Well, stealing ain’t cool. I didn’t flag the post, but I didn’t like it either. A friend of mine recently released a record with the announcement “Available Wherever You Steal Music.”
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And #172 Phase Shifter/Audio Delay/Gate Delay/LFO module looks nice too.
This is awesome!!!
Please don’t discount research, coding/DSP coding, UI/UX design, and other things we probably can’t think of having never designed a module from the ground up.
There’s a reason that Behringer can do what it does at a lower price when the designs are already out there.
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The margins on small-run boutique electronics are extremely slim, way slimmer than buyers realise. A module might just be “a PCB and a few knobs” but that ignores costs for R&D, staffing, marketing, distribution, retailers’ margins and everything else. Modular is still a tiny market too: the idea you could cut retail prices by 50% and make that up by increasing sales volume is wild.
The prices quoted by Behringer are not markedly cheaper than those charged by Doepfer, so this isn’t going to be a massive gamechanger in terms of widening access. What it does presumably mean is that Behringer will be using cheaper supply chains and economies of scale to undercut other sellers in one way or another, as is their usual MO.
If that only affects Roland, then they may well be able to absorb the financial hit and refocus. If happens to a boutique one-room operation, as most Eurorack manufacturers are, then the odds of them suffering as a result are much higher. Behringer have shown themselves to be more than happy to skirt around patents and undermine small-scale manufacturers before, and there’s no reason they couldn’t do that here (the idea that they wouldn’t or couldn’t do a cut-price Clouds, one of the most popular modules out there, is again pretty optimistic).
I think people should be very careful about what they wish for here. A cheap System 100 might be cool but shaving costs off an already thin-margin industry raises clear questions about long-term sustainability, let alone the prominence given to small-scale manufacturers which made Eurorack special in the first place.
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By Roland you probably mean Malekko, small Oregon based manufacturer and designer of recently released system-500
Edit: adding the screenshot
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Precisely! There are quite a few modules I’ve seen that make me feel like “darn! I want that, unfortunately I can’t invest in the modules that are intended to surround that to make this a viable option.”
Also, with previous NAMM shows, as soon as they start announcing modular equipment I don’t even watch, because it would be pointless for me to.
I’m excited for this Behringer line. Hopefully they can take care of the essentials, and push the smaller companies to venture off into more eccentric gear.
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So we got a list of thirteen of the forty, anybody have any idea what the other twenty seven might be? That goes beyond the Roland System 100 modules i think.
ADDED: It looks like Roland had about 20 units in their System 100m line.
http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/sys100m.php
I didn’t know that - in which case, all the concerns I’ve mentioned about the impact on small manufacturers are equally applicable here.
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Despite all the doom and gloom Behringer has yet to overthrow any market they have put their fingers in. When they first started cloning guitar pedals the same ideas were thrown around about diy pedal makers dying off etc., that didn’t happen. Moog didn’t die because of the Behringer model D. Roland has and will continue survive Behringer cloning their gear. Mackie exist despite every Behringer mixer pretty much being a clone of one of theirs. Eurorack will not die because Behringer is dipping it’s fingers in.
People are smart(ish), and understand that Behringer gear is not top level gear. It’s likely it never will be. This impacts Behringer’s effect on any market they enter.
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Agree, the behringer modules are going to act as a gateway drug for a lot of people. Right now the entry cost for modular is like $2k (power supply, case, utility modules and one or two ‘flagship’ modules). If that comes down it’s much easier to envisage people dipping a foot in and then gradually expanding once they’re hooked. The expanded userbase is sure to benefit the entire modular manufacturer community.
Sidenote: I really like the 101-esque look of these behri modules!
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Well said Anfim!
Seems to me the power supply / case is a natural for Behringer to do too.
Now that’s where you might see some real competitive pressure on the smaller manufacturers.
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Maybe not, but probably it will be a less friendly place to be. Small eurorack production is based on your local neighbourhood shops that offers some interesting opportunities for the kids that are good with soldering iron. In some cases the manufacturers are surrounding themselves with a public makerspace (as Befacto and Koma) and venues (as Makenoise and Erica), endorsing artists and building a community. I’m not even talking about big international events like Moogfest. All of this is lost with Behringer, that will use their factories in China and could not care less for the community.
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Welp, guess I’m in the hunt for an A4 now…
I get what you are saying, as I’m lucky to be in a place where eurorack workshops happen often, but that is a quite negative way to look at it. Do you really think these communities that already exist will just disappear because Behringer?
I really don’t think the Behringer beast is a great thing but realistically, the community that creates the current eurorack market will not die off. Smaller eurorack manufacturers will continue to exist because of the community. Behringer doesn’t offer that, just like Roland doesn’t with their current eurorack offering and it’s barely a blip on most people’s radars. Eurorack is a community, moreso than any other synthesis market. Behringer will not change that because they don’t offer that.
Eurorack is a strange scene, I wouldn’t be surprised if these Behringer modules are shunned entirely by the hardcore eurorack community, do poorly and are abandoned.
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This is the first thing that’s made me reconsider an AK. That thing would have been dope if I had any euro stuff. Fingers crossed for that AKmk2 with a bigger screen
@snipecatcher System of a down springs to mind
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Good points, I think Behringer may be overestimating the size of the Eurorack market.
You don’t really see many peope banging on about the great quality of Behringer’s audio interfaces, studio monitors, mixers or pedals etc, so it is a safe bet that their euro modules and synths won’t set hearts racing either, they are known for cheap unimaginative mediocrity at best.
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Plus they have economies of scale now with the new mega China factory.