Behringer DSP 2024P Virtualizer Pro

Very easy to edit but the manual don't explain the FX parameters extensively, you have to try to know what certain knobs do to the FXs.

The unit has a serious MIDI problem you can read in the 'Overall Rating' part.

My guitar setup is:
Me->Samick PRS copy->Dimarzio Evolution Pu'ps->Marshall DSL50+ DSP2024P (FX loop)+->4*12 cab.
My mic setup is:
Me-> Shure SM57 -> Audiobuddy preamp -> DSP2024P -> PA or Soundblaster AWE64

Well... the unit is noisy! but when I play my amp loud the noise stays at same level, so in a gig I wouldn't care for the noise.
When I use it for vocals the unit picks every interference in the world (I can even hear some mars transmisions). With my Soundblaster 64 the noise it's almost 20% of the signal!!! Anyway I haven't tried to connect the DSP to something with balanced ins/outs, that should reduce the noise a lot.

Summary: For my amp it's Ok.

NOW, ABOUT THE FX QUALITY:

Amazing!... the FX algorithms are incredible! Reverb, Delay, Chorus, Pitch... all the FXs are excellent (except for the LoFi and the Vinilizer because they need to sound bad :)
I give it a 10 for effects quality!

I have it for a couple of months so I can't say much... but I think it's solid.

The customer support sucks!
I've mailed Behringer once and I received a mail two weeks later with totally unuseful information. I asked something about MIDI and they send me the pitch shifter chapter from the DSP1024 manual!

I really love the effects quality. The problem with the noise in my amp can actually be an amp design problem (the master volume pot sets the volume from the preamp section and that can be a problem at low volumes).

You can use two FX at the same time for each channel but you can't mix every effect, only Chorus+Delay, Chorus+Reverb, Reverb+Delay, Pitch+Delay... etc.

You can't tap the delay.

You can't control the master volume... that sucks.

There is a serious known MIDI problem. You can't change stored users presets if you don't have the Behringer MIDI controller!!!
Yes, you can read another review where it's explained. I'm trying to build some sort of device to send the correct MIDI messages and let me change the user patches using my MIDI footswitch.

Anyway the only thing that bothers me is the MIDI problem.

At first, I was surprised how easy it is to use, I was expecting something far more complicated. I am just a hobbyist and this is my first external effects unit, so I was not sure what to expect. As for manual, I thought that something must be missing there, but it's really about that, that's all you have to know.

I have an Yamaha SY99, Kawai K4r, some microphone, all going to 4-track minidisc Tascam 564 and also to C-Lab Atari Falcon MkII with Cubase Audio Falcon. I can hear some noise, but I am also not using professional cables etc, my room is already full of cables and it would be surprise if that wouldn't show somewhere, but I think that the unit itself is quite noise-free. I have it connected via standard jacks, in manual they mention that the second way (symmetric?) is better. Effects themselves are very good, I can't imagine what more could I expect.

It will by used only in my room, probably, but although Behringers are saving money everywhere but the sound itself, I believe it can fall to the ground and nothing bad will happen.

It's just a little thing, but I like the intro in manual - sounds like Behringer really takes care of us and also enjoys its work and products. So, I became a member of family. :-) On-line registration is nice.

I am just having a good time with my setup, something worth publishing is still going to come. I want to achieve something like Alan Wilder's Recoil projects, or Nine Inch Nails, and I also like long evolving and changing sound landscapes, distortions and other strange stuff - I love to play with sound more than with the music itself. :-) This is my hobby for 6 years, not counting some old hacks with computer trackers etc. Yes, I would buy it again - it has a great price even here in almost eastern ;-) Slovakia. Comparing only to onboard FX of the wonderful SY99, they both sound excellent for me, just DSP2024P is newer and has more features (dynamics, psycho-acoustics). Maybe color of display could be red or blue, current one is a little bit too bright for me.
And because I have also my CD and cassette-players connected to mix, I can listen to any music with this unit and I can tell you that even with some older material, this thing can make it sound much better. So much better, that when you try to bypass the FX after some time, you must say to yourself "man, this is awfully weak sound". :-)

Easy to use but complicated to use the sampler!

This device has excellent quality in effects but I must quote that for it's quality of effects it has quite alot of background distortion which ruins a recording.

I can depend on it alot cause the hall, cathedral effects are good enough to use as reverbs.

