Behringer ADA8200 review & tutorial - More inputs for your DAW!

[@mattdeluca99]

Behringer owes you money… way better guidance than their owners manual. Thank you

[@ImplosiveCatt]

Behringer evolution happened fast. From "please God make it work", then "please God make it work for a year" to now when is no-brainer.

[@kdakan]

For those who get a high pitched noise or hiss & hum with the ADA8200 line inputs, or a very weak and thin sound with the UMC line inputs, I have a solution. The UMC1820 mains plug doesn't have a ground pin, yet the ADA8200 has. When connecting line outs from another device that has the ground pin on its mains plug, this creates a ground loop, causing both 50/60 cycle hum, and the most annoying very high pitched 11.1kHz digital noise in my case. I am connecting direct outs from my drum module into the ADA8200 line ins. Since the drum module has a 12V DC power supply, it was safe for me to plug it into a socket without a ground pin, breaking the ground loop and this solved the noise issue for me. Since the UMC1820 doesn't have a ground pin on its mains plug, line ins on the UMC1820 worked fine in the first place. One other thing to note is that, using balanced TRS cables from my drum module, which has unbalanced outputs, causes out of phase thin sound on the UMC1820 line ins, so I had to use unbalanced cables on the UMC1820. Yet no such problem on the ADA8200 line ins, these units seem to have different preamps or jack connections. Hope this helps others having similar issues with line ins.

[@MajorGRecording]

That is the computer interfaces I have in my studio!! (UMC1820+ADA8200) Thanks for the video! I currently have it set up for 5.1 mixing. (I also just got a Realistic PZM and will mod it like yours.)

[@RickyReject]

This video is quite brilliant! Very well explained.

[@BockwinkleB]

just bought the ADA to go with my 1820. Such a great, affordable recording set up.

[@anthonyjtravis]

Thank you for a really clear explanation of `a subject that was baffling me. My old band has a 50th reunion coming up `and I want to record directly to Cubase. I'd already got the UMC820 and the ADA820 will give me eight more channels. Love your presentation style - relaxed yet authoritative. You're a natural teacher.

[@eithafol7742]

nice to see you back here K! (Beds here from cardiff & old school dt)

[@Luigi64]

Just picked the ada8200 up and it worked! For the 1 cable setup, i had to have the cable plugged into the out on my ada8200 and the in into the interface, the plugs were flipped in the vid but your description was correct

[@outdoorsinontario3037]

This is fantastic! This is my next investment in my studio! Thank you!

[@BigdogLP]

You're back! Awesome review keep them coming!

[@sidewalkssteamin]

I have to thank you so much for this video, I was on the phone with Obedia, who are always very helpful, for the first time ever I stumped them with not being able to successfully connect both of my 8200, and 1820, No one had advised me that I needed 2 adat wires to make it work correct. The obedia guy simply didn't know either so I was getting nervous I had a faulty unit, until your video. I am on my way to some smooth sailing thanks to you! cheers mate!

[@sighermike]

I have had both of these units for quite awhile and was really frustrated with the strange latency I was getting from the ADA8200. turns out, I didn't have two optical cables to make sure the sync was right. Thanks for this, so important.

[@Hamfantasy56]

Just bought this afternoon my new 8200 Just to link to the Behringer UMC 1820 and was search ing for a tutorial like this: found and Is a beautiful useful one! tank you!!

[@1loveMusic2003]

Glad you are making videos again. Great blue collar recording tips, love it.

[@RandyWhited-rw7wo]

I just recv'd mine today. It is running as slave behind a RME UFXIII interface. It's just so easy it took all of 5 minutes. Probably will have another one soon.

[@JRandallS]

I just picked one up to use with my little studio setup. This device is going to function as a digital patch bay. I have ADAT connections on my UAD Apollo and on the Midas M32R. I don't have enough line in and outs for my outboard gear, so the ADA8200 will become the in and out for each channel of compression, EQ, etc required for connection to the outboard gear. I will just dedicate an input and output pair to each stereo device, and single channels to single devices. Then patch them in (like inserts) as needed.

[@sergiohfb]

Sorry, I did not understand well how you use ADA to this purpose. Can you give an example?

