looking for a new mixer
 
tia
rafone

I sometimes use either a 24x4x2 or a 16x4x2, but nit the AI... Only because it wasn't avaialable when the purchases were made...
 
They work great and sound great... Nice modern preamps... The logic of their' system is very logical and very little manual browsing has ever been needed...
 
the AI versions should be even better!

I use Presonus Studio Live 16.0.2, but not ai. Excellent sound and construction. 

I purchased both the Presonus 16-4-2 and a Behringer X32 Producer around the same time. FWIW, I have since sold the 16-4-2 and purchased a second X32 Rack. Twice the fx, matrix sends with built in crossovers and motorised faders were amongst the deciding factors. Bang for buck, the sound quality of both is great, far exceeding what I expected having used previous entry level digital consoles. 
 
To be fair, my purpose was geared toward live performance rather than dedicated studio recording,  If 96khz is your thing and it is exclusively for studio use, the onboard FX, advanced routing and motorised faders are of less concern as most mixing is done 'in the box'. For live production, the Behringer has a brilliant 3rd party Android remote control app which combined with routing/fx/crossovers/motorised faders make it hard to beat.
 
Both are certainly great mixers and work just fine with Sonar. With the new generation of digital gear it is pretty hard to go wrong.

Using legacy 16.4.2, RM32AI, and X32 Rack successfully over FireWire with SONAR. I would expect that, barring FireWire issues, the 16.4.2AI should also work fine.

tenfoot
I purchased both the Presonus 16-4-2 and a Behringer X32 Producer

I just got the X32's little brother the X18.  While I was hesitant because of Behringer's previous reputation, the Midas preamps sound great.  I am still wrapping my head around he routing, but so far it's a hit with me.
 
$699 for 18 analog inputs over USB 2 is what sold me.  Firewire is what worried me, plus with presonus, the remote control is iPad ony while Behringer has apps for PC, Android as well as iPad.
I have not done live sound with this yet as I am still on a major learning curve. This is my first digital mixer.  A lot to learn.
 

We did our first X32 live Gig last weekend, it went very well!  First time out with the new PA so it took about 90 min to get the sound dialed in for all of the monitors and mains, and then it rocked.  The X32 preamps sound really nice to my ears. 
 
I had SONAR recording in the background capturing the gig. Although, I haven't mixed it yet because I no know it'll be mostly useless, we were in a Harley dealership as entertainment so lots of audible competition. I don't think a song went from start to finish w/o someone revving up a bike 10 feet from the mics! ;-) 

 

eric_peterson
We did our first X32 live Gig last weekend, it went very well!  First time out with the new PA so it took about 90 min to get the sound dialed in for all of the monitors and mains, and then it rocked.  The X32 preamps sound really nice to my ears. 
 
I had SONAR recording in the background capturing the gig. Although, I haven't mixed it yet because I no know it'll be mostly useless, we were in a Harley dealership as entertainment so lots of audible competition. I don't think a song went from start to finish w/o someone revving up a bike 10 feet from the mics! ;-) 

I hear you Eric - I have been using 2 x X32's for live gigs for the past 18 months. I was so hesitant given Behringer's previous less than stellar reputation for reliability, but the sound blows me away every gig, and the desks have performed flawlessly. Extraordinary, given the X32's price point.


That said, I have never run it up against a  Fat Boy:)

Blown away is the best way to describe it! The level of detail is amazing, the guys in the band did not want to go back to the 16.4.2 after we practiced for a month in the studio with the X32. They pushed me (gently) to button it up in a road rack ASAP for our next gig, so it was a real thrash.

patm300e
Firewire is what worried me

For me it's USB that worries me because I've never had a USB based device that was reliable. I'm forever unplugging/re-plugging to get them kick-started after they go offline, this even after I've set the power options so they don't fall asleep, and then they also get enumerated differently for each port on your PC, etc.  FW is full duplex and USB is half-duplex unless you are talking USB-3, so it can send audio in/out simultaneously. 
 
The first thing I did was upgrade the X32 I/O to the Firewire/USB option card because Firewire streaming has never let me down. It may have been an unnecessary step/expense, but it gives me piece of mind, so, whatever ...