Behringer Eurorack MX3242X

Analogue Mixer
Mixers
By Paul White Published August 2001

Behringer's latest addition to their Eurorack compact analogue mixer range o ers 16
hi‑spec channels, plus the exibility of an in‑line monitor con guration.
Behringer's MX3242X is a four‑bus mixer designed to sit comfortably alongside a 16‑track recorder or
equivalent computer audio system. It uses an in‑line design which might best be described as 16:4:16:2,

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with the 16 channel strips controlling both the 16 main input channels and the 16 secondary monitor
channels (labelled Mix B). A stereo 24‑bit e ects processor, based on Behringer's own Virtualizer
multi‑e ects, is built in to the top right‑hand corner of the unit and o ers 32 presets including reverb, delay
and modulation e ects.

Nuts & Bolts

The all‑metal construction is sturdy, right down to the jack socket nuts — no nasty plastic here! The mixer
follows a classic wedge shape, with all main connections tucked away on the rear panel, and is compact
enough to be rackmountable, using the included bolt‑on rack ears to replace the moulded plastic end
cheeks. Those users who wish to rackmount the MX3242X will be glad to know that the rear‑panel with the
audio socketry can be rotated through 90 degrees, with the aid of a screwdriver and the Eurorack's manual.
The mixer's power supply is a hefty external 2U rackmount unit, which connects via a rugged multi‑pin XLR
cable. It has an internal cooling fan which, although reasonably quiet, will mean you'll probably want to rack
the PSU outside your control room if possible.

MX3242X's rear panel connections.

The rear panel features 16 main input sections (numbered one to 16) comprising balanced Mic Inputs on
XLRs, with globally switchable phantom powering, and balanced Line Inputs on TRS jack sockets. Above
each of these pairs of inputs are unbalanced Direct Output and TRS Insert jack sockets. The Mix B line input
sockets (numbered 17‑to 32) accept either balanced or unbalanced jacks, and their sensitivity can be
adjusted globally between +4dBu and ‑10dBV levels with the Operating Level switch just above socket 32.
The console has six mono aux sends and four stereo aux returns, and there is a block of unbalanced jack
sockets for these at the top right‑hand side of the rear panel — note that a mono return signal connected
to the left input of any return will be split equally to both sides of the stereo return bus. To the left are
Subgroup Insert points on four TRS jack sockets and four unbalanced sockets for the Subgroup Outputs.
Two pairs of RCA phonos labelled 2‑Track In/Out allow a stereo master recorder to be easily integrated with
the mixer.

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The MX3242X provides several stereo output buses: the main mix bus, with unbalanced Main Insert point
and Main Out jack sockets, as well as balanced Main Outputs on a pair of XLRs; the Mix B bus, to which the
monitor channel paths are mixed, output on unbalanced jack sockets; and a stereo monitor bus, again
output on unbalanced jack sockets. Finally, should the impressive total of 40 inputs available on the
MX3242X not be enough for your needs, there are two 15‑pin D‑Sub connectors which let you integrate an
expander mixer.

Channel Strip
The 16 input channels are normally fed from the mic and line inputs (numbered one to 16), and the 16
monitor channels are normally fed from the Mix B line inputs (numbered 17 to 32). However, this
assignment can be swapped over on a per‑channel basis using the Flip button under the input Gain control.
Note that there's no switch for selecting between the mic/line inputs — you plug into whichever socket you
wish to use — which might be a problem if you want to wire everything permanently to a patchbay. Inputs
one to 16 have switchable 18dB/octave low–cut lters operating at 75Hz.
The next set of knobs on each channel strip control the four‑band semiparametric EQ. This comprises high
and low shelving lters at 12kHz and 80Hz respectively and two sweepable peaking lters: the high
mid‑band covers 300Hz to 20kHz and the low mid‑band covers 50Hz to 3kHz. All bands have a ±15dB gain
range and a single button bypasses the entire equaliser.
Though there are six auxiliary buses available, there are only four send controls. The rst pair always access
Aux 1 and Aux 2, whereas the second pair can be assigned on a per‑channel basis either to Aux 3 and Aux 4
or to Aux 5 and Aux 6. Each pair of Aux knobs has a Source switch, which allows the auxiliary buses to be
fed from either the input or monitor channels — useful when you're using all 32 channel paths at mixdown.
The Aux 3 bus feeds the internal e ects unit — see the 'MX3242X E ects' box for details about the e ects
processing o ered.
Below the Aux Send knobs are the monitor channel's Pan and Level controls. The Mix B channels feed their
own stereo mix bus and this can be routed to the main mix. The Source button below the Level control
allows the monitor channel to be fed a pre‑fader signal from its parallel input channel. A Mute button
completes the Mix B facilities.
The input channel Pan control is followed by switches for PFL/Solo and Mute, each with associated status
LEDs. The channel fader is 100mm long and it is accompanied by an eight‑segment bar‑graph level meter
and routing switches for the mix and subgroup buses. Four subgroup bus outputs might seem a little
limiting for multitrack recording, but it's worth also taking the 16 direct outputs into consideration — after
all, most recorded tracks are fed from a single source, in practice.