[@JRandallS]

@@sergiohfb The ada has 8 inputs that are independent from the 8 outputs. Each routes through light pipe independently. So you can have all 16 channels sending music in and out at the same time. The ADA light pipe connects to the light pipe on either the M32 ADAT card or into the Apollo directly. For example, if I connect output one from the Ada XLR into a compressor, and then bring it back on XLR input one, I can send channels through the compressor from my DAW or device control software. (Device control software would be M32-Edit or UAD Console, depending on the device I am using.)

[@1loveMusic2003]

Love your plugin reviews too

[@komet1536]

Many thanks, this was eactly what is was looking for. Simple and clear presentation.

[@Elnoseaspopi]

You Help me a lot, thank you so Much! ✌

[@MatthewDovetail]

Now THIS is what I was looking for. Very precise and clear. I got my ada8200 few days ago and the one thing I'm already vaguely complaining about (even before I get started) is the fact that the phantom power generates +48v for each and every mic input in the adat interface. I guess that's what makes it cheap compared to other adat interfaces. I worked my way around plugging to it exclusively condenser mics, just in case and so to be sure I'll never blow up a dynamic capsule by accident. This needs to be said I think

[@jaketeeling5679]

Dyanamic mics shouldn't have a problem with the 48v being on. Vintage ribbon mics will.

[@BennyTheBusker]

The 48v phantom power will not “blow up a dynamic capsule”, so you do not need to only use condensers for recording.

[@johnvcougar]

Your dynamics will be fine. It's passive ribbons you have to worry about.

[@ivanshafiq2915]

very nicely explained

[@ciustagabber2677]

thanks for your explanation, is the best online.

[@tractorgt]

I had to switch back and forth between the 44.1 and adat before it stopped clicking and popping. Was about to pull my hair out since it's racked and the rear isn't accessible lol.

[@djole02]

If anyone here is thinking of getting 4 of these with the RME USB card, I would recommend going for the PCIe version instead (RME HDSPe RayDAT). It should provide lower latency and more stability under heavy load. Additionally get the Word Clock module to sync all the devices.

[@paavoilves5416]

Ayo wth, how did you read my mind?! I see the RayDAT card is over 600€ compared to the USB one which is "only" 444€. How big of a difference on latency and stability do you think there is? Edit. Oh, it was in the video...

[@JEBJOSH]

Thank you for this video

[@MohammadFarhanMohammadNor]

Can this set up works as a digital mixer? perhaps the setup compatible with other third party digital mixer software?

[@thefunkyfreshjustus]

pitty that the 8200 doesn't have those sweet little pads and mic line buttons. thanks for sharing this it is a very interestingly and affordable way to have a boatload of inputs. God bless.-pc

[@OpenSource1]

Great voice

[@bkezelos]

Can you add a second ADA8200 to this set up for a total of 24 channels at 44.1k?

[@Closedgoodbye]

Wonderful

[@PhilKinman]

Out of interest why would you choose to use 2 cables opposed to 1 one when the end result is the same?

[@JosephAmodeo-u2n]

8 channels higher resolution over 2 cables vs 8 channels lower resolution over 1 cable

[@jaketeeling5679]

Without the second cable the XLR outputs on the back are useless. All the output will go to your interface through adat. Workaround: You can use an adat splitter and feed one line back into the behringer, then you can use the xlr outputs to a mixer for example for front of house or headphone mixes.

[@johnvcougar]

The 8200 is an I/O device. If you want to use its input AND its outputs, you'll need two ADAT cables.

[@GrantMoore3D]

Does anyone know if there's any meaningful difference between the ADA8200 being the slave vs master? It seems like it works just the same in the video, so I'm guessing the optionality is there for more complicated setups (irrelevant to my needs).

[@johnsaunders6510]

Thank you. It helped me.

[@JuanFelixMusic]

This is great! Thanks!

