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Midas M32R

19 (55.9%)

SI Impact

15 (44.1%)

Total Members Voted: 34

Voting closed: September 08, 2017, 11:53:36 AM

[Branimir Bozak]

The M32 sounds better than the X32, but the processing is the same, that is - the not so good compressors and the really poor fx section (reverbs).

On the other hand the Impact has much better lexicons, compressors are good, GEQ sounds and works excellent!
I prefer the Expression to the Impact, dunno why - but it works "faster", has no lag when changing layers, seems solid overall and the only thing I miss is the 4 band full PEQ, that the Impact has.

Also, the "tiny" screen on the Si consoles are not a bad feature - because you don't really need it. The EQ-ing can be done by looking at the pots, and by ear "THE OLD ANALOG WAY", also controls for the compressor are also visible on the console, as well as the gain reduction - on the channel strip.

Only time I use the screen is to change FX parameters or to assign routing or fader options, and of course to save the scene.

There's too much looking at the screen these days on the mixing consoles, people think too much about how that curve looks like, than - how it sounds actually.

BTW M32 series had problems with power supply, rubber bands falling off of faders so you lose fader movement, maybe that's been fixed by now? Also, the X32 has much more visible buttons, they really made it barely visible with the new buttons on the M32 series.

[John Chiara]

The M32 sounds better than the X32, but the processing is the same, that is - the not so good compressors and the really poor fx section (reverbs).

On the other hand the Impact has much better lexicons, compressors are good, GEQ sounds and works excellent!
I prefer the Expression to the Impact, dunno why - but it works "faster", has no lag when changing layers, seems solid overall and the only thing I miss is the 4 band full PEQ, that the Impact has.

Also, the "tiny" screen on the Si consoles are not a bad feature - because you don't really need it. The EQ-ing can be done by looking at the pots, and by ear "THE OLD ANALOG WAY", also controls for the compressor are also visible on the console, as well as the gain reduction - on the channel strip.

Only time I use the screen is to change FX parameters or to assign routing or fader options, and of course to save the scene.

There's too much looking at the screen these days on the mixing consoles, people think too much about how that curve looks like, than - how it sounds actually.

BTW M32 series had problems with power supply, rubber bands falling off of faders so you lose fader movement, maybe that's been fixed by now? Also, the X32 has much more visible buttons, they really made it barely visible with the new buttons on the M32 series.

Ok...a few points.
I find the comps...in combination with the FX comps very capable of all kinds of compression and saturation. I use UAD in the studio and don't feel hampered with the X32 FX...except for wanting for more FX slots.
Also, the M32 doesn't have rubber bands on the faders.

[Robert Lofgren]

The channel compressors not good?! In what way may I ask, because this is not my experience and the x/m32 gives you a lot of parameters to surgically affect its operation.

Poor reverbs...? I thought that TC reverbs was highly regarded.

The M32 sounds better than the X32, but the processing is the same, that is - the not so good compressors and the really poor fx section (reverbs).

[Branimir Bozak]

The channel compressors not good?! In what way may I ask, because this is not my experience and the x/m32 gives you a lot of parameters to surgically affect its operation.

Let's say you have a loud singer, you set the compressor to PEAK (not RMS), attack very fast (1ms for instance), ratio 6:1, or even more. And then you have the guy sing sing sing, the compressor is licking the threshold, maybe taking a couple of dbs of gain reduction, not much, barely there, and suddenly he yells - the compressor shows tons of gain reduction, yet the singer manages to punch the master almost all the way.

On the Si consoles, if you want to squash the compressors, you will certainly see it on the meter, and also hear it.

That is my personal opinion on the X/M series in general, and I have been working with them since they are introduced.
Also, it's a bit frustrating - coming from the analog ages, learned my craft on analog DBX's, BSSes, Drawmer's - this compressor is not responding in the same way as I would expect a proper compressor to respond.

