Behringer MDX2100 Stereo Compressor/Limiter

Metering and controls are easy to navigate. Getting good sounds takes more fiddling around than most compressors. Very powerful, you can really mess up your mix.

I think the Composer gets a bad rap because people are using it with insert jacks. This degrades the sound greatly when wired this way. The Composer sounds horrible when inserted into a mix bus via "Y" insert cables. Thin lows, missing highs - even in bypass! Hook it up "Properly" - in series with balanced cables - and it starts to sound respectable. Mine sat in the closet for almost a decade until I figured this out, now I use it all the time. Does not hardly compare to my Distressor but I can't afford two Distressors for stereo.

Seems very well built. No Problems. This is the Original 2100 Composer, the follow up model had more features and a big price drop. I'm glad I have the original model actually.

No Experience, never needed Behringer service.

I can't really suggest this for drum bus mixes or full mixes (mastering on the cheap) even though I often use mine this way. Better for individual instruments, stereo micing sources.

Easy enough to use, however ifeel that behringer have gone a little overboard in making this comp look like it does alot more than it ACTUALLY does.

Decent Gates, and a decent de-esser,
but in terms of actual injection, i seem to lose all of the top end in the mix.
but considering its the B-Team, not too bad at all.
i prefer the alesis 3630 however ;)

no bother yet.

Behringer are great in customer service.

A great and easy to use, reliable tool
however, the sound rendering could be a tad better, otherwise a great investment for the price.

This was a quick unit to get some sounds out of. the layout is fairly intuitive twiddling the knobs a few times gives you a good idea of what they do. the manual, which i downloaded is really poor. it's not very helpful and not well written.

the sound quality of the composer frankly sucks. the low-end and low-mids get kinda sucked out by just plugging into this thing, not even when any compression/limiting is happening. i guess you could be going for this sound, like if you want a "stringy" acoustic tone or a thinner vocal sound for backing vocals. i A/B'ed it against an Alesis Nanocomp, hardly a high end unit, and the nanocomp had a much fuller sound.

the knobs feel really cheap. turning them, and using the switches too, feels like it could break any second. i mean, mine still works and i got it used, so i suppose it's not THAT unreliable.....

never had to do this.

you can get these super cheap, but there's a reason why. i would suggest trying something else, maybe you'll spend a few more dollars but i'd say it's worth it in this case.

I have quite a bit of Behringer stuff, Eq's etc and in general are very easy to use. Manual is very informative but does waffle on about stuff you may never even use. Apart from that quite good

I use it mainly on drums, kick etc and does the job quite well. But it does have the tendancy to 'pump' at high amounts of compression. very noticeable with a 5kW system! Auto mode is handy if you cant be bothered but usually i prefer to adjust it manually.

Behringer is a German company but all their products are made in China under ISO 9000 guidelines. Reliability great on most of their rackmount units but the MX 3242X desk, MX 8000 desk,GX 210 guitar amp are rubbish products. Behringer claim to use top quality components ALPS faders , potentiometers etc in their products but their trouble lies in quality control or lack thereof

USELESS! Behringer will not give you circuit diagrams if a product fails. Emails will be answered and give you advice but thats all. Other than that crap.

A good overall compressor but any of the Drawmer compressors would lose and find it. Beats the alesis any day. I would buy another if it got lost or broken cos its just as cheap. But if you're looking for a good compressor/limiter that does the job well, its ideal. The MDX 2200 is out now so i'm gonna have a look see.

Very good product easy to used.

No problem. Perfect.

Hello,
I have a faihlure of my MDX2100 and for repair it I need the schematics. I have contacted Behringer but this society don't want send to me the schematics.
Could you please help me to found the schematics?
Thank in advance,
Jean-Yves Chatron

Hello,
I have a faihlure of my MDX2100 and for repair it I need the schematics. I have contacted Behringer but this society don't want send to me the schematics.
Could you please help me to found the schematics?
Thank in advance,
Jean-Yves Chatron

I used for voice reenforcing (meeting).

Nice transparent compression. I've recently used the dbx 1066, which is muddy by comparison. I play slap bass, with sharp highs and thick lows with very little in between. The composer does a nice job of smoothing out my sound.

I used this unit for a few weeks before taking a break from playing for about 5 years. When I pulled the composer out of my closet, it was malfunctioning (intermittently craps out after about an hour of use). I've moved a few times, but the unit was in a shock-absorbing rack, so I doubt it was physically damaged.

Very responsive support. I've exchanged a bunch of email with them about the malfunction, and they were very helpful.

I play thrash and slap-bass, using a Rickenbacker 4003 and a 6-string Modulus with active Bartolini pickups. The composer deals with a low B quite well.

Not particularly difficult to use, but *very* difficult to use well. The manual is extensive and tries to explain the theory behind compression, but fails to show how to put theory into practice. The manual is also disjointed and difficult to follow.

The Composer has a nasty habit of dulling highs. It was my first compressor, purchased because I didn't know any better. Having gained some experience and tried other compressors, I'm and less and less happy with the sound.
I've used it primarily on acoustic guitar, mandolin and female vocals. On each of these it does a reasonable job of controlling levels, but must be used sparingly to avoid coloring the sound. This is true of any compressor, but is especially noticeable on this one.
The peak limiter is all but useless. I purchased the Composer in the hopes of getting nice, hot levels on my DA-38. However, the peak limiter "feature" which should help do just that distorts when you push it even a little. I try to catch and tame any peaks before they hit the limiter, but that is what it is there for - a backstop for transients that get through. In this application it fails miserably.