[@feeder810]

Great video! And I have a question about this setup. I have synths connected to the ADA8200 and in order to hear them (on my headphones connected to the UMC 1820), I need to enable the monitoring on the track of the DAW. Said that I think this is normal, simply because there is no configuration in the UMC1820 to route the ADAT input to the main output, and in addition there is no management software provided by Behringer), my question is: is there a way to listen directly the ADA8200 inputs without enabling the track monitoring? In case this is feasible with an external software, is there a simpler software to manage the audio routing? For example, I tried VoiceMeeter, but I cannot get this configuration. Thanks to everyone!!

[@dancetech]

The analog inputs are routed to the ADAT output, and the ADAT input is routed to the analog outputs. If you want to use the ADA8200 as a standalone preamp, connect an ADAT cable from the ADAT output to the ADAT input on the ADA8200 for a loopback connection. This will allow signal to pass through to the analog outputs

[@feeder810]

@@dancetech Thank you very much for your useful response! Anyway, I think I did not explain clearly and I think that this would allow me to use the ADA8200 as a standalone device...but what I need is slightly different. I would need that the inputs of the ADA8200 are routed directly to the ANALOG OUTPUT (OUT 1-2) of the Behringer UMC1820. Based on your last comment, I would expect that the ADAT Input of the UMC1820 is automatically routed to the analog output, but I think this is not the case.. am I wrong? BTW, I obviusly connected both the ADAT ports so that ADAT IN in ADA8200 is connected to the ADAT OUT of the UMC1820 and vice-versa.

[@dancetech]

@@feeder810 oh right, sorry, I don't think what you want can be done, except if you use the monitoring control set to IN but then inputs will usually be hard panned in their respective paired L/R positions & I don't think that works with the adat connectors anyways... but why would you want to do that anyway?

[@feeder810]

@@dancetech basically, I have 7 (stereo) synths in my studio, and I would like to connect, play and be able to listen all of them without having to cable them, so what I'm trying to achieve is an audio interface with 16 inputs and the ability to hear all of them through the main output (headphones or audio monitor), similarly to have a 16 tracks mixer. I think, at this point that I misunderstood the role of the combo (UMC1820 + ADA8200) where I can correctly get more inputs for my DAW, but it cannot work as some kind of "expanded mixer". Thank you for your comments and availability, anyway.

[@issue1402]

is this good for recording analogue drum maschines and synths?

[@adsfaedaer]

nice, thanks. I know its a lot of work, but now you can use UA LUNA on a mac with any interface, any chance of doing a song from scratch, just like you did with garageband and logic - pretty please.

[@dancetech]

might have to do that! New m2 mac being ordered this week

[@nilsmortenalexandersen5582]

HI there. Have you tried patching a TOSLINK cable from ADAT OUT to ADAT IN ... to make the unit a standalone Mic Pre ? I suppose this will work, but I cannot find any information on it :) Kind regards Nils

[@MightyUnlikely]

YES! Absolutely works. My orig 16-track setup with the ADA8200 was with my (now obsolete) Mackie Firewire Blackbird Onyx. I ran parallel Word Clock cables to both the Mackie and the Behringer which allowed me to have complete flexibility on the OUTPUT sections of each. I ran a TOSLINK splitter from the ADA8200 Output which allowed me to feed BOTH the Mackie (ADAT input, for DAW capture) and the Behringer dig-input. That gave me a "pass-thru" signal for each of the 8 mic inputs of the ADA8200 (which I patched to an external PA-only mixer for room sound reinforcement). Worked great----and "faked" outputs for the Behringer as a satellite of another digital device, when it was actually signal from it's own "front-end". My current setup with a Focusrite i1820 doesn't allow this flexibility for ADAT inputs 🙁 and so I'm forced to get ADA8200 outputs driven "round-trip" from my DAW.

[@DALTRON666]

How would I connect 3 devices. I have now UMC1820 ADAT connected to Focusrite 18i20 as slave. I have a ADA8200 and how do I connect this in the chain to get all of my 24 I/O?? My ADATs are used in the other 2 units. How do I connect these? is my only option through SPDIF or?

[@davidrundmc]

Is it compatible with focusrite? excuse my ignorance...

[@johnvcougar]

Any ADAT capable device including Focusrite

[@TwangThang57]

Thanks for doing this. I’m curious, did you test clocking in both directions to see which unit worked best as master or slave?

