Midas M32R Digital Mixer Reviews

is a great mixer in a small body
the PRO preamps is unique !!...clean . no hisssssssssss.... dinamic or condenser the sound is AMAZING
Im work for 40 years with a analog mixer......impposible to compare
my only complain if some genious can do a connector to send the quality image of the original display to a big
monitor of computer.....I CAN'T SEE.....the detalle
for the rest..?? nothing great mixer , great format , great sound
THANKS MIDAS

I've been using big expensive 48 channel digital mixers for live audio for many years. But at less than 1/10 the cost, I love the MIDAS M32R! No, really. It can handle 90% of all the gigs I've done on the bigger consoles, and sound just as good doing it. (No, I don't have a business relationship with Midas or Sweetwater, though I've been a long time customer of both.)

What everyone else has said about the M32R seems to be true. (Great preamps, EQ, FX, etc., easy to carry to a gig...)

I consider the basic M32R a 22-channel mixer, since besides the 16 back panel XLR inputs (to internal preamps) it has another 6 back panel 1/4" line level inputs (for keyboards, active guitar outputs, external preamps, CD, iPod, etc.) which are very useful and sound every bit as good.

Please note that these six line level inputs do NOT seem to have access to internal compression, gate or adjustable high-pass (which, when a line level input is selected, are defeated on the front panel.) But they DO have full access to the standard trim setting, EQ, buss sends to reverb, delay, monitor outputs etc. So if you can live without compression, gate and hi-pass on the line input channels, it's a great deal, and a full 22 channel console even without the stage box.

If you purchase the 16-channel stage box, it now has 38 useable channels (32 preamps + 6 line inputs) or more if you purchase the 32-channel stage box.

And to those who have wished that it would allow "more flexible layer selection", please note that if you select two bank choices AT THE SAME TIME they are immediately implemented side-by-side. Just press both buttons at once. (Took me a while to figure that out. Maybe I should have read the manual!)

For example, if you select "1-8" and "9-16" at the same time, you will then see channels 1-16 across all faders. If you later select "17-24" and "25-32" at the same time, you will then have access to channels 17-32. If you select, say, "9-16" and "Bus 1-8", that's what you get. Etc. Very flexible and quick once you get the hang of it (or read the manual).

Is there a down side? I would like to have a larger screen. For the price, I can't complain — but would love to be able to plug in a full sized computer monitor or something.

For recording I use a Neve 5088 console (with preamps and EQ to die for) but would consider using this M32R for extra preamps in a large session, like I used to use the Midas Venice analog consoles for in past years.

This M32R offers a solid feel of quality and performance. I like the control layout. I also own the X32, so I was already familiar with its capabilities. This board holds the functional capabilities of the X32, of course less the onboard amount of mic preamps and outputs. You can always buy the DL16 (which I did), or S32 remote stage boxes to offer more I/O. I plan on buying another DL16.

The X32 sounds great and clean when used with used within typical input gain settings, but the M32 I/O offers even more headroom and lower noise. When I first hooked it up and tossed on a quick check using an SM58 and headphones, it was dead quiet. A very clean high quality signal. BTW, always remember to mute channels that do not have anything connected its channel input. If you're hearing noise, look for unused channels that are not muted with trim/fader levels up. This note is true for any electronic equipment. When you connect a microphone you get the noise of it's source impedance which is fairly low around 200 Ohms. When disconnected, you get the higher noise level of the input impedance which can be greater than several K-Ohms. Noise voltage is proportional to resistance.

As in the X32, the M32 effects are quite amazing and very usable. The internal effects are good as many external effect processors. Hopefully Midas will offer even more effects algorithms for a future upgrade (hopefully bricasti M7: London Plate; Sunset Chamber, :) This certainly would be a great addition). The existing internal reverbs hold up well enough to keep my Lexicon PCM91 disconnected. Very pro sound. (TIP: On your reverb bus effect channel, use a compressor and assign the compressor to be keyed for your channel input you are using (maybe a vocal channel. Also, turn on the EQ to the reverb effect bus channel and roll off the lower end to take the "mud" out of your vocals for improved reverb quality . With your compressor now on the reverb channel, you can now make you reverb "sit" in the mix with transparent pro quality.)

Another reason to buy this board is that Ull is about to release a new USB board that will allow for 32 channel recording direct to a USB drive. There are companies that may offer this ability, but now IMO--they would be hard to compete with this quality of sound.

Had a short learning curve with this but once I got the hang of it after an afternoon of playing around with it, I feel like this is a great sounding mixer with some awesome functionality. Really easy setup with Logic and my Mac Powerbook. Logic through my USB cable picked up the interface immediately. No additional installation or downloading drivers, just instant recognition and use. That was awesome. Rehearsal was instant and sounded great.

