Behringer WING 48-Channel Digital Mixer

48-stereo-channel Digital Mixer with 48-in/48-out USB Audio Interface, 24 Motorized Faders, 8 MIDAS Pro Preamps, 28 Stereo Buses, 16 Stereo Digital FX Processors, 64-track Dual-SD Recorder/Player, Ethernet Connectivity, Remote I/O Connectivity, Capacitive Touchscreen, and Expansion Port

Powerful. Expandable. Built Around You.                                                                                                          The Behringer WING is a 48-stereo-channel digital mixer that’s both ultra-powerful and incredibly easy to use. Benefit from first-class hands-on control, thanks to 24 smooth-feeling motorized 100mm faders, a capacitive touchscreen, adjustable display wheel, and touch-sensitive rotary controls. Capture sound with the utmost in quality, courtesy of eight MIDAS Pro mic preamps, while a bevy of digital I/O options provide near-limitless connectivity. Record up to 64 channels directly to dual-SD cards, use optional expansion cards to attain Dante, SoundGrid, or MADI support, or deploy the WING’s built-in 48-in/48-out USB audio interface to record straight to your DAW. Getting around the WING is a breeze, thanks to its intuitive Sources, which put the emphasis on your source audio rather than the nuts and bolts of your mix. Complete with 16 true-stereo processors with standard and classic modeled effects, the WING is a top-shelf digital console that will elevate your live sound capabilities.

WING — made for the way you want to work                                                                                                    Digital mixers are insanely powerful; thus they can seem intimidating. That’s not the case with the WING. Despite its deep feature set, it’s a breeze to navigate. Its interface centers around a large capacitive touchscreen that’s augmented by touch-sensitive rotary controls. Best of all, its three fader sections and Custom Controls section can be tailored to your personal requirements. It doesn’t get much more intuitive than that! Whether you require a specific bus send fader next to the corresponding channel fader, or a meticulously configured custom channel that’s always at the ready, the WING is made for the way you want to work.

Sources make navigation simple                                                                                                                            The WING is jam-packed with I/O — 374 inputs and outputs, to be exact. And if you include its internal signals, the WING includes 400 inputs and outputs. Faced with this much I/O, Behringer’s engineering team reimagined the flow of a traditional mixer, putting the emphasis on your source audio, using what Behringer calls — quite fittingly — Sources. In the WING, inputs are much more than historical inputs, because they contain metadata on what the Source is — tags, input icon, input color, gain, phantom power, and if the Source is mono, stereo, or mid-side. All of that information follows the Source to any channel. With one simple button, that information can be copied to the channel, and the tags, icon, colour, and other metadata show up on the channel immediately. If you move a Source to another channel, the information goes with it, no need for old fashioned copying and pasting.

The implementation is carefully thought out, as well. Let’s face it, labeling and gain-staging 374 Sources can take some time. The workload can be easily split between two people as the WING is ready for dual operators. One person can be in charge of labeling the channels, including name, icon, color, tags, multiple mute groups, mono/stereo/mid-side configuration, and more. Using the 4-channel area of the WING as a separate work area, a second person can be in charge of gain-staging and determining phantom power for each source. To make things easier still, this can also be done from the WING Co-Pilot tablet app to label or set any of the parameters while patching from the stage. The beauty of this is whether you are looking at a channel, SD recorder, or any other output, you will always see and be able to refer to the Source.

Channels redefined                                                                                                                                              With so much focus on Sources, the WING has to go beyond the historical definition of what a channel is as well. With 374 Sources, a single 1-channel input seems a little underpowered. That’s why the WING has redefined what a single channel can do. Each of its 48 channels — 40 Inputs plus eight returns — can operate as mono, stereo, or mid-side. And when you assign a stereo Source to a channel, it automatically renders the channel in stereo. On top of that, each channel features an alternate (ALT) input that can be stereo as well, which makes toggling between two Sources a breeze.