Behringer is the first best company that help you in giving advice hand oppinions that I ever came across.

The improvements that should be made:
-Reduce distortion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-DIFFERENT SCREEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (too bright, hurts your eyes after 20 min of using!!!)
-Improve sampler, able to store more than 5 samples.
-Less fragile BUTTONS!!!!!!!!!!!

As with everything else in life - especially music - one cannot expect a miracle to pop out of a box while sitting back. That said, this unit is extremely easy to use once you get to know which button/knob does what. Just play around with it using its presets and once your familiar with the different possibilities, you can start tweaking and creating your own presets to suit your music and personal tates. The manual is generaly good, but useless if you decided to use one of the unit's ''compression'' capabilities and didn't know a thing about ratios and thresholds.

Basically, I use this unit in different spots. For pieces requiring slight reverb, say, on the piano, it is patched into the mixer's AUX SENDS/RETURNS. To tighten-up a piece I sometimes use it as a mastering tool of sorts like the Ultramizer, except that in this role, the Virtualizer sounds and performs far better! Furthermore, no, I don't plug an electric guitar into the unit! This unit is for mixdown or for mastering.

Yes, I can depend on it. No, I do not play live with it. This unit was not made to play live with. It is far too slick and elegant.

I've e-mailed the company both in Germany and in Canada on several occasions regarding questions that I had on a particular unit I was planning on purchasing and got an answer back only once - two weeks later!

I record modern Tango and film music, and have been playing for the past 20 years. I enjoy the fact that each preset can be edited to suit one's own style. Some users here say that the reverbs are horrible. Of course, marketing-wise, the original presets were done that way, but that is why the parameters are editable. No one said you HAD to use the Behringer presets! That's the beauty of music, guys! Do I like it? I am getting a second one!

Being a newbie to multi-effects units this one took me a while to understand and edit. After reading the manual and checking out the postings on Harmony-Central it became easier. I was confused about the 71 internal effects algorithims as opposed to the 100 factory presets and 100 user presets. Once I understood that all of the presets were made-up of the specific algorithims I was OK. Behringer lists the 71 algorithims in the manual and then gives you a seperate sheet describing the presets. I wanted this unit for vocals and I run it through the Auxs of my mixer. After understanding the hows and whys, it became easy to use.

I use it for vocals through my mixer direct to a cassette recorder. I have also set it up on the effects loop of my amp and in additon have run it in stereo with a second amp. For vocals it offers all that I want. The Deesser, reverbs, chorus and delays sound great. This unit has so many options that I doubt if I will ever use them all. Very quiet, haven't noticed any noise at all.

Metal rack unit. Seems to be well constructed. I use it in my studio so it won't be going anywhere. Runs very cool, have noticed no hot spots.

I did email the company because of my confusion that I mentioned in the first question. Their technical people tried to be helpful but it was a posting on Harmony-Central that finally set me straight!

We are a jazz/standards group. Been together for over ten years. Just started recording in earnist the past year. I did some research before buying and was looking at the TC Electronic M300, Digitech S200 and the Lexicon MPX200. For the price this unit seemed to have all of the features we wanted at a very good price. We would buy again if lost or stolen. We are now looking into buying a Ultrafex EX3200 to complement the Virtualizer. We have been very happy so far and would recomend this unit to amyone needing vocal effects support.

THE FIRST THING TO KNOW ABOUT THIS UNIT IS THAT IF YOU'RE A GUITARIST, AIMING TO USE IT WITH A MIDI PREAMP AND FOOT CONTROLLER, THERE IS A FATAL FLAW IN ITS MIDI SETUP!!! (see below)

Othewise, it's a great bit of kit. It's easy to use - the knobs make editing very simple, especially for tweaking sounds "on the fly". I really like the way the letters in the display change to give you a hint which parameter you're editing. A very clever use of a limited display. The manual's pretty good, too.

This is the first version of the software and as I say, there's GLARING fault which I really do hope the good folks at Behringer will incorporate into a software revision RIGHT NOW!!!

BEHRINGER PLEASE NOTE!!!!

The unit offers a very generous 100 factory presets and 100 user ones. The idea is you tweak the factory presets, then store your own settings in the user locations. The trouble is there is no MIDI input mapping facility and if you have a midi controller or guitar preamp that only sends patch change info (and not MIDI controller info, too) you can only access the factory presets. THIS IS JUST PLAIN STUPID!!!

