WING Firmware Version 1.07.2 is out now and available for download on the Behringer website. I will have an article about the firmware update soon but one of the new features is the addition of DCA 9-16.
While trying to access DCA 9-16 for the first time it seemed like they were in accessible and I wasn’t able to page Left/Right on the center section while DCA was highlighted. I had the idea to assign DCA 9-16 to the user bank of the center section and in doing so I noticed there were empty slots in the DCA fader bank for faders 9-16 they just did not seem active since there was nothing assigned to them. Sure enough, once I dragged DCA 9-16 down onto the fader bank assignment for DCA 9-16 on the center section I was able to page Left/Right in the center fader section and access all 16 DCAs in the DCA bank. See below to see what that looks like. Notice the bottom left corner which shows an overview of the selected fader bank. It is only highlighting DCA 1-8 but we can see fader slots for DCA 9-16. All we have to do is scroll over to them using the user touch know or the Left/Right fader bank knob and then drag the New DCAs 9-16 each down to a spot on the DCA layer/fader.
You could still build out 16 DCAs on the custom center fader banks if you wanted to, if you use the DCAs quite often and prefer that, which I could imagine for certain setups.
User Layer Link
The new firmware includes new setup screens, but also there are new settings screens for some of the different main sections of the console, before the only setting page was for the EQ/RTA settings, but now there are more including the fader bank settings which have some handy features.
See Below (accessed from View(DCA) > Assign > Settings
Here you can choose to Link the User layers across all three fader sections if desired.
Customize Any Fader Layer
This reminded me of an article I have been meaning to write. I don’t know if it is a feature that no one talks about (at least I haven’t seen it anywhere) or it is a bug, but all of the fader banks on the WING are fully customizable, not just the User Banks. This is going to be a tip for more advanced users or more advanced setups because you could get lost in customization, but all you have to do is select the section you want to customize in the top left (this is what portion of the mixer – left, center, or right) then select the fader bank (notice I have selected Channels 1-12- this is not the user bank but the actual channel 1-12). Then in the center you select where you want to pull from to assign to the faders.
Besides the DCAs shown above, the other sources are Channel/Aux in:
Bus Master / Mains / Matrices
And the last two are the Bus Sends and FX Parameters shown on the right side. They both open corresponding dropdown menus.
Options to Assign to Faders:
Channels/Aux ins – Bus Masters/Mains/Matrices – DCAs – Bus Sends – FX Parameters
Remember, it may be a feature or a bug, but all of the fader banks are customizable so to show this, in the below example I have customized the first four faders to be:
- Channel 1 – Standard Channel Fader
- DCA 1 – DCA 1 Master Fader
- FX Slot 1 Pre Delay – This is the parameter for the Pre Delay time controlled by the fader, moving the fader changes the length of Pre Delay.
- FX Slot 1 Decay – This is the parameter for the Effect’s Decay time controlled by the fader, moving the fader changes the length of Decay of the reverb.
This could be a useful way to assign an effect send or parameter right next to the source that feeds it, think a lead vocalist and you could have the reverb decay time right next to their channel to quickly change from one song to the next. Or if you are mixing monitors and your artist has two monitors in different locations, you could put the send or master next to their channel fader and fade it in or out as they move on the stage.
Also with the previously mentioned User Fader Link feature you can have User Bank 1 across the whole mixer. When set up and you select User 1 or User 2 it will spill across the mixer. When you select a single non-user bank in a section it will pull that section out of the User group.
The WING is proving to be a flexible mixer and so far Behringer has been quick to make updates and improvements so hopefully it continues to improve for years to come. The flexibility alone should cause anyone in the X32 ecosystem to check it out and see what it can do.
If you have any questions or suggestions of something you would like to see covered please let me know.
Great resource Chris and you helped me on the MusicTribe site though it is very hard to access that one. A tutorial on EFX to monitors and an explanation of the new “Right SOF” option in 1.07 would be greatly appreciated! Well done!!
Hi Michael, Thanks for the feedback. The MusicTribe site has been redone a couple of times and each time it seems to get harder to find info but there are some very helpful people there!
My next article is going to cover the WING Firmware 1.07 update, but the quick answer to your question on “Right SOF” is that selecting that option makes the far right fader bank of 4 faders flip into sends on fader mode when sends on fader mode (SOF) is selected. Sends on fader is global, since you can have any sources or outputs on the far right fader layer this allows you to set wether they will follow the sends on fader mode or not.
It could be handy depending on your setup. For instance if you wanted to have the fader for a lead vocalist that you need to ride you could set it up to keep that fader on the right bank at all times so you don’t need to look for it. Then when you flip to sends on fader mode you would still be able to operate from that “star fader” on the right side and not have to find it in the bank of channels to send to their monitor or effects.
The WING allows for a lot of customization!
I will do an article on setting the mixer up for monitors and different possible configurations. That one will take some time but I will make that a priority. I have a long list of topics and I am working through them one by one but I always appreciate questions or suggestions. There is no point in answering questions or writing about topics that no one wants to read!
Michael, the monitor setup tutorial will take some time, but the quick answer in case you are stuck trying to send an effect to a monitor is:
1. Assign an effect to a Bus and make sure it is inserted, on, and mix is 100% (in this example Bus 16)
2. Assign a bus to be a monitor send if you haven’t already (Bus 1)
3. Send from your channel to the dry Bus 1
4. Select the effect bus (Bus 16) and at the very left bottom of the screen select the Bus Sends View. Turn Bus 1 on, make sure it is not “pre fade” and bring the send up to unity or so.
5. Bring the fader on Bus 16 up to mix in the effect with the dry signal in the monitor.
It appears right now that you can only send from a bus to bus 1-8 and matrix 1-8. Where as a channel can be sent to bus 1-16 but not a matrix.
Thanks Chris. I was using the Aux method (Aux feeding bus 15 and 16 and was getting some reverb in the monitors even when I thought I shouldn’t be. I like this method better and that makes sense. Great resource my friend. Also it looks like the select channel by touch can be dangerous, especially if adjusting while on SOF. Thanks
Hi Michael,
I wrote that effect example late last night and it may not be the best solution depending on what you are trying to do but the nice thing about the Wing is that there is more than one way of doing something. In the above example I was thinking in terms of the mixer being used as a monitor console, not mixing monitors from FOH which is probably why you were setting it up on an AUX return in the first place. Was your effect send prefade or postfade?