Behringer DSP8000

This thing is pretty easy to use, especially if you have the manual.. The icons could definitely be confusing if you do not have the manual, and I still have to check mine every once in a while to make sure I'm saving and not loading settings. The auto-eq feature is easy to use but won't give you great results right away. It will take several trials to get something relatively accurate and then you will want to manually smooth the curve. This can still be faster than doing all individual measurements however. For measurement I use the Behringer ECM-8000 measurement mic, which is an incredible measurement mic.

I am using this not for performing music, but rather for aural compensation in my home audio set-up. That said, I use it with a Luxman M-120A amplifier, a Superphon Revelation preamp, and whatever various sources are connected at any given time. This unit is very sonically transparent, clean sounding, no complaints in the sound quality department.

This thing is not dependable. I think the guy who owned it before me smoked, maybe he threw it around and crap too.. who knows. First my display kept crapping out and the button indicators would flash or just hold random colours.. so I cracked it open and fixed that, then the next problem came up.. The DSP itself would continue working but the interface would freeze and there would be garble on the display. Now when I turn it on there is pure garble.. I'm going to soon open up the box and re-seed all the chips, etc. I don't think anything is actually destroyed but I still would not call this unit reliable. I would not use it on a gig without an analogue backup.

I knew there was an upgrade available, wanted to ask how much the chip was. Emailed the company. Over a year later i got a response. I had completely forgotten I asked! They blamed a computer virus for the delay. So I'll give them that.. but then when they did get back to me I had another question, so I sent it.. It's been over a year again, Behringer.. a response would be good. I'm not going to pay them for the upgrade chip when the raw binary files are available on the website and i can just stick it on an EPROM. I would suggest other users do the same.

I play dark ambient/noise/experimental music. I don't think i've ever used it for my music though except as a pink noise source. However I run a lot of music through it on my home system. It really helps to sharpen up Kathryn Blake's beautiful voice as she hits the highs on Miranda Sex Garden albums, and the dynamics in Tangerine Dream's incredible soundscapes are brought to full life in my room. I love this unit but at the same time I hate it for crapping out on me. Most people seem to not have had issues with reliability, but mine have been pretty serious. I think a little tinkering inside will fix it but the point is I shouldn't have to. Behringer support is... bad. Real bad. The unit looks clean however, is fun to use, and most of all sounds great (for digital). I never thought I'd use a digital EQ but I will stick by this one once I fix it. One other thing, I wish the EQ and RTA could run simultaneously. If I found a second 8000 cheap I would buy it for a dedicated RTA. Even with the problems I had I probably would buy it again because it does have character. I would not buy the 8024 because there is no real advantage and it says 8024 in giant characters on the front which would look bad in my home audio setup.

digital equalizers are very difficult to learn how to eq with. If you're learning start with analog. I learned live eqing on this and it wasn't fun. that said. this is very easy to use once you know what you want and how it works. the manual is not difficult, although i fought with the menus for a year before i read the manual and almost got what i wanted (one button away) Read the manual. the screens are fairly simple though the new 8024 menus are much more reasonable, words instead of symbols are used. I've seen no significant differences other than i've heard the new model offers a parametric eq in addition to everything else the 8000 has (you can use parametric and graphical eqs at the same time i think). my unit was probably bought new nearly ten years ago and still works great (eqing) The auto eq function is supposed to automatically eq the room using pink noise, white noise, or an input signal. It doesn't work for me at all. The sliders for each band are all over the place. I hope updated firmware or at least the newer model do a better job. Don't get it for the auto eq function, get it for the equing or the analyzing.

we use this with live sound in a medium sized hall. (guitars, vocals, bass, drums) it is slow on finding feedback and never seems to cut what i want it to, but i'd rather that than cut too much too fast. the sound quality really has nothing particularly bad with it. It basically sounds as good as the engineer is capable of.

with all the presets this thing has as well as locking out any number of presets so no one can save over them or locking the whole machine so no one can change a thing (two seperate passwords and functions) there is no fear of someone tampering with your perfected settings. It never died on me in about 8 years i've used it. no repairs, nothing broke, battery (save settings when not plugged in like a computers cmos battery) still hasn't died which makes me nervous, i'll have to replace that. i would never think of getting a backup for it. rarely move it, seems rigid enough in construction.

