We used the X32 for nearly a decade, and honestly, it served us really well. But over the past year, we’ve been using the Behringer WING, and I’ve gotta say… it was absolutely worth the upgrade. Not just for the cool factor, but because it solved several pain points we were constantly running into with the X32.
If you’re wondering whether the WING is worth the jump, especially in a church setting, stick around. I’ll walk you through what changed for us and why it’s made a huge difference.
I can’t even count the number of times we’d start pre-service rehearsal and someone’s channel just wasn’t coming through. Nine times out of ten, something had gotten changed in the routing. Then I’m flipping through 50 different routing pages on the X32 trying to figure it out.
If you’ve been there, you know the pain.
That’s probably the biggest win for the WING; it makes routing a lot easier and more flexible. On the X32, you had to think in blocks of eight. It worked… until it didn’t. Anytime we needed creative routing for our livestream or multitrack recordings, it felt like solving a puzzle.
But on the WING, you can patch any source to any destination. No blocks. No limitations.
And every channel strip is a blank slate; you can assign anything to any strip. You can achieve a similar result on the X32 with user inputs, but it becomes messy quickly. On the WING, it’s clean, simple, and super easy to organize.
Now, I won’t lie. It took me a minute to wrap my head around how routing worked when we first switched. But once it clicked, I started solving routing issues in half the time it took on the X32.
The touchscreen? Total game-changer. It’s intuitive, and honestly, a lot easier to train volunteers on.
That said, the WING’s OS is deeper. If you're coming from the X32, it’ll take a little time to adjust. It’s very different—but once you get used to it, you’ll love it.
And if you want to fast-track the process, check out our WING Mastery course. It'll help you skip the confusion and start making the most of the WING right away.
The WING gives you 48 stereo channels. Not mono—stereo. Compared to the X32’s 40 mono channels, that’s a huge step up. It means you can run stereo sources like keys or tracks without using up two fader strips.
That not only gives you more channels overall, but it keeps your layout way cleaner.
Just a heads up: the back of the full-size WING only gives you 8 XLR ins and outs, plus 8 aux ins and outs. The Compact version gives you 24 combo inputs and 8 outs. So to fully use all those channels, you’ll need digital stage boxes.
The WING lets you record 48 channels straight to an SD card—no computer required. That makes virtual soundcheck a breeze. You can playback your entire set to refine your livestream mix or just fine-tune your FOH mix later.
Now, the X32 can do multitrack recording, but only through a computer. If you want SD card recording, you’ve gotta buy a separate card, and that takes away your USB interface.
On the WING, the SD card recorder and USB interface are two separate systems. So even if you swap out the SD recorder for a Dante card or something else, your USB interface is still available.
The WING just sounds better.
There’s more headroom, cleaner processing, and everything just feels more open. It’s not a night-and-day difference, but you’ll notice it, especially when EQing or compressing vocals.
I remember the first Sunday we used it. Even our in-ears using the P16 system sounded noticeably different. It took a little adjustment, but once I got it dialed in, I was a lot happier with the mix.
You also get sixteen FX slots compared to the X32’s eight. Plus, you can even swap out the standard channel processing plugins without using up one of those FX slots. That’s a big deal.
Good news: you don’t have to replace your stage boxes. We’re still using our S32 and it works great with the WING. Same goes for the P16 personal monitor system.
Routing to the P16s is a little different, but it’s fully supported and works just fine once you get it set up.
One of my favorite upgrades is how customizable the fader banks are. You’re not locked into fixed layers like on the X32.
On the full-size WING, you get 2 different custom pages on both full fader banks, plus 2 on the main fader bank that can all show different things. On the WING compact you're limited to 2 custom pages on the one fader bank, plus a single custom page on the mains fader bank.
You also get a whole section of customizable knobs and buttons. It’s powerful—but it can be a bit much if your team isn’t super tech-savvy. We only use it to map GEQ controls for our mains, and that alone is a big win. It makes EQing way more enjoyable than using the encoders.
If you like tinkering, you’ll love the custom controls. If not, you’ll still get plenty of value without using them.
You can mix wirelessly from a tablet or phone using either the WING CoPilot app or Mixing Station.
But just like the X32, the WING doesn’t have built-in Wi-Fi. You’ll need to connect an external router to the Ethernet port. We connected ours to our main network, and it works great.
We mostly use Mixing Station. It’s fast, responsive, and just overall better than the official apps (which are annoyingly split into two separate ones).
This part’s not fun: there’s no direct way to import your X32 scene into the WING. There is a third-party app that helps, but it’s not perfect.
What helped us was documenting everything, especially routing, before the upgrade. Then we took time to clean up our setup and plan ahead. Grab my free Routing Setup Sheet to help you out with the process.
Give yourself a full day for the switchover, and keep the X32 nearby as a reference. Your EQs and processing settings won’t translate exactly, so think of it as a fresh start.
One thing you’ll definitely want to redo from scratch is the EQ on your mains. We’ve got a video that walks you through it here.
And don’t forget to grab our Free Vocal Starter Snap to get your vocal mix dialed in right from the start.
Also, the scene-saving process on the WING is very different, but with the recent updates, it works well once you get the hang of it.
If your setup is simple and the X32 is doing everything you need, you’re probably fine sticking with it.
The WING shines when your workflow starts getting more complex, or when you’re running out of channels. For us, it was worth it because we were hitting those limitations regularly.
But if that’s not where you’re at yet, don’t feel pressured to upgrade. The X32 is still a solid console.
Purchase the Behringer WING (and support Collaborate Worship in the process!)
