Behringer PRO VS Mini

[vurt]

but ill happily grab a few of these and donate them to a group i know, they work with underprivileged and kids with mental health issues, doing everything creative from music to drama, painting and photography...
all to help them build confidence.

[egbert101]

I remember (here we go) being a tiny kid playing at a school my mother worked at as a cleaner, and me having a good look around the music room, and what did I find hidden in a cupboard? A little synthesizer (probably an ARP Axxe) and I plugged it in, and was obsessed for hours on end over it, and that little story is what got me into synthesizers.

[Vectorman]

Naa, wood matters!

The original VS had no wood, LOL - completely metal chassis and heavy af. Especially carrying it around in the coffin of a case my well-meaning dad made for mine. I'm almost surprised I could even carry it around back then, when I was a 125-lb scrawny little twink and that thing in the case weighed probably half as much as I did.

But anyway, this sounds decent for $99, but I'll wait and see if a full-size 8 or 16-voice properly polyphonic version follows. I already have most of the more iconic VS sounds in Kontakt libraries (Omnisphere has a few as well), so a "taste of VS" isn't enough to tempt me. It's gotta be the full deal, hopefully with a bunch of knobs to make the programming experience better than the original.

[VitaminD]

Yes I agree. But at that point why not just create a slightly larger 8 poly version for 200 dollars ? Or even a 16 poly version for 400 dollars?

It would be less kludgy to have it all in one device instead of carrying around and chaining multiple together. Maybe that is for a future date though?

id imagine they will.
but one of ulis things, is getting kids in to synths and music.
parents aren't going to buy a fully fledged synth for little squirt, to possibly get bored in ten mins and want to play xbox. they might throw 99$ at someone to shut the kid up for a bit though.

then kid gets hooked, wants more!!!
gets a wage and their own place, buys all the fully fledged keyboard versions and the cycle continues...
to the sound of everyone playing jump!

I don't believe he is as altruistic as he wants to claim. It isn't really about opening doors to poor children. That comes off as feel-good marketing to me.

It's more about selling tons of these devices to anyone that thinks 100 dollars isn't a lot and wants to be entertained by a synth gadget. Toy money. A lot like the Pocket Operators but more synth-like in form.

It will probably springboard some to dive into synthesis though long term. But not just the poor.

[vurt]

Yes I agree. But at that point why not just create a slightly larger 8 poly version for 200 dollars ? Or even a 16 poly version for 400 dollars?

It would be less kludgy to have it all in one device instead of carrying around and chaining multiple together. Maybe that is for a future date though?

id imagine they will.
but one of ulis things, is getting kids in to synths and music.
parents aren't going to buy a fully fledged synth for little squirt, to possibly get bored in ten mins and want to play xbox. they might throw 99$ at someone to shut the kid up for a bit though.

then kid gets hooked, wants more!!!
gets a wage and their own place, buys all the fully fledged keyboard versions and the cycle continues...
to the sound of everyone playing jump!

I don't believe he is as altruistic as he wants to claim. It isn't really about opening doors to poor children. That comes off as feel-good marketing to me.

It's more about selling tons of these devices to anyone that thinks 100 dollars isn't a lot and wants to be entertained by a synth gadget. Toy money. A lot like the Pocket Operators but more synth-like in form.

It will probably springboard some to dive into synthesis though long term. But not just the poor.

i never claimed it was an altruistic motive to get kids in to the gear, i even said it was to get them hooked so they'd spend money when they grew up

[vurt]

aside from that, i really don't see the problem with small synths, that sound great.
you can have a lot of fun with a strega and some fx, id imagine if you can do that with a mono synth, then one or two of these kind of things plus a multifx pedal, a beginner/kid could have a great little set up for peanuts.

[egbert101]

The problem is, it's a consumer product, not a musical instrument.

[perpetual3]

The problem is, it's a consumer product, not a musical instrument.

Yeah, like the SH101 and TB303. An instrument can be a consumer product and vice versa.