I'm using a Marshall JMP1 preamp and a RFX Midimate foot board - both pretty much industry standard items, certainly at price-point where the Virtualizer sits - and I can't use them to access the unit's user presets when I change patches on the JMP1. I bought the unit to use with this rig and nowhere in Behringer's website or other info does it tell you that it won't work properly with a setup such as mine!

I e-mailed the guys at Behringer, who are really quick to respond and very helpful. They explained that the only way to access the user presets was to use a preamp or a footswitch that sends MIDI controller 0 information before it sends patch change info.

How many such units do that?
Answer: Hardly any at all!
Who makes such a unit?
Answer: Behringer - but it's only the latest revision of their FCB 1010 pedalboard that does this trick anyway!!! (Is it being a little too cynical to suggest they've designed the unit this way to encourage people to spend an extra #100 on their own foot controller? Maybe, maybe, not - but either way, I don't need a big, heavy, sophisticated unit like the FCB1010, with expression pedals, switch jacks and all that shit! All I want to do is change patches.)

My frustations with MIDI patch access are all the more annoying because this unit sounds GREAT! Certainly much better-sounding than the Quadraverb it was to replace....
The reverbs are dense and realistic, the mod effects are very deep and useable, the Leslie is very realistic and the tremelo sounds like an old tube amp's. The "vintage" effect simulations like tape echo and jet flanger are great, too and one of these days, I'm sure I'll get to use some of the more "mastering-oriented" effects like compression and lo-fi. The amp simulations and distortions are OK, but I'm sure most guitarists will have amps and pedals to do this still anyway, so I won't complain too much!
It's pretty quiet - I can't understand whythe other guys are griping about it being noisy (maybe they don't understand how how to set up their levels properly!)
I'm very much sold on this unit. Were it not for this stupid MIDI problem, I'd probably buy another one, so I could use one just for reverbs and another for all the other stuff. (*That's the only drawback - you can't use too many effects at once, but at this price, who's complaining?)

My only other gripe this that when using the data wheel to change patches, there is a delay of a second or more before the new program kicks in - and sometimes you hear a burst of a noise that sounds like the unit expelling data from the previous patch. This doesn't seem to happen with MIDI patch changes, though so if I resolve the other difficulty, this shouldn't be a problem.

Built like a brick outhouse, with a built-in mains supply, so it should last well enough - all my other Behringer stuff certainly has!

Behringer'ssupport guys are very helpful - they respond quickly and intelligently. There's none of this "paste in a pre-written answer whether it's relevant or not" shit you get with other makers.
As to whether they actually LISTEN to the complaints of guys like me and act on them, remains to be seen. I hope so, as I'm, a big Behringer fan and would hate to lose faith with them

This unit was intended for use in a live guitar rack rig with a JMP1 and a Valvestate 8080 power amp (I'll probably upgrade to a tube amp when I can afford it, though for now the 8080 is fine.) It's used for nu-metal stuff with very low-tuned guitars - reverbs, echoes and med effects for clean, arpeggiated stuff and short delays and sometimes a gate for heavy, distorted riffing.
If it was stolen or lost, I'd look very carefully at what was out there in the price range with a more useable MIDI spec,but at some stage I'm sure I'd buy a one of these, used at the right price to put in my rack, too.

This is a brilliant bit of kit - especially for the money. It sounds great,looks good and with the exceptions I've outlined, works well. If they managed to make it a bit more midi-friendly to systems such as mine, I'd give it straight tens all down the line.

Not bad, but it have very limited display and they don't use it very well. It's realy a sucks to find patches. The unit should have at least the diods for effekt types when i preset browsing mode.

The reverb is crap. But I did not expect anything else. The pitch shift is realy good. And the modulations is OK. And the reason for
bying it. It's controled by midi so it can be used for instrument
playing.

Is new and feels OK. No problem yet.

They respond quick on e-mails but they never can say anything about
delivery.

I mostly do things on my computer. This and a DBX compressor is
my only outboards. Nice to have a effect unit that is doing thins
in realtime instead of that windows crap.

Single effect, multiple parameters! If you can grasp the concept that if you make smaller turns while experimenting with a parameter, the unit is more controllable to adapting to the sound that you are searching for.

