Behringer DSP1200 Modulizer Pro

Simple to use but the editing of parameters are seriously corrupted. For example : There are no traditional values for editing the built in compressor in the "usual" way. For the releasecontrol you are presented with a value of 0 - 127 rather then the traditional way of millisecounds o.1 - 500. And the ratiocontrol gives the option of values between 0-24. Does that mean 1:1 to 24:1 ? Same goes for Attack and threshold. There are numerous examples more.
It means that guitarists would have a hard time to set their favourite flanger,phaser or compression with this kind of presentation to fit with the beat of the song.
Why bother to make a box that is quite capable of making the hobby-section of musicmaking happy with its pricing and not making any semi-professional approach? The very day anybody wants to upgrade to "real stuff" from the modulizer would find themselves learning all over again.

I found the manipulating of the effects restricted and tame. Not much is happening here. The effects in themselves are almost all of them meant to be special effects to be used sparingly and wisely (Or you would quickly bore any other listener then yourself)
The prefixes "ultra" and "super" are used in front of many patchnames,that would give some idea of what to expect, but they are much to gross for stringinstruments (other then special effects) and require careful setting of levels since there is no way of adjusting the input level (!!!)
It is very quiet though.

Already the powercord decided to unlock from the case all by its own. Resulting in power loss from time to time. At times the jog wheel feels like it would pop of at any moment, sometimes it wouldent turn (Imagine a car built like that)
I would get myself a bullet-proof casing when on tour, and tell the engineer to carry silk-gloves and sweet talk to it. (The Modulizer is in the house) and bring at least three back-up units with you.

I bought the unit unheard, i needed a simple box replacing my very old guitarpedal also i could make use of the built in compressor at mixdown in my studio. None of these intentions came true. Simple to use but totally unreliable concerning the powercord connection and the jog wheel. Even if i had a pristine unit i would reconsider. This unit is too cheap! rather i would wait a couple of months to afford myself dedicated quality gear. The modulizer is aimed for the entrylevel of affordable homestudio equipment but the 0-127 values make no sense at all (127 What ?) and is in the way of understanding semi-professional gear later on. Why would Behringer risk its good name in such a bad design ?

Well...personally I had quite a time trying to understand how in God's name you properly operate this deceptively simple looking piece of equipment. I waited to review this until I could figure out whether it was the unit or my own inexperience with this type of gear...it was me. After having it now for 4 months I really, really like it because it allows you full access to all parameters of the sound field for personal customization which really is priceless if you are trying to create "Your Own" sounds. I think that a synth keyboardist would laugh at its simplicity but I'm a guitarist and "Digital Menus" confuse the Hell out of me. They could not have possibly made it this versatile as well as this simple...just be brave and start manipulating it listening closely to what effect it has rather than trying to "understand" what it's doing.

This is where it counts! At first I was disappointed but I was using it in the "send/return" of my mixer. I decided to try plugging my guitars straight into it like a pedal box and WHAMMO!!! This little monster took off like a bat out of Hell. Sounds were just unbelievable but you have to keep in mind that just like the Virtualizer Behringer has designed this unit for everybody, not just guitarists. The unit has "banks" of sound effects, some are designed for keyboards, vocals, mixers, guitars, etc. Not all of them will work properly with one instrument. They do not seem to mention this in the manual and think that people are getting somewhat confused by this and returning the units as faulty. Behringer really has miracles for bringing prices down considerably for getting quality equipment into the hands of anyone with a job. They have crippled the insane profit margin of FX companies permanently so it seems (and I pray!). Once I went straight into it with my guitars, my doors flew off! For $150 just try and find an "FX Pedal" like this puppy.

Absolutely! I have recieved all my Behringer equipment (have quite a bit) in different states of damage. NOTE: This is the fault of the handlers, not Behringer (my opinion). Granted, I wouldn't ship any electronics device without "pillowing" it first (those handlers are animals!) but I have not returned or complained about a single piece so far because they all work electronically perfect. This really says something too because my Modulizer came to me in the worst condition. The box was so badly damaged in shipping that the shipper had to re-package it so that the unit would not come completely out of the shipping carton! Oh, it has problems (the rotating selector knob for program changes is all !@%#&! up) but I like it so much that I don't care and to me that says everything. The metal housing is actually creased on top as if they were trying to fold it in half (ANIMALS!) and it works perfectly! The tube emulator is really a trip. It acts just like a tube amp (which can piss you off at times). Sometimes I play it and it's creamy and other times it's crunchy! It actually manipulates its characteristics according to the guitar, your playing, attack, etc. They also have these "Combo Amp" simulations that are REALLY cool along with a multitude of other things that are anything ranging from Mind-Bending-to-Whatingodsnameisthat?!?! What is so cool is that you can plug a multitude of different things into it and get completely different things out like your vocals. I'd love to hear a synth through it!

