On the other hand, I don't give a f**k on all 3 fronts and will be buying lots more.
How many Behringer Synths should one buy?
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- KVRAF
- 7919 posts since 24 May, 2002 from Tutukaka, New Zealand
It must be nice to be so rich to be able to boycott Behringer and only buy the expensive real ones. And to only buy original analogues at 3 or 4X the price, or have such rigid self control that one can just make do without exciting analogue synths because they're made by the wrong company.
On the other hand, I don't give a f**k on all 3 fronts and will be buying lots more.
On the other hand, I don't give a f**k on all 3 fronts and will be buying lots more.
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- KVRAF
- 16568 posts since 22 Nov, 2000 from Southern California
It's been said before: ironic that analogs became cheap at the exact moment that software became good enough to replace them. Many hardware synths are unnecessary luxuries these days.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 15532 posts since 13 Oct, 2009
Expensive synths, for the most part, yes, but the budget Behringer synths? Nope! They cost as much if they were digital synths in the same package. So, what they are is a fantastic user interface on a synth with the added bonus that they're actually analog. So, for the corner cases where that still matters, they are a real bargain.
I find real time performance to be a lot more fun with analog hardware. But primarily because of the small form factor of current synths. I hated having things all spread out back in the day.
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- KVRAF
- 16568 posts since 22 Nov, 2000 from Southern California
UB-XA and Pro-800, yes. Too many compromises with the rest. For example, their Odyssey is killer but no presets! I can't hang.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 15532 posts since 13 Oct, 2009
Odyssey has the wrong form factor for me. But I'm very much into their other presetless monos. The MS-20 and the Neutron are both excellent. The Neutron filter is one of my favorites and there are a lot of cool features under the hood.
Also, I consider the presetless monos as more likely to push the corner cases where analog matters. There is no AD/DA chain in between the modulation inputs and the targets. So high rate modulation won't suffer. I'm still debating the Kobol, but I'm going to pick up a Cat.
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- KVRAF
- 5061 posts since 16 May, 2002 from Brisbane , Australia
7, man, that's the number. 7 chipmunks twirlin' on a branch, eatin' lots of sunflowers on my uncle's ranch. You know that old children's tale from the sea. It's like you're dreamin' about Gorgonzola cheese when it's clearly Brie time, baby.
Intel Core i7 8700K, 16gb, Windows 10 Pro, Focusrite Scarlet 6i6
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- KVRAF
- 3972 posts since 13 Jun, 2014
That's fair enough. Pretty sure the Moog Minimoog reissue has no presets either at $5000 but no one is complaining about that. It's all relative.
I am a philistine and I love commercial music <insert favourite consumer items here>
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- KVRAF
- 7919 posts since 24 May, 2002 from Tutukaka, New Zealand
I completely understand some not liking no presets. That has to be a deal-breaker if you're gigging. Outside of gigging though, I really don't miss having any memory on them whatsoever. I almost never recreate the same thing twice and have no intention of it. Strangely I do want memory on my digital hw synths, mainly because they're so complex it's just a royal PITA to get up and running from an init patch, so patches are useful as a start point for whatever new sound I'm making.
The analogue stuff though - it just invites one in to twiddle and mostly it's not time-consuming or difficult to come up with something useful (excepting modular, 2600 type synths etc), and the HUGE thing (I suspect for most hw nerds, not just me) is...it's actually fun to try. It's never, ever, no-way-jose even close to fun to patch a plugin or most hw synths. It just isn't. Program a tinkly, corruscating ever-evolving choral patch on a Wavestate - yeah, it'll sound beautiful but I'd usually rather stick a fork in my eyeball and save the pain, whereas twiddle a few knobs on a Cat or MS20 and you're making great noises within seconds.
BONES is the only one here who cares much about getting quick, reliable, reproducable end results - almost to the point of being a robot. He admits he finds no joy in the making of music. Well, I do and I do it through twiddling memoryless synths with knobs. The more knobbage the better. TBH I don't give much of a f**k how many actual songs I produce.
The analogue stuff though - it just invites one in to twiddle and mostly it's not time-consuming or difficult to come up with something useful (excepting modular, 2600 type synths etc), and the HUGE thing (I suspect for most hw nerds, not just me) is...it's actually fun to try. It's never, ever, no-way-jose even close to fun to patch a plugin or most hw synths. It just isn't. Program a tinkly, corruscating ever-evolving choral patch on a Wavestate - yeah, it'll sound beautiful but I'd usually rather stick a fork in my eyeball and save the pain, whereas twiddle a few knobs on a Cat or MS20 and you're making great noises within seconds.
BONES is the only one here who cares much about getting quick, reliable, reproducable end results - almost to the point of being a robot. He admits he finds no joy in the making of music. Well, I do and I do it through twiddling memoryless synths with knobs. The more knobbage the better. TBH I don't give much of a f**k how many actual songs I produce.
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- KVRAF
- 3972 posts since 13 Jun, 2014
I actually don't like lack of presets either. It stops me from using my Odyssey, Pro-1, Model D, Crave, MS-101, etc., however I'm beginning to change my mind now I'm more sample focused rather than MIDI focused.
I am a philistine and I love commercial music <insert favourite consumer items here>
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Constructed Identity Constructed Identity https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=288890 - KVRian
- 678 posts since 29 Sep, 2012 from Minnesota
The Odyssey has a great sound, but what no one has mentioned is the tuning, specifically tuning them to each other. The more Synths you get, the harder it's going to be to tune them so you can use them in the same song. I found out that my Odyssey sounded different than the 2600, but two things to tune that are close was a deal breaker so I sold the Odyssey.
I think about having a CAT, Solina, and Kobol in the same rack, but I dread the tuning.
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- KVRAF
- 7919 posts since 24 May, 2002 from Tutukaka, New Zealand
I've only ever had 1 synth with real tuning issues, and that was an MS10. Drifted out of tune within 15 mins badly. All my other old ones, and the new ones are fine. 1 exception is the Wasp, which has osc1 out of tune by nearly 3 semitones but obvs I retuned it with the dedicated knob (should have sent it back TBH but I just left it for some reason) but it doesn't actually drift. It's perfectly usable once I tuned it up. None of my other Behringers drift that I've noticed. They're rock solid. I suppose it could be that I'm tone deaf, but I regularly play various VCO synths with each other and have no tuning problems.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 15532 posts since 13 Oct, 2009
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- KVRist
- 431 posts since 28 Dec, 2017
This is a hard one considering that they offer access to clones of synths that is economically out of reach for most people. As few as possible considering Behringers policies I would say.
