Behringer Model D and surrounding Behringer atmosphere

[kslight]

Per request to make a separate thread instead of clogging up the new gear thread.

So I got one of these last Friday. I know Behringer has a bad rap for various reasons. But a Minimoog clone for under $300 is not something I would be able to ignore...as someone who has never had the outright cash for the real thing, or the means to justify it...I decided to go for this.

With only limited Minimoog experience, my observations are... It’s got a lot of bottom heft to it, and can punch real hard...in a way that some synths simply don’t. I have played some modern Moogs of course like the Little Phatty and this is exactly like I would have liked the Phatty to be...Size is perfect. Fits in my backpack but doesn’t require tweezers to use. I would have purchase a keyboard model if they had chosen to make it available...but as I own so many keyboards already wasn’t really necessary. Just never been a huge fan of modules.

With no patch memory and imperfect tuning (warm up periods and tuning recommended, full calibration procedure in the manual), this isn’t a synth for everyone. But as the Model D isn’t the most complicated design out there, it’s not too hard to dial in your favorite sounds. While there is a USB port it’s functions are quite limited, for MIDI basically and a couple firmware things. The synth enthusiast would argue that it’s a different experience to be able to have full resolution of the pots at hand since they aren’t being scanned for patch memory.

Was also a sound argument to me that without much for software there is of course less to go wrong. They’ve generously added a few handy features like patch points and a dedicated LFO, HPF to the classic design, but otherwise it’s mostly traditional. Feedback trick is prepatched, just turn it on and turn it up for a bit of howl and overdrive. Manually patch it in however and the effect is even more intense.

As an outboard filter I processed my Tom Cat drum machine, and it killed. Worth the price of entry alone. Buy two for stereo. Btw, you can polychain up to 16 units together for your own poly Moog. The only downside to this is that without patch memory facilities, you must dial in all machines manually. However in my experience with an Oberheim TVS Pro, this isn’t so bad and can sound huge (especially if you choose just to play them as one meaty mono).

The unit itself looks and feels above its weight class, not like the cheap toys I would expect it to be more similar to in its price range. Unfortunately it has a wall wart power supply...but can’t have everything I guess.

As Behringer also has vintage copies in the form of Klerk teknik 1176 and Pultecs, the quality of this makes one pretty curious about how those units stack up...

Anyway...I don’t really know what else to say, there are probably a billion online demos right now. You can easily get them 15% off right now from MF and GC...

[drumsound]

Cool review. Thanks for indulging me.

[markjazzbassist]

i still can't believe Moog slipped up and let their patent expire, Bob must have been rolling in his grave.

[kslight]

i still can't believe Moog slipped up and let their patent expire, Bob must have been rolling in his grave.

I’m not an expert on the matter but my understanding is that in the US at least, a patent cannot be renewed, it becomes public domain.

I didn’t think Bob had much interest in revisiting the past, only Moog Music after Bob has been making reissues.

[markjazzbassist]

i still can't believe Moog slipped up and let their patent expire, Bob must have been rolling in his grave.

I’m not an expert on the matter but my understanding is that in the US at least, a patent cannot be renewed, it becomes public domain.

I didn’t think Bob had much interest in revisiting the past, only Moog Music after Bob has been making reissues.

good points, i never knew that. bob did make the moog filter in pedal form with Big Briar which was revisiting the past, but you're right, other than that he didn't do reissues.

my wallet wants to buy this thing so badly, but i just can't get into Uli and Behringer and cheap chinese shit. Would rather buy a used Rogue/Prodigy i think. principles are killing me

[kslight]

i still can't believe Moog slipped up and let their patent expire, Bob must have been rolling in his grave.

I’m not an expert on the matter but my understanding is that in the US at least, a patent cannot be renewed, it becomes public domain.

