You can be sure the PolyKobol will come one day but the next one will be the Kobol Keyboard (featuring presets and a sequencer with program locks 
)
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Amazona is the best. Their articles often go deep. This one does.
This article will probably only be of detailed interest to people who already own the Kobol Expander, other than if you want to listen to the patches.
They workshop through 13 somewhat involved ways to patch this module, showing pictures, and taking you in detail through the stages in creating these patches, with audio for the steps along the way. This article is a master work, very impressive.
Warning this article is a GAS generator. How can you go so far wrong though at $200 ?
Same as always, translate it.
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Sounds bloody good. The jam at 26:12 in particular is a bit tasty.
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The patch ideas from Nick are good.
New information here, relayed from Rob Keeble of AMSynth, who perhaps reviewed the design done by Behringer engineer Gilles, as to the custom discrete component design of the oscillators.
Nick definitely liked it. Kind of an extra thing with this having no sponsored content from Behringer, Nick had to buy this one with his own money, and made the video on his own dime obviously with the patreon support.
EDIT : Changed comment on Keebleās role.
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Excellent demo. $200 puts this more-or-less in impulse purchase territory. I really, really dig the bass sounds especially, this actually sounds kind of unique. Is it going to make my music better? No. Could it be fun to play with and make its way into my tunes? Absolutely.
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Not mine
Not mine
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This thing sounds so good. Wow.
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Thereās more than just nice bass sounds in these. The waveform Control and patch points lead to some really nice out of ordinary sounds
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My first berenger. I never thought it would be so cool without loopop review and for $200. wow!
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In response to @Landings question of comparison between the Kobol and Model D
Iād say so. Theyāre different beasts really. Compared to the Model D thereās the continually variable waveform control, cv control of oscillator waveform x2, envelope parameters x2, resonance, thereās a great sounding oscillator sync and then thereās the voltage processor. Thereās an awful lot of mileage to be had here when it comes to interesting patching and modulation options.
The venerable Mr Forrest says the OG Kobol used the SSM2040 filter and according to Rob Keeble the Behringer uses a discrete version of the 2040 design. Either way itās not the same as the Model D ladder.
Another consideration is the signal flow. Thereās a dedicated VCA on the output of each VCO before they hit the filter. As well as initial level controls on the front panel akin to the mixer section of the Model D the two VCAās have cv inputs to control their levels. Added to that the outputs of the VCAās are available on jacks with VCA1 having a tap off while VCA 2 has a TRS Jack which acts like an insert point. The Model D oscillators arenāt available individually nor is there and option for external level control
So all in all Iād say thereās enough of a difference to justify getting one.
Itās one of those synths I could easily justify having two (or even three!) of.
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(re)listening to the demos iām having a hard time justifying not having one at all : ā¦ so on its way it Komes; mono Expansion showing no sign of slowing despite best intentions ā¦ that filter is just delicious and thereās plenty of magic elsewhere ā¦ itās definitely far more than the sum of its seemingly modest parts and workflow ā¦ the sombre/gnarly timbres are on point for me, seems like a cohesive broad sweetspot synth with off-piste potential
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Agreed! Iām more of a nice smooth sounds guy but it can do the lot. Iāve never really done the modular thing and only ever used my semiās patching options for fairly vanilla stuff but the Kobol has changed that. One of my fave things Iāve found is to use the VCO 2 VCA send/return to patch some reverb in before the envelopes so tails are gated so to speak but the body and tone of the reverb makes it through. Iām gonna try the same trick with delay in a bit when I plug it back in. I said the same a couple of weeks ago but youāre right, itās deffo a MoThaTheSOfiPā¦or a MTTSOIPā¦
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Iād say the Prophet is somewhat the sound of my youth, but i clearly wasnāt geek enough to recall the filter numbering of the first two revisions (rev1/2 apparently used the SSM2040), so thereās a degree of understanding as to why it appeals to me
it conveys some of the characteristics i love of the Bro-1 filter, but definitely works with resonance better
where are you reading/hearing this intel on the Behringer Kobol filter design ? One thing i am struggling with understanding is the pricing on this, it seems an outlier of sorts (maybe the wasp, but thatās very light on cv i/o) ā¦ just wondering why if they are doing a discrete component design it can be economical enough to still add a bit (a lot) of cv i/o and shove this in a wider case for $200 - especially as itās about $75 for the marginally wider empty case they do (albeit with rails)
did you stumble on this or read it, havenāt bothered downloading the manual yet as B manuals aināt very detailed - it was one thing i was puzzled by wrt the silkscreen legend, it seemed a bit busy to me in that area and i wondered why they hadnāt simplified it, but are you saying that it illustrates the presence of both an inlet and outlet on that patchpoint (so ring being return then !)
itād be a welcome development if they made the second rsf expander with r/m etc, iām not in the market for the keys or poly versions
looking forward to hearing this one in the flesh
Regarding the filter design there was some discussion on MW I think? Iāve got Peter Forrestās books and he quotes the OG as having the 2040 filter and that seemed to be backed up on the MW discussion. Rob Keeble of AMS is quite active on there and he posted that Behringer Kobol filter is based on Rene Schmitzās 2040 clone design. I donāt know if he was involved in the Kobol (Rob Keeble that is) of if heās bought one and had a look inside?