never needed to contact behringer for support

i learned how to do sound on this though i never played with the settings until 3-4 years ago and never knew what i was doing until a year ago. I use a behringer analog model on my computer and have learned mostly from that, but live and playback are two seperate things. I've come a long way in two years after i bought my analog and played with it everyday listening to music for hours. Digital is necessary for my church cause everything gets touched and changed and can never stay locked from everyone. I'm not sure if i would replace it with an 8024 or a different more professional eq if it broke. I really wish it could do RTA and EQ mode at the same time. I may get an additional model just for that reason. The meters are very precise (within 1/2dB L/R IN/OUT peak and rms) they make it very easy to set the send to the speakers balanced between left and right. most meters are tough to read very precisely, they're just blinking LEDs(like on my analog model 3102)this one shows dark bars on an LCD screen and gives numpers of peak and rms levels at the same time. given the newest models price of $200 last i checked and the quality and numerous functions i'd recommend buying two, 1 for eqing, 1 for analyzing, and the total cost still comes two hundred under what my professional friends' favorite eq costs(which requires a notebook computer just to set) My only real concern with this equalizer is that you can't use rta and eq modes at the same time. if you know what you're doing, and it fits in your budget, get two, you'll love them. I'd like to recommend the 8024 instead being newer and havin extra options, but i've never used one. Check with me in a year and maybe i'll have used one by then.

Easy enough, worked with easier machines, could have some shortcuts...

FOH Responce Flattenning, Notch feedback destroying, main vovcals EQing for different singers (different presets), Speakers measurements...
Noisy at low input levels, a lot of intermodulation (give it a 1,2,4 KHz sine and just listen to chaos above 5KHz)

Hmmm, I don't think that it would survive really tough use...
(p.s. TC5000 trasported on a 250cc dirtbike under the rider - me)
Inside, the manufacturing quality is on the cheap (but good enough) side.

Good enough, the only reliable enough option for a tight budgets.
Incredible value for PA, Hmmm for Studio. You must get to know its habbits or else you can get your ass burnt (the intermodulation at the high frequencies can make your FOH really harsh if you don't aim for a roll off at above 5KHz). Buy it (used) and you won't regret it!

It's intense! Aside from the multiplte translations, The manual is thick with information. You really need to sit down and read the book before putting it to use.
The unit is broken down into two seperate operations: RTA and EQ. IT WILL NOT DO BOTH! This is somewhat misleading by Behringer. You have to select which mode you want it to perform. Once this is done, you can acess the different features on the front panel with one touch- fortunately you don't have to wade through tons of screens to make it work nice.
Also this eq does everything in the digital domain. It can be easy to overload, because it's a bit tricky- the bandwidth of each slider is really tight! I've raised individual sliders without thinking I've accomplished anything and drove my system into distortion!
The unit also has a parametric eq, a "feedback destroyer (6 band parametric eq, which can be used in conjunction with the 31 band eq) and a limiter.
This thing is dynamite for RTA and eq'ing mics, but..

Doing it all over again, I would rather have qn eq with manual sliders, for two reasons:

1. it's much simpler to perform "on the fly adjustments"
- I've had squealing mics blowing my ears out while i'm trying to access the user features on this machine.

2. I can get faster results with an analog one.

Behringer hhas a newer model out, the 8024, but I don't see any additional advantages over the 8000. It still wont do EQ and RTA at the same time.

I have two of them, one for EQ and one for RTA in a home studio rack, and they're transparent.

I had to send one back because a user features button was stuck.
So far, in two years I haven't had a problem with either one since. I've moved them around much, but they're really not designed for that.
I can depend on the unit, but I can't depend on the company (see customer support).

When I first machine broke, Behringer was using Samson as a point of contact in the US, and I thought these people wanted to send me a War Crimes Tribunal over this machine. Really snooty customer service and a big "was this unit dropped??" scrawled across my repair sheet when I got the unit back.
Recently, Behringer has taken over from Samson for customer service in the US, so we'll see.

I'd buy one for RTA use, and it's a great value at that alone, but I would rather have an analog sliders eq.

Note that the unit will not perform RTA and EQ simutaneously. It's either one or the other. Be careful of the misleading statement in the brochures.