Description

The Behringer WING Compact packs the processing power, channel count, effects, expansion slots, and digital I/O of the full-size WING into a lightweight, 13-fader control surface. That said, the WING Compact supplements its near-limitless digital connectivity with 24 award-winning Midas Pro preamps, making it an ideal all-in-one solution, even without a separate stage box. A 10.1-inch capacitive touchscreen and intuitive Sources paradigm provide streamlined navigation, enabling you to focus on your source audio rather than the nuts and bolts of your mix. You’ll also appreciate the enhanced customization afforded by the WING Compact’s eight user-assignable buttons, plus you get a dedicated Bus/Main/DCA section for fader usage and effect and DCA spill. You can record up to 64 channels directly to dual SD cards, use optional expansion cards to attain Dante support, or deploy the WING Compact’s built-in 48-in/48-out USB audio interface to record straight to your DAW. Complete with 16 true-stereo processors with Standard and Classic modeled effects, the WING Compact is a top-shelf digital console that will elevate the capabilities of any small-scale live sound setup.

WING Compact — made for the way you want to work

Digital mixers are extremely powerful; thus, they can seem intimidating. That’s not the case with the WING Compact. Like its larger sibling, it’s a breeze to navigate. Its interface centers around a 10.1-inch capacitive touchscreen augmented by touch-sensitive rotary controls. Best of all, its three fader sections and eight user-assignable buttons can be tailored to your requirements. It doesn’t get much more intuitive than that! Whether you require a specific bus send fader next to the corresponding channel fader or a meticulously configured custom channel that’s always at the ready, the WING Compact is made for the way you want to work.

Sources make navigation simple

The WING Compact takes after its full-size predecessor in that it’s jam-packed with I/O — 374 inputs and outputs, to be exact. And if you include its internal signals, the WING Compact includes 400 inputs and outputs. Faced with this much I/O, Behringer’s engineering team reimagined the flow of a traditional mixer, putting the emphasis on your source audio, using what Behringer calls — quite fittingly — Sources. Within the WING ecosystem, inputs are much more than historical inputs because they contain metadata on what the Source is — tags, input icon, input color, gain, phantom power, and if the Source is mono, stereo, or mid-side. All that information follows the source to any channel. With one button, that information can be copied to the channel, and the tags, icon, color, and other metadata show up on the channel immediately. If you move a Source to another channel, the information goes with it — no need for old-fashioned copying and pasting.

Channels redefined

With so much focus on Sources, the WING Compact, along with the entire WING series of digital mixers, has to go beyond the historical definition of what a channel is, as well. With 374 Sources, a single 1-channel input seems a little underpowered. That’s why the WING workflow has redefined what a single channel can do. Each of its 48 channels — 40 inputs plus eight returns — can operate as mono, stereo, or mid-side. And when you assign a stereo Source to a channel, it automatically renders the channel in stereo. On top of that, each channel features an alternate (ALT) input that can also be stereo, which makes toggling between two Sources a breeze.

The WING Compact’s ALT inputs are a lifesaver. For example, say you have stereo tracks playing from a computer, but you also have a redundant hardware track player synced to the computer. If the computer fails, the hardware tracks can take over either with a command or automatically. On a traditional console, that would take four channels; on the WING Compact, it’s just one. Simply route the computer’s stereo Source to a single channel. Then, specify the ALT input as the hardware player stereo signal. Other applications could be a redundant vocal mic. If the battery in a wireless transmitter unexpectedly goes out, the vocalist grabs a backup microphone, and the signal immediately switches to the second mic. Again, this uses just one channel. Virtual soundchecks have never been more straightforward. Just assign your 48 USB playback tracks or 64 XLive playback tracks to ALT inputs, hit play, and everything can automatically switch and be ready for your virtual soundcheck.

Mono or stereo? It’s all the same to the WING Compact

The WING Compact’s 48 input channels and 28 bus mixes can be used for mono, stereo, or mid-side sources — no channel linking required. And, as noted above, when you assign a stereo Source to a channel, it automatically renders the channel in stereo. Best of all, there’s no need to reboot the console when you apply a mode change (the live sound engineers here at Sweetwater did backflips when they realized this). This means you can make on-the-fly changes from mono to stereo and back again.

Benefit from first-class hands-on control

Despite its relatively small size, the Behringer WING Compact supplies you with all the hands-on control you need. It all starts with 13 motorized 100mm faders. These ultra-smooth faders make this digital console an absolute joy to mix on. Its central section includes eight user-assignable buttons. Apply whatever functions you’d like to have within reach, and they’ll always be at your fingertips. Make fine adjustments of up to eight user parameters with the WING Compact’s adjustable swivel, or use it for DAW remote control via USB MIDI. The WING Compact’s configuration also includes predefined functionality for USB and SD card recorder transport, show control, and mute groups.

Loaded with top-shelf processing

Putting a pro-quality sheen on your mixes is easy with the Behringer WING Compact. A Standard FX rack with eight true-stereo processors supplies you with a useful array of modulation, EQ, and dynamics effects. Beyond that, you also get a Premium FX rack with eight true-stereo processors with sought-after algorithms from TC Electronic’s M3000 multi-effects processor and world-class effects from Lexicon, Quantec, and EMT. Forty stereo input channels boast built-in EQ and dynamics — some of which are modeled after famous hardware from legendary manufacturers like Pultec, SSL, SPL, Neve, Focusrite, dbx, Universal Audio, elysia, and Empirical Labs. Finally, this digital mixer’s four main, eight matrix, and 16 stereo aux buses all feature dual inserts, 8-band parametric EQs, a stereo imager, and full dynamics processing.

Packed with ample I/O and limitless expansion

The WING Compact comes loaded with ample I/O and is highly expandable, granting you tremendous flexibility. It starts with 40 stereo input processing channels and eight stereo aux channels. Output processing channels include 16 stereo aux buses, eight stereo matrices, and four stereo mains. You’ll benefit from plug-and-play remote I/O connectivity for up to 144 input and output signals via three AES50 ports. The WING Compact boasts AES/EBU stereo digital I/O, a headphone connector, MIDI I/O, and a GPIO port. It includes a WING-LIVE card, enabling up to 64 channels of 32-bit/48kHz audio to be captured directly to a pair of SD or SDHC cards. You can also install optional cards to attain Dante support. On top of that, the WING Compact makes a great studio tool, thanks to its built-in 48-in/48-out USB audio interface, which includes DAW remote functionality that emulates HUI and Mackie Control.

Uncompromising design ensures top-shelf sound

When it comes to sound quality, the Behringer WING Compact doesn’t compromise. Its 40-bit floating-point processing at 48kHz or 44.1kHz with 1-millisecond round-trip latency yields the top-shelf sound you demand. Its 24 legendary Midas Pro mic preamps and eight Midas Pro XLR outputs ensure you capture high-quality sound. Need more? A built-in StageConnect interface adds 32 channels of low-latency I/O over a single XLR microphone cable. Using the WING Compact’s three AES50 networks, you can connect to 144 Sources. What’s more, the AES50 networks are compatible with Midas M32 and Behringer X32 mixers; join your current M32/X32 network, and you’re good to go. You can also add Dante for endless possibilities.