllers are very underated because people believe that you have to pay very high prices for quality. Behringer produce quality items at affordable prices.
Good point but I will say this. Thus far, this is the "cheapest" feeling unit I have tried. It's not the same build quality as all the other products I have tested. However, it is the least expensive and it does seem to be built "good enough", but there is def a massive build quality difference.
I can’t agree with you more. I have two studio desk and I have two X-touches and extender. They work seamlessly with Studio One, Logic Pro and Reason. These are GREAT bang for the buck value; I even purchased the single fader version for my mentee for his set up. I thought of getting the Console One controller but it doesn’t integrate easily with the MCU protocol.
I have tons of Behringer gear. For the price you can't go wrong for a home recording environment. Got a whole rack full of stuff for the price of 2 Neve's.
Thanks for watching!
If you remove the grey plastic sections that meet in the gap, the units sit more flush. I use a couple of sturdy laptop stands to angle them more.
If you use Logic these are great out of the box for the price, no need for overlays
Thanks for the tip!
I have the X-Touch and 3 Extenders, so 32-faders.
Also have owned and tried a bunch of others, but nothing could touch this combo not just in terms of cost per functions, but also in terms of fire-power per footprint and easy arms-reach workflow.
Take off the plastic end caps!
At least the two between the main and ext, and it becomes more like 1 device.
I built mine into a Wooden frame that makes it feel Much more expensive.
The other, and most annoying plastic part is the Jog Knob. The encoder itself is great, but the plastic cap feel like trash. There are mods online, but eventually I plan to 3D print a heavier one. I replaced mine with a heavy aluminum cap and it Feels great, but is a bit too small.
As for the angle, yes it's too flat unless....
You put it on a keyboard drawer in your desk so that it pulls out directly over your lap and you're looking down at it, which is a fantastic configuration.
Otherwise, if it's On your desk in front of you, you'll Need to angle it in order to actually read the scribble strips, otherwise you just see colors.
An easy cheap solution comes from Ikea. They have these plastic angled things in the office section that seem purpose built. They come in small white and larger black. Your instincts will go for the black ones that fit perfectly and disappear, however the white ones sit at a steeper angle which worked better for me.
Last point:
All DAW Controllers really come down to the DAW their controlling. The DAWs have to implement the protocols well for any controller to work well.....out of the box.
Your series seems focused on plug-n-play solutions, which is great, but I'd argue that if you're going to invest in a DAW Controller system, you should probably also invest the Time into really learning and customizing your configuration.
There's a process where people buy these, plug em in, fight to get them working at all, then don't invest the time to build any muscle memory, and go back to a keyboard and mouse.
Out of the box, most of these just do faders and pans well, and aren't all that useful if you don't configure your whole system, template, and workflow accordingly.
But those who do put in the effort, don't look back.
And while you do unlock incredible speed, it's not just about getting done faster. When you set yourself up, and learn your setup, it becomes second nature. Then you simple Hear something in your head, and your hands move accordingly until you hear the same coming from your speakers.
With a mouse you Always have to watch the cursor to click on a screen, one function at a time. You're mind is partially thinking about where you're clicking rather than what you're mixing.
Like driving a Manual Transmission car, at first you're thinking about every move, but eventually you just drive.
I dont dis-agree with anything you said but I dont have the time to spend months learning each unit before doing a video. That's not what my channel is aobut when it come to these DAW controllers. It's more about "how does it work straight out of the box". Can you get the basics up and running quickly? Hows the build quality? those sorts of things. I even say in EVERY video series. Once you spend the time to really learn a unit and get the muscle memory down, you can work with any of these products. They all pretty much do the same thing with minor variations. Thanks for watching!
I got one of these just have as a backup solution for my iPad as a controller for my Midas M32C in live situations...it works! It synchs with my iPad and has saved my ass live more than once when the iPad just wouldn't play nice with wifi router. The reason I got the Midas M32C was to not have to lug a giant board around, but still have 32 Midas inputs and recording capabilities.
NICE!