[zerocrossing]

So it's very clearly a cynical money grab, with no interest in reproducing the original instrument (which was eight voice) and therefore hardly making a profit, and every interest in maximizing profit. Profit prophet, get it?
However, these are the times we live in, and people lap it up. It means that people get a taste of the past and feel that they own something of value, but that's not really about music but about consumerism.
I think the original is a beautiful sounding instrument, and while Arturia's software version has a digital filter and not an analog one, it's good enough and isn't restricted to a ridiculous 4 polyphony.

I don’t think it’s a cynical money grab, as much as it’s making a product that isn’t for you and me. I can think back to a younger and much more broke version of myself who would have peed his pants to get a synthesizer like this so cheap. Especially adjusting for inflation. For someone who hates using software and has little money, this is perfect.

not just hates using software, it's far too easy to imagine that everyone has a computer, forget the third world, that isn't even true here, not everyone can afford the things many of us take for granted

So true.

There was an add for the Rise 2 on FaceBook and a lot of people do the "too expensive" response. I just said, "if you compare it to any high quality instrument, and figure that because of the novelty of this it's not going to be as mass produced as something like a guitar, it's actually not so out of line." A woman's response was, "you don't know my country." Which is totally true. I believe she was Russian, and I have no idea how anything in that country works, but I imagine it's easier for the average person to buy a $99 item than a $1400 instrument.

I was a total bottom feeder for a long time, so I remember how happy I was to find someone's discarded gear at a good price, or something new that was interesting and cheap.

[zerocrossing]

The problem is, it's a consumer product, not a musical instrument.

Unless you're hand crafting your own musical instruments, this describes every single instrument.

[vurt]

The problem is, it's a consumer product, not a musical instrument.

in my experience, very few of them are given away free.
which means theres a trader and a consumer, who do business.

it sounded quite musical in the video

[vurt]

I was a total bottom feeder for a long time, so I remember how happy I was to find someone's discarded gear at a good price, or something new that was interesting and cheap.

i havent always been as lucky as i am now, financially anyway, i went through a long period that even a behringer pedal, took a few weeks to pull the cash together, disposable income was pretty much unheard of.
i bought a guitar, a chase les paul (we smashed it at the vurt fest thing years back) cost me 15 quid (pounds) and included a handmade wooden case.
i have a violin, i paid £4 brand new from aldi
also a short scale bass and amp, that cost 29 from aldi.

"we" are artists, we create with whatever we can afford

[VitaminD]

They likely already have a laptop or PC and can trigger VSTs. You can even buy a mini PC on Amazon for around 100-150 dollars these days. Dual or quad core, 8gb memory, Windows 11 Pro, etc.

Again, this is more tech gadgetry. How many people just noodle with synths and effects and don't even really make full songs? I see it often here and I see it on youtube. I suspect that's most people buying these.

Those poor kids in timbuktu aren't really getting many job skills plonking around with the behringer micro synth.

[vurt]

They likely already have a laptop or PC and can trigger VSTs. You can even buy a mini PC on Amazon for around 100-150 dollars these days. Dual or quad core, 8gb memory, Windows 11 Pro, etc.

Again, this is more tech gadgetry. How many people just noodle with synths and effects and don't even really make full songs? I see it often here and I see it on youtube. I suspect that's most people buying these.

Those poor kids in timbuktu aren't really getting many job skills plonking around with the behringer micro synth.

no need to be facetious, i already told you, its not just the third world.
i know people that dont have computers, that literally cant afford them. even a cheap crappy one.
its nice to be so sheltered from such things i imagine

[VitaminD]

They likely already have a laptop or PC and can trigger VSTs. You can even buy a mini PC on Amazon for around 100-150 dollars these days. Dual or quad core, 8gb memory, Windows 11 Pro, etc.

Again, this is more tech gadgetry. How many people just noodle with synths and effects and don't even really make full songs? I see it often here and I see it on youtube. I suspect that's most people buying these.

Those poor kids in timbuktu aren't really getting many job skills plonking around with the behringer micro synth.

no need to be facetious, i already told you, its not just the third world.
i know people that dont have computers, that literally cant afford them. even a cheap crappy one.
its nice to be so sheltered from such things i imagine

The point I'm making is you have bigger fish to fry than entertainment if you can't afford a 100 dollar entertainment device. Should be focusing on that before entertainment..