I followed the silk screening and as you can see from your pic it shows the output going to the Jack and on to the VCF so it seemed to me it was a normalled Jack? So I tried it with a 3.5mm TRS to 2x jack lead with my UAD Golden and hey presto it worked! I couldnāt tell you which way around itās configured in terms of tip and ring.
They are cheap at the moment tho. Maybe the price will go up? I hope not. Itās interesting that they seem to be running with the bigger models alreadyā¦maybe now the development has been done and the concept proven with this theyāll drop it at some point? I canāt see it though, especially as theyāve implemented Midi poly chainingā¦ more voices for the poly when it arrives? Iād imagine thatās one reason at least for them to keep it going
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wow ā¦ wow ā¦ this isnāt mentioned in the manual, nobody (well, almost) would ever try this ! much gratitude for this inspired investigating/reporting ā¦ itās a path to an input source swap (swap out 2 or wet/boost 2), if nothing else, for the filter ! could be handy
shall have a read of some MW topics as iām enthused by a bit of history and insight on designs
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Looking at silkscreen on the pic of the OG posted above it doesnāt have that Jack as an insert point so kudos to Behringer for implementing this mod. It would have been even better had they done it for both VCAās but Iāll take what theyāve given us all day!
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This is actually buried in the quick start manual under Hints and Tips 
Iāve a tip, donāt assume the envelope dials topography is the same as the last synth you played with (aka read the panel) ā¦ i lost an hour to a lost cause assuming that the amp env was the filter env and investigating starsky carrās clicking env clue lead me to believe i had a duff uint with a VCA thunk, just like the MS20 has, but worse
despite many other clues telling me it made no sense i started videoing it for a return
anyway ā¦ these envelopes are extremely snappy and the issue was that i had a blip from an infinitesimally fast amp snap ā¦ the range is very weighted to the snappy, so once i had got it sussed i found how to drive it right
Early concerns i might have the bases covered in other monos were short lived, itās a real character synth ā¦ itās not as polite as the pro-1 and it is deceptively well conceived, the scope of the oscillators with sync is huge and quick to dial in
the sum of all the subtle differences is significant to the destinations you end up at which are different to outwardly similar architecture monos
itās a mighty (& loud) synth, the filter is ace and modulates nicely, but it loses a tiny bit more weight at the low end than the youtube videos conveyed to me ā¦ but vastly better than the pro-1 in that regard
going back to back with those i was amazed at how punchy the Kobol is, itās pretty special actually ā¦ kinda shocked at how ārightā it sounds, the saw is sweet, the square is hefty, the pulse is just right and so on, the whole thing sounds lively and rewarding to play around with, even before you patch up
it takes midi notes better than the Pro-1 because of the wide ranging oscillators and that allows the 2v/oct control of the filter to shine
oh boy, this is a great great semi and it has the best side cheeks yet of any B semi too, more cherry than mahogany, looks killer 
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Agreee with everything youāve said. I like how āprogressiveā the envelope controls are,; Theres loads of control over the first half of the knob range and you can go from ultra snappy to still pretty punchy by 12 o clockā¦great for dialling in the exact response required without having to use teeny nudges of the pot. The sync is great too isnāt it? I spent pretty much my first couple of evenings with it just playing with the oscillators and leaving the filter wide open, thereās so much sonic territory to explore there. I was getting loads of harmonics just by syncing the oscillators. Now you know why I said I could easily justify a second one!
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The sync interactions are extraordinary, especially with the osc shapes, lfo direct to OSC2 (harder to bypass) and also nudging beat back and forth or using the PWM āshapeā ā¦ the timbres are alive and rich, not nasally and the waveform movement is organic and feels like itās related, not just popping about and glitchy ā¦ itās hard to explain (without owning one) but itās very musical and forgiving
the envelopes are exactly like you describe, that was part of my initial erring, itās weird to think you need to get t o 12 oāclock to start hearing them, so that range beneath is vital for getting things just right ā¦ it should hopefully translate to interesting Attack/Decay CV modulations too (i only tried modulating the sustain for i guess tremolo effects) ā¦ the max decay setting is extremely long too
there was many moments where i considered could i really do this on āsynth xā and i wasnāt so sure
donāt get me wrong i love the prophet āthingā and the pro-1 has a mojo and i love how well the oscillator shapes mix on that, it all contributes well to the patch ā¦ the kobol has a certain je ne sais quoi, it just seems to play and adapt nicely to user input and itās seeming simplicity doesnāt explain itās broad potential, again without going too deep on patching ā¦ itās a nicely configured semi
it gets filthy (much more useful range of ābruteā than the arturia before it wails) when you feed back into the filter ā¦ i wonder if it has a certain vibe because (presumably, if i interpreted the comment by the AMS guy) it runs on the board off a 14.5V rail ā¦ iām wondering if this gives the weight to the signals, it certainly distorts nicely internally without sounding lost or throttled, i think nick batt mentioned this
iāve taken a shine to this because itās capable of sounding right quite easily, itās rewarding to tweak (sweetspot city) and isnāt overwhelming (i know e.g. the blue marvin can get into special places, but itās easy to get lost) ā¦ i can see why this attracted the praise you gave it (which did factor in swinging me to listen more) ā¦ i think itās a synth thatāll become a goto for me too because of the quick musical results, also excited to find the hidden corners within it, the filter sings nicely
hoping some intrepid owners will document some mods eventually to tap gate/cv from the midi and so on, plenty room on the back for extra qol patch points
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