Sounds insanely good from all these demos, much more natural and midrangey than the recent digital roland recreations. Just ordered one and look forward to sequencing it with the AR and gigging with it without fear. Definitely sounds better than any of the other cheap analog drum machines and nails a more vintage and 808 feel better than the AR, which does a great version itself of course and is not a fair comparison as it is far more flexible.
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Even though the RD-8 isnât as versatile as the rytm, the wave designer on it is something I wish the rytm had as well. Its really good for shaping the transient and the tail of the sounds.
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Finally got my hands one one today! Drove over to The Disc in Bradford as they were the closest place to me with them in stock. Absolutely loving it! Really impressed with the build and sound quality. Top guys over there too. Respect.
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You wonât be disappointed. Its got physical presence too. Nice big chunky pads and solid feeling knobs. Only slight niggle is the reverse grey/black graphics but thats just my eyes! Muscle memory will kick in after a while.
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So⌠had mine for about a week now and given it some good rinses. I updated the firmware to the latest version and that fixed the bass drum dropouts. Some other thoughts on it both good and bad:
SAD:
- Wave Designer and Filter on the same Bus. Totally missed a trick by having them on separate send busses.
- The Note & Step repeat function above the sequencer is for live performance only. You cannot record that feature live into the pattern. In the settings you can drill down and program note repeats/ratchets into the pattern so there is a workaround.
- Using an external sequencer to send program changes for pattern/song changes seems like a forgotten feature, though you can sequence externally via note data.
- Couldnât get the trigger outs working with a vg-line 9Q9, Boog or BS20 (K2). Could be user error? Also had to dig online a lot to find out the 3 trig outs are hardwired to Accent/Clap & Cowbell.
BAD:
- When jumping from a 1/16 speed pattern to a 1/32 or 1/8T pattern the machine goes out of time. Jumping back has the same issue. Either slows down or speeds up. Unacceptable and seriously hoping this gets fixed asap
- Currently, Machine default to Flam & Probability being active on every step of every instrument of a new pattern. Have to manually go in and remove a shit load of steps, per pattern. Current workaround is a blank saved pattern I have copied across everything, but should be an option in settings.
GLAD:
- Sounds very good. Built pretty well. Individual outs was the dealmaker for me.
- Probability/Random/Polymeter features give some modern programming joy and were the other dealmakers. All work pretty well, and easy to remember.
- Wave Designer and Filter limited but work well and sound good. Nice addition.
- Finally, having had a boutique 808 at one point, this thing puts it to shame as an large, open, creative interface that wants to be used, messed with, jammed on and processed. The simplicity was actually a feature for me over the tr8s. Got enough Elektronâs for that level of detail. Looking forward to the 909 version.
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I need to update mine to the latest os. Occasional kick drum drop out, usually on the first step. I take it this is a recognised bug? (Iâve been too busy using the thing to do much reading⌠manual included!)
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The trig outs are modeled after the orig 808 - wouldnt call it a sad its literally replicated from the original.
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Yep. Firmware 1.2.6 fixes this issue among others.
Fair enough. Still wasnât anywhere in the manual, took a while to dig the info, and âsadlyâ I couldnât get them working (yet). Got any tips?
how are you hooking up your trig outs? should be a pretty simple set up
The trig outs work on mine. Well the cowbell one does as I discovered when I plugged it into the system 8. The S8 sequencer was advancing one step each time the cowbell triggered. Maybe the update has affected them? Canât see it tho. Clock output works fine into minibrute2s sequencer.
Who would have thought that Behringer would be the one giving people all of the classic Roland synths that they really want? Meanwhile Roland continues to pump out their regurgitated digital emulated crap.
If you had told me 10 years ago I would be day dreaming about owning a horde of synths from Behringer, I wouldâve laughed my ass off. I swore off Behringer after my FCB1010 foot controller took a crap pretty quickly.
I came back for an X32 and a deepmind 12. Love them both
Strange times we live in.
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Well what can I say? Uli came to Manchester, Manchester gave him synths 
Tried both TR and TRS minijack to a VGLine 9Q9, Boog Gate input. Going to pull out the System 1m today and see if it can react. Yeah I donât see what should complicate it. Did see on GS or Youtube somewhere that the pulses were very short and required some envelope manipulation to trigger the Behringer 101 remake. Will report back after more experiments.
Good to hear. Will try into System 1m or Matrixbrute later today.
I have also sent Behringer a Support ticket regarding a couple of the issues/requests. Hopefully they get back to me with some good info and promises. Low expectations but its new gear so they might be eager.
I think the issue with the Boog was to do with its envelope decay control. It has to be right down toward zero. I think itâs a combination of a large part of its range being squashed into a small area of the pot at one end and needing re trigger to be selected on the control app. Apparently itâs to do with how the Boog (and original) attack and decay phases interact. I stand to be corrected but I think if the EG is still in its decay stage when it receives a new trigger it ignores it. Shorter decay times and re triggering get around it, Either way you shouldnât need anything extra to make it work.
Edit. Just noticed you were referencing the 101 and not the Boog⌠my bad⌠although what I said still stands! Could be a similar situation with the 101 although I understood it to be a Boog only issue related to the original design.
when you sequence/trigger the RD-8 over Ableton, accented notes will be available for each voice individually (depending on the velocity amount of the notes). the accent volume is global then. i already know this feature from another drum machine that i owned once. but with the RD-8 currently, it seemingly doesnât work properly. accented notes appear randomly. sometimes accents are audible, sometimes not. i hope this can be fixed via firmware update. if this issue wasnât mentioned and behringer is not aware of it yet, i will contact the support.
I had the chance to try one out. It sounds nice enough, but why the hell did they let the intern do the design? Itâs not even that itâs a complete train wreck, but for me itâs just off enough to find it unattractive. I think Iâll pass.
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Whatâs wrong with the design ? Serious question, seems pretty normal to me.