Behringer X-Touch Compact Universal Control Surface Reviews

Anticipating its arrive, excited about getting more control over my mixes. thx again

This is the successor to the venerable BCF2000 motorfader controller which I have used for years.

Pros:
More controls than its predecessor
Quieter motorfaders than its predecessor
Good build quality, nice rubber buttons which are much better than its predecessor

Cons:
MIDI mapping can't be edited on the unit itself, must use editor software. (The editor software provides as much flexibility as you could want for the mappings though.)
Editor software is Windows only, no Mac or Linux support. (The controller itself works fine on Mac / Linux, you just can't change the mappings.)
Only two layers (sets of what all the parameters map to), as opposed to 10+ on the BCF2000.

... use this w/osiMIDI, X-Air Edit,and an XR-12. Amazing functionality and really nice to have tactile control over XR-mixer functions. We use ours as a live gig set-up, but we can see the value in using an X-Touch in the studio,with the bigger XR-18 mixer and it's multi-channel USB interface. Wish it was sleeker/upgraded to look 2020 but the main thing is that it works-and works well,too. Perfect add on to the X-Air mixer series...

Just what I was looking for and more!

I regularly (Weekly) record band practice on 16 digital tracks on two separate SD devices, then I bring the tracks into my DAW (Reaper) on my MacBook for editing and mixing. Automating and mixing with the mouse was suboptimal, and on a lark I did some searching for automated fader boards that would work with my DAW. I found this and at such a reasonable price! When I plugged the XTC into my mac, I launched reaper and made a few config clicks and the XTC came to life, preconfigured and wonderful. I cant imagine my workflow without it! Great Price for an Automated Fader system. The faders a a little noisy when they move (Mechanical noise not audio noise) so if you are near a sensitive mic you need to turn off fader playback.

Excellent. Took a little while to set up, and that's why I'm not giving it 5 stars. But once fully set up, it's pretty seamless. Great build quality also! Really happy with purchase!

As a Studio One user, I was looking for a control surface but did not want to spend the extra cash for the Faderport 8. Along comes the X-Touch Compact. Does it do all that the Faderport does? No. But it also 40% less than the Faderport AND has a 3 year warranty. It also has a Master Fader. If you're looking for a good basic controller, this is it. It uses Mackie control and some of the buttons and knobs don't really do much (unless of course I am doing something wrong which is in fact a possibility.) However, you can control your panning, send levels, plug in controls, etc. It also has 2 USB outlets to plug other things into. I have my Beatstep plugged into it. I'm happy with mine. From what I've seen, it works even better with Logic.

I bought this unit just before X-mas of 2016, almost on a whim as I picked up a cheap mic and this showed up as a recommended item. As a relatively new user to Logic Pro X I was intrigued at a control surface that would allow me to use physical faders and rotary encoder knobs. I watched a few videos on YouTube and read a few reviews showing the virtually seamless integration and minimal setup with the X Touch Compact and LPX. Out of the box, plugged it in and got it working in seconds.

Besides a technical issue with the faders acting whacky after updating my OS to Sierra and to LPX 10.3.0 (that was readily solved with a phone call to Apple Support), the unit seems to be working fantastically with my DAW! Less time on my keyboard and mouse means I'm more productive, more comfortable, and I'm actually having more fun recording, editing, and mixing in my home studio.

The added bonus is that I can use this unit with Adobe Lightroom for editing photos. My wife is a photographer and she was blown away once I set it up with LR. So now I can go from mixing music to editing photographs. The things we can do with MIDI these days!

PROS:

1. Built pretty rugged--seems fairly durable and hefty
2. Simple setup, no installation of software or drivers
3. Versatile--can be used in music making or other workflows such as editing photos with Adobe software, etc
4. Customizeable--with Mackie Control protocol I really don't have to fuss to much with customizing in LPX, but I've read the XTC works well with other DAWs like ProTools and Cubase

CONS:

1. Loud mechanical noise with the motorized faders.
2. Abysmal product documentation and support, especially for Apple products. For ex, there is no editor for Apple, only Windows. Also, the Quickstart Manual is subpar--hardly helpful with any setup or detailed instructions for troubleshooting. Behringer's support is mainly offered in their community based forums which is not immediately helpful. No firmware updates for XTC, only for the X Touch.

