Using the Behringer XR18 with a DAW for multitrack recording
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- čas přidán 7. 08. 2024
- A rough guide to using the Behringer XR18 with a DAW, including how to send audio back from the DAW to the XR18 for participants to monitor. I use Reaper as an example DAW.
The intention is to record the raw sound from each input, so it can be mixed later and have effects applied separately.
I've installed the XR18 ASIO driver, which is required to get multiple channels working correctly on Windows. On Mac it should work with no additional drivers.
00:00 Setup for my own XR18
00:35 How your DAW and the X-Air software work together
01:32 Getting started with X-Air
03:06 Setting up your DAW (I use Reaper)
03:40 Sending sound back from your DAW to monitor mixes
05:00 Being careful to turn record monitoring off on your DAW channels because you're hearing it through the X-Air auxes already
06:04 Saving your settings as a snapshot
We just completed a whole album in a 5 hr session with the Xair32 and a Macbook Pro. (Garageband) and filmed it with an Iphone 12 and edited in Imovie. Thanks for all your content! it works!
Could you please post a link? I'm curious... 🙂
@@janjahnke6432 youtube.com/@ericaveyandthehealing
great job! i just watched a few of the videos on your channel.
@@dylansherman1915 that’s awesome thanks!!!
A quick shot on MIDI config would be so great! Excellent video
No intro and right into it. This guy is my hero.
Wow! This is exactly the information I needed. Particularly the bit about how to send Ableton's signal to the AUX inputs. Thank you!!
So, I just wanted to return here to note that in an effort to keep input 16 open for other instruments, I actually ended up routing my DAW to FX1. This works great!
@@michaelmadcat I’ve just set up my XR18 from scratch again (moving from dawless to Ableton) and read your comment about routing the DAW to FX1. Thanks for that great idea! It works like a charm!
@@skullhqx woot! So glad to hear it helped. 🙌
This was really helpful, thank you.
Can you send more than just stereo outputs from the DAW? For example - I have drums already recorded (1/2) Click (3/4) and a scratch vocal (5/6) and I want the band members to be able to have their own individual mixes of those separate outputs being sent from the DAW. Is that possible?
thanks - helpful!
Tnx Dave,very helpful,am planning to buy xr16 , can it function well like xr18 of there is a big difference?
Hey, unfortunately the XR16 will only record in stereo so I don't think you would be able to do multitrack recording beyond two tracks panned L and R 😔
Thanks Dave. Can the XR18 be used as a midi interface too? i.e. hook up a midi controller keyboard to the XR18 and play software instruments in the DAW as well as multitrack record audio?
Hey - I do think I was able to do this, yes.
Yup! You can. In your midi devices section of your daw, the xr18 should show up as a midi device as well
Man I need help. Studio doesn’t see the Xair 18 as an interface selection!
Can you record the effects from the XR18 as you record the instruments? And can you also use the effects for mixing on tracks recorded in the DAW? Is there any issue with latency when overdubbing? Thanks!
czcams.com/video/AaaQ7Kucre8/video.html
1) I haven't tried recording the FX bus - perhaps you could use the IN/OUT panel to configure some of the 18 USB returns to be FX?
2) by the time you are recording individual tracks to a DAW I think it's better to use effects in there. I guess you could set the XR18 up for "virtual sound check" where the channels are all sent from USB instead of analogue input, then mix and add effects in the XR18
3) Using a Mac, or the ASIO driver on Windows, I haven't had any big latency issues.and I have overdubbed. You definitely need the ASIO driver on Windows, though!
I wonder whether or not is it possible to use the auxes as 6 different outputs within a daw and have them going out to a patchbay and therefore hardware effects when producing stuff, since I'd like to send out two different DIs, two other channels into a compressor and other things out as if I was using an insert on a console because our Tascam interface only features two other outs (since 1-2 are the same as main out). This would very much help out when treating multiple different tracks during the mix process
I haven't tried it but I think you might be able to.
The key would be to go to the In/Out settings, which is located near Setup (in the Windows app, at least).
Under USB sends, instead of linking USB1 with Ch1, you could link it with Bus1. I'm not certain, but I think that might work to allow you to send 6 independent outs from the DAW.
Actually - having another look I see that one of the tabs in In/Out is "Aux Out" currently the Auxes are linked to each of the Buses. I think you could link them to the USB outputs 1-6 instead. This might be another way of achieving it ... I haven't tried it, but I think this would be the area to experiment with.
I did some poking around, I haven’t figured how to leverage the Aux channels for DAW playback, however, you can sacrifice the FX busses and use them instead! Practically, I’m not going to use much of the FX busses in a live recording session, so this seems fine to me. Just click on FX4 and you get the “USB Input” button like any other channel. Then set your DAW to output on whatever channel you have your FX4 set to!!!
This is great, I can send my drummer a click on FX4, which is only up on Bus 5/6. No Click for the rest of the band on Main L/R. But if we want to listen back to the take, turn up FX4 for everyone and hit play!
