The All-New Behringer Keyboards 'n' Stuff Thread

[Hugh Robjohns]

Post thoughts on Behringer's keyboards here, please.

The old thread is here: https://www.soundonsound.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=59482&p=663076#p663076

[Folderol]

Oh no it isn't

[Hugh Robjohns]

Gimme a chance... Working on an old iPad here... Link now copied and inserted!

[muzines]

Gimme a chance... Working on an old iPad here...

It's annoying when they auto-correct company names, isn't it..?

[BillB]

Awww, I’m missing the old thread already...

[Hugh Robjohns]

Gimme a chance... Working on an old iPad here...

It's annoying when they auto-correct company names, isn't it..?

Darnit! Well spotted.

[ManFromGlass]

Otto Korekt
grrrrrrrr

[DGL.]

And here is the Ub-Xa TMS, it's still a way off as they are still working in the firmware, something that has been rather slowed by current events but it's how the final will look as the tooling has now been made. Looking good.

[muzines]

For me, the dimensions feel "off", but I guess the physical stature of the originals is biasing me against it.

This is one where I think it would feel more balanced with 4 octaves *ducks*, largely because of the width of the performance panel and the lack of depth front to back.

Anyway, not really major niggles...

[DGL.]

They are now teasing a prototype of their Solina clone, the hardware is done and it's off to Germany to get the firmware done.
I will say what a packed PCB the voice board is.









Personally if only they had copied the string section from the 310U not the straight solina, there is a reason why JMJ had a 310U midified and made road ready rather than just using a solina.

[DGL.]

Just adding a couple of new photos from Behringer's FB of the exterior of the Solina and to say to The Elf, unfortunately they have slimmed down the keyboard a bit from the original and as such have removed 49 of the original's keys.

[The Elf]

That Solina module has my name on it. Always fancied one.

Module is perfectly fine with me!

[jaminem]

I just bought the TB303 clone. The yellow one.

I'm sorry, I had to, I was a teenager in the 90's and grew up in the west county - lots of free parties techno/acid house clubs.

You cannot argue with £133 for a ton of nostalgia

[Eddy Deegan]

You cannot argue with £133 for a ton of nostalgia

Indeed you can't! Enjoy

[Hugh Robjohns]

That Solina module has my name on it. Always fancied one.

I owned a real one for a while. Got bored of its rather limited palette when other (modern) keyboards were able to emulate it so well... Sold for positively silly money!

[zenguitar]

I owned a real one for a while. Got bored of its rather limited palette when other (modern) keyboards were able to emulate it so well... Sold for positively silly money!

To a German guy perhaps?

Andy

[The Elf]

TBH I've made a bit of a study of some of those old string synths, and I've got most of the ones I like nailed with my current synths. I also have a few of my old pedals, such as Small Stone and Phase 100 still around for those moments of weakness. Line 6 just added the Small Stone to the options in my Helix pedal - and it's close enough for rock'n'roll.

But having something cloned from the original electronics, just sitting there ready to go, is, I feel, going to be too irresistable for me - as long as the sound is there. Based on Behringer's fabulous job (sound-wise - the 3-octave keyboard still pains me) with the VC340 I see no reason that this one shouldn't hit the mark.

[DGL.]

TBH I've made a bit of a study of some of those old string synths, and I've got most of the ones I like nailed with my current synths. I also have a few of my old pedals, such as Small Stone and Phase 100 still around for those moments of weakness. Line 6 just added the Small Stone to the options in my Helix pedal - and it's close enough for rock'n'roll.

But having something cloned from the original electronics, just sitting there ready to go, is, I feel, going to be too irresistable for me - as long as the sound is there. Based on Behringer's fabulous job (sound-wise - the 3-octave keyboard still pains me) with the VC340 I see no reason that this one shouldn't hit the mark.

Plus it has a built in small stone clone for JMJ type sounds, again I will say a 310U would be nice for real Jarre strings.

[Eddy Deegan]

Plus it has a built in small stone clone for JMJ type sounds, again I will say a 310U would be nice for real Jarre strings.

