Behringer announces two more vintage poly synthesizer replicas, including the Pro-16 (Prophet-5) and Roland Jupiter-8.
The chips are on the horizon. After we received news about the Pro-800 yesterday, Behringer is now reporting that further products are about to go into production. One of these projects is a clone or replica, as you like to call it, of the Roland Jupiter-8. An analog poly classic of the 80s.
On new pictures that were shared today on Facebook, you can now see real PCBs that closely resemble or even match the design of the original Jupiter-8 circuits. With the ISE-NIN, Black Corporation shows that you can make it much smaller these days. They have packed the Jupiter-8 circuit into a compact desktop synth.
It will be interesting to see how quickly these products are coming to market. At the same time as the Jupiter teaser, there were also more details about Pro-16 (Prophet-5 with 16 votes) project in 2021. It is not known whether we will get any news of this soon.
Article From July 30th, 2021
Behringer is on fire again with new synthesizer announcements. After an eventful mid-July, things got quiet around the company. That was logical, they also have to concentrate on developing and releasing products. We like new additions to the line, but we are happier when they become reality and can be bought.
Now at the end of the summer month of July, Behringer accelerated again with two new announcements. A finished prototype and a teaser for an upcoming Japanese synth clone/replica/remake.
Behringer Pro-16
The obvious one is the Pro-16 which is a clone/replica/remake of the Sequential Prophet-5 Synthesizer from 1978. Most of the people here will surely remember last year when Dave Smith and his now ex-company Sequential brought the Prophet synth back onto the market. As Prophet 5 and Prophet 10.
Unlike the original reissue, the Behringer version will probably get 16 voices instead of 5 or 10. The Pro-16 also has a slightly larger display. Everything else is very reminiscent of the original Prophet Synthesizer. How you feel about this clone/replica/remake is up to you. I really appreciate vintage synth recreation like the Roland SH-5 etc. These have not been on the market for a long time and is great to see them back.
Now with the Pro-16 I have to confess I don’t know how to feel about it. On the one hand, there is a reissue from the original developer and at the same time, Behringer is working on its own Prophet replica.
Behringer Jupiter-8
Also today Behringer published a sketch that indicates a clone/replica/remake of a Roland Jupiter-8 Synthesizer. I think there is a lot of interest in this synth, as Roland himself shows no interest in reviving the original instrument from 1981. Yes as software or digital synth, which is not the same. A “yes” for a Jupiter-8 recreation.
But the development of the “B” Jupiter-8 has only just begun. So it will take longer before we can order it.
More information here: Behringer
I hope this will be the final lawsuit to take down B.
Abandon all hope.
LOOOOOOLLLLLL!!!!!!! 😀
Uli for President
Naah, you being unrealistic, whatever, you think of B, they are a force for good in the marketplace. I’ve got a 303 and a devilfish both clones, I’ll grant you, but would never, have been able to get my synth nerding hands on these units if it wasn’t for B.
Seth, you poor poor soul. What’s wrong with building products that people can afford? I sure can’t afford a Minimoog re-issue, but sure can afford a Poly D. And I bet when you get a prescription, chances are it’s an affordable generic version of that expensive med you was described. Uli, bring em on!
I support what behringer is doing but by making these synths consumer level it’s making them almost unrepairable. Prophet 5’s are through hole pcbs and ICS are mostly eBay’able. My main gripe is surface mount is hard to fix and alot of these units will hit the landfill before the OG’s. So being cheap has it’s limits too.
I find SMD much more easy to fix than trough hole.. get some hot air mate!
These products are just cheaper for YOU. You can afford them because other people pay a bigger part of the price: The Chinese workers pay for them by working for low wages. The original engineers and developers pay for them by having their intellectual property copied without proper compensation. And ultimately, we all pay for them when they end up on a landfill because they have low resale value are not repairable or recyclable. That’s what’s wrong with them (and many other „cheap“ products“): They are cheap for you, but only because a lot of other people take care of a part of your bill.
Everything you own was done with the blood, sweat and tears of someone else. One of the guys who built your home probably lost his thumb. The cloths you wear? Children tears all over it.
Get off your high-horse.
It’s easy to make comments like this when you’re not the one stuck working in a factory 12 hours a day to make enough money to feed your family. Behringer synths are cheap because the company exploits cheap labor and uses cheap parts in large quantities.