Overall, this has been a solid buy for me. Rather surprising, since "Behringer" and "quality" don't usually go together. We'll see how reliable this is after the 3 year warranty period. But for now, I am really happy with the X-Touch Compact.

I purchased TheX-touch (flagship) and the XTC in October of 2015 for a project studio space. Now I will be honest, I am a Protools, Logic, Reason, Hybrid Mac/PC user. Everything is intergrated to run through my Saffire Pro40 and Octo-pre and the PC is my primary capture source since It has greater specs than my Mac and I can upgrade whenever without having to purchase an new Apple computer but I digress. I have the XT cascade to the XTC thru midi in/out from my Pro 40. In that essence it works phenomenally. However when I attempt to rewire anything in ProTools the XT ot XTC hi-jacks everything on the PC that requires USB. My MPC renaissance or the MPK61 both have to be unplugged and plugged back in then they function normally. On the flip side when I use the XT or XTC on my mac because the pro40 comes with 2 firewire ports the same thing happens with Protools only with reason 8 though. With Logic this is a monster(i believe it was designed for logic). Everything works seamlessly. With Protools certain encoders do absolutely nothing with either the XT or XTC whether they are ran independently or Cascaded. I do love the units as they have moved the user more away from the mouse. The design is nice too and they seem sturdy. They are also a smaller footprint than my Tascam DM4800 so thats a plusI haven't have any issues with them other than noted above. there has to be patches for this. Come on Behringer!

If you are a Logic Pro user this thing is awesome. in fact i am starting to think they created the X-Touch primarily for Logic. It was easy to set up and all the buttons work as they are supposed to. In my opinion, Behringer hit a home run with this one. for the price you are not going to find a better controller for Logic Pro.

I also use Pro Tools and Digital Performer. With these, the X-touch works, but there is less functionality. The faders, pan and transport all work fine but not all the special function buttons. I am hoping in future updates this will be fixed. but since logic is my primary DAW, i am thrilled with the X-Touch

Its to bad the fact there are desksavers for the X-touch serie, accept for the X-touch compact at all, its a bad case Behringer!

If there was an editor program for OSX (I hear it's coming soon), I'd be much happier about this. I am not sure if the full Xtouch or the Compact was a better choice, but I went with the Compact. Full one looks like it has too many features and buttons and I prefer something simple like this. Still, let me warn you, this does not fit Logic Pro X or any other DAW like a glove. Relying on Mackie Control when this is obviously not a MCU is not ideal. If any DAW comes around to adding this exact device to their list of supported control surfaces, that'd be awesome. As of now, you open any DAW and you select Mackie Control and then this works in MC mode. The actual Mackie Control Universal is SO expensive when the X-Touch is just has great build quality, price, and the same features. This unit makes it pretty convenient to use the native compressor and EQ on Logic or even the great SSL mixing console on Reason. 3rd party plug-ins, you can forget about those. That means I ignore this thing altogether when doing almost all of my mixing. My only idea for how this could work is if I could go through Logic and program each and every knob/fader to do what I want and somehow save personalized mode. That's not possible. Stuck with MC. Behringer did step up their game and make an admirable product in terms of quality all-around. Big step up from their reputation of the past.

cheap? cardboard found inside. whatever you do- don't move it once y9u start using it. Bad construction
and doesn't do HUI (protools).

Appears to be a sweet unit but unfortunately Behringer decided to release it before having the midi editor software developed (at least for Mac OS X). Very limited in functionality without that one little oversight. Just returned it. Will probably give it another shot once fully supported.

Had high hopes for the X-Touch Compact when it was announced some time ago. Found out it was in stock and ordered immediately. Kudos to Sweetwater for their customer service during the ordering process. Unfortunately, when the unit arrived, I could not get it to work with Pro Tools through HUI. After a few days of back and forth with Sweetwater and Behringer (mixed with some misinformation from both), it was determined that the Compact does NOT support HUI and therefore cannot work with Pro Tools. So, the unit goes back. Perhaps they will add support in future firmware, but Behringer is not known for their expediency.