Behringer X-Touch

I'm in love with this product. It feels and works spectacular. Behringer doesn't have the greatest reputation for putting out high quality hardware but the X-Touch line stands out as a MAJOR exception to that rule.If you produce music digitally and are used to using virtual mixing boards in all popular DAW software (Logic, Studio One, etc) then the chances are good you should go for the Behringer X-Touch One. It's cheaper but retains the giant knob functionality that is EXCELLENT.

I bought an X-Touch 2.5 years ago after my original Logic Control finally died. The X-Touch has an almost identical layout and can follow the same Mackie Control protocol (HUI as well) and so my fingers knew exactly where to go and I was literally up and running in 30 minutes with no new learning curve. Everything was great until a while back where I started having some (not particularly serious) usb problems.Upon booting it would sometimes take between 1 and 3 power cycles of the X-Touch to establish full 2 way communication with the Mac. I use Logic Pro 10.5.1 at present, and my Mac mini communicates with the X-Touch via a 16ft extender usb cable. I was going through a hub, but I experimented with a shorter cable and direct input, and the problem remains. This is not specifically a Mac problem - in the middle of all this I moved up from a Mid-2010 Mac Pro to a 2020 Intel Mac mini - the problem may now manifest itself slightly more frequently, but it exists in both machine under multiple OS'sUp to this point, nothing too serious. But this is where my problems really started. I decided to experiment with the other communications protocols to see if I could get around the startup issues. I set up the X-Touch to communicate via MIDI (it has old school MIDI connectors in addition to USB). It sprang to life immediately, but when I started playing with the faders, any active faders were periodically “resisting” my moves. It was as if the faders were sticky, but actually it feels closer to the feeling when there is automation on a track in read mode, and you try to move the fader and the fader is struggling against you. So I went back to USB mode on the X-Touch and, to my extreme concern, the fader problems remained! I then spent a long time figuring out how to get the X-Touch to communicate via Ethernet, but the faders were still sticking. So I’m back to vanilla USB, and a malfunctioning machine. The fader resistance comes and goes, but a few weeks later, it’s clearly a permanent problem that will eventually damage the faders. I have tried Firmware 1.15, and then went back to 1.14, and the problem persists with both versions. I have deleted both the Logic main preference file, and the CS preference file.Behringer customer support is carried out through an operation called Music Tribe. The guys I spoke to there were responsive and friendly, but at the end of the day, I was out of warranty - (Note - register your product within 90 days to get a three year, as opposed to a one year warranty!) and although hey were curious as to why the simple programming steps I had carried out had rendered my X-Touch only semi-usable, all they could do was supply me with a list of repair shops. I checked out the first one they suggested, closest to me, and its online reviews were horrendous.I have poured through the manual and the internet for a key combination to do a factory reset, but surprisingly I could come up with nothing. M-Tribe confirmed to me that the X-Touch has no factory reset function!So you readers may be surprised when I tell you that I have just ordered another X-Touch. The combination of reasonable price and functionality means that this is still the best option for me. I am at a stage in my career where I have no desire to spend months getting up to speed with a new controller protocol, and this thing is half the price of a Mackie Control. I will set it up the way I like it and then refuse to mess with it, take the three year warranty, and hope for the best. :).Hope this helps someone.

So at the moment the x-touch is working at about 10% capacity. The support documentations is so completely inadequate, there is no users manual in the box and nothing to be found online anywhere, certainly not on the Behringer website, what does exists are a couple of rudeamentry YouTube videos, as this is a complex piece of equipment that can work with many DAW and software I understand it could be tricky to set up, so it would be nice to have at least some basic outline to the operating principles and protocols. The company that sold me the device was not able to offer any assistance on troubling shooting and creating a tech help request via Behringer website has not resulted in a response yet. The X-touch controller promises to be a great tool, and I expect it will work and perform well once this unit has been returned and a replacement sent.