Does anyone here have any experience with the Behringer DSP110 processor?
Here’s the manufacturer’s blurb:
Our popular all-round problem-solver combines a ULN mic/line preamp with a variety of useful signal processing options, including our renowned > feedback destroyer > circuitry, a delay line for speaker time-alignment, an effective yet easy-to-use > compressor > and a > noise gate > with LEARN mode. Switchable +48 V phantom power, 24-bit A/D and D/A converters and professional connectivity round out the package and add to the SHARK’s ability to adapt to just about any application. Get a five-pack and rack-mount them in just over one space.
The features are what i need (compressor, gate, feedback elminator), and the price is good ($70 to $100 on the Internet). I’m thinking of getting one of these to goose up my flute microphone for live performance, especially with some compression and feedback elimination. And i’m wondering if it’s good quality, reliable, etc.
Please forgive me, this is from a primarily guitar website. You have to take all of the reviews with a grain of salt. This is where I usually start when searching for reviews.
No problem, i like reading reviews. For example, i’m not surprised the guy using it on a guitar had problem, since it’s mostly a microphone unit. So, thanks for the link!
It’s funny to see how the opinions differ. But i thik we can tell for sure that it runs hot, and that the delay that comes pre-set has to be turned off (several people gave up because they didn’t figure that out). This delay is supposed to be used to synchronize sound in large venues (i.e.: useless).
I don’t like the fact it has an external power supply, but maybe that adds to the reliability. I’m worried that some people had a lot of hiss (others didn’t!).
I may end up buying one to try out anyway, since it’s inexpensive, and if it works, buy more later.
Yeah. It may not work so well with a guitar pickup but a mic’d guitar may achieve better results. Like I said, those reviews must be taken with a grain of salt!
I asked this several weeks ago, but do you use compression for live whistle? Even my nice whistle get slightly louder when playing the upper register. I am about to start experimenting by adding comp to even it out ever so slightly.
Yes, if i play only flute, i can do fine with a clip-on mike, but if i want to play flute and whistles, then i have level problems between the flute and whistles, and between first and second octaves on the whistles. I read that Ian Anderson uses a fairly heavy (6:1 ratio) compressor on his flute mike, so i’m thinking of trying that.
The feedback eliminator can be useful too, because feedback is the #1 reason why a @#$@#% sound engineer will cut off the flute mike after the second song in a gig (once they cut you, they never remember to bring you back). A little preamp with gain would give me some ammunition to fight the sound engineer too!
HAHA! You are describing what I deal with all of the time! If the acoustic guitar feeds back, you’re gone! If I’m playing with a large choir, the band levels are sometimes set before the choir does a sound check. You need something to bring yourself back in! Sound guys hate it but until they wise up, you have to do it!
I got mine and did my first “scream test” tonight, in my basement. My advice if anyone buys one: read the manual. It’s small and barely adequate, but you’ll be lost without it. The user interface is weird, but after a while things start making sense.
The feedback elimination works like magic. It was almost impossible to get feedback, with that thing turned on. I don’t have a good “feel” for the compressor, since it uses nonstandard parameters – will have to try it out on rehearsals to see how well it works.
I’m just a flute player, but if i were a sound person, i’d probably buy a couple dozen of these. There are handfuls of useful things, all put together in a small and relatively inexpensive package: feedback elimination, compressor, gate, low-cut, phantom power, preamp, line or mic level input and output (mix freely), etc, etc etc.
When i’m only playing flute, i use an Yamaha PS/7 system, which has a condenser mic mounted on a gooseneck clip, and a preamp. This system is not being made anymore, but you can sometimes find it, usually for about $100. Fluteworld.com used to have it, but now they only have the newer version, ST5, which costs $250, and doesn’t come with the microphone. You can still get the microphone there for $75, and it probably works on its own, without the preamp.
When i’m playing flute and whistle, i use a Sennheiser MD-400 dynamic microphone. The current version is called MD-421 and costs a little more than the one i have. I also had good results with a Shure SM-98 condenser mounted on a stand, but i switched to the Sennheiser when my Shure started having a little buzz.
With the gooseneck, i have very little trouble with feedback, but with any microphone on a stand, feedback is my main cause of grief in gigs. There are very few things more frustrating than having a sound person cut your microphone off (forever) after it feedbacks during the second song of your gig. Performance interruptus…
Thanks.
I thought you were talking about a mike that strapped onto the flute head like the one I saw Ian Anderson use on the Tull DVD.
I need to learn more about all of the amplification stuff. I know nothing about mikes, condensers (or what they are for) etc. I’m thinking of getting an amp and mike for harmonica as well as flute.
OK, here’s the scoop, after surviving one very loud rehearsal and one gig (tonight) with maybe the lousiest sound ever: the DSP110 is wonderful. It works like magic, and allows you to completely forget the problem of feedback. Feedback just doesn’t happen, period.
I haven’t had much luck with the gate and compressor functions, so far. I think i’ll eventually figure out settings that work for them too. But the feedback elimination and low-cut filter both work perfectly with the default settings, out of the box.