The WING’s ALT inputs are a life saver. For example, say you have stereo tracks playing from a computer, but you also have a redundant hardware track player that’s synced to the computer. If the computer fails, the hardware tracks can take over with either a command or automatically. On a traditional console, that would take four channels. On the WING, it’s just one. Simply route the computer’s stereo Source to a single channel. Then specify the ALT input as the hardware player stereo signal. Other applications could be a redundant vocal mic. If the battery in a wireless transmitter unexpectedly goes out, the vocalist grabs a backup a microphone, and the signal immediately switches to the second mic. Again, this uses just one channel. Virtual sound checks have never been more straightforward. Just assign your 48 USB playback tracks or 64 XLive playback tracks to ALT inputs, hit play, and everything can automatically switch and be ready to go for your virtual soundcheck.ext

Mono or stereo? It’s all the same to the WING                                                                                                    All of the WING’s 48 input channels and 28 bus mixes can be used for mono, stereo, or mid-side sources — no channel linking required. And, as noted above, when you assign a stereo Source to a channel it automatically renders the channel in stereo. Best of all, there’s no need to reboot the console when you apply a mode change (the live sound engineers here at Musiekwereld did back flips when they realized this). This means that you can make on-the-fly changes from mono to stereo and back again.

Benefit from first-class hands-on control                                                                                                          The Behringer WING supplies you with all the hands-on control you need. It all starts with 24 motorized 100mm faders. These ultra-smooth faders make this digital console an absolute joy to mix on. Its central section includes a bevy of user-assignable controls, including four touch-sensitive rotary encoders and 20 buttons with two LCD screens. Apply whatever functions you’d like to have within reach, and they’ll always be at your fingertips. Make fine adjustments of up to eight user parameters with the WING’s adjustable display wheel, or use it for DAW remote control via USB MIDI. The WING’s configuration also includes pre-defined functionality for USB and SD card recorder transport, show control, and mute groups.

SPECS

• • Type:Digital Mixer
  • Channels:48 Stereo (40 x channel, 8 x aux)
  • Inputs – Mic Preamps:8 x XLR-1/4″ combo (mic/line)
  • Phantom Power:Yes
  • Outputs – Main:8 x XLR
  • Inputs – Digital:1 x XLR (AES/EBU), 3 x EtherCON (AES50 SuperMAC), 1 x XLR (StageCONNECT)
  • Outputs – Digital:1 x XLR (AES/EBU), 3 x EtherCON (AES50 SuperMAC), 1 x XLR (StageCONNECT)
  • Send/Return I/O:8 x 1/4″ TRS (aux in), 8 x 1/4″ TRS (aux out)
  • Busses/Groups:8 x Stereo Matrix, 4 x Stereo Mains, 16 x Aux Stereo Bus
  • Inserts:Dual Inserts per Bus, FX Insert Slot
  • MIDI I/O:In/Out
  • Data I/O:2 x Ethernet (control/audio network)
  • Remote:1 x 1/4″ (GPIO 1-2), 1 x 1/4″ (GPIO 3-4)
  • USB:1 x Type B, 1 x Type A
  • Computer Connectivity:USB 2.0, 24-bit/48kHz (48 x 48)
  • I/O Expansion Slots:1 x Expansion Port (24-bit/48kHz)
  • Headphones:2 x 1/4″
  • Faders:24 x 100mm Motorized
  • A/D Resolution:Up to 24-bit/192kHz
  • EQ Bands:6-band Parametric EQ (channel), 8-band Parametric EQ (bus), Additional EQs and Configurations
  • Effects:8 x Premium FX Stereo Processors, 8 x Standard FX Stereo Processors, 5 x Variable Plug-in Slots
  • Signal Processing:Full Dynamics Processing
  • DAW Control:Yes (HUI, Mackie)
  • Screen:10″ Capacitive Touchscreen, Adjustable Swivel
  • Storage:2 x SD Card Slot (dual 32 track max)
  • Power Source:Standard IEC AC cable
  • Height:7.9″
  • Depth:22.6″
  • Width:34.3″
  • Weight:52.8 lbs.
  • Manufacturer Part Number:Wing