Oh no, BEHRINGER.

They are not the only company to pull the led-behind-valve trick by any means, either.

The other issue, of course, is that a lot of their gear appears to be transparently knocked-off other manufacturer's gear - their new micer range is supposecly going to be called "xenyx" or suck like, and includes a firewire i/f. Nothing at all like Mackie's "onyx" range then, ergh.

my opinion is that they are a bit crappy in undercutting a lot of higher end companies, but i think a lot of the people that buy their products wouldnt be able to afford their higher end counterparts. I know i wouldnt have bought a mackie, i would have just gone without, so mackie didnt lose any money of me.

their new pedal line is pretty much the same. a $30 reverb pedal is a great deal for the bedroom guitarist, but its plastic case probably cant stand much abuse - i dont really see Boss losing any business either. all the same, they didn't have to go ahead and package them to look nearly identical to boss and EH pedals...that's a little underhanded.

if i saw B* gear in a studio i was paying $ to, i would take my business elsewhere.

i recommened that one to alot of folks, but i'd probably never use it in conjunction with a system that has, otherwise, really solid ADCs/DACs.

i'd probably be reluctant to put a behringer product at any point in the signal chain where it would show up in the final mix.

I don't think it's just a little underhanded. I think it's largely ethically twisted.

If you want a good $30 reverb pedal, buy one of the Danelectro pedals named after food. (Hint: The reverb is called "Corned Beef.") Dano has a new series of cheap plastic pedals now too though I haven't heard any of them.

I either am or was a regular on a number of pro audio and guitar boards, and I'm probably a middling gear snob, but I've always found it funny that everyone seems to universally slam B* and then list, as exceptions, every piece they own. More power to you, Pashmina, for listing stuff you have and then calling it useless in the same breath. :)

Just about every Behringer product I've used is sonically worthless. Right now in my studio I have one of their cable testers which is an exact copy (down to the shape and everything, but in a different color) of the EBTech Swizz Army cable tester for a lot less money. I wouldn't have purchased B*'s tester, but at the time I did I wasn't aware that it was a copy because I'd never seen the EBTech. I keep my shame tucked away in a drawer when it's not testing cables.

I've used the original B* Ultramaximizer which is a piss poor mastering compressor of sorts, and I have used the original Modulator and Virtualizer which get the awards as the absolute worst sounding multFX I have ever heard. The few times I've used B* mixers in other folks' studios they have sounded worse than the brittle-ass Mackie VLZ series (and I had a Mackie 1604 for a long time in my home studio).

But all that shit aside, I think the real reason not to buy B* is the same reason I don't shop at WalMart. I can, for the most part, afford not to, and I'd rather my money go to someone more deserving than a company who has as its only real claim-to-fame that it can do everything more cheaply and quickly by cutting corners or ripping off or bullying out the competition.

well, the corned beef is shit for anything resembling normal reverb, and lots of those dano mini pedals are circuit clones of other makers' pedal (which in turn are clones of fuzz face, tubescreamer, etc). their tuna melt trem is awesome though, and handsdown as good or better than trem pedals 2-3x the price. Except they are all packaged in dano-style boxes.

"I don't think it's just a little underhanded. I think it's largely ethically twisted."

yeah, that was an understatement on my part. they DIDN'T have to step so low there. they would have sold just as much without getting quite the negative reception they did. smart move, Uli.

Now that you mention it, yes, that's pretty much universal, isn't it! Ha ha ha.

The thing that always makes me laugh, though, is when someone says "I need a dual compressor, my budget stretches to either the composer pro, or (whatever the budget dbx unit is, I forget) and the responses are all stuff like "why don't you take a look at the avalon/thermionic culture/chandler/universal audio instead" etc like SOMEONE WHO IS SHOPPING FOR BEHRINGER CAN ACTUALLY AFFORD ANYTHING LIKE THIS SORTA STUFF!!!1!

One thing I will say about the old composer, though, is that it was an excellent tool for learning to use a compressor w/. Dial in the right setting, and it sounds fine, but the margin of error is tiny. You've got to think & listen & think again with it. As a contrast, I reviewed the oram sonicomp for audio media magazine a few years ago, an expensive and very flattering piece which sounded good/fantastic over a wide range of settings! I must admit, the composer doesn't get switched on too often since I got the aphex, though.

(x-post, also good for laffs was when the ub mixer range came out, and the promo blurb stated that this range was DESIGNED BY ULI B HIMSELF (like, that is, not by greg mackie, or the guy from soundcraft har har har)

Yes it's a little retarded to say "Why spend [the only] $200 [you've got] on such-and-such when you could spend [the] $1500 [you're likely to never have lying around] on this instead?" On the other hand, if you've ever bought something budget and actually used it enough to really discover its limitations, you'll know that you ultimately pay more by continuing to have to upgrade. So I would say that if you really know you are into recording and are going to continue to be, it is not really that crazy to think of each piece as a serious investment and to try to save and get stuff above the budget range whenever you can so you have more room to grow with the gear instead of outgrowing it.

If that makes any sense...

There are a few pieces of budget gear which you may never outgrow. Something tells me that in this list there are absolutely no Behringer items. Probably no Mackies either.

You don't have to listen to me at all though. I think I may not be qualified to talk about B* any more because I have preamps and compressors that cost as much as a lot of folks' home studios. (Mind you, my secret is to buy in non-working condition and restore or to build from scratch. I mean I do okay for myself, but I'm not made of money or anything.)

Anyway, higher-end at a budget. Has anyone built up and used any of seventh circle audio's mic pre kits? Also, what about the Gyraf range? (click on "diy projects, bottom left)

Both guys are not electronics gurus either. (One hardly even knew how to solder before taking on the project.) The build on the SCA pres is not too difficult if you're an intermediate or if you're a beginner with some patience.

From everything I've heard on the boards, the SCAs are quite nice once they're up and running.

I also have a Behringer BCR2000 midi controller which is hooked to a G2 and does a fine job and saved me 1000 bucks on synth gear. The manual is a bit wack but it does the business.

ah! but To do good work, one must first have good tools!

http://www.podcastingnews.com/news/06_02/FCC_Behringer_Fine.html

If you ever wondered how the Phil Collins drum sound was created? Then ponder no more...
Best of all it's a fixed parameter unit, so all you can adjust is the threshold and pre/post gain. Try it on a snare and be amazed.

I'm not getting paid for my hobbies yet so fuck me if I'm going to be caught dropping the cash for even a used Mackie VLZ series, much less a SoundCraft. Would conceivably be nice not to have the giant power supply line lump but not worth $250.

Thing is, Sony actually innovates. Granted, I doubt anyone really needs Betamax or a MD player...