I didn’t think Bob had much interest in revisiting the past, only Moog Music after Bob has been making reissues.

good points, i never knew that. bob did make the moog filter in pedal form with Big Briar which was revisiting the past, but you're right, other than that he didn't do reissues.

my wallet wants to buy this thing so badly, but i just can't get into Uli and Behringer and cheap chinese shit. Would rather buy a used Rogue/Prodigy i think. principles are killing me

I understand there are some principles to consider. But then even Moog Music products are more or less built overseas and “assembled” in the US. Unfortunately even though modern Moog Music is often branded like a craftsman/artisan product, I think one would have to go to real tiny companies like Macbeth or Studio Electronics to actually get something Moogy that isn’t ethically compromised.

I’ve owned some of the cheaper old Moogs and SCI and countless other vintage synths and for me I actually feel safer with a modern Chinese copy than anything with a Pratt Reed keyboard, j wires, etc.

If Moog Music themselves had made this module clone and charged something like 5x as much as Behringer, but made it 5-10 years ago, I don’t think there’s any question that many folks would have bought that and never even considered something by Behringer. Creating a price disparity like $3500 for their reissue creates sort of the Gibson complex, where you end up with all these pretty decent quality $200-600 Asian les Pauls.


But for better or worse it looks like Uli has his eyes on the prize and there are going to be a lot of inexpensive analog synths/etc coming from him, originals (have you seen the Neutron?) and copies (OBX down the line,and Roland’s legacy...).

I have never loved Behringer but I have owned several of their older products because I have been on a tight budget, so I was apprehensive about this one. But I got a Midas DM12 mixer a while back (also a Behringer brand) which is really night and day different from old Behringer, and with a better warranty than the more expensive names usually offer.

[kslight]

Well I never ended up canceling my Sweetwater preorder that I placed way back in June so guess I’m getting a second one tomorrow. Will find out if duophonic is a gimmick I suppose, or Pan both hard, or stereo processor...

[markjazzbassist]

Well I never ended up canceling my Sweetwater preorder that I placed way back in June so guess I’m getting a second one tomorrow. Will find out if duophonic is a gimmick I suppose, or Pan both hard, or stereo processor...

i've listened to youtube vids of a guy who chained 6 slim phatty's together for polphony, the pads are so deep and lush, it sounds amazing. i think you will love it. simply put that moog filter is a work of art.

[kslight]

Well I never ended up canceling my Sweetwater preorder that I placed way back in June so guess I’m getting a second one tomorrow. Will find out if duophonic is a gimmick I suppose, or Pan both hard, or stereo processor...

i've listened to youtube vids of a guy who chained 6 slim phatty's together for polphony, the pads are so deep and lush, it sounds amazing. i think you will love it. simply put that moog filter is a work of art.

Yeah I had thought about getting two anyway so probably would have happened eventually.

I played an Oberheim Two voice Pro a couple years ago and that was really the only synth on display at Perfect Circuit Audio that blew me away. Not necessarily always to use it as a Two Voice, but just to pan those two voices and play it mono, without digital control so they don’t quite sound the same.

[drumsound]

Well I never ended up canceling my Sweetwater preorder that I placed way back in June so guess I’m getting a second one tomorrow. Will find out if duophonic is a gimmick I suppose, or Pan both hard, or stereo processor...

First world problems...

[kslight]

Well I never ended up canceling my Sweetwater preorder that I placed way back in June so guess I’m getting a second one tomorrow. Will find out if duophonic is a gimmick I suppose, or Pan both hard, or stereo processor...

First world problems...

I know right?

[kslight]

I got the second Model D hooked up today.

As there don't seem to be many (any?) duophony demos, here is what I improvised. First D on the hard left, second D on the hard right.

The polychain function doesn't seem to be implemented exactly as I expect, whether that is user error, firmware bug, or by intention I haven't determined yet.

What happens is, if I press one note, both units sound. If I hold one note and press a second (lower) note, the first unit sounds the new note (the second unit continues on the first note). If I hold one note and press a second (higher) note, the second unit sounds the new note (the first unit continues the first note).

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1HY7fm ... khdYIpxTbn