[LAU] Behringer Wing

[Ben Bell]

On Tue, Nov 10, 2020 at 09:14:16AM +0000, Ben Bell wrote:
> I've got an opportunity to pick up a Behringer Wing relatively cheaply if
> I'm quick. So, obvious questions first: Has anyone got experience of the
> Behringer Wing with Linxu and indeed Ardour?

Replying to my own thread for xkcd/979 reasons.

I got the Wing. It shows up as a class-compliant USB audio interface and
seems to support 48 in, 48 out audio without any fiddling. I'm getting a
few xruns which I can reduce but not eliminate by raising buffer sizes.
This is my first USB audio interface so I'm inclined to think it's as likely
to be my machine as the Wing. I'm working through the usual processes of
trying to track down the cause.

One other glitch is that power it off has, a few times, triggered a rapid
descent into hard lock-up in the computer. I'll experiment a bit more but
suspect yanking the USB Audio interface out from underneath jack while
running it with high realtime priority is an unwise thing to do.

Switching it to DAW mode for use asa control surface with Ardour took a bit
of figuring out but once I had spotted there was a "DAW mode" button as well
as the setup screen, it worked reasonably well with Mackie, Mackie + Extender
and Mackie + 2 Extenders modes. The maps aren't 100% and if I keep it I'll
probably want to tweak things. On the Wing itself there's the option of
mapping various user defined buttons to actions, but so far I haven't seen
a way of sending arbitrary MIDI or OSC data. Shame.

Talking of OSC, it seems at a glance to have a comprehensive implementation
which is thoroughly documented (unlike most of the Wing) in an official but
third party document on Behringer's site.

One downside is the sheer physical size: I'm having to completely rebuild
my studio around it. Obviously you can read the specs and measure out on
the desk, but it didn't prepare me for quite how imposing it is and the
extent to which it makes reaching anything else (like a keyboard) a
challenge.

The AES50 extension boxes, its routing UI and actually pretty much
everything else about it is so far impressive. There's no manual to speak
of so the things that aren't intuitive take some figuring out. Once you
know them though the workflow is quick and easy. I'd quite like to have
had the opportunity of a Compact or Rack version but I imagine they'll
come.

In short, after a day's use there's definitely no show stoppers and with a
bit of tweaking it could be great for anyone whose needs match its specs.

If anyone has questions, feel free to contact me. In the mean time I'll
continue digging into it and seeing how it goes.

bjb