That gave me a nice idea for a t-shirt print.
I’ll take their logo and just change that to MEHringer.
watch out for copyright issues … oh the irony 
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Looking for copyright reissues myself
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Ethics aside, all of these synths fell out of favour before and they will again because of trends and new stuff coming along.
I think it is a commonly held misconception that these classic pieces are some kind of magic bullet, and really all Behringer are doing is cashing in on that, mostly.
There is plenty of terrible music made on this gear back in the day, and there will be plenty of terrible music made on these re-issues.
This isn’t to say that classic gear doesn’t have appeal, because it certainly does, but I do think that sometimes people get caught up in the whole nostalgia/mystique/unobtanium thing, and lose a bit of perspective and a bit of money in the process.
I’m very glad that companies like Elektron exist, and I still love classic gear too.
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yep, at the end of the day all I really need is my octatrack to make the tunes I make. I do love the idea of new gear but it’s not essential.
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how can you have such a short sensible opinion? you have to be willing to die for the cause to post in this thread 
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I don’t agree with Behringher’s approach …
but 17.3k viewers and 954 posters have proven it works.
(and lets be clear, there are topics like this all over social media!)
Uli’s policy is centred around publicity and marketing, the more we talk about it, the bigger his smile (and profits) grows … negative or positive matters not a jot. (*)
this is why each product is even more blatant/controversial , social media is the equivalent of old school ‘column inches’ - it’s marketing gold,
consider … how many viewers, have had their mind changed due to the posts? vs. how many viewers, have been made aware of the ‘new product’ due to the ‘buzz’.
Uli/Behringer (and other companies) have for quite a while known how to ‘play’ social advocacy and outrage… they’ve known for a while how to make things ‘viral’ - its the ultimate prize, subliminal advertising, promoting something without knowingly doing it - getting the community to make it a hot ‘item’ (discussing its pros/cons) is way more valuable than traditional advertising.
besides, Uli/Behringer is a reflection of the community, he gives us what we (**) seek and what we already promote , and for sure, I include myself… we are all complicit, we promote him and his cause.
don’t believe me? this topic will hit 1000 posts,
but I bet you, when Uli announces (not even releases) the next clone, it will be the top topic for the next week/month (or until he does his next thing)
does this mean we shouldn’t try to voice our concerns and objections… for sure, no…
but Im not sure how we do this without actually promoting B… its a dilemma.
(*) generally I find these discussions are fairy evenly distributed ,
for n’ against. - intellectual property/small vendors vs affordabilily/non-elitists/improved access
but B does not need 50/50… they only only care about the actual sales ,
I’d guess 10/90 would be absolutely fine/profitable for them!
certainly, current arguments are close enough, that there is not a consensus of outrage, or a ‘stigma’ for B buyers, to really stop many buying.
(**) not literally, i mean the electronic music scene, its gas induced… always looking for the ‘new’ thing, pushing manufactures to give us more (for less) … an industry where pros have been caught pirating software so the youngsters think its ‘ok’ - and if you think it’s ok to pirate, then of course, its fine to clone too, as we are losing respect for intellectual property .
the irony, is we as artist, complain about lack of respect for our creations 
(= intellectual property!)
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Roland is good example. But who can blame them for making the highest profits from their own products 
The boutique 909 and 303 are overpriced and I was pretty disappointed at how cheap the Aira products felt in the person. Compared to Korgs offerings for example I found rolands lower end products less value for money.
But they charge more by leveraging on nostalgia of their historical analog products. Almost like paying for the name rather than the substance.
That is not a fair comparison. Piracy is illegal, while cloning old circuits is legal and for a reason. There is a fundamental difference.
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This was a criticism of the audience not Behringer, and the way we seek cheap alternatives, how we value existing products and manufactures - and potentially damage them - justified by low prices.
Behringer will keep the right side of the law to keep profitable 
Even then do you believe they won’t test the limits?
Did they not recently have to rename a product
Or, the latest tip-top case ripoff its hardly ‘an old circuit’
But I agree, if it’s within the law then - I’m not sure we can say much - B are playing the game.
But is our ‘outrage’ inadvertently helping them ?
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I don’t think it’s a ripoff at all, it’s different in many ways from any tiptop case.
Besides, it is an empty box with a power supply. I think blaming Behringer for ”cloning” an empty box is a bit silly.
So there is nothing more to the design than just a box plus psu? So looks identical to the doepfer case ? I think not
There are for sure differences, but generously it’s at least inspired by tip-top mantis.
But why did B go there?
They could have gone for something different, either a unique design or as you say just a bland box.
But that’s back to my original point.
They do it to be controversial, to create buzz , chat.
It’ll probably not affect tip-top mantis sales more than any other Eurorack cases - but the talk around it makes everyone know B is entering the eurorack case market.
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Just want to note on the R&D part. After selling a product for so many years, the R&D side is well taken over. In my opinion this shouldnt be part of this equation.
why do R&D not matter? Ask Elektron how much money they spend on it, if they could skip the step I am sure they would love to save the money.
It matters a lot if yo know exactly what you are trying to do even before you start
we are talking about a timeframe where the patent has expired. if you have not refinanced your R&D in that time, your product or your calculations have failed. I am not talking about the time before that. of course R&D count in the time beforehand.
Behringer is only playing the capitalist game better than other companies, and that has nothing to do with ethics.
Maybe most of you can afford expensive gear but for many people those cheap synths are their only option. It’s not the same to live in Canada or Sweden than in Ecuador.
For sure what Behringer does can be seen as unfair, but it’s not the only company doing this kind of things, and keep in mind that ethic buying it’s not cheap, I remember a meme about a cheap clothes brand called Primark: there are 3 poor people involved in that transaction, the buyer, the shop assistant and who actually manufacture it.
So, poor people can’t think about ethic buying, and automatically becomes guilty to the eyes of others.
GAS, consumerism and need creation are produced by our capitalist society, and if ethics are important, maybe it’s impossible to do things right in this socioeconomic system for most people.
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It’s the free market at work. The only gripe I have with Behringer is cloning newer products and making them a 1 to 1 recreation. That’s where I would draw the line. Also not giving credit for opensource items that they get inspiration from. That seems a little disrespectful, regardless of the laws or not. Tweak the look and features a bit and nobody would know the difference. Though bringing more affordability to the synth market should be a good thing, no?
I think it was said earlier in this thread that maybe Behringer’s “synthwave” will lose momentum eventually when people realize the clones are not quite as quality as the originals and these old designs don’t always have the magic in them that consumers think. What if Behringer’s synths only last 3 to 4 years and crap out? Only time will tell.
Glad everybody is keeping it civil.
Oh yes indeed. Please keep talking respectfully!
If you ever need to: for me, everything has been said on both sides.
I especially appreciate the two posts above and @thetechnobear rising the point that the more we talk (good or bad), the more we focus the attention (ours and others’) on B.
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