Behringer X-Touch

Sources split — not on what happens, but on who to blame for it. The X-Touch is a Mackie Control Universal emulation with a HUI mode bolted on, so what each button does is decided by the DAW at the other end. Logic and Cubase implement MCU most fully and are where the labels printed on the surface mostly mean what they say; Ableton Live and Reason are extensive but remap whole button clusters; Pro Tools runs over HUI and loses the intelligent rotary mappings and plug-in control entirely. One camp reads this as a protocol fact and configures around it: a forum regular points out that Cubase ships two different MCU modes, and that the original Mackie has the very same labelling mismatch — which is why Mackie sold per-DAW overlays. The other camp reads it as a product that arrives half-working, with whole rows of buttons doing nothing and no way to reassign them. Behringer's own support line settles the mechanism without settling the argument: the unit is HUI or MC, and the functionality depends on your DAW's implementation of those.

The hardware count is generous and undisputed; how the faders feel in motion is the sharpest split in the set. Nine 100 mm touch-sensitive motorised faders, eight endless encoders with LED collars, 92 internally-lit buttons, a jog/shuttle wheel and an eight-segment meter on every channel — metering the Mackie it copies does not have. Sources divide on the faders: some describe them as smooth and silent under automation, others as clattery, jumpy, or actively fighting a finger. The set documents three separate causes and they are not the same fault. Some DAWs send Mackie position updates at a low rate, so the surface receives a staircase instead of a ramp and the motors step audibly; the capacitive touch sensor only reads reliably in the concave dip of the fader cap, so a finger on the top or bottom of the knob is not registered and the DAW keeps pulling the fader back; and some units simply arrive faulty. Two complaints recur without anyone disputing them: the box is thick enough that the scribble strips sit at an unreadable angle from a seated position, and the jog wheel is the cheapest-feeling thing on the surface.

The most uncontested strength, and unusually broad for the class: USB-B to the computer, full-size 5-pin DIN MIDI in and out, an RJ45 Ethernet port that carries either RTP MIDI to a computer or direct control of a Behringer X-Air or X32 mixer, a two-port powered USB hub on the back, and three quarter-inch pedal jacks (two footswitch, one expression). Owners put the hub to work as a power switch for a whole desk of gear, and the standard IEC power cord is easily replaced. Three routes to the computer also means a fallback: one long-term owner found USB the least stable link on their machine and settled on old-fashioned MIDI cables instead. The one flat limitation is power — the motors need the mains supply, so this is not a bus-powered laptop companion.

“Connectivity options are generous: there’s a USB connection that will suit most DAW control scenarios, and both X-Touches have a built-in hub for connecting a further two USB devices.”

Simon Sherbourne, Sound On Sound

“Has 2 pass-through USB ports, which I use to connect some other music-related gear, allowing me to turn all of it on/off with a single switch - the X-Touch power button.”

Zwavelbron, Thomann customer review

“connecting it through the USB is by far the most unstable option, with it regularly dropping connection and me having to cycle the power to get it to connect again”

Hushikun, Thomann customer review

Consistently described as heavy, metal and desk-planting — the thing most owners name first. Reviewers who bought it against a Mackie or an Icon single out the weight as the tell, and it stays put under a hand. Longevity reports are reassuring rather than conclusive: a Cubase user posting a two-and-a-half-year update reported nothing broken, and a 2022 reviewer's only reservation was brand-shaped rather than experienced. The exceptions are specific and repeated: the jog wheel feels light and plasticky against the rest of the chassis and has some wobble, and the encoders carry the same slightly loose feel. Against that, the failure stories that do exist are real — a support thread walks through an extender whose two faders would not register touch even after the faders themselves were physically replaced, pointing at the board rather than the parts.

“It has a very sturdy build, built like a tank.”

soundwhiz, Thomann customer review

“physically it's a solid product for the most part. It's heavy and the chassis is well constructed.”

Just a customer, Thomann customer review

“I bought the x touch and I am quite satisfied with it. Solid build quality with smooth motor faders and it comes with a 3 year warranty.”

gk56, Gearspace forum

“The jog wheel has a cool illuminated ring, and does the job, although it has some wobble and is one of the more light and plasticky feeling parts of the surface.”

Simon Sherbourne, Sound On Sound

“So far nothing has broken.”

Chriscc123, Steinberg Forums

The least disputed verdict in the set. Every source that mentions price frames it the same way — a full motorised fader bank, metering and scribble strips for a fraction of what the surface it emulates costs. One owner bought it explicitly because the Mackie Control Universal Pro cost nearly three times as much; another concluded that having used both formats, there was no obvious reason the Mackie would be better. US street has fallen a long way since launch, from the $599 Sound On Sound quoted in 2016 to $419 today, which only sharpens the argument. The dissent is mild and comes in two shapes: one forum voice wanted it cheaper still, and one former owner found that past about forty tracks the eight-at-a-time window stopped saving him time and went back to mixing with a mouse — a limit of the format rather than of this box.

“If you want a fairly inexpensive controller board with automated faders that works with your DAW, this is the best choice in its price range.”

Richard MacLemale, The Budget Guitarist

“Much cheaper than an actual Mackie yet I don't really see a reason why that would be better.”

Zwavelbron, Thomann customer review

“it does have an aggressive price tag and some nice touches like the meters and illuminated buttons”

Simon Sherbourne, Sound On Sound

“I would have 48 tracks for example - and while you can scroll through - It was bothersome for me”

Papanate, HomeRecording.com

Compact in plan and awkward in profile. Its footprint is genuinely small for a nine-fader surface — smaller than the Icon and Mackie units it is cross-shopped against, small enough that a gigging owner picked it for exactly that — and Thomann sells a fitted bag and case for it. But it is 4.3 kg and, at 100 mm, thick: reviewers reach for the word chunky, the faders sit high for a desktop, and the scribble strips end up at a viewing angle you cannot read sitting down. Both reviewers who raised the angle solved it the same way, by propping the back of the unit up. It also needs mains power for the motors, so it is not a bus-powered travel controller in any case.

“Physically, the X-Touches are best characterised as ‘chunky’. While they actually have a modest footprint, they are rather thick.”

Simon Sherbourne, Sound On Sound

“The angle of the XTouch is terrible – you can’t read the scribble strips unless you stand up and look down at the board.”

Richard MacLemale, The Budget Guitarist

“The x touch is also quite compact which is important for the gigs I am doing.”

gk56, Gearspace forum

There is essentially none, and that cuts both ways. No bundled DAW, no plugins, no editor — Thomann's delivery list is the unit, a USB cable and a power cable — and no user-definable MIDI mode on the full-size model, so nothing can be remapped outside what MCU and HUI expose. That is the point of complaint most likely to catch a buyer out, since the X-Touch Compact does ship an editor and a programmable mode, and reviewers repeatedly steer people toward the smaller unit for that reason. Firmware, by contrast, has done real work: it added the X-Air control mode at version 1.15, fixed a Cubase time-code problem that owners had blamed on the hardware, and Sound On Sound found it smoothed the fader actuators between test units. The open question is whether it still does — a long-term owner writing in 2021 had not seen an update in five years of ownership.

“No MIDI mode on the larger X-Touch.”

Simon Sherbourne, Sound On Sound

“considering I've not seen a firmware update in the five years I've owned this, it says to me that Behringer has probably forgotten this product exists”

Hushikun, Thomann customer review

“There was a firmware release some months back that solved issues which were actually related to Cubase and not Behringer.”

gk56, Gearspace forum