While I will not defend Behringer’s questionable ethics, there is a lot you have wrong here Dacci. Chinese factory workers make lower wages than the equivalent job in the US or Europe, but the cost of living in China is also a lot lower. A friend who was an exchange student from China told me a factory worker can make in one month what a farmer makes in a year. This is why a lot of people from farming villages leave home and go to cities for factory jobs which pay them enough to support their families back home. The intellectual property argument does seem unfair, but there is nothing illegal about it for reasons that benefit all consumers in other manufacturing areas outside the synthesizer world. Lastly, in the days of electronic recycling and parting broken instruments out, I doubt that there are really that many current made synths that end up in a landfill. It isn’t the 1980’s anymore. I’m partially with you in spirit, but you need arguments that are a bit more valid in this case.
Most other manufacturers like, korg, Roland and Arturia, build their products in China, it’s a sound business model, the Chinese are very unique in the way they work and produce products, yes there is many things wrong in the way the hierarchy treat the front line workers but most other countries have, low wage economies, doesn’t make it right but it is what it is..
“The Chinese workers pay for them by working for low wages.”
That applies to everything manufactured in Asia, but only ever gets brought up when it’s Behringer.
“The original engineers and developers pay for them by having their intellectual property copied without proper compensation.”
The patents on the Prophet’s design expired long ago. There have been many copies of the Prophet-5’s design. But again, it’s only brought up as some kind of horrible thing when Behringer does it.
“we all pay for them when they end up on a landfill because they have low resale value are not repairable or recyclable.”
Like nearly all modern manufacturing, including Korg, Arturia, Roland, the phone you’re using and the list goes on. But it’s Behringer, so it’s extra evil, right? A 100% guaranteed repairable forever synth doesn’t exist.
And YOU Dacci probably own an Apple Iphone or an Android which is over priced and is manufactured in Chinaland by those same workers. I wish these could be produced here in the U.S. also but its not going to happen. As for recycling,
most people don’t care anymore because most communities recycling programs don’t work anymore and end up in the landfills and most products ARE able to be recycled, but its not profitable to the corporations to do it which is bad. And intellectual properties do run out eventually. Thats why you have low cost generic medications out there. So, look in the mirror and take a hard look at yourself and see who’s the hypocrite. I’ll get off my soapbox now. Go UlI!
Fair points, but me being a hypocrite does not make this company any better.
Puccy (lol) They certainly are better than you. They build and are a force to behold. You just whine like a little b#tch with nothing to show. ?
lol, i´ve never seen someone use “yeah i´m a hypocrite so what” argument, especially in a discussion around ethics. jesus wtf lmao.
the point everyone here is making – in a world where everything is made by cheap labour somewhere else, one cant really single out behringer in criticism. get it? your other arguments are flawed too (recycling and iP).
i dont own any behringer gear and some of their moves are douchbaggery of highest order – but reviving iconic classics and making them extremely affordable is just great.
nor worse. Several strong-sounding points, if Roland would simply re-issue its own past product … but it doesn’t. Which is significant but overlooked. Behringer has found a profitable market that the big three won’t pursue — reminiscent of kit cars. Cheap knockoffs are part of retail and always have been — and sometimes the cheaper knockoff turns out as good as what it imitates (Ibanez guitars, I’m looking at you). And still begs the same question: why isn’t the Big Name manufacturer issuing these?
Dearest Technomancer,
‘lol, i´ve never seen someone use “yeah i´m a hypocrite so what” argument, especially in a discussion around ethics. jesus wtf lmao.’
Dacci Pucci’s argument stands strong against the cries of ‘hypocrite’.
‘Alcohol is a carcinogen and you should be careful with it’ is just as accurate a statement if it comes from a venerable doctor or a terminally ill alcoholic.
Calling someone a hypocrite is just ad hominem in disguise.
‘ in a world where everything is made by cheap labour somewhere else’
This is a lie, plain and simple. If you’re going to take the trouble to argue a point why oversimplify and generalise to the point of falsehood?
To add to all this shape shifting on globalization. Apple has zero debt. When all this started during the Reagan, Busch and Clinton (all supporters of globalization) years, it was expressed that by moving manufacturing overseas, that this could help lift third world economies out of poverty. Puffy white clouds and blues skies! Best of intentions but the real evil is inflation. In order to remain competitive, a ton of manufacturers moved to China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, etc. Major corporations (globally) started reflecting much bigger profits to share holders. Apple (and many others) should’ve passed down some of the savings to its consumers ?. The idea that anyone in the United States or Europe for that matter could pay someone a living wage workforce and keep costs down and still report the same profits to investors is a joke. When Apple (for example) first started rolling out quad pro towers (out of China) for $2799, I thought it was ridiculous then but still attainable for some. Nowadays, $4999 start. Kiss my A$$!!!
