The Behringer era

Sorry if this has been mentioned, but one thing I’ve been wondering about is the overall effect Behringer’s production may have on the synthesizer market, and communities.

I don’t tend to question their ethics as I don’t know enough about their practices specifically, but I do wonder if other companies would try similar if they had the capabilities of Behringer.

The main thing that has been running through my mind is the question of ‘What happen’s next?’

They could reissue everything, but what will they do after that?

Will it force other companies to innovate, while Behringer simply step out of the market after making their profits?

Dave Smith’s return with the evolver was no doubt due in part to cheap labour costs, with the company eventually increasing prices and (I would argue) quality. I think the context is obviously different as many of you have mentioned Behringer having their own factories etc, which puts them directly responsible for the standards of workers etc. But I wonder if Behringer will follow suit?

I see it’s similar to music studios being super expensive in the past, computers that were used only by few. Then came affordable personal computing so everybody could be doing stuff in the home studio. Software allowed many to do music not having to spend gazilions on hardware. now we’re going into the phase that people can actually get analogue/hardware for their home use. This will only make music as a whole larger and better.

I don’t think we are on the same page, I don’t have any problem with affordable nice synths. :thup:

2 Likes

I’m skeptical of that thanks to IP laws in the west. A clone of a 30 old synth is a bit different than cloning a current synth from an existing manufacturer.

I should have clarified sorry, I was more referring to older classic synths, for example, they could pump out a JP8, JP6, etc

Haven’t thought of it like that. Interesting. Henry Ford of synths perhaps?

1 Like

Yes it would, but also bear in mind this isn’t the only issue people have with Behringer, which is why I suspect the vast majority don’t look into the other companies with such scrutiny, which I suppose could also be viewed as a comforting justification to single out Behringer.

1 Like

It will be interesting to see what happens between Korg and Behringer over the Odyssey.

1 Like

I wondered that myself, I was in Dawson’s the other day and wondered whether they planned to display them both side by side

Agreed. That B oddy clone seemed like a really odd decision to me with the existing KARP.

Any links to damning evidence that behringer have been anything other than un-original? Or is it just internet rumours? Genuinely interested to read the stuff people are referring to with the talk of bad work conditions etc.

Re the lack of originality, Why don’t people hate on companies that make software emulations? Arturia’s syntronik for example? Or people that make Sample packs of gear? Seems like if people are going to have a firm stance on ‘if it’s not original then I’m not buying it’ then they could probably spend all day picking holes in a ton of companies/products?

Waste of time and energy in this case imo…

3 Likes

Seems kind of obvious with the way things are going, the unserved market are Millenials, the inner urban set, “the rest of us” who want to dabble. Guitars/rock is out of style. Synths demand less investment in developing musical chops, instant gratification, not actually played, esp. with onboard seq’s/MIDI. And just published, a Wall Street Journal article about how Synthwave is officially mainstream. Social media studio porn… So the iron is hot this year. Shareholders: Green light, lots of Gas.
$500 I think for the is that invisible investment line that determines make or break for most of us that either have to decide if it is just spree spending, a new toy, or something that we have a little more psychological investment in. Thus, the M:S coulda done better. But then again, Elektron is not a Yamaha.
Korg got it right w/ Volcas, easily something the average person can adjust for right out of their weekly paycheck/disposable income. So IMO it is ALL about economics!
I really don’t have a dog in the fight. I started/came from the pawn shop scene. I understand seeing from the bottom up and am more interested in what gear adds musically. We will probably all tire very quickly anyway from hearing the same sweet spot sounds in a short time the same way the metal power chord is looked on now.
And, it’s just inevitable.

2 Likes

It is kind of amusing to see how split people are over Behringer, just like in global politics of late, it would be interesting to know if Behringer fans are Trump fans too, I suspect many of them are, given the similarities between the two of them, super rich, populist, ego maniacs, targetting the working class, etc.

Probably going a bit off topic though, but it is something that crossed my mind.

Edit: Clarification: by targetting the working class I mean appealing to the working class, and I don’t mean all working class, I’m working class myself and I don’t like Trump or Behringer. I am not a US citizen either, I guess I see democratic/liberal people as more concerned with the environment, workers rights and so on, so less likely to support a large scale manufacture of cheap electronic goods, and therefore less likely to be interested in Behringer products overall.

My point about a lot of similarities between them can’t be denied though, both huge ego’s, both populist, both claiming to want to help the little guy (unless little guy is foreign) both spread their BS by outlandish social media claims, both can’t take criticism (I’ll sue!), both extremely wealthy, both have sociopathic traits. etc.

I wasn’t trying to insult anyone, and if you vote Trump or buy Behringer is not for me to judge, you make your own decisions and I support that, even if I don’t agree.

Hope that clears it up.

3 Likes

I don’t think it’s bollocks. There is a lot of people that don’t like Behringer and are quite clearly biased against them. That’s why I used the term hater.

I am fanboy of any company that releases awesome synths that are affordable.

Might it also be about emerging markets and not just millennials living in western economies? Some Millenials have probably found themselves subjected to similar labor arbitrage practices.

1 Like

I am not sure if we should bring global politics into this, but I see Behringer as pro-working class. Thanks to Behringer, lower middle class can afford to buy some of the best analog synths.

Yes that is what I meant by targetting the working class. But probably not a good idea to bring politics into it.

1 Like

That’s a pretty cheap shot dude :frowning:

You know people run out of arguments when they start to rant on the younger generation (millenial bashing) or strike below the belt (trump supporters) :joy:

Why? It was a question not an accusation, not that I judge Trump voters either, people are free to make choices other than those that I make or there isn’t really choices anymore is there?

1 Like