NO Noise. I have used this unit with both a series and parallel effects loop, into a modeling amp (V-AMP) and with stompboxes. As long as you switch the unit into the proper dB setting on the back switch, the unit is able to adapt to many scenarios of use.

Rock solid, just like most Behringer semi-pro gear. My only problem is with the plastic knobs. They are cheap and will eventually break. I am considering replacing all of them soon.

Quick response. Always responsive to my inquiries.

Mix this unit with a BBE Sonic Maximizer and you have all the effects loop items that you would need to produce a very solid, non effects overkill, type sound. If you start with good distortion, use the reverb from the Virtualizer and correct the timing with the BBE. Presto...killer professional sound.

Good effects for the price. Better overall sound that with more expensive units. I buy for quality, not the name of the hour.

Couldn't be easier for a rack effects processor. You turn knobs to change parameters and push buttons to change the function.

Ok, I don't what the last guy is talking about. I have heard absolutely no noise at all. I use mine for keyboards (Alesis QS-8 and Korg MS2000R so far), and I guess maybe it just depends on the equipment you put through it, or he has bad luck. Either way, knowing the quality of Behringer's equipment, noise should not be expected. As for the effects, every single thing I've heard has been good, great, or amazing. No mediocrity or anything bad whatsoever. The reverb is amazing. All the modulation effects are the best I've heard. The distortions have great potential, but a lot of that depends on the sound you're putting through it. The filter/eq's are worth the entire 150 dollars considering it's a midi programmable unit and you can't get that in an eq for that low of a price. My only gripe is that it isn't a multieffects processor. It's either one effect at a time, or you can choose between a few different combinations it will allow. HOWEVER, for the price of a good Boss pedal (which I've never been impressed by) you get to choose between a multitude of great sounding effects. You can basically by another one and still be spending less than a lexicon or similar high end multifx processor but have more choices and have just as good sounding if not better effects.

As with everything else they make, it's metal, and solid, and could last through everything.

I don't know. Their manuals are so explanatory and their equipment so reliable that I've never had to contact them, even though I own this effects processor, their midifoot controller, patch bay, new digital mixer, headphone amp, the smaller 8 channel mixer, and composer pro. None of this equipment has ever had a problem.

My band plays it's own style of progressive, electronic rock. If it were stolen or lost, I would cry and then go buy another one (I'm going to buy another one anyway so that I have two). I'm pretty sure that for the price, this is the best effects unit ever made. In the end, I would like to have a four space rack case dedicated to four of these. One for eq/filter, one for enhancer or exciter, and the other two for any other effect I might want (reverb, modulation, distortion...take your pick)

Whoever used a multi-fx before will quickly understand how it works. Editing is very simple, you can edit up to 7 parameters of an effect. The manual is o.k. It could get deeper, though. The unit is supposed to be upgradeable, but since it's pretty new no uptdate has been offered yet.

I had planned to use it as an multi-fx device for my Sierra Crown gearless S-10 3x4 pedal-steel and regular 6-string ('72 Tele custom). My amp is a Fender HotRod deluxe.
There are so many fx in this thing and I haven't the time to describe them all. The best ones are: Tremolo, Reverb, Chorus, Flanger, the EQ's, Resonator. The worst ones: Amp simulator, Exiter, Cabinet simulator. But the worst thing is: It's so noisy that it's completely unuseable (unless you are in Manowar). There are some "lo-fi"-fx in it and I wonder why, because with this amount of noise EVERYTHING sounds lo-fi... If this concept would have worked, it would have been the best thing since bread came sliced. But plugged in I though my girlfriend would fry some steaks for dinner. Well, almost :)

The reverb really is exceptional. Far better than my old Alesis Midiverb.

It also has a 5-second sampler that's a nice gimmick. But you can't store the samples, so... who needs that?

It looks pretty sturdy, I wouldn't hesitat to take it with me on tour without backup. But since it goes back to the retailer tomorrow I'll never find out.

Had no contact with the company.

As I said: If the concept of a device where you almost find everything would have been made perfect by eliminating the noise - great! I talked to another person today that used an older model of this thing and he told me that he experienced the same noise, too. It would have been great with my style of music. (From alt.country to rock). I play for 4 years now it this was my first attempt to use a multi-fx, though I used to own an Alesis Midiverb a couple of years ago for homerecording. I guess I'll never buy anything again just knowing the specifics...