I refuse to let go of mine for any length of time so I cannot fairly rate this. I can say that I contacted Behringer in Germany several times and although it took up to a week for a response they were very friendly and let me know how much they appreciated the business and that they never anticipated the overwhelming response to thier equipment in sales in the U.S. and were buried in backorders.

This I believe is important...I like to experiment with sound and look for unique and unusual characteristics. This unit I would "HIGHLY" recomend to someone looking for that! With the "Ring Modulators" & bizzare filter effects this is very much like an otherworldly synthesizer for your guitar (or vocals, etc.). If you are bored with your equipment (or your playing) I promise you that like myself when you first plug into this thing you'll be "unavailable" for about 8 hours...it's consumming. Paired up with a Virtualizer (in my mixboard send/return) it will permanently effect the way you hear things (i.e. most everything sounds dull & plain once you hear these two together). Like I stated, once I got the hang of "editing" the programs, you couldn't pry this thing or any of my other Behringer equipment out of my dead hands!

Easy to set up and get rolling with. The only downside is that there's no clear indication of what you're, since each of the edit buttons affects a different parameter for each effect. So you either learn to use your ears to figure out what you're doing or grab the manual more than I personally care to. Also, the global mix settings (ie. all wet, or wet dry balance) aren't as obviously accessible as they should be. At least everything on the back panel is clear for when you're patching it into your rig.

I use it in a rack either on sends or inserting it directly on synths. The latter situation poses a problem as this unit has no input adjustment - on a send this is fine, but when your synth output is maxed and the level still isn't hot enough you have to live with it. Hence, I mostly end up using it on send/return to add a little texture in the background on pads, etc. The actual effects aren't too shabby for a $200 box. I bought this cos it offered a lot of the stuff that T.C.'s FireworX does, at a fraction of the cost. Having also tried the FireworX, I could not justify spending that much more money on it based on sound quality. Sure, it was slightly better, but not enough to warrant a $2000 difference. Filters on this are adequate (they ain't no Moogs, but whaddaya expect?), the ring mod. has unique charcter to it unlike other ring mods in my rig... the chorus/flangers/phasers are all good for what they do, early reflection-only reverb is nice tool to have on hand... also nice to have a vinyl emulator in an outboard box. Haven't had cause/opportunity to try out stuff like the voice canceller. All in all, a lot better than what you'd expect for what you pay. People always say "it's not a Lexicon", but if it's not a Lexicon product, that should be pretty obvious...

Considering it's stationary in my rack, I can't really comment.

No need to contact them as yet.

As I said, this will be a decent alternative to the FireworX for a fraction of the cost. I do a lot of sound-design and electronic music, so I'm always on the lookout for more esoteric/less standard effects... to that end, I also have a Vortex in my rack, which does some of what this unit does and sounds so much warmer. I would probably buy one again if I lost this one somehow only because it was cheap, though I must say that, had I paid more for it, I would have been disappointed with what I got. I can't say that anything about the Modulizer knocks my socks off, but it defintely adds some nice background texture to synth pads or other long/evolving type sounds. I hate having to refer to the manual to figure out which of the edit buttons changes which parameter on a given effect, but I like how quick and easy it is to edit once you know. A toss up, I guess.

I bought this mainly for three reasons:

1. To have distortion that can be controlled (so I don't have to scream as hard!).
2. The record-crackles sound
3. Anything else it will offer me

There is a delay when selecting a preset but not when using it directly with MIDI (according to the documentation, at least). Edit is fairly simple. However, you have a Variation, Edit A-D buttons to edit and you will not know what this do without consulting the manual. As with ALL BEHRINGER DOCUMENTATION, they tell you about sound theories and technical aspects of sound but leave out a lot about real-world applications. For instance, it mentions nowhere in the manual if connecting to the Left output will assume mono or if you're accidentally leaving out the right field before output.

There's a jog-wheel that makes quick selecting a little bit of a chore. As with most effects, hitting STORE will allow you to re-select a new number. Hit STORE again and it's saved.

