In a previous video i talked about the inputs of an xr18. for this video i
thought we would take a look at the outputs of a behringer xr18, or midas
MR18. the xr18 has six mono balanced xlr outs,
and a left and right main output. there's also a headphone connector.
and finally, a usb connection for our usb inputs and
outputs. let's take a look at these analog outputs first, and open our
routing page. tab over to aux outs.
here you can see a key showing what the colors indicate.
if you right click on a tap point you can change it and the color will change
to indicate what you have changed to. if you left click in the graph you can
reassign the xlr out to another source in the mixer.
like this, for example. i'll go ahead and switch back to how
this was, because by default, the xr18 is already set up perfectly for stage
monitors. as you can see by the key, these are all
set for post fader. in the input video we were choosing our
bus tap points on a channel. these tap points on the outputs are at
the other end of the signal chain. these are choosing where the xlr output
will be tapped in relation to the bus (main) output fader.
assuming you want to have a main bus fader for each of the six xlr outputs,
then you'd want to tap them post fader. post meaning they're after the fader.
pre would mean they are before the fader.
generally for monitors, or when you're using these sends as subgroups, you'll
want these- post fader. this change changes nothing on the input
side of things. it only changes the output tab,
so, for monitors we can see we only have a maximum of six mono outputs...
plus the left and right main xlr outputs for the house.
or three stereo monitor outputs... plus that stereo house output.
i know this gets to be a point of confusion for some people but it really
shouldn't be- balanced audio outputs use three pins
for mono and that's what these outputs are.
just like the Main needs two xlr outputs for your stereo house feed, a left and a
right, a stereo monitor send needs two xlr outputs here as well.
a mono balanced output uses three conductors.
a shield... a positive
signal... and a mirror image of the signal, reverse polarity.
a mono balanced input then inverts that negative signal back to positive.
any noise picked up by the cable is effectively nulled out by this reversal.
this is not to be confused with an unbalanced stereo connector. those also
use three conductors but those are a shield...
a positive left signal... and a positive right signal.
even though these two connections can sometimes share the same style plug,
they are not compatible. balance mono and unbalanced stereo are
two completely different signals. let's go back to the x air edit software
and set up a stereo bus. let's say we want mix 1 to be a stereo mix.
it will utilize outputs 1 and 2. the behringer has to link odd to even
outputs. the odd number output has to be the first output in a stereo linked
configuration. you can link output 1 to output 2, but never output 2 to output 3
because the odd output has to be first. if we choose our mon mix, in this case
bus one, click it and then tab over to the
confusingly named channel tab, there we have an option to stereo link the
outputs. click to highlight it and these two outputs will now be
linked. once you stereo link the buses you get a
pan control for those buses on the channel sends.
you also have a pan control on this page which works the same way on your
channel senss within that stereo monitor feed. although we're talking about monitors
here in this example, this panning would work the same for a stereo stream feed
or also a stereo sub group. so let's take a look at usb outputs.
let's go back to the routing page. click in / out...
and tab over to the usb sends. the mixer has 18 usb outputs. this is
where you choose what gets sent to your recording software for example or to a
stream. for a daw you might want all of the
channels feeding your tracks. for a stream mix via a usb you might only
want to route a couple of outputs, like a left and right to your streaming
software. pc users will need to make sure and
download and install the x air usb audio drivers before these will work.
Macs will work natively. once again we have a key for our tap
points. everything works the same as before as
far as right clicking to change the tap point and left clicking to assign a
channel or bus to an output. in this case a usb output.
if you're working with streaming software like obs then you'll want to
focus on usb 1 and usb 2. you're only going to be able to send two outputs to
obs. so whether that is your left and right,
or a custom mix that you've set up on another bus or buses, they'll need to
feed usb 1 and usb 2. on the other hand, for a DAW recording,
you can send all 16 preamp inputs and the two aux inputs to your daw.
or any combination of channels and buses... as long as it doesn't exceed 18 usb
outputs in total. while the default settings are typically
perfect for a DAW recording, where you intend to remix things later in
post-production, and just want the raw inputs after the preamp sent to the daw...
there can be times where you do want your fader moves or eq also being sent
to usb. that's when you would change these tap
points. in the case of a stream mix though
whether from the left right main mix or a bus feed
those will have all of your channel eq and mix changes (if assigned on the channel SENDS page)...
everything is getting to the bus or buses.
the usb output tap point is only where you are tapping it for the final part of
the path before it leaves the mixer and into your computer.
if you were to tap the left - right for a stream mix or a stereo recording feed
you probably don't want the house eq or the house compression to also go to that
feed. so you would want to tap things before that point which is the default
tap point. if you create a dedicated bus for your
stream feed, in that case you probably do want at least a main fader for that feed
so you would change the tap point on that bus out to be
post fader. this video here has more detailed
information about stream mixing and connecting the xr18 to obs. if you like
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