The Behringer Keyboards 'n' Stuff Thread #3

[The Elf]

I'm not a fan of these miserably 'small and cute' boxes...

...Yep, I have one on order...

Elf! Elf! Arpangel has hacked your account!

I'll save us all some reading time:

• It's the best thing I'm ever going to buy

• It's absolute trash and I'm going to sell it.

[Hugh Robjohns]

[Arpangel]

Top DX7_type_thing_of_the_moment for me is the opsix [cheaper now and available as VST ].

Once you get into software land, FM8 is perfect for me, it’s my only DX library.

[jaminem]

Looks like the Pro VS Mini is being groomed for its appearance.

I'm not a fan of these miserably 'small and cute' boxes. In fact there's so much to dislike about this form factor it's hard for me to know where to start... but the capability and price do add a lot of icing to this tiny cake.

Yep, I have one on order...

Where you order this from Elf?

[jaminem]

Don't worry, found it on Thomann

[The Elf]

I ordered mine from Gear4music. I won't deal with Thomann any more if I can avoid it.

[Arpangel]

I'm not a fan of these miserably 'small and cute' boxes...

...Yep, I have one on order...

Elf! Elf! Arpangel has hacked your account!

I'll save us all some reading time:

• It's the best thing I'm ever going to buy

• It's absolute trash and I'm going to sell it.

Now, I'll cancel it as soon as I’ve ordered it, that saves a lot of hassle for all concerned.

[Martin Walker]

Now, I'll cancel it as soon as I’ve ordered it, that saves a lot of hassle for all concerned.

But then we'll miss all the agony and the exstacy of your experience

[Drew Stephenson]

True but I think Arpangel should be commended on his environmentally friendly approach of removing any transport impacts from the process.

[Martin Walker]

Aha, so we can still share the virtual experience

[Arpangel]

Aha, so we can still share the virtual experience

I am mostly "a virtual experience" almost but not quite, like a lot of things in my life.

[DGL.]

There's been an update on the VCS3 clone, the electronics are finished with the only stumbling block now being the pin matrix, they are now on revision 12 and reckon there will be a few more revisions before release, I believe it needs to have a 50,000 life cycle to be acceptable. Going by replies to comments on FB supposedly they've ruled out using a Ghielmetti pin matrix because of the cost, plus oscillator stability is supposedly much improved to make MIDI more useable and every touch point? (matrix connection possibly) is buffered.

[The Elf]

There's been an update on the VCS3 clone, the electronics are finished with the only stumbling block now being the pin matrix...

Kind of like an F1 car that's all ready to go apart from the engine...

That pin matrix is bad news and should be designed out. How? That's up to Behringer.

[Hugh Robjohns]

I agree about the pin matrix, but it really wouldn't be a fake VCS3 without one.

...but I thought B showed what they claimed was a production-ready pin matrix a couple of years ago when they first teased the VCS3 clone.

[The Elf]

I agree about the pin matrix, but it really wouldn't be a fake VCS3 without one.

I agree, and I can hear the purists howling as I type, but...

I'd take a digital matrix without a moment's hesitation. Maybe some navigation buttons, resistance selectors, and a simulated 'at a glance' OLED pin field display in place of the real pin field.

And now it's digital it becomes recallable!

Yes, it's wrong, but it feels so right!

[BillB]

I agree, my thoughts went straight to the MatrixBrute's matrix - and Gordon Reid's review
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/ar ... atrixbrute
suggested that the concept has earlier links to EMS:

But more than 30 years ago, an almost unknown English company found a solution. Datanomics, which had purchased the embers of EMS in 1979, wanted to release an instrument based on the Synthi, but which dispensed with the pin matrix and connected the wotsits to the thingies using an array of switches whose states could be remembered by a microprocessor.

Whilst I am sure logic gates wouldn't sound as warm as metal pins, it would seem to be an obvious solution given contemporary microprocessor/LED technology. Plus, no voltage sag when multiple destinations are connected to a source. Authentic isn't always best!

[BJG145]

I've been wondering about progress on this. The pin matrix is iconic, but it's a hassle. The Syntrx solution looks neat.

[N i g e l]

That syntrx might be 5 x the price of the Behringer, how much is the Behringer ?

[ramthelinefeed]

Have Behringer sunk to a new low?
https://twitter.com/Behringer/status/16 ... 32672?s=20

Seems they've just blatantly decided to manufacture another company's product when the other company is still trading.
(I speak, of course, of http://emssynthesisers.co.uk )

What next, will they just start sending gangs in vans round to DV24/7 and Dawsons Music, smashing their windows and stealing the synths and flogging them on Ebay? WHAT'S GONE WRONG WITH THE WORLD?!?!

[N i g e l]

I think EMS went bankrupt. Every one else did, such was the style at the time [excluding the far east]. So EMS is different to EMS.

Also time has passed. 25 years ago was 1998, EMS was long before that.

7 Aug 1998 No #1: Viva Forever, Spice Girls

[Wonks]

Also time has passed. 25 years ago was 1998, EMS was long before that.

7 Aug 1998 No #1: Viva Forever, Spice Girls

Near the top of the EMS web page: "Last updated: 5th May 2020"

so, 'You'll Never Walk Alone" - Michael Ball, Captain Tom Moore + NHS Choir.

Wikipedia thinks it's still going.

[N i g e l]

I dont dispute your chart refs.

I was just saying that S.G. were No #1 25 years ago.
It has been mentioned many times previously, when this topic of arises, that 25 years is a significant time legally for synth designs, if its even appropriate.

I think the last time I remember it here was when the the Oz bloke expected his "murdered out" mods from the 90s to be his meal ticket for life.

Behringer released their "modified out" TB303 design on the 25 year threshold.

I think that was covered on the "Behringer Keyboards 'n' Stuff" Vol 625, chapter 07

[yeah I couldnt be bothered to look it up, its old hat, one of the TB303 homages]

EDIT

https://www.soundonsound.com/forum/view ... 9&start=24

EDIT EDIT

I just read that link through !

[ramthelinefeed]

EMS still exists as a cottage industry in Cornwall, run by one of Peter Zinoffiev's old employees, making VCS3s to order.

[Wonks]

Ah. Waters were muddied because the date on the foot of the EMS web page was 1998.

An unfortunate coincidence with respect to the mention of 25 years which took my thoughts down a different path.

[DGL.]

A couple of things form their FB page,
one is that they are apologising for bad parts availability and hope to have at least some parts available for the end user to buy which is nice.

Also a new prototype has been teased, one for all the EastEnders lovers out there, a Simmonds clone.