Dear Thomas,
‘most people don’t care anymore ‘
Are you one of those people? You say that not doing so is bad.
Viewing things as black and white is a recipe for not trying, for learned helplessness.
If I can buy 50% of my stuff that’s 50% recycled does that make me 75% hypocrite?
If a genius medical research team can cure 10% of cancers should they just not bother until they can cure 100%
You take a good hard look in the mirror and understand that to be human is to be a hypocrite.
You can throw your weight behind the right to repair act.
You can pressure manufacturers to make better environmental choices.
hi deluded dude with harvard economy class certification, you already discovered that you live in the same shitty economic system called capitlaism that makes it possible FOR YOU to grow a fat arse while others are starving and those who hardly made it out of that slump, like the chinese market, with growing middle class income etc etc – just in case you understand what its about – are now the workingbench for almost every crap and non crap we all AND YOU buy and use on a daily basis. and its like that since at least 30 years. not to mention the hidden racism behind your bullshit about chinese people (you otherwise dont care, i am sure)
no?
Dearest antti maatteri,
Whilst you probably are well-intentioned, you arguments are mired in oversimplification, generalisations, inaccurate assumptions, ad hominem, and poor data from the field.
And, whilst MIT and other incredible education institutions and individuals provide excellent free online education, it is oh so very apparent that you have chosen to educate yourself via the less salubrious corners of the web.
“intellectual property copied without proper compensation” – it is a copy cat world. Sequential licensed their original polyphonic keyboard from Emu and then had a falling out because Emu kept wanting royalties for their intellectual property. What about the mod wheel and pitch wheel on the left side of the keyboard that was first introduced by Bob Moog in the Minimmog? He later regretted not patenting it because EVERYONE copied that layout and Moog received no compensation for inventing it. Any original patents have long since expired on the original synths and its great that Behringer is able to make these available at a low cost for a new generation of musicians.
Your right on with with your comment but if not behringer, some other POS manufacturer will take advantage of those people. Where does it end?
Ridiculous not to enjoy owning a clone of the real thing. Those vintage synths often needs parts that no longer exist. Hammond clones…. What’s the difference? Another tool in the tool chest. You don’t like them, DONT BUY THEM.
What the actual f**k!!!
“I hope this will be the final lawsuit to take down B.”
Translation:
I’m now stuck with a studio of high maintenance, decaying 40 year old electronics, who’s resale value just plummeted.
hahaha yes. thats all these whineys care i guess 😀
plus their “i dont give a shit about minimum wages and all poor assholes in my own country, but when it gets against behringer and china im all on board with my halfarsed knowledge about economy in general.”
Try not to judge others by your own low standards.
“…as Roland himself shows no interest…” – I like that phrasing. I will from here on think of ‘Roland’ as a grumpy old guy, refusing to take in any feedback from his surroundings..
This is excelent. All that “mystical” Unicorn equipement now in the hands of the common Joe.
Bring them on Behringer. Flood the market with them all.
This is getting ridiculous. Pucci, you yourself are just as guilty of owning products made by the same Asian laborers so time to put a sock in it. What Uli does is provide all of us musicians with instruments of amazing quality at prices that we can finally afford.
thats what these dudes wanna avoid. getting rid of some more competition for their own mediocre music.
i wish i´d had that sort of higher quality equipment with that price when i was younger
Even with the near-slave-labor cost cutting perk Uli currently enjoys, what do you think the street price of a Jupiter-8 knockoff would be, given from that basic schematic, there are at least 6 PCBs stuffed into that thing?
i heard its about three fiddy.
Two of the most famous synths, after the Minimoog, which they’ve already done. Bravo.
if they manage to get thatj8 on the market sooner than later, and the people i trust give it a go for that roland sound being at least close to it. i order this thing in no time, hell i even preorder it. andif its possible with and rd8/9. 😀 the only two synths i ever wanted to buy then were a dx7 and a j8.
Why all this hoo ha about yet another remake of an old synthesizer? It’s 2021, where are the NEW synthesizers? Who’s developing NEW electronic music technology? Rehashing the 70’s and 80’s is kind of pointless.
Other companies come out with new stuff all of the time. Kong has a bunch of new cheapest synths out. Or get a Cobalt/Argon, HydraSynth, or spring for an Iridium. Etc etc.
Well , Behringer can easy copy Sequential synth cos CEm chips are around , but , J80 is a different story . Possible , with some good sup. for IR filter chips …
Look at the Apple recent case.not copycats and still issues in China/foxcon.
although a j-8 would be damn nice, i still wait for the behringer polykobol take.