Behringer Composer Pro MDX2200 : moosers's user review

The Behringer MDX2200 Composer Pro is a dual channel dynamics processor, consisting of a compressor/limiter and an expander/gate. It’s designed for home studios, and I definitely wouldn’t use it anywhere else, if at all. It’s got both XLR and ¼” connections for your inputs and outputs for each of the channels, as well as ¼” connections for side chaining. It is rack mountable and will only take up a single space.

The make up of the Behringer MDX2200 Composer Pro allows for a good amount of control over your sound between the two sections on each channel for your compressor/limiter and expander/gate. The expander/gate section has parameters for threshold and ratio, while the compressor/limiter has those for threshold, ratio, attack, release, output level, and another threshold for the peak limiter it has on board. There’s also a button in between the two channels for stereo coupling. Each channel also has LED metering for threshold, gain reduction, and input/output level. A manual might be a good thing to have if you’re new to the world of dynamic processing, but otherwise it’s probably not necessary.

The sound of the Behringer MDX2200 Composer Pro is a bit below average in my opinion. I’ve got plug-ins that sound a whole lot better than this, although they certainly cost more as well. It does give you a lot of control over your sound, but most of the time it kills your signal more than anything. The expander/gate section is pretty useful, but I’m just not a big fan of the way the compressor/limiter sounds. This is an okay unit to get started with if you have a really basic home studio, but even then I’d recommend getting plug-ins over this for convenience purposes.

Overall, I can’t say that I’d recommend the Behringer MDX2200 Composer Pro to anyone really. It’s cheap for sure, but it’s not an equal trade off in my opinion. If you’re looking for a dynamics processor for your home studio, I’d encourage you to either spend a few more bucks on hardware, or go with a plug-in like Digidesign’s Smack LE, which sounds better than this even though there isn’t as much control there. Behringer works from the inside out with their products, and it definitely shows.