Have never had a technical problem with the unit.

Haven't dealt with the company. However, I don't like their policy of stealing other companies designs.

I generally play and record acoustic music -- singer/songwriter, bluegrass and progressive acoustic. The Composer is a bad match. I own a Symetrix CL-150 and two RNC 1773s, both of which are better compressors, the Symetrix for peak limiting and the RNC for subtle, musical compression. I've compared the Composer to dbx and Alesis compressors. Sadly, the Composer is actually better than the Alesis 3630.
It might work a little better for hard driving, electric guitars or screaming vocalists. Though on a vocalist with bad mic technique the peak limiter would probably just add to the distortion. I have used the Composer on DI'd bass where it worked reasonably well.
In summary: Ick.

Very easy to use. The manual is not only informative, but educational about what the unit is doing. The "Auto" circuit removes the problem of having to keep tweaking, as it supposedly adjusts itself based on the programme material. Behringer suggests setting controls manually for drums, and I agree. Bass signals can be nicely shaped, too. If you've used a compressor before, this will be easy. If you're a novice, you'll catch on quickly. I haven't heard a better unit in this price range, or in any of the slightly more-expensive units.

I generally use this in my little home studio, as well as for live PA system applications. The Composer allows for good inexpensive dynamics processing, without sounding cheap. In the studio, I use it for almost anything. Live, I relegate it to control kick drum and bass. It's claims of transparency are pretty accurate. It crushes the Alesis 3630 like it was a kid's toy, and the expander/gate is much better. I was the first on my block to own one. I've used high-end tube compressors in the past, so I know how good one of them can sound. The Composer doesn't compete on that level. It doesn't ADD warmth or character, which some may appreciate.
Mine has an intermittent glitchy staticky noise in one of the expander/gates when I use it for live reinforcement. That's a drag, but I usually open the gates all the way, in live applications.

I have never had serious trouble with mine. It's built very solidly; fine German craftsmanship.

N/A

I own 1 Behringer Composer, and a Multicom. I also own a Yamaha stereo compressor of some sort. I find the composer to be easy to use, musically transparent, non-noisy, and well-made. I would definitely replace it. In fact, I am passively looking for a cheap used one. The sidechain feature is very cool. I patch-in a Behringer Dualfex II to provide spectral enhancment of the compressed signal, when I use the COmposer on Kick & bass.
I compared it to a friends Alesis 3630. The Composer at the time was within $10, and the salesman assured me I would appreciate the difference, and would gladly trade it back if I was unhappy. He even called me to verify his correctness. He was right. the 3630 doesn't stand a chance. The Composer is just better, in all categories.

It provides all the typical compressor controls, a noise gate, and a limiter on each of the two channels. The channels can be linked to one set of controls for stereo mixes. If you're familiar with how compressors work, you shouldn't have any problems. If you don't really know what you're doing, the manual explains quite well how the unit works and describes many typical applications. The main ease of use problem is the LED bars that show the levels or compression amount. They aren't just on or off--many of them are varying states of half-on, so you're not really sure what value the meters are reading. It's pretty bad; about half of the LEDs are partly on when the unit is compressing by any significant amount.

Generally dulls down the high end and muddies up the midrange. No horrible pops or distortions like I've heard the Alesis 3630 has, but the signal going out doesn't sound as clean as the signal going in, even when not compressing. The midrange muddiness gets worse above about 6dB of compression.

Have had it for over a year; no problems. Seems sturdy.

It was my first compressor, besides guitar effects. After my hearing became more perceptive and I got to try more costly compressors, I came to dislike what the Composer does to my sounds. For vocals or guitar, I'd prefer an ART Dual Levelar or, if you have more money, an ART PRO VLA. For bass or percussive instruments, a dbx 1066 or an Electronic Design Services Really Nice Compressor would all sound better, and the RNC costs less than the Composer (though it has fewer features).

The back panel is a bit confusing, there are many options for wiring.. Other than that, it works just like any other 2 channel compressor. The manual is superbly detailed..

This is a 2 channel rackmount compressor/expander/limiter, similar to the Alesis 3630... It is the best compressor I have experience with. Having an independent peak limiter on each channel is quite a nice feature. Very transparent compression..

It seems entirely solid

Never dealt with em, luckily.. They're in Germany so.. might be troublesome..

It's great.. Better than the Alesis 3630, easily. It has XLR's and balanced 1/4's if you so wish, and sidechain options... An independent expander/gate with threshold and slow/fast switch, threshhold, ratio, attack, release, level on the compressor, and a level on the independent peak limiter.. The second channel is identical. There is a stereo link switch to slave the 2nd compressor to the first's controls for stereo operation. I kinda wish soft and hard knee was selectable.. as it is, it is supposedly automaticlaly determined from program content whether to use soft or hard knee, so one is supposed to set the threshold -10db lower than you normally would.
If youre looking for a 2 channel compressor in this price range, i'd go with this one... at least compared to the alesis. dunno abuot dbx's.