To my ears, it’s horrible.
So the price hit the point of too much temptation and I have a black one on the way for £89.99 delivered. I would really like to do some art on the case and wondered if anyone knows of a hardwearing paint that might stick nicely to the plastic?.
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Model painting + possible varnish, powerful colors with many choices …
check that the products do not harm the plastic …
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I just got mine today
I can confirm the volume is low but overall the synth is not noisy.
Yeah it’s not a bad distortion circuit but it’s dumb use a distortion which boost low and hi but cut mid on a 303.
Classic example of people who copy something without even realise what they’re doing.
I think the TD3 doesn’t sound bad at all. I didn’t close the filter yet but it’s much more bright and piercing than a 303. We also have to remember that we listened the 303 when music didn’t have so much high end and today we’re listening a 303 which has 30 years. I also read somewhere that the type of modern board and components make the sound more ear piercing and less “warm”.
But to be honest I bought mainly for techno and overall it does the job. None of my synth/vst can do acid line like the TD3 or at least it doesn’t feel the same to me. A 303 is of course better but for few bucks the TD3 give you a very similar vibe and the same workflow which is actually a big part of the sound.
Does anyone know if it’s possible to use the distortion potentiometers for an alternative fx?
I suspect those pots are soldered straight onto the pcb so no chance of re using them. I suppose if you could find a pot with a shallow enough profile you could desolder the pots, replace them with resistors and then install the lower profile pots into the case via the now unused holes. It would depend on the distance from the pcb to the case to ensure the new pots fit?
Yeah! Exactly like a real 303! I think the TD3 is the perfect 303 clone: a cheap plastic box that you get shocked for how it sounds but you can throw everywhere without caring much and you might have more than 1 because they’re cheap.
IMO buy an original 303 doesn’t give you the same vibes of how it used to be back in the day. After all the 303 become this iconic box because it failed its purpose, it was cheap, somebody saw something on it or that’s what they had and they made history with 5 knobs! I often think it’s not about the gear but about the people, a lot of iconic box have the same story. So my point is we like the sound of the box or what people did with it?
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Oh yeah I forgot they’re SMD. Dude I’m getting old 
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I’ve not been in mine but it might still be possible? If you’ve got the room to a) fit new pots and b) fit the guts of a pedal within the case you should be able to do it? What were you thinking fx wise? A different type of distortion or something else?
Just opened mine up. Firstly there’s around 18-20mm space under the main pcb where you could possibly install a stomp box pcb.
Secondly the pots are through hole so yeah, there might well be enough room to de solder them, replace with resistors (if required - operation of the circuit in relation to the switch would need checking) and slip a small pot into the space where the original pot was.
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Yeah I was thinking to keep the same layout Drive, Tone, Level.
Oh mate thank you so much I actually couldn’t resist and I’m looking at mine too 
Behringer made this thing to get modded. Shit I need to buy a new TD3…
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I think maffez repurposed his distortion encoders for something else.
Head to gearslutz for td3 mod thread.
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Just make sure you don’t lose any of the loose buttons caps when you open it up! 
Ok im trying to sync this 303 clone, i have tried multiple cv cables, midi settings, my a4 is master, it starts but no sound is heard, can anyone explain how to midi cv whatever synchronize
Did you set the sync source? I think you hit the two right-side buttons, then the “key” area will flash, and you can choose the source. If you want MIDI, you’d hit the two buttons, and then hit the MIDI key. Then press again and hit the 48ppq (for example) for the timing. The play button then needs to be on for it to start the sequencer with external transport or pulse. Also, make sure your A4 is sending transport messages.
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yeah finally figured it out, same deal over and over again, ruined my happy hour, this time it wasnt the "right "midi cable, probably cus the a4 mk1 is faulty
thanks
For anyone out there having problem triggering slide as the internal sequencer.
I’m sequencing with the Octatrack
In the synthtool app
Key Priority Low
Multi trigger Off
Mode Slide
I have Accent at 126 Velocity so it’s easier for me to fully twist the Velocity encoder.
In the Octatrack
Arp page Leg ON
Note has to be 1/32 to sound like normal step in the TD 3
and 3/32 for Slide.
Now if in the you do
TD3 C2 C 2 C2(slide) C2 is C2 C2 C2(step 3/32 long) empty step in the OT
TD3 C2 C2 C2(slide) C3 is C2 C2 C2(step 3/32 long) C3 in the OT
Happy Acid 
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3/32 is still a bit long for a slide, but 1/16 is just right, as it seemed to me
I found out 1/16 for the slide by comparing two identical sequences, one with td3 the other from octa. After a little jam on the octa, I have to admit that in some cases 3/32 sounds more musical for a slide, but somewhere it doesn’t. Sometimes 3/32 seemed long for groove
If you slide on the same note you shouldn’t have a step after the slide.
What I mean is if you have C2 C2 and you want the first step to slide you should just have C2 at 3/32 and an empty step.
Instead if you have C2 E2 you’ll make C2 at 3/32 but you keep the E2
1/16 shouldn’t even Slide because Slide get triggered when 2 note overlap, 1/16 is the exact length of one step so there’s not overlapping.
It also makes sense that 3/32 trigger Slide because the 303 should play at 1/32 note length so 3/32 is a full 1/16+1/32 of the next step, the 303 play Slide long as the next step.
Do you set up the TD3 to Low Key Priority? Because it didn’t sound right to me till I changed that, by default is set on Last.
And did you set Legato On on the OT Arp page?
I swear I tried every possible settings and those seem to sound exactly like the TD3.
Had mine for a few months and was thinking about selling it, but I finally got around to taking it apart and twisting the vcf trimpot counter clockwise and I must say I’m much happier with it. Not so brittle and bright sounding anymore, guess I’ll keep it. Trimpot mod recommended!
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Zzounds canceled my pre-order of a Grape Behringer TD-3 because it is “no longer available”, Sweetwater says they are still on pre-order and a price drop to 109.99 for some of the colored models. Zzounds also canceled my colored RD6 order for the same reason.
I can let the RD6 go, that feels easy. I’ve got samples and samplers a plenty.
I kind of half pre-ordered a Grape TD-3 because of the color rather than that I “needed” a hardware 303. I do like that 303 sound and it would kind of fit nicely into my current setup and what I’m trying to do vibe-wise.
I’m torn on whether I should go head and just grab a silver TD-3 from somewhere or maybe think about a different clone. Thing is, it isn’t worth spending more than about 300USD on a 303 clone and there are so many out there now my head is spinning. Any thoughts would be great.
edit: current setup is RD8, Digitakt, M:S, Circuit MonoStation