The X/M has some awesome stuff though, like the gate, which has the best key filter sidechain I ever used, set the Q to 9 and find the sweet spot on your toms, and the gate will open only when tom is hit, not by the cymbal or snare. I know - a lot of the consoles tend to garble up the signal path when used keyed gate, I know the M7CL sort of eq's the channel too, dunno why, but on the Behringer/Midas - it works flawlessly.

The Si series has built in Lexicon algorithms and chips, and sounds great "off the shelf", the TC stuff on the Behr/Midas is much lower quality IMHO, I'm not a fan of the reverbs on the Pro series either.

Also, the M32 doesn't have rubber bands on the faders.

Maybe we get different type of M's in Yurop, I know most of the consoles here have problems with:
* power supply
* faders stop moving

Compared to X32, M32 has a much greater failure rate.

I think the rubber that protects the fader from dirt/grit slides off and blocks the movement of the fader, I'm not sure of the actual problem, but there is a rubber component in the M32 fader that fails, which does not happen in X32.

The iPad:
X/M app is hands down the consoles in an ipad/android and any thing you want to do on the console, you can do it on your smart device.
the Si's app is iPad only and is much simpler, though - it's stable (unlike in the past), and easy to navigate, you can't access FX parameters, but all the basic stuff is there, gains, eq's, comps, gates, sends...

Overall, the Si series do look and bit outdated, but if it's just pure audio stuff of the interest -> the preamps, the eq, the compressors, the effects AND summing - it does those things very very good.
The M32 is packed with features and is an excellent bang for buck, the scribble scripts, tons of addons, automixer (if you wish), and connectivity to DL series stageboxes, but I never liked it's compressors, fx and summing...

My two cents.

ps: the Digico S21 wipes the floor with both consoles soundwise.

[John Chiara]

Hmm...I sometimes find I have apparently no output from a channel
and look to find a channel comp smashing the signal to nothing. Mix control?

[James Paul]

X/M iOS/Droid can not control 'anything you want on the console', rather the PC/Mac/Linux Editor is able to comprehensively control any aspect of the X/M32 mixers.
Best point out if has not, the Si Impact is now 80 channels to mix capable with a recent free Harmon release this past summer of firmware V2.0.
All the X/M32 variants are and shall ever be is 41 channels to mix capable, which includes the internal USB recorder/player, and the Talkback.

[Scott Bolt]

X/M iOS/Droid can not control 'anything you want on the console', rather the PC/Mac/Linux Editor is able to comprehensively control any aspect of the X/M32 mixers.
Best point out if has not, the Si Impact is now 80 channels to mix capable with a recent free Harmon release this past summer of firmware V2.0.
All the X/M32 variants are and shall ever be is 41 channels to mix capable, which includes the internal USB recorder/player, and the Talkback.

The 3rd party MixingStation Android tablet app is comprehensive.  If there is a control that is available in the console that this app can't access, then it is news to me.  In fact, this app can do things that the console can't.

The X32 Mix app on the other hand simply covers "almost" everything the console can do ..... which is still considerable to say the least.

The soundcraft app on the other hand really is just a toy in comparison.  It is good for simple tasks, but you will not find it adequate to run the show from without using the console.

FWIW, I only use the X32 compressors very (very) sparingly, and on most inputs, not at all.  This is just my own taste.  It may well be that the Soundcraft compressor is better in this regard.

As for the reverb, I am a pretty big proponent of the X32 plate verb unit.  Sure, I like a good lexicon verb as well, and the Soundcraft has this in spades; however, you can get a pretty breath-taking verb on the X/M32.  For live applications, I think most would find it difficult to differentiate between a well-set-up X/M32 verb and even a good Eventide IMO.  YMMV.

I would say that most people that have used both generally give the nod to the Soundcraft with respect to sound quality.  I am not sure exactly what part of the unit they are referring to, but it does seem to be the general trend.

[ProSoundWeb Community]