Behringer discussing making ARP Odyssey now

[calaverasgrande]

Whatever people here may think about Behringer as company (based on past products/history), they are quickly moving up the chain of command.

We used to laugh at Casio and their cheap home keyboards; now they are a market leader in good quality stage pianos and synths.

that is a pretty bold assessment. I'd describe them as 'market participating', not market leading.
Arturia, Elektron, Korg are more what I'd call market leaders. They produce products that sell out frequently, and inspire imitators.
After releasing some serious products a few decades ago, they receded, until recently to products that run off batteries and have speakers in them. Toys basically. These new products of theirs do not appear to have any notable features that differentiate them.

[commodorejohn]

Casio hasn't led anybody anywhere since the days of the CZ-1000. They haven't made interesting professional/semi-professional gear since then, their home/toy gear isn't even interestingly cheesy like the CT-101 and kin anymore, and Yamaha makes better low-end home keyboards (although those aren't that interesting, either.)

[madtheory]

Bit pedantic maybe, but VZ-1 and FZ-1 came after the CZ. The FZ is especially good. Remarkable filter. All derived from the even more remarkable Cosmosynth system. But ya, nothing remarkable since then.

[desmond]

Bit pedantic maybe, but VZ-1 and FZ-1 came after the CZ. The FZ is especially good. Remarkable filter. All derived from the even more remarkable Cosmosynth system. But ya, nothing remarkable since then.

It seems that their first venture into the pro MI market, the CZ range, was very successful for them, so they invested further and we got products like the SZ-1 sequencer, the RZ-1 drum machine, the DZ-1 electronic drum set, the FZ samplers, and the VZ synths.

While the FZ's did quite well, or at least were well regarded as decent sounding but affordable samplers of the time, they never really matched the success of the CZ synths. The VZ's were the last ditch attempt and revitalising the CZ synth tech and reclaiming some of that success, but they didn't do well and after that Casio basically exitted the pro market and concentrated on the more consumer/player end of the keyboard market.

It's only in the last few years that Casio introduced some more pro-level synths again, but I don't think they have made much of an impact...

[calaverasgrande]

honestly I was not aware Casio was 'back' until it was brought up here.
Also not aware they had done a drum machine. Is that PD like the CZ?

[pflosi]

The RZ1 rocks!

[Aaron2]

Casio came out with a small line of semi-pro-quality synths a couple of years ago, the XW-P1 and another model. But I don't think they really had much impact. For one thing, Casio's timing was bad. These synths came out at the same time that several other analogs dropped, which captured the buying public's interest far more than these Casio machines.

[synthroom]

If Casio would put calculators in their synths again, perhaps they would sell better...

[Hybrid88]

If Casio would put calculators in their synths again, perhaps they would sell better...

Or synths in their calculators even, that would make high school maths for a lot of people a little more tolerable

[ta152c]

I have a few Behringer pedals and they work well, no complaints.

Why all the dislike about them? People buy their stuff all the time, and if it helps people make music, then is it an issue?

Regarding the ARP Odyssey copy, I don't see why it shouldn't be a good thing. There can't be that many original ones about for sale, they're expensive if they are, and the chances of your average teen or early 20s adult having a large sum of money to spend on one is a bit remote (unless rich).

If its coming in at $500 or £300 then I bet it'll sell by the bucketload. Nobody has heard one yet, so its all speculation eh

[Broadwave]

Nobody has heard one yet, so its all speculation eh

True, but it's been confirmed that both Behringer and Korg are using the same original circuits from the 70's, so there's no reason for it to sound "dodgy" in any way - although the purists will no doubt complain that it doesn't sound the same, and I'd probably agree - considering the Korg/Behringer will be brand spanking new and not some knackered and abused 40 year old synth

My money is on Behringer, as I like the idea of preset memory, although I think Korg will have them out the door way sooner. I'm prepared to wait though.

[calaverasgrande]

in both cases I will beleive it when I see it. And even then I will wait for SonciLab or some one similar to do an actual review/comparison. Not a fanboy slobber fest or one of these tinear "demos".
I mean really why do people demo gear and not bother to use anything better than the cam mic?

As far as Mini keys, I recently picked up an Arturia MiniLab just to use with my iPad and a few apps. I'm gonna see if I can live with these wee little ones before I plunk any cash on an MS20 mini, much less a Korg Odyssey.

[ryryoftokyo]

Why all the dislike about them? People buy their stuff all the time, and if it helps people make music, then is it an issue?

The biggest complaints I have about Behringer is that most of their equipment is just plain c**p, imo. Either shoddy build quality, way too much line level hiss, proprietary connectors (seriously, their UB1202 mixer makes me grind my teeth about that), or just poor performance. I've had some luck with Behringer products, like the Vintage Time Machine Delay/Chorus/Vibe (Memory Man rip-off) in terms of build quality and sound, but man, that thing peaks way too easily. Behringer also gets a lot of flack for things just like this. They rip off things that are already in existence, that are being built by other companies.

At the end of the day, you get what you pay for. Sure, my Moog phaser costs $275 more than the Behringer phaser, but my Moog out performs, out classes, and will outlast the Behringer 100 times over. That being said, you want a $25 phaser? Go get a Behringer. Just don't expect high end performance.

[Automatic Gainsay]

I'd hate to be so cliché as to be the one to point this out:

But there is no way you can keep anything close to the original Odyssey design and also have presets or patch memory. You are going to need a nice thick layer of digital between the controls and the functionality to do that. And that will make it sound different. Of course, many of you will say "WELL, IT'LL BE CLOSE ENOUGH." But it won't.

Also: is there any indication other than Behringer saying "what if we made one of these" that they're going to make one those? I took the whole thing as attention-getting. There's no way they could mount that thing fast enough to beat Korg, and you can have all the patch memory you want, but people who are actually looking for the sound of the Odyssey are going to buy Korg to begin with. And if you care more about patch memory than similarity of sound, you have no business wasting your money on an Odyssey remake.

As for the keys... we need new nomenclature. "Mini-keys" are the things found on Casios and the MicroKorg. The keys found on the MS-20 Mini are proportionately-smaller normal keys that are easier to play with full-sized key technique.

[calaverasgrande]

I'd hate to be so cliché as to be the one to point this out:

But there is no way you can keep anything close to the original Odyssey design and also have presets or patch memory. You are going to need a nice thick layer of digital between the controls and the functionality to do that. And that will make it sound different. Of course, many of you will say "WELL, IT'LL BE CLOSE ENOUGH." But it won't.

Pretty much,
It is almost impossible to inject logic controlled pots and switches into an analog synth and not change what it sounds like.
Much less keep it in a reasonable price range.
Besides, I'd pay extra not to have to deal with firmware updates and such.