Thanx for this video! I have an X Touch plus 2 Extenders for a total of 24 faders. I am not sure how many you can connect, but I have seen a 32 ch setup. You cascade the units which leaves one of the The USB ports available as a true USB hub that provides bus power! I have my X Touch connected to my iMac via the "To computer" port, then out of one of the USB ports into an Extender's "To computer" port, and so on. This leaves the last Extender with 2 open USB ports which can be used for an external drive, thumb drives, etc. I frequently use them for thumb drives. I have my full size keyboard from my old MacPro connected to my Extender and also my Fire Tablet. The soft keys match up one to one in Logic perfectly and I also use my setup with Reaper. Apparently you can connect them via wi-fi as well and use them with the Behringer X 32 series of digital mixers and stage boxes.
Nice! Which DAW are you using with it?
Wanted to co-sign this comment.
The X-Touches give you three ways to connect: USB, Ethernet, and/or 5-pin MIDI.
(All three are actually MIDI information over different connections)
The easiest is USB, and Yes you can simply daisy-chain them.
I have 4-units, so 32-channels plus an X-Touch One so 5. No problem, they each have a USB 2.0 hub on the back.
(However I've actually run them all into 1 powered 7-port hub instead for two reasons: it was cleaner for my configuration, and if you don't power them up the USB doesn't pass. Sometimes you don't need all the controllers to be on, but you still want the USB. Plus hubs are cheap.)
(And while I'm at it, the same is true for a 5-port Network Switch, a Power Strip, and 1-foot USB, Ethernet, and power cables. Hub, Switch, Strip = Clean)
@@HomeRecordingMadeEasy I am using it with Logic and Reaper and have used it with Studio One, Waveform and Ardour. I have to say that the "out of the box" experience has been superb in Logic..it is seamless. It's as if Behringer used Logic to develop/test with. Reaper is integrated well with just a few quirks that are different. Same can be said for Studio One, Waveform, Ardour. Ableton is pretty well integrated too. Although I really don't spend much time in Ableton TBH. I really wish that the scribble strips would colorize to follow my session. But it seams that the color function is relegated to having the X Touch integrated with the Behringer X 32 series of digital mixers. There are some scripts for getting the color scribbles to work in certain DAWs but they are not worth the hazzle (at least in my experience). Having the color scribble strips would certainly help in identifying fader assignments quickly for those of us who use color for different instrument groups, busses, sends, etc. Not a deal breaker. I took the ends off of mine and butted them up together. www.mixingtable.com/x-touch-lux-ext-l-r sells custom wooden enclosures for a variety of desktop studio gear and they offer a really nice one for the X Touch and the Extenders.
@@meshica7 I believe the excellent compatibility with logic is because it’s a clone of a mackie mcu if I’m not mistaken. Logic (emagic) sold their own version of a controller back in the day which was yet another mackie clone, so it was always going to be a great pairing. It’s the reason I chose it over other units, the price was just a bonus
My first controller was the 1st generation Korg Nano Kontrol. Yes, it’s very tiny, but it works pretty well. I really wanted to use it as a software plug-in manipulator more than to mix tracks, and it kind of worked for that. My Novation V-Station worked flawlessly once I used the software to assign continuous controller values. What didn’t work was Logic’s internet synths like the ES2. I was hoping to assign multiple parameters, and there are only few available since Logic doesn’t have CC as far as I’m aware.
Thanks for watching!
Looking forward to this series 🙏🏻
It's coming!
I’ve made a hybrid Neve setup with my Behringer Xtouch with 2 extenders. And I have Scribble Strip Color available
Cool!
The side panels can be removed. Some users’ DIY videos on Y-T show how to do that to save some desk space and make the two look better. Of course doing so will void the warranty.
Note. With the UF-8, having two units doubles the number of programmable controls available to the user. The UF-8 is the most customizable DAW control surface. So buying two of them does add greater functionality. Having pointed that out, I am hoping that SSL comes out with a dedicated transport / single fader unit (similar to the Faderport One and X-Touch One) and also an 8 channel extender.
Thanks for the info! :)
I use the ikea black laptop stand for $10. Works like a charm.
Great idea!
Comparing prices on the market, I first thought this hardware combination would go very well with my Presonus setup (jog wheel was also a big factor)... Big Mistake! Spent a lot of time remapping non working buttons with PureData, tying both units together (some good videos on youtube about that), re-arranging space on my desk (This setup is a monster)... to finally come to the conclusion that using a FaderPort 16 was soo much of a compact trouble-free solution (with an awesome ShuttlePro V2 for the jog/shuttle functions and extra key shortcuts)....
