AES50 Channels 33–48. The 16 Inputs You Didn’t Know You Had!

If you own a Behringer X32 or M32 digital mixer, you probably already know that it has 32 main input mixing channels and 6 aux input mixing channels, giving you a total of 38 mixing mixing channels. I know Behringer also states that you can use the USB Port on the mixer to bring in two more sources, but in reality, very seldom are they ever used along side of the 38 inputs we will be discussing. Did you know that each AES50 port can send & receive up to 48 channels of digital audio? That’s right! There are 16 additional AES50 input channels, numbered 33 through 48, that you may have never used or even thought about. These extra channels don’t give your mixer 16 additional mixing channels. Instead, they allow you to send & receive audio from other compatible equipment and route those signals to the mixing channels you already have.

Today, I’m going to show you something about your X32 or M32 mixer that you may have never realized. When we look at AES50 routing, something interesting happens. We discover that each AES50 port can send & receive 48 channels of digital audio. So what happened to channels 33 through 48? Well, they didn’t disappear. They’ve been there all along! In this video, I’m going to use my Behringer WING Rack to send its stereo Main L/R mix to my X32 Rack using AES50 channels 33 and 34. Then I’ll show you how to receive those signals using the X32’s User In routing feature.

And don’t worry if you’re new to routing. We’re going to keep this simple and take it one step at a time. Whether you’re just getting started or you’ve been using an X32 or M32 for years, you might discover something about your mixer that you never knew! Let’s learn the routing, understand the signal flow, and make those extra AES50 channels work for you! Please watch the video below to see how easy it is to do this using the User In Routing Feature for your mixer.