[@johnvcougar]

Define "best" ... it just works or it doesn't. One advantage of using the 8200 as the master is just needing one ADAT port and cable.

[@TwangThang57]

@@johnvcougar Not so. Best as in which clock is more stable. To my surprise I found the Behringer clock more stable than the clock in my Audient iD22. Also you must use two ADAT cables if you want to use the XLR line out in the rear.

[@zhang171903992]

I see you gave a lot of gain to Input 1 on 8200, is there any distortion or ‘over colored ‘ ? I’m asking because I have this confusing. The signal after going to 8200 inputs are quite low, I’m not sure if it is correct to twist knob or not.

[@johnvcougar]

Twist it until it's hot enough, but not too hot, avoiding clipping is usually a goal.

[@eddiexx]

great walkthrough. I need more inputs for stuff like mpc, ipad iphone and other sound sources. I was wondering, could i slave the UMC1820 to my existent babyface Pro? I think it should work, but my question would be, what do you think would make more sense, getting the ADA8200 or the UMC1820? Besides the price maybe there is other funtionability wins in slaving the interface? Cheers

[@dancetech]

you cant sync the UMC1820 to the Babyface, but you CAN make an aggregate device in mac OS of the two devices, but then you can do that with any combinations of audio devices. However it makes no sense getting the UMC cos you have all the extras u need like s/pdif & midi etc on the babyface, but getting the ada8200 would simply add all those extra analog mic pre's and line in/outs to the babyface.. if you need 8 extra mic/line pre's & maybe also the ada8200's extra outs (less required outside of a hardware traditional studio setup) then go for it, but do you need 8 extra mic pre's or line inputs? if you aren't recording multitrack mics or needing to bring larger amounts of external hardware outputs into a DAW onboard mix, then the answer is no i guess.

[@eddiexx]

@@dancetech thanks for your answer. really its more the line inputs, not more mic inputs, but i dont seem to find a perfect match for that , maybe you know of something?

[@dancetech]

@@eddiexx check the decription above - linky - How to get LOTS of inputs into your DAW!

[@gnomerod]

Hi. I have a question regarding the option for the RME Digiface USB hooked up to up to 4 Behringer ADA8200. In this scenario, is the RME Digiface acting as the audio interface? I don't know much about this product, never heard of it until now. Is this an interface without any Preamps of it's own but designed to support several ADAT expansion units? Cheers

[@dancetech]

"is the RME Digiface acting as the audio interface" ? - yes in a way biut the data dfevices are the physical ins & outs.... admittedly in terms of monitoring connections for things like headphones it's not as convenient as a regular interface with such features onboard, so probably the best thing to do is add-on a cheap tablet mixer connected to your designated master L/R main output pair on one of the devices & this tablet can then connect to your speakers & headphones giving easy volume control to both

[@antonyynotmusic]

Can i connect two behriger UMC1820 for record?

[@theAristocrap]

You can. I would like for someone to explain the benefit of getting ada8200 instead of second 1820 (both having the same preamps and ASIO supporting more than one interface).

[@whahala555]

​@@theAristocrap tge ada8200 is cheaper than the umc1820

[@keithdoyle6535]

This might be a stupid question but using the configuration presented in the video ( umc1820 + Ada8200 ) do the ada8200's 8 outputs also work at the same time?

[@spaceOfwaste_101]

yes and they can be used as hardware sends for eg.

[@johnvcougar]

With two ADAT cables, yes.

[@krastorockstar]

@@johnvcougar how about latency of this outputs? is it the same as on the master device or different ?

[@racalik]

since it's 44.1/48 kHZ - can it work with the main interface being set to 96kHZ or not? or would I have to set everything to 44.1/48 only?

[@jaketeeling5679]

Main interface and behringer need to have same sample rate.

[@cbrooks0905]

Ok I'm confused. Do I need adat cables, a coaxial cable, or both? It sounds like you're saying I can choose between adat or coaxial, but another video I watched said both are needed. I have mine on it's way in the mail. I'm trying to understand this thing before it comes.