If you want nice string sounds in something of yours then why go for something recognisably associated with someone else? Would it not be preferable to find (or more probably create) a patch you can consider more original?

Unless you're after covering/playing a Jarre track using as similar timbres as possible to the original, that is. In which context I can see the attraction of a string machine as used by the fellow himself!!

[DGL.]

Plus it has a built in small stone clone for JMJ type sounds, again I will say a 310U would be nice for real Jarre strings.

If you want nice string sounds in something of yours then why go for something recognisably associated with someone else? Would it not be preferable to find (or more probably create) a patch you can consider more original?

Unless you're after covering/playing a Jarre track using as similar timbres as possible to the original, that is. In which context I can see the attraction of a string machine as used by the fellow himself!!

It's more that it supposedly sounds a lot better than the solina due to having more ensemble stages, the solina basically being a cut down relative in comparison, remembering that the solina was wholly an Eminent product (design and manufacture) with the ARP branding just being stuck on.

At the end of the day if you are going to clone a companies product you might as well clone the best they made.

[Eddy Deegan]

Plus it has a built in small stone clone for JMJ type sounds, again I will say a 310U would be nice for real Jarre strings.

If you want nice string sounds in something of yours then why go for something recognisably associated with someone else? Would it not be preferable to find (or more probably create) a patch you can consider more original?

Unless you're after covering/playing a Jarre track using as similar timbres as possible to the original, that is. In which context I can see the attraction of a string machine as used by the fellow himself!!

It's more that it supposedly sounds a lot better than the solina due to having more ensemble stages, the solina basically being a cut down relative in comparison, remembering that the solina was wholly an Eminent product (design and manufacture) with the ARP branding just being stuck on.

At the end of the day if you are going to clone a companies product you might as well clone the best they made.

I don't disagree with you actually. It was more of a rhetorical question, but I see it was worded in a more direct manner than I intended

I'm fine with clones, but not at the expense of new, innovative, stuff. This is one of the things I really like about boards like the Summit, OB-6, Hydrasynth, Matrixbrute etc. They all sound epic in their own way and I wouldn't be surprised to see emulations and/or clones of them in a decade or three.

Sure it's nice to have the option; I've picked up a couple of clones and I'll probably pick up a couple more before I'm done but I can honestly say that my life isn't any better for having, say, the Pro-One or Model-D than it would have been had they used those as the basis for something very different but built on the foundations of those.

The OB-6 is a good example. It's got the Oberheim 'sound' but is based on the tech rather than trying to be an 'accurate recreation' of a specific model.

I think I'm getting slightly bored of clones now. I'm not even bothering to watch most of the teaser videos any more. It was fun while it lasted but I'm more excited about new, as yet unseen and unheard, devices going forward and so far I've been more impressed with the products from other manufacturers than Behringer when it comes to original hardware.

That's my subjective view of course, and I am excited to see what their poly-AT implementation is like and if it's on a CS-80-like thing I'll almost certainly buy one as it nicely fills a gap in my hardware lineup.

They have some extremely good engineers, it's obvious. I'd like to see those engineers given more scope to innovate as opposed to copy but of course as a company they can take whatever direction they choose. I'm just a body in a market, stating one man's view.

[The Elf]

Not really interested in sounding like JMJ, myself, but we did use a lot of Siel Orchestra (essentially 90% an ARP Quartet) on our early albums, and it would be nice to have access to those searingly high strings again. The Siel hit that goldilocks place of 'not too chorussed, not too static'.

I actually bought an old Siel Orchestra a few months ago, but it had some serious faults, so I returned it. It was good to hear it again for a short time.

[Martin Walker]

I had a Crumar Stringman decades ago. You rarely hear about this particular model nowadays for some reason, but I loved its sound (I remember writing a full-on Enid 'Region Of The Summer Stars orchestrated piece with it)

I bought it from a local classically taught musician who some years later was desperate to buy it back. I felt sorry for him, so off it went

Martin

[baward]

Yes there are better, for instance the Korg Lambda but there are others, as far as physical instruments go.

I like UVI's String Machines. It gives an interesting insight into what's what, as do the Arturia Solina and GForce's VSM.