Master Section
The MX3242X's master section provides a further four 100mm faders for the subgroup buses and a stereo
fader for the mix bus — eight‑segment LED metering for each of these buses is provided just under the
e ects unit panel. Above the subgroup faders are the Main Mix routing button, the Solo button, and the
Pan control, an arrangement more exible than xed stereo pairings.
Controls for the four stereo aux returns come next, which include Level and Balance knobs, as well as Solo
and routing buttons. Any of these returns may be routed to the main mix or any of the subgroups, and the
third and fourth returns can be routed to the Aux 1 and Aux 2 buses if you wish to add e ects to foldback
signals. The six auxiliary sends have Level controls and Solo buttons. Above these controls are the switch
for engaging the global +48V phantom power, a pot for setting the monitor level when soloing, and the
Channel Mode button for selecting whether channel soloing is to be PFL (mono pre‑fade listen) or Solo
(stereo solo‑in‑place).

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The Mix B bus is provided with a Level control, a Solo button, and a routing switch to mix it into the main
mix bus. Below this are the headphone and control‑room
monitoring sections, each with source‑selection switches
and Level control. The stereo quarter‑inch jack socket in the
Phones section can either be set to receive the main
monitor signal or can monitor Aux 1 or Aux 2. If both
auxiliaries are selected, they are heard as the two sides of a
stereo signal. The control‑room monitors can be summed
to mono if required, and are fed from the main mix bus by
default, but can be switched to receive the Mix B bus or the
signal from the 2‑Track Input.
The MX3242X's PSU contains a cooling fan, and is
A small built‑in mic handles talkback, nestling just above best located away from your monitoring position.
the master fader. This mic is routed to the rst two auxiliary
outputs with a dedicated switch, and it has a dedicated Level control.

In Practice
Behringer's manual claims that the mic/line amps used in this mixer are a cut above the norm. The
published frequency response of 10Hz to 125kHz (±3dB) is certainly impressive and the signal‑to‑noise ratio
of 125dB is typical of a well‑designed mixer. More importantly, my own tests with a capacitor mic showed
them to be clean and uncoloured. The equaliser works very well, providing you use it sensibly and sparingly,
allowing you to reveal transient detail at the high end, and to warm up the bass without it getting abby.
The mid‑bands work nicely both for boosting and cutting, and the wide sweep ranges make them able to
address problems throughout the frequency range.
Operation is very straightforward once you have a grasp of the in‑line concept, and the controls have a
good feel. It was particularly nice to nd that the faders were all 100mm long, and that there was such
generous metering to accompany them. The EQ, Mute and Source buttons all engaged without obtrusive
audio clicks, though it was di cult to tell their status at a glance where they had no LEDs.

Verdict
No mixer is perfect, but Behringer's MX3242X manages to deliver an attractive combination of quality and
exibility at an attractive UK price. This is a mixer which is exible enough to use in a large variety of studio
and live roles, especially where a 16‑track recorder can make use of the direct outputs. In the project studio
it provides a compact means of monitoring from multiple sound sources, recorder outputs and e ects
devices, as well as providing 16 good‑quality mic amps. The technical performance has improved over the
already acceptable Behringer desks of a few years back, so if you're after a small and versatile analogue
console, the MX3242X is one to take very seriously.

MX3242X E ects
Above the MX3242X's master section is a control panel carrying the e ects controls and a preset
patch list. You set the input level to the processor using the channel and master Aux 3 controls,
relying on the e ects unit's own eight‑segment LED bar‑graph meter for visual feedback. Patch
selection is by means of Up, Down and Enter buttons and the current patch number is shown in a
green numeric display which ashes until the patch is selected. No control over the e ects
parameters is possible other than to vary the amount mixed in. The presets cover various hall, room
and plate reverbs, echo, chorus, anger and a number of dual e ects. There are also three special
treatments: Radio Speaker, Distortion and Magic Pitch.

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 Though the implementation here is a simple one, the e ects unit sounds quite respectable, with most
of its presets sensible and usable — hardly surprising given their proven Virtualizer heritage. These
e ects would be well‑suited to both live work and project studio recording. Some basic parameter
control, such as variable reverb and delay time, would have been useful, but getting an e ects section
at all in this type of mixer can only really be considered a bonus.

Available User Modi cations

Though Behringer's MX3242X is already extremely
exible straight out of the box, there are additional
changes that can be made to the way it operates by
removing the bottom cover and changing sets of links
on the PCB. Note that this should not be undertaken
by anyone without adequate technical experience, as
it will void the warranty. If in any doubt, get your
dealer to make any necessary changes for you. The
following alterations to the operation of the console
are possible:

The rst two auxiliary sends on every channel

can be fed pre—mute in pre‑fade mode. By
default, muting a channel also mutes these To the left of the cables you can see some of the
sends. internal PCB links which are used to modify the
MX3242X's operation for speci c applications.
Direct outputs can be fed from the monitor
channels rather than from the input channels.
The source for the direct outputs can be made
pre‑mute, rather than post‑fader, though this
modi cation is not available if the direct
outputs are being fed from the monitor
channels.
The source for the monitor channel when the
Link button is down can be made post‑fader,
allowing the monitor channel to be used
e ectively as a stereo, post‑fade send.
The channel level meters can be made to read
pre‑fader, rather than the usual post‑fader,
levels.

Pros Cons
Good sound quality with wide audio External PSU less convenient for live use and it
bandwidth. produces some fan noise.
Flexible layout and routing. The status of the black switches di cult to see
Compact yet uncluttered. at a glance.
Generous metering.
Usable onboard multi‑e ects unit.

Summary

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A exible, compact mixer suitable for recording systems with up to 16 tracks. It has more features than you
might expect from a mixer of its price, including long faders, generous metering and built‑in digital e ects.

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