Thanks for the info. My guess would be for Studio One, you would be way better off with a FaderPort. However, so many people asked me about this specefic unit that I will give it a shot.
Interesting!
I too spent a bit of time with Studio One (which I like) and mapping my X-Touches to it and was More happy with it than my Faderport 16.
My next time investment will be to learn PureData (and/or Max which looks like an expensive version but does the same?).
Do you have any pointers or links for me, maybe videos you watched or forums focusing on Control Surface mapping?
I also wanna mention that with Studio One there is a Mackie Control file that you open in a text editor and can modify. That allows quite a bit of customization between what happens on your Control Surface and how the DAW responds to those commands. And what is sent back to the Controller.
My point in my first comment was that setting up a Control Surface for any DAW is not really a plug-n-play operation. Especially if the DAW and Controller aren't manufactured by the same company.
The integration of the "universal" MCU or HUI protocols are different in every piece of software. Some integrate them better than others, but no two are the same.
So what you get when you first plug them in is a coin flip.
However, if you've investment the money, you might want to invest the time, and that's when you can get your system to really fly.
Which Control Surface you want on your desk is just as personal a decision as which DAW you want on your screen.
The integration of the two is a journey. I you've tried all the DAWs, then tried all the Controllers, the you should be able to pick the best fit.
But I've tried Many of both over decades, and unless you're willing to use Pro Tools with an Avid S6 or SSL Duality, in order to get that level of software parameters at your fingertips, you're gonna have to put in some work.
I had one, thought it was great. I recently sold it only because it took up too much space on my desk. I'd get the One channel version if I got another one.
Thanks for watching!
As a reaper user, the x touch seems to be the best option for integration. Could definitely use some insight
I know nothing about Reaper so I cant speak to that. I am a Studio One user.
I'm primarily using Reaper and X-Touches. (Also Studio One, PT, Mixbus, and others.
First let me say the Reaper is the most customizable DAW software in existence. With something called Reaper CSI (Control Surface Integrator), it also becomes the most customizable hardware/software system by a mile.
But it's not plug-n-play.
CSI basically let's you program each individual button, knob, fader, display, etc on whatever hardware you choose, to do whatever you want.
For some that's too daunting, for others it's pretty easy once you understand a few basics. But it is a time investment.
At the end though, you have a system with the level of control and integration only available from Avid and SSL for 5-6 figures.
As you know, as a Reaper user, the value proposition of Reaper is untouched. As of now, the X-Touch, Extenders, and the X-Touch One offer the most features for dollars of anything else available.
Last thing I'll say is that while CSI is really all about building your own system, many people have already been using the X-Touch and you could just load thier profiles and be done with it.
I think the CSI downloads include an X-Touch profile that was pretty useful over a year ago. Use that until you get comfortable with tweaking it for your purposes.
Good honest explanation! BTW, what is brand of the mixing board behind you?
Thank you. My console is an SSL Origin. I have a 2nd YT channel about the analog / hybrid mixing workflow. www.youtube.com/@MixingMusicAnalog
Just recently bought an Xtouch & an Extender, using Studio One 5, How do you get the coloured scribble strips to work?
Not sure. you should contact behringer tech support
@@HomeRecordingMadeEasy Thanks for the reply, best port of call really
I had the single fader version of that thing once...now I have the PreSonus Faderport...
Cool!
Hello! Is possible connections UImixer 16 with X touch universal?
no idea. Never heard of that mixer, sorry
@@HomeRecordingMadeEasy maybe I change for Presonus?
@@HomeRecordingMadeEasy I mean Soundcraft Ui16
Thx for the video. I am about to buy one of those daw controller. I am on studio one , watched your video and am about to take the faderport 8.
Will this thing change my mind ...
Get the FaderPort if you use Studio One.
@@HomeRecordingMadeEasy thank you
tascam used to make FW1884
I'll have to look that one up :)
👍🏾
Thanks for watching!
@Home Recording Made Easy your welcome thank you for sharing your expertise I have an x touch one I enjoy it .looking forward to your review of these models of the x touches 👍🏾
Anyone use the X Touch with Pro Tools Artist?
Not me, but maybe someone else here does?
I have the Xtouch one and works great with PT