Preface: I know very little about live sound. I know even less about mixing equipment. While I’m audio enthusiast, my most recent significant audio purchase was a set of Klipsch speakers for a home theater… in 1999 😲
So when it came time to cobble together some equipment MBI Winds, I did a lot of asking around. There were plenty of people in the area with experience using the Behringer X32. So we got an X32 Rack which would fit in our small audio cart nicely.
When I try to figure out how to do something on the X32, my first stop is YouTube. It’s probably by someone who does sound for their church, so their application might not be the same as yours. They’re also likely using the full X32 console mixer – the OG big boy.
I don’t have the luxury or ease-of-use that comes with the full console that has all the buttons. Instead, it can be even more confusing because I have three options to configure the mixer:
The screen on the front of the X32 Rack (same as the big console, which makes YouTube Videos still helpful)
More choices = better, right?! Well, there’s no consistency in interface between any of them. So I’m starting this series “X32 Rack 3-ways” to show how to get things done. I’ll document a small feature using all three methods which will hopefully be helpful to other X32 Rack users out there. Full console folks can go about their YouTube business per normal 📺
DCA Mutes
My drumline peeps have been telling me DCAs are the way to go to simplifying live mixing. For me (with a much simpler setup than a WGI drumline), it seemed logical to use – if only to get all of the faders on to one (DCA) screen on X32 Mix on my iPad.
What initially confused me is that when I muted the mic to our front speaker from within the DCA group, it did nothing 🤔 This is because the default setup of the X32’s DCA mute button is to mute output to the main L&R channels but keep it in other monitors for adjustments. Our front soloist speaker is a seperate bus from the main L&R channels, so this wasn’t the desired effect I wanted. The solution is a global setting called “DCA Mutes” or “Mute System -> DCA Groups.” This setting mutes every channel that’s part of the DCA group mixer-wide. This was what I needed 🔇
X32 Rack Screen
On the mixer itself you can get to it through the Setup screen, then the Config tab. There’s a “DCA Groups” box that needs to be checked in the “Mute System section.
On X32 Edit you’ll find it in a similar place, but slightly different words: Setup, then Mixer, then the “DCA Groups” box needs to be checked in the “Mute System” section.
X32 Mix on iPad
On the iPad app it’s again named a little differently: Setup, then Global, then the “DCA Mutes” box needs to be checked in the “General Prefs” section.
In Practice
For live mixing I use the iPad. When the “DCA Mutes” option is active there’s a key visual indicator that it’s doing what you want. Press the mute button on the DCA channel and it will light up pink. With our new setting active you can go to the channel you expect will mute across the mixer, and it’s mute button will be blinking pink:
When we were putting together MBI Winds last year, I started asking around about equipment early in the summer. A nearby high school had a plastic sound cart that they hated. They said they were going to throw it away, so it was free for the taking 😲
I picked up the roto-molded SKB Gig Rig and we quickly put it into service. It was worse for wear. Missing the end cover doors, wheels that needed TLC, many latches broken. For the first season we used it as-is and just put a ratchet strap around the whole thing to hold it together since the latches were broken 😂
For the 2024 season I wanted to fix the latches and remove our ratchet strap for a more professional look 🤵 I reached out to SKB and started doing some research on my own. I found this Southco latch and catch plate to be drop-in replacements. However, SKB support was able to send me replacement latches free of charge.
Installation posed a challenge as I’ve never worked with pop rivets before. But I watched a couple youtube videos that I found helpful to remove the broken latches:
Trying it for myself
I purchased a pop rivet tool that included several rivet sizes. I did a couple practices on scrap pieces of metal to get the feel for it. Since the SKB rack is plastic, I don’t want to damage it.
I was able to remove the old rivets fairly easy using a drift/punch and a drill bit as shown in the first video. But when it came time to install the new rivets, there was an issue…
Above the rivet is in place, ready to be installed. The rivet tool pulls on the section of the pop rivet sticking out. But as you can see below, the nose piece gets blocked by the latch hinge:
The quick and dirty solution was to use two small nuts as stand-offs. I could have used washers or something else, but this is what I had laying around that worked. Then the nose piece could be pushed in flush, and there was still enough of the rivet to grab.
Conclusion
I was able to fix all four broken latches with this method. I wound up using the 3/32″ rivets supplied with the tool because they were made of a softer aluminum that seems to get along better with the SKB’s plastic. SKB support included their own pop rivets but they seemed to require multiple pulls of the rivet tool and didn’t always behave like I expected. I chalk it up to first-timer experience, but whatever the case is, this rack is back!
