Behringer Gear Quality : Your Experiences

The Lounge Other Gear
#21

Excellent point Noumenaut, we don’t have a time machine. What can be known is what we know right now. There are industrial tests that can be run, typically done component by component, to get more accurate test for long term reliabilty, with that data made available to manufacturers, which they use to pick quality. Having done some buying and part specifying, i can say there is not a one to one correspondence of price to quality. So i try to avoid that, but it is good to wonder. But cheaper doesn’t necessarily always mean lower quality.

Over in the Hydrasynth thread i posted about the failure bathtub curve. It is useful to understand that relative a products reluability, both short term and long.

2 Likes
#22

I have a couple of their more recent items and I’ve had no problems so far. Build quality seems to be on par or higher than the majority of gear manufacturers these days.

I prefer 3.5mm jack to be bolted to the panel but there are plenty of others who do the same thing (Doepfer for example). The ground legs and solder holes for non-bolted jacks are still hefty and strong so it’s not the end of the world. Just more prone to cracked solder joints (but no issues yet).

I won’t get into too many details on why I might buy some of their gear and avoid others because that is a personal decision for everyone.

I support original designers when I can and get what I want when I can’t.

Many of their clones are like gateway drugs to the real thing and in at least one case has convinced me to support the original manufacturer.

I also grew up dirt poor so part of me knows what it’s like to chase dreams without the means to do so.

9 Likes
#23

Got one of their old mixers, it’s built like a tank. Been smashed about and still works nicely. Had a Model D, felt lovely, no stability issues.

As a guitarist I find the concept of cloning instruments with slight differences to be standard. Electronic music producers seem uniquely sensitive about the subject. Did Gibson go under when Tokai released the Love Rock? Did Fender have to admit defeat when Yamaha created the Pacifica?

Don’t worry about the big boys, they’ll survive whatever Uli decides to clone next. Just get your heads down and make music that moves you with whatever you can afford.

8 Likes
#24

Of all the bunch, I only bought the Neutron. And I like it.
After a few months, the noise generator turned silent.
But that’s the only trouble I had.

I don’t like the pcb-mounted sockets, feels cheap.
But again, you find those on other gear, too.

1 Like
#25

Everything I’ve heard seems to be down to the oscillators never really warming up and becoming fully stable and oscillators dying. The not stable oscillators sounds like it is pretty rampant in some of there products while the oscillator dying isn’t so much. But yeah I think currently it is a wait and see how they hold up in the coming years, honestly though for the price of them they probably have already reached the value threshold for reliability vs cost.

#26

I like my cases in metal, my potentiometers screwed to the panel and my sockets (including midi) screwed to the case. In this regard, a lot of synths and brands are not up to the game, including Elektron, Korg, Roland, whatever… I would be happy if all builds would be industrial quality like Doepfer or Noise Engineering is, but alas this is rarely the case.

In fact, as for faulty gear, Elektron scores very bad in my case with faulty Octatrack xfader, sticky DTakt switch, faulty Digitone LED, burnt A4 LCD, cutting-wrist monomachine faceplate finish… you know it all. If it was not for the great software/interface/sounds/sequencer combination (especially the sequencer, still unparalleled), I would ditch Elektron gear in a snap.

With that in mind, I’d say for the B synths I had (Neutron and TD-3), the build was just as good as any other synth, no more, no less. Pretty standard stuff. The TD-3 pots are tight, the Neutron has no wobbly parts… very good builds considering the price.

3 Likes
#27

They’re using the same chips as the big boys in most cases.

Actually Behringer had a big hand in bankrolling Cool Audio at the beginning of this Analog renaissance.

Hate it as people may, we might not have had so many great synths as we have had recently without Behringer :scream:

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#28

I notice that for instance on the 2600, there are little rubber caps to adjust trim pots, as things age. That sort of thing is nice to have. Some drift can go with the territory with analog synths, nice to be able to adjust things without taking the synth apart.

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#29

I’d like a 2600 and a few other things but I’m not buying atm , and should probably go itb

#30

I can vouch for the Blue Marvin being a nicely built one. It’s definitely worth the asking price vs build quality.

Your other option is to pay the stupid prices people are charging for the real thing or the re-issue. Both can’t be bought new anymore.

The 2600 is one of those cases where I’m glad Behringer did their Behringer thing.

Also things like the Cat and Wasp, nobody else was going to do those quirky little limited synths again.

8 Likes
#31

interesting point. so you’re saying a $300 synth lasting a few years and then having an unknown future is acceptable? I don’t disagree, really. but you could also extend that logic to say “it’s worth investing in a more expensive/better built version, which should last much longer.” no?

absolutely a great point.

#32

Cat is prob my pick of those small semi modulars. I think it sounds awesome.

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#33

The CAT is one toward the top of my lists for next.

I love yhe sound i’ve heard in video.

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#34

It’s useful and unique sounding for sure! I actually really like the wasp as a lead synth too.

That’s the extent of my B stuff. Cat, Wasp. 2600, and MS-101. All unobtainable, excessively overpriced, or too old to be more trouble than they’re worth.

I used the Cat and Wasp on a track recently, I’ll try to post a snippet sometime to share.

1 Like
#35

Didn’t Behringer have problems with their very early Wasps, stuff that they fixed ? I was also really surprised when they cut the price by $100, 33%.

#36

Yeah that is kind of my thought at this point, especially if people are comparing them to vintage alternatives that will likely need work sooner and the work will likely cost as much as a new behringer synth… not that I like the idea of disposable synths though.

The closest things to vintage clones I have is the Waldorf M and the Syntrx, both being modern takes. I expect to have for a long time and to put work into them if they ever need it. I did have to open up my Syntrx once already to adjust a trim pot for the envelope.

#37

Not sure, I bought mine used and haven’t had problems. It takes MIDI notes fine and the rest is live tweaking. Actually the only one I bought new was the 2600

1 Like
#38

Good demo of the Cat here @Bunker :+1:

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#39

that’s a bummer. I was gonna say above that I rank Erica up there with Vermona in terms of build quality. very solid machines. that’s less of a build quality issue than it is a final tweaking issue though, I’d think. QC issue either way though; and I believe Erica did have various issues with early Syntrxes. mine’s been solid so far :crossed_fingers:

#40

I’ve heard about problems with the VCA’s failing on Vermona Mono Lancets in the past.

I own my 3rd right now. The 2 past ones I sold. But haven’t experienced any issues with them.
The one I have now had a pot that was a bit scratchy. I checked up on the isides to see if dust or anything else were the course. But it was completely cleaned, also under the bolt, which I tightened as much as I could, and it actually did the trick. So a bit of a loose connection maybe :thinking:

Edit:
To stay on topic, I’ve only owned a TD-3, VD400, UMC1820 and ADA8200.
Didn’t have any quality issues with any of them.
Quite sturdy.
Even the VD400 with its plastic casing and ever so slightly wobbly plastic pots. It did however change the dry signal of my DT to sound less dynamic and less 3-dimensional. Some analogue saturation maybe, but I didn’t like it. The delay signal was nice sounding though. Could actually be used with hihats.

The line connections on UMC1820 and ADA8200 wasn’t the tightest, but didn’t experience any loose connections. But a potential future issue maybe? :thinking:

Had the TD-3 shortly, and it felt quite sturdy. No wobbly pots, and nice and long. Luv dem long knobs :yum::laughing: Didn’t like the buttons though, and mine also had an incredibly low output signal. Had to turn everything quite loudly. Experienced this very subtle peak clipping that I didn’t like. Don’t know if it was because I had the out fully up, or if the whistly resonant peaks of the filter was too much, which I didn’t like about it either btw.