I'm using this for vocals:

Behringer Composer Pro MDX2200-->Digitech Vocalist VR-->DSP1200

It's not noisy (unless it's part of the effect ; ). The effects are good for what I intended to do with it which was limited, as I said before. Basically you get:

Flange
Chorus
Vintage (LP sound)
Distortion (not crappy like the DOD VoTec)
Various effects such as 3D Imager, Spatial, Compressor, Gate, etc.
Guitar cabinet sounds
Guitar amp/cabinet (which can cause feedback so pull that volume down!)

You *cannot* use two different effects at the same time. You *can* however, get a descent MEGAPHONE and DISTORTION effect easily.

I don't use a backup of anything... really. It's German-made and made of metal so it will last in a rack.

Never dealt with Behringer.

A representative at www.fullcompass.com said Samson was no longer distributing Behringer merchandise so a sale was on everywhere. I bought the Composer Pro MDX2200 for $160 ($100 cheaper than normal) and the DSP1200 for $109 (again, $100 cheaper). So for a $110 unit, it shouldn't do as well as it does. Compared to the DOD VoTec, it is very quiet. The upside of the DOD is it have floor pedals and you can combine *some* of the effects. But if you've already got a rack unit for your vocals, then you should add the DSP1200.

We play metal/hard rock. It's distortion is great because it's subtle and just "fuzzes" up your voice a bit so you don't have to put extra vocal effort all the time for thos Korn-type songs. I've been singing for quite a few years...

If I had an extra $110 and it vanished, I would likely buy it again since I'm not one to shell out a lot of money for the few effects I want.

Behringer means quality. But I do not like the jog-wheel (intially at least). The manual even mentions "ghetto blaster" which shows these German suit-and-tie guys are as hip as Michael Jackson.

I wish it could use two different effects at the same time in case I find a need for it. I wish it were black or grey because my rack case is starting to look shiny ; ). It's an effect, and like all effects, it should be subtle. It should not be used to compensate for a bad musician.

Pretty simple to operate, only 4 parameters to edit. Knob wheel is a bit fiddly and the 3 unit LCD is clear, but not exactly comprehensive, but then again it doesn't really need to be. Overall, its pretty easy to edit and get around, you don't really need to read the manual straight off....

This is NOT your bread'n'butter FX box. It's got a lot of "hip" - that's the term they use in the manua - effects (24 of them) and suchforth. Some of them I doubt I will ever use, but a few I have found quite useable, just to add a bit of spice to a few things. At the end of the day you get what you pay for, and although this unit is a little noisy it does what it does well.

No problems, would use it in a gig...but I haven't had it long enough to give it a true long-term rating.

Never had to get it checked, fixed or whatever.

It's weird, different and cheap. Cheap 'n' nasty one might almost say. For the price though, it's pretty good. It isn't exactly "pro" gear despite it's name, but for the price I paid for it I'm not complaining. It's effects are unusual and really are good as a secondary (or third or fourth) FX device.... good to hide in the mix but not to be right out front.

Very easy to use. I stuck it in my rack and had sound coming out of it 2 minutes later. Didn't even look at the manual. I haven't tried editing patches yet, I may need the manual for that. It's easy to use though.

I was REALLY surprised at the sound quality. I bought this thing because it had some really different effects and it was only $199. I was hesitant to buy it because of the price, I thought how good could the thing sound for less than $200. I have been proven wrong. The effects were really strong!

One thing I don't really like, the sound cuts for about a second when you switch patches. It's not really a big deal at least for me. It's being used in a recording gear rack and I don't change the sounds rapidly anyway. If you're using this with a guitar rig, this may be a problem. Although, the effects that come out of this thing aren't really for a guitar anyway. At least I wouldn't use them with a guitar.

The only reason I gave it an 8 instead of 10 is because of that pause when switching patches and because some of the effects sound very similar. It's still worth $200 though.

Can't say, I've only had it a few days. Seems pretty solid though.

again, can't say...

Overall, for $200 this thing is great. It has a few minor things that I would change if I could. But for $200, I have no complaints. If you are looking for oddball effects, as I was, this is probably the good, cheap way to go. If you want good "standard" effects like delay, reverb, flanger, tremolo etc...definately this one doesn't have it. This thing is good for making things sound crappy. :) You can make a recording sound like an old record, or a piece of junk clock radio. Obviously these effects aren't to be used all that often, but it's good for a laugh sometimes. I think it's a great value.