Now you don’t have to sacrifice 2 of your 18 channels to get a click and make DAW playback simple.
could you explain a bit more how to send track and click from DAW to aux1 for example?
thank you!!
When you adjust the main mix on the XR software like EQ, does it affect the line that goes into the recording?
Hey Rob - by default EQ and levels don't affect the recording.
I haven't tested this for sure, but I think the key to this is the In/Out tab, which is located near Settings (in the Windows app, at least).
In In/Out you can repatch the mixer's virtual connections, so be careful! If you look at the USB Sends section, you can see that Channel 1 is linked to Analog input 1, etc. You can choose (with a right-click in the Windows app) at what point they're linked. The default is "Analog" which I think means it takes the raw input signal. You could go as far as "Post Fader" which would capture that channel with all gain, EQ, and fader settings already applied.
Thank you for your video! I got a question regarding this mixer. Is there a way to get FX on a channel (i.e. vocal) but send the multi-track RAW input to your DAW? Essentially I am looking into recording a band have nice sound in the room but I want to be able to mix and master the RAW inputs later to create content for online.
By default the usb recording is each raw channel. There's a config dialog to let you choose at which point in the signal chain you take the signal.
@@davenice7494
Is this a question or an answer?
Hey bro, i want to ask something, my church just buy midas mr18 a few months ago and i want to use the multitrack feature straight to DAW on my pc, although i already download driver from the official sites, my pc didn't detect the mixer, i tried to unplug and plug it again, but it didn't solve the issue, any idea?
Does Windows 7 Pro support the BEHRINGER_XAir_DriverSetup_v4.59.0? I'm not seeing any tech notes on the BEHRINGER site. And thanks for the video:-)
does behringer's "x32-q" monitoring app works on this model too?
how do i independently control the 6 aux outputs for personal mixing? thanks for the reply!
Hey, I haven't any knowledge of x32-q - sorry.
For personal mixing you just switch to controlling the individual mixes instead of the main LR. There will be other videos that are better for this topic though.
How do you SIMPLY send the XR18's FX and EQ to a DAW along WITH the dry signal for each track?
Our XR18's mix sounds perfect LIVE, and that's exactly what I want the computer to record! I DON'T want to add FX and EX to the tracks in the DAW later!
You'd have to record the FX returns. That said, just because it sounds perfect live doesn't mean it sounds even decent, necessarily, played back. Live and post production audio are two completely separate beasts.
Did you find a solution? @tonytrombo even I’m looking for the same..!
Hey Dave! Do you not recommend monitoring in the DAW? I have lots of plug-ins I would like to use in reaper during recording but then it seems I am stuck setting gain and only using the return track which is causing multiple problems (loss of clarity, latency, can't pick and choose channels on each bus). Is there something I'm missing for this device to be my daily rider in the studio? I want to always hear what is being recorded and not have the mixing program hindering me in post. Maybe i can rout each individual track out of daw and back out through x air edit? Or send busses out of the aux sends through my DAW? Thanks!
Hey sorry, very slow reply! I think monitoring in the DAW would be fine 🙂 we used this to do a multitask recording with a band so couldn't do it that way.
If I have two computer how can Route audio between two computers?
Dose it works like "normal" audio interface e.g. focusrite? or maybe it works only with DAW programs?
I think it works like normal - you would only access two channels without using the special drivers (although probably you could use the mixing app to mix your input channels down to two!)
Hello, can you please help me with recording the FX into my DAW too?
Please,i need help about my xair12. Is it possible to use it Like this? I can not find drivers For it.
Hey, I think the xr12 can only communicate in stereo 😔
The only weakness is that you cannot set the usb out for each individual track. This is an issue since the signal going into the DAW is often too low.
Hi Dave, thanks for the content. I also use Reaper and have just bought the XR18 air. I can only get output from the XR18 to reaper for the first 8 channels. It looks like you may have a different driver, but how did you get the option for all 16 channels? Which driver did you use?
Hey Andy, you need the ASIO driver - is that what you have? In reaper it should be showing up under ASIO. I don't remember ever having fewer channels.
@@davenice7494 Ah yes...just got it working by selecting ASIO. Thank again for video and quick reply.
Is it compatible with m1 mac mini?
Hie do l need wifi to run this as an audio interface..l want to record and mix in the daw
Hey - I think you probably do need wifi or ethernet so set the gains on the channels.
we want to control our sound from one laptop and record multitrack out into anothet laptop using DAW software...can this work or will it have to be all on the same laptop?
Yeah that's totally fine. You record over USB, you control over a network connection. Can be on the same laptop or different! 👍 The internal WiFi is very limited though, definitely worth using an external WiFi access point.
Hola, existe la posibilidad de linkear la rx18 a cubase para tocar en vivo?
La idea que pasa por mi cabeza es utilizar todas las inserciones y vst que esta tenga cubase para reproducir en tiempo real sonidos que la app air x no tenga.