The reason for the half star is the instruction manual isn't that well laid out and doesn't go into detail about certain operations. It feels like it was written by an engineer for an engineer. Manual assumed I knew certain things about the Behringer/Midas universe. Having come from Yamaha 01V's and 02R's I had to take on a slighty different mindset that the manual writers didn't take into account.

But thanks to internet and Youtube, finding out how to do certain things was just 15 minute videos away.

It is a great digital board.

This is nearly identical as far as function to the Behringer X32 so, if you can use one of those, you can use one of these. It does have better buttons and faders and the audio quality is more clear, than the X32.

For a board this size it is amazingly powerful, however I have a few criticisms:

1) just like the X32, the routing is NOT intuitive. Most likely you will need to consult the manual and I highly recommend spending time with the board before the day of show to familiarize yourself with the routing.

2) Just like the X32, the headphone amp is weak. In a 100dB room with nominal levels I could barely hear my solo'd channels using closed back over ear headphones.

3) If you have a lot of inputs you will be paging between layers constantly during a show, especially if you have aux returns, monitor feeds etc. It gets annoying...

That said, if you take the time to organize your scenes, this can be an amazing mixing tool, it's fun to mix on, and most importantly, it sounds good.

I recently purchased the M32R for a church to replace an aging Allen & Heath GL2400 analog console. Last night was the first run on the new board and I must say, I am very impressed! As a live and studio engineer for almost 30 years, I've been around my fair share or pro and mid grade boards. The pre's in this are gorgeous, full, warm and quiet. It has all the standard fare of modern digi consoles, and it all sounds great. The processor emulations are a nice touch. I threw the Pultec emulation on the lead vocals and acoustic guitar for more beautiful warm and airy presence. My only wish would be for routing to tie to fader assignments like you can do with A&H's DLive and Gld's. I would like to to be able to define my fader assignments the way I work. Other than that, two thumbs up for Midas building a great piece of gear with solid construction for a very reasonable price!

Bought this board and a Allen and Heath QU 16 to try at our listening room. Prefer the touch screen on the A&H. Also like the layout better on the A&H seems quicker to move around on. The recording facilities on the A&H are cool also, multitrack! Both boards sound great. Have to give the edge to the Midas as far as feel of construction. I am leaving the Midas in use at the venue because of multiple people using it. I think the Midas will hold up better. We have used it for three shows so far and it sounds great. The board feels quality for a board in its price range and looks great. Would definitely recommend to anyone.

The mixer sounds great and looks great. Getting around for routing, effects and doing EQ, etc... is much easier with an iPad...highly recommend that. Really great product.

The good:
1. THE SOUND. This console has amazing SOUND quality. The preamps are the best I've used on any compact console -- no contest. (Other preamps I've used on compact consoles include Mackie Onyx, Mackie VLZ/VLZ3, Behringer -- ugh, and Soundcraft.) Also -- this board is dead quiet. No noise! When I plugged in my 7506 headphones (with no program material going), even turning the phones volume all the way up, there was NO hiss. The headphone amp will drive the cans to deafening levels if needed.

2. Very smooth, fast-moving faders. Having the metal rail makes fader travel so much smoother than those typically found in small consoles. The faders are also incredibly responsive.

3. Ergonomic controls for various channel parameters, and fast access to each. Basic adjustments are a knob-turn away for EQ, compression, gate, preamp config, and bus sends. More comprehensive adjustments are available with a push of a "view" button next to those knobs. The knobs are big enough to easily grab, and spaced widely enough that you don't bump your knuckles on adjacent knobs.

4. Scribble strips. These tiny LCD screens allow you to put labels (with selectable colors!) to your faders. These are basically a necessity, though, as the board can page through 8 pages on the main faders, and four pages on the bus faders. You'd have a serious mess of board label tape without the scribble strips.

What could improve:
1. The software is a bit difficult to use. A lot of abbreviations that don't make a lot of sense. I still don't know how, exactly, to store board configurations, or how to quickly zero it for the next show.

2. It would be great if we could page all faders as a whole, or split. For example, have 16 channel faders and no bus faders, or split for 8 channel faders and 8 bus faders.

3. There isn't yet an owner's manual for this board, and thus they don't include one in the box. Combining the quick start guide with the larger M32's manual is a workable stopgap measure. The software is complicated enough that it's not completely intuitive.

4. My unit didn't come with a power cord. This may have been an oversight at the factory? Not a huge deal, since it's a standard AC power cord, and I have a bunch of 'em lying around.

in addition to previous review:

2. It would be great if we could page all faders as a whole, or split. For example, have 16 channel faders and no bus faders, or split for 8 channel faders and 8 bus faders.


push both buttons 1-8 and 9-16 at the same time and you can get channel 1-16 on the faders and no bus faders