[@rjkral]

How'd it work out? I've read BNC (coaxial) isn't needed it will work with two ADAT cables instead, but that BNC is far more reliable and recommended

[@cbrooks0905]

@ yeah, adat worked

[@chrism5931]

You sir, are a Godsend. Thanks so much.

[@theAristocrap]

whats the benefit of getting this ada expander vs getting a second umc1820?

[@chriss4432]

Only one interface is connected to the DAW (Im guessing)

[@DMSProduktions]

WHAT driver were you using for these? 1 of the WAV drivers or 1 of the ASIO drivers? I use Mixcraft 10.5 Pro, & I used it last week to rec a rehearsal, but all the inputs come out as PAIRS, ie 1-8/1 or 2, 1-8/3 or 4 etc. I guessed that for each pair you needed to select a L or R channel to get them separate? It worked but I am not sure IF that is necessary to get separate inputs for each track simultaneously! THAT was with ASIO4ALL driver! Any thoughts? Cheers!

[@johnvcougar]

You only need drivers for the main USB unit

[@DMSProduktions]

@@johnvcougar I HAVE those, but those don't work IN the DAW!

[@johnvcougar]

@@DMSProduktions DAW problem, not a driver problem. In ProTools, you can gang together any combination of I/o ports into mono, stereo, 5.1 or what have you. But if the channels DO present only as stereo, you can split them into mono after capture.

[@DMSProduktions]

@@johnvcougar Yeah idk. The Behringer driver is only to provide USB connectivity for audio. It isn't an audio driver itself. You pick those IN the DAW itself! Normally you get a choice that will work with that hardware of Wave, WaveRT or ASIO.

[@florincminor]

The power source fry after 5 days of using it. beware of the heat. if you keep it in a room or use it in live, were is over 28 Celsius, the power transformer inside the ADA8200 will fry. it is all over the net, but i found that after my ADA8200 was not working. Now I am trying to repair it . I will ask the electronic service to find a way to make an external power supply so it won't fry again. I am very sorry that I bought this. I must be a design fault. I am not the only one with this issue.

[@johnvcougar]

😢

[@florincminor]

@johnvcougar by the way, even the service can't find the 15 pins ac transformer, so i still search for a spare part to replace the original.

[@ImplosiveCatt]

Amazing value for money. Using it for a synth and sampler input. It works great. The only drawback is that it doesn't work standalone. I.e. if you have an interface with adat and that works standalone (no DAW), this device (plugged into that interface) is not going to receive any input without software. I'm using it with Ableton and it works great. Offline is dead, though. :D

[@rawstarmusic]

lloa I think I should write that your volume is generally lower than other uploads that I listen to. Checking the output volume of the recorded videos would be good. A compressor on the way out would make sure on volume, but check on your end of things.

[@berto606]

I was gonna say the same thing. The levels are really low and all over the place. Them when an audio clip plays, it blows out my ears.

[@rawstarmusic]

@@berto606 Yeah, so now he will sure react to this when being alerted. I compare to news studio channels with speakers and others. Thanks for the concern

[@rawstarmusic]

On this subject, have knowledge of the wireless clip on mic for iPhone that is useful when moving around rigs and consoles. A very good tool and a narrator compressor sure would lift it up

[@soundofthegardenwatc]

Sample rates?

[@johnvcougar]

44.1/48KHz

[@vieiradrumss]

Does this ADA8200 work as a standalone preamp without adat, so I can use it together with the Tascam us-16x08 to amplify ipunts that don't have a preamp?

[@johnvcougar]

No, unless the Tascam has ADAT i/o ports. He did say that at the start.

[@Abzshred]

please help. im using one cable only connected from adat out of the ada8200 connectd to my umc adat in. am i doing anuthing wrong? seems to work fine only if i select 48k on the ada8200. please reply

[@djvoid1]

The digital ports at the back are VERY flimsy. Be careful when connecting

[@MarcosRobertoDosSantosJF]

It is only me or the audio in this video is super low in the beginning?

[@Concerned.Canadian.Review]

When you are showing ADAT outputs to inputs it is the exact opposite of what you are describing? The labels clearly show the opposite of what you are showing. You are very confusing and misleading and that doesn't make sense. People are looking for assistance not more confusion.

[@dancetech]

It is 100% correct.