Introducing Behringer DeepMind Series X

[Nug Wrangler]

[cryophonik]

I've never owned a DM, but I've checked it out in stores before, listened to many demos, and have always toyed with the idea of buying the desktop version. Doesn't appear to be anything other than a facelift here (correct me if I'm wrong), but I do like the new look.

[Nug Wrangler]

Yes seems more of a facelift indeed.

[lfm]

If doing a facelift I would have liked replace faders on envelopes with knobs.
- so each envelope had it's own controls
- going back and forth activating a different envelope hold me back a bit
- I even do twohanded with one hand on each envelope to find sweet spots

There would be room then doing knobs on the same space.

But the Roland style face lift looks good.

I had a DM6 and very capable synth, but not into getting it again, even with knobs explained.

Prophet REV2 is still having a lot of headroom and finding new interesting stuff.
- a masterpiece by Dave Smith and Team

I will look with curiosity on JT 16 if it arrives though.
I was disappointed by UbXa and felt it was rushed to market, like not quite finished well thought out.

But thanks Behringer keeping the kettle boiling....

[bmanic]

This is excellent news, even if it's just a face lift! It may inspire Behringer to make further firmware updates and will definitely keep it up to date for another few years.

I have the original DeepMind12 dekstop unit and it's one of the most inspiring synths I've ever owned and one of those that I will never sell. It is _ridiculously_ deep and flexible sound design monster. Very few people seem to understand this fact.

12 voices of polyphony is the absolute sweet spot as you can layer the voices in a very flexible manner.

The only thing slightly holding it back is the limited mod matrix. I wish it had double the amount of slots. I almost always run out of them.

I've made over 300 presets for it over the years.. and still to this day keep messing around with it at least a few times per month. It's the perfect desktop size and has a very intuitive and fast user interface. It's super quick and easy to assign modulations and has a ton of clever button shortcuts.

9/10 in my book overall and by far the best synth Behringer has ever made.

[kritikon]

I saw the release blurb yesterday, and it didn't look like anything much new apart from it now looking more like a Juno than it used to. Not a bad thing, as I quite like the Juno style. Deepminds don't quite wow me enough to make me reach into my pockets, but if they made a 16 voice version on their new format, I'd possibly consider it. Difficult for them to differentiate products enough considering upcoming Neptune or whatever their next Juno proper emu will be. I guess DM has more under the hood than a Neptune will, but still very similar sound character. Do you want a true Juno with limitations but pedigree, or a nearly Juno with FX and more gizmos? Not really sure I want a Juno at all TBH...

[bmanic]

I wish they would take the general flexibility and concept of the Deepmind system and creating a "super synth" with it. Meaning it would have at least 3 very flexible oscillators, a mixing section, multiple filters.. but still keep the digital control over everything combined with the awesome envelopes, LFOs and step sequencer/arpeggiator. Then give it a massive 32 slot modulation matrix that is as flexible as on the Deepmind.

.. oh and the same super flexible unison/polyphony engine with at least 12 voices (16 would be even better).

I'd gladly pay up to 2000$ for that shit, even if it was Behringer.

I really do think that all of their own custom synthesizers that aren't direct copies of everything have been their best so far (Deepmind, Neutron and Proton).

[bmanic]

I guess DM has more under the hood than a Neptune will, but still very similar sound character. Do you want a true Juno with limitations but pedigree, or a nearly Juno with FX and more gizmos? Not really sure I want a Juno at all TBH...

I still don't think the Deepmind sounds anything like a Juno. I don't know what they messed up but at least mine has a hard time doing a 1 to 1 emulation. I suspect the Neptune is going to be much more of an exacting copy in terms of raw sound output alone.

.. but I don't mind it at all! Deepmind is an awesome synth on it's own due to how ridiculously flexible it is. Just the envelopes alone put almost all other hardware synths to shame. You can do some ridiculous things with them, including modulating themselves (and pretty much anything else). Though to be fair, they are digital envelopes.. as are the LFOs. Which does mean there will be some aliasing happening if you set them to ridiculous values and loop them.

The mod matrix has so many modulation destinations that it can get quite overwhelming.

EDIT: Btw, the original Deepmind 12D models are sometimes going for absolute bargain prices here in Finland. I've seen them as low as 350 euros. That is CRAZY for such a flexible 12 voice analogue synth. Nothing comes even remotely close to the bang for buck. I've been tempted to get one more just for fun. You can even chain two units together for 24 voices poly!

[cryophonik]

Btw, the original Deepmind 12D models are sometimes going for absolute bargain prices here in Finland. I've seen them as low as 350 euros. That is CRAZY for such a flexible 12 voice analogue synth. Nothing comes even remotely close to the bang for buck.

Yeah, I saw a few 12Ds going as cheap as $350-400 in my area over the past few years and I’m kicking myself for not buying one of them at that price when I had the chance. I’ve been sorta seriously keeping an eye out for one for the past month or so and haven’t seen any desktops for sale at all recently, let alone at that price.

[kritikon]

Though to be fair, they are digital envelopes.. as are the LFOs. Which does mean there will be some aliasing happening if you set them to ridiculous values and loop them.

The mod matrix has so many modulation destinations that it can get quite overwhelming.

Didn't know they were digital LFOs, I assumed they were analogue. I don't mind digital envelopes, which can be quicker and quirkier, but not a fan of digital LFOs generally. I've yet to hear really fast digital LFOs that don't immediately sound just wrong. No problem for slower stuff though.

[bmanic]

Actually, I may be wrong about the LFOs.. but that's how I remember it. I know the envelopes are digital. 100% sure about that.

Next time I fire up the Deepmind I'll try to remember to check by modulating something at max speed. It should be clearly audible if it's digital.

[Old Norse]

From the SOS review, dec. 2016:

"Despite being described widely (and not least by Behringer themselves) as ‘analogue’, the DeepMind 12 is a mono-timbral 12-voice analogue/digital hybrid polysynth with a lightweight but useable 49-note velocity and aftertouch sensitive keyboard. Each voice comprises two DCOs, a switchable 12/24dB/oct VCF, three digitally generated contour generators, two digitally generated LFOs, and a modulation matrix."

[bmanic]

Yeah, that makes sense and that's how I thought it would be. The LFOs on both Neutron and Proton are also digital but at least there you can use the actual oscillators for modulation if you want to get that zippery filter or osc FM sci-fi sound going. That's going to sound rough on the Deepmind using the LFO.

[cryophonik]

Has anyone seen a release date for these new DM Xs yet? I figured they'd hit the streets quickly since the synth itself didn't change, but maybe they've had to restart production (the OG appears to have been discontinued at some point). I've been thinking about either buying a new X version, or an OG version for cheap after the Xs hit the street, since there have been zero used module/rack units for sale in my area in the last few months.