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So I hear all these horror stories where you go out buy some nice looking equipment to find out its $h*t. Then you go try and call support and your waiting on the phone for 30+ minutes to hear its not even worth repairing. I personally haven't had many major problems but I sure as hell would like to know what not to buy just in case i get caught up in the hype of a product. I know there is a lot of bias when it comes to what product is the best, I would like to stick personal problems YOU or a friend you KNOW had with equipment, support, etc. to help out future producers/hobbyist.

I did break the USB port on my Akai mini after 4 months. The female side broke into the midi and now the only use I can get out of it is making some maraca sounds by shaking it.

I will admit I am rough on my equipment so I don't blame Akai at all. Plus its what $60 so I didn't expect much.

i wont buy another axiom cause i found my problem online and alot of other experienced it right after the warranty ended just like me. it was a internal motherboard problem

I actually haven't had any negative stories about m-audio, I own 2 keyboards from them, and 3 interfaces, and all work great (Although the keyboards lacked 64 bit support until very recently). However, maudio products are nowhere close to "professional" sounding which is understandably why it might get a bad rap.

Behringer however, every product I've ever owned from them has been complete garbage. I have a mixer where half the faders don't work and have tons of noise. I lost the power adapter for it, and looked into buying a new one, and they don't sell them. I have a friend with a behringer combo bass amp which died after a year. I will never buy behringer, not because of bad sound quality, but because their shit breaks.

only thing behringer makes that i would buy is their multigate pro outboard gate/expander (x4)

just because who wants to spend a ton of money on gates... and they work.

but yeah fuck behringer mixers and bass amps. I learned my lesson the hard way as well.

Ive got a ton of love for M-Audio, wouldnt have been without my trigger finger or my old keyrig 49.

Behringer on the other hand is just awful quality, but then again you do get what you pay for.

Putting some rumors to rest. People always bad mouth these products without explanations or experiences. Its like they gotta grudge with the company or some$h*t. Heard of any other self destruction prone products?

I just picked up Behringer Truth b2031actives, seem awesome so far and I have read some good things about em. Hoping they keep up the quality.

First of all, I'll say it once: Fuck M-audio. I never thought I would, but my 3rd 49 key by them has just bit the dust for no apparent reason. It works fine for about 5 minutes then just shits out and dies. I've owned the 2 generations of oxygen and 1 axiom; to be fair I traded a 29key axiom for an older 49 key oxygen which bit the dust because it was next to my radiator that leaked steam. However my trigger finger which had shitty feeling pads to begin with, died randomly also after about a year.

Behringer is hit or miss for me; their active crossover is pretty shit, didn't realize it at the time but -24 dB/octv doesn't cut it. However their truth series monitors have done me well for at least 3 years and put up with a fair ammount of abuse.

didn't want to have to buy another keyboard arg!

Ive heard stories of those behringer 'tube' compressors actually catching fire... I generally think behringer has its place in the market, It does get the job done... but It wont sound as good or last as long. Its good for simple 4 channel mixers etc...

outdropt wrote:I did break the USB port on my Akai mini after 4 months. The female side broke into the midi and now the only use I can get out of it is making some maraca sounds by shaking it.

I will admit I am rough on my equipment so I don't blame Akai at all. Plus its what $60 so I didn't expect much.

This SAME exact thing happened to me lol, Thank god I got warranty from Guitar center.. even though its 60.

I have a behringer midi keyboard and m-audio "monitors" (" " because they aren't really monitors but they're not really consumer speakers either)
both were a little under $150 each and for that they're both great. obviously nowhere near pro gear but they get the job done. no complaints here!

i had a behringer mixer once; 2 of the mic pre's actually FELL OUT of the mixer. so beyond it sounding really, really bad, it was poorly made.

people seem to like their midi controllers, but i'll never ever EVER own anything w/ the behringer name on it that touches audio. in terms of entry-level small format mixers, it's really hard to beat a&h and mackie, though the yamaha boards aren't bad.

m-audio stuff, hardware-wise, isn't that bad.. though i say this looking at my dead axiom61. my only real problem with them is the absolute shittiness of their drivers.

alesis makes some really poorly built gear as well, but they've cornered the market on cheap, fun bits. i probably use alesis gear on a daily basis, sad to say

Sharmaji wrote:
alesis makes some really poorly built gear as well

I guess that is why I don't hear of alesis too much =P

Yeah I mean its hard to complain when your buying budget equipment. But when you see that there is better equipment for the same price

Good to know what to watch out for.

Old behringer ultrafexes and composer compressors are actually really nice for the gritty 90s dnb sound

Simple. You get what you pay for. Behringer offer value that seems to be too good to be true... Thats because it is, complete dog shit every piece of Behringer equipment I have come across. M-Audio on the other hand, no beef with them.

had a behringer xenyx mixer ever since i first got into production and it still works without any issues after years of use. the mic200 (bought second hand a few months ago) starved tube amp also works fine, it's quite far from a first class tube preamp but it amplifies the signal nicely and can work as a fun cheap dirtbox when abused. bought a uma25s controller/soundcard combo recently for live use, works like a charm, although the keys are quite shit. but i can live with that. it's amazingly convenient and it came with a carrying bag that my netbook fits perfectly into. i've also bought a cheap behringer mic ages ago, still works fine, i think ive spent 20eur on it.

on the other had, i did buy a 61-key controller by behringer a few years ago and only one key worked.



but i returned it to the shop and took back the money. so that's 4 out of 5 for me so far. think i'll also be buying that cheap green delay pedal they have, seems fun and it's mighty cheap.

m-audio wise, only used their oxygen keyboard so far and it works just fine (hope it stays that way).

NEVER buy a numark omni/stealth/whatever-control
i have to hit half the buttons 30 times before they work after 1 year of infrequent use.

IMO m audio = average
behringer = shit

I bought a behringer DJX700 mixer when I was tight on cash and it ended up dying about 6 months later of bedroom use. It also had the shittiest sound quality which I originally thought was my speakers until I bought a Pioneer DJM600. I was in fucking heaven when I first played my vinyls through my Pioneer . Learned my lesson-- listen to the experienced, read reviews, and save up your money and buy something quality.

Gemini's cdjs are quite bad. They shorted out occasionally so I sent them in under warranty (really nice customer service corresponding by email) and with little use latter the exact same problem occurred (and I think they sent me new cdjs, not the same).