Es más, si al main del máster le activamos un masterizador como izotope... Toda nuestra mezcla saldrá más explosiva que una mezcla en vivo normal.
Espero que mis ocurrencias puedan ser realidad.
Saludos!
Hey, I don't think it's possible to use a DAW as insert FX on the XR18. I think the best you could do is send specific channels to the DAW and route the return from the DAW back to an unused channel. You could do this from the "In/Out" section by adjusting USB returns/sends. Then to have an 'insert', you'd want to prevent the original channel from being output in your mix - you could do this by unticking "LR" in the "Main Out" part of your channel controls.
For send effects rather than insert effects, you could send the channels normally into your DAW and return the output back to an FX bus (again you can control this from within the In/Out section)
Is it better to use a x18 then a scarlet pro or
They are both interfaces. I imagine a Scarlett device is better quality but I'm not sure exactly which one you mean. The XR18 is mainly a mixer as well.
Thanks Dave. Why do you need to plug both Ethernet and USB into the mixer? Is the Ethernet enough to record from (my computer is situated in another room - too far for USB)?
Hey, no it's not enough.
USB is required for a laptop connection to a DAW.
Ethernet is used for controlling the mixer like ... a mixer!
The cheapest practical option I'm aware of is using some kind of active/powered USB extender - I have seen people talk about these and have some (but not complete!) success.
Another option would be to connect a laptop to the mixer and use Dante or a similar network-based transport to send the audio to your normal computer. But this is significantly more complex!
@@davenice7494 Thanks!! :-)
I think there's some misunderstanding here. Ethernet, wired or wireless allows you to control the mixer from a computer (you do not need both wired and wireless, just one or the other). The usb connection is how you are able to record in a DAW and also playback on a USB return. The video depiction of using both ethernet and wireless connections are redundant.
@@kelshelton good point. I am using Ethernet to plug my own wireless router in because the built in wireless is useless for anything outside of your own home.
When I say or write Ethernet, I mean network.
You need a network connection to control the mixer, USB to record.
(originally I made this video to show some friends how to use the exact setup I have so they could borrow my unit, but I didn't make the video private and it turned out to be popular. I'd have made it more generic if I'd known what would happen!)
Do you have a link where you downloaded your X air Asio Driver...I can't find any online and it's heartbreaking
Hey, I went to the Behringer website, clicked Downloads, filtered on Product=XR18, Type=Software, Sub-type=Drivers,USB,Audio and the XR18 Windows driver was listed. I'm pretty confident that this is the one with ASIO support.
Will all 18 tracks from the XR18 come in automatically after setting up the preferences? I am looking into purchasing this sound board.
You might have to set the routing for the channels but it can be made to work without too much of a problem. Getting the right driver is the hard bit.
@@davenice7494 thanks man, I really appreciate you getting back with me. I'm a little nervous about it because it's a lot of money
Can you connect this with a USB cable and have it show up as an 18-input channel soundcard in Windows?
I think so! You'd need the ASIO driver.
Do you just upload the x18 interface into your recording computer?
Yep - plug it in. For a Mac no drivers are required. For Windows you'll want to download and install the XR18 ASIO driver.
What rack case are you using?
Hey - it's a www.thomann.de/gb/millenium_rackbag_3.htm
So I can simply use this XR18 as a muli-in & out sound interface, right?
Yes you can - multi out is trickier because you don't have the same number of outputs as inputs.
@@davenice7494 Actually no matter, because I'll only need 3 from Cubase. 1 stereo for synths, pianos and such, and 1 mono for click track. Rest inputs, we'll occupy physically with 2 guitars, 1 bass and 2 vox, and all of them will go out from the main out, also via Aux outputs we'll get our in-ear monitors to our taste. Is this scenario possible?
Are the phantom power can be swtiched per individual channel?
Yes! 👍
@@davenice7494i mean if i can just use phantom power on for example, just inputs channel 3 and 4 . I dont have an xr18 yet but I download the mixing apps the phantom power switch activates all channels
@@nailcutter7259 I understand. The manual says "phantom power, switchable per input" - mediadl.musictribe.com/media/sys_master/h32/hb5/8849435131934.pdf - I have used phantom power for some condenser mics so I know what you're asking. I think it's possible - some channels with phantom on and some with it off.
Where can you find x18 asio?
Hey, I went to the Behringer website, clicked Downloads, filtered on Product=XR18, Type=Software, Sub-type=Drivers,USB,Audio and the XR18 Windows driver was listed. I'm pretty confident that this is the one with ASIO support.
is it behringer X12 can record multi track?
No, I don't think it can. Google the product pages from Behringer and I think they will say usb stereo recording.
It cannot, just records to a single track/file.
Say Ethereal. Now say Ether. Now say Ethernet.
you can't mulitrack record with FX and EQs. Only main channels LR not all the channels.
Jesus GET TO THE POINT