Behringer Teases $600 Sequential Circuits Prophet Synthesizer Knockoff, The Pro-800

Behringer has officially announced a Sequential Circuits Prophet synth knockoff, the Pro-800.

The Behringer Pro-800 is based on the Sequential Pro-600 from 1982. The Pro-600 was designed to be a more affordable Prophet synthesizer, and was notable for being the first synth commercially available to implement MIDI.

Details are to come on Behringer’s Pro-800, but it’s a polyphonic synth module, based on the Pro-600 design and mimicking the original synth’s look.

Here’s what Behringer has to say about the Pro-800:

“Some time ago we started a wonderful journey with the famous synth designer GliGli who rose to fame for his highly respected improvements around the Sequential PRO-600.

Together with GliGli we have taken this beautiful synth to the next level. The PRO-800 is now an fully polyphonic, 8-Voice Dual VCO synth with many new features.

We’re working hard to get it to you below US$ 600 while shipment is targeted for coming January.”

What do you think about the prospect of a $600 Sequential Prophet knockoff? Share your thoughts in the comments!

100 thoughts on “Behringer Teases $600 Sequential Circuits Prophet Synthesizer Knockoff, The Pro-800”

  3. Someone got sweaty when they revealed the polybrute. Bought the Behringer 808 and it felt like I bought a plastic tree from Ikea. Not the build quality which was pretty good, just the essence of it. Felt like a poser buying a skateboard and all the skate gear only to not skate.
    I’m sure people find solace in owning these vintage/new devices, just felt strange to actually own one.
    Oh, forgot to add, IMO.

    2. So the only things that concerns you about owning or buying a piece of gear are: whether or not it’s made from plastic and whether it makes you intrinsically cool?

      What about whether it sounds good and if it enables you to make good music? If these don’t matter to you well then spending $5000 on an OG Roland 808 isn’t going to do it for you either

      1. You know, half the time people complain about one of Behringer’s clones, they have never owned or even heard the original in real life. Not saying this is the case here, but I just find that people like to b!tch … because!

    3. you can either make music with it or you can’t, if you’re getting all twisted by brand names and allure then remember people started making music with the original 808 and 303 not because it was a fancy instrument but because THAT WAS ALL THEY HAD. these were junkbin instruments at the time.

        1. They’re just making fun of the fact that Behringer announces stuff LONG before they actually can ship it.

          Some people are really hot for their 909 knockoff, but it’s been years since they first showed it. My guess is that Behringer is hung up on figuring out how to copy sample-based voices without getting sued.

            1. You can legally clone the circuit boards as much as you want, but copying the actual samples or look of the 909 will get you in trouble if you get on Roland’s radar.

  7. Is anyone so nostalgic that they prefer that number pad plus alphanumeric screen to a modern display that might, dare I say it, allow for patch naming?

    1. I hate everything about behringer but it’s actually very nice. Much faster then most preset changing.
      It’s like names of tracks. I never really cared about presets name, I can’t recall even one.

      1. Here it looks like Behringer’s need to copy the look of the Sequential Pro-600 is a compromise that results in a dumbed-down synth.

        In a fraction of the space devoted to the LED and buttons, they could have implemented modern patch management and preset buttons. See how effectively the Korg logue synths do this, using very little panel real estate.

        Instead, almost a third of the panel is taken up with controls that only do a fraction of what Korg’s synths can do, and that do it in an archaic way. Does anybody really want to remember the difference between patch 017 and patch 117? Been there, done that, 30 years ago, and it sucked.

        1. It absolutely drives me CRAZY that I have to navigate 500 patches on my Prologue using a single encoder or some stupid filtration + encoder. If only I could just punch in patch number 327 using a number pad. Now that would be something! 🙂

  9. Behringer has surprised me with their vintage instrument line. I just pre ordered the RD6 today from Sweetwater and that will be my first Behringer electronic instrument. I have never owned a real 606 or really heard one before so I can’t wait to try it out.

  10. those buttons seem truly awful and unpleasant, but the form factor is overall nice. regardless, vintage reissues are pretty boring when there are plenty of plugins with the same characteristics out there hitting the right sound great. I just don’t really see why this is worth bothering much with.

  11. Listen…..for the same price…..but half the voices but way more features, go for a used Dave Smith Instruments Mopho X4. The Mopho has a unique sound and when it is poly it is awesome.

  12. For about 1,200 bucks you can buy a Sequential Rev2 desktop. Poly step sequencer, internal power supply, double the voice count, dual stereo outputs, mod matrix, effects, saves presets, sounds fab, and will still be working in 10 years. Seriously. Save up and buy quality.

      1. the price is right for the Rev2 8 voice desktop , so it’s not doubled the voices but Atomic shadow point stands. Just showing how much you get with Dave smith products.
        Not to mention better quality made in USA.
        VCO’s are not “better” then DCO’s. DCO can be even more complex and cost more to manufacture, They can sound the same, VCO just drift more, on the Rev2 there is “slop” parameter if you want to mimic this behavior.
        Check out the MFB synth pro with both technologies, They sound the same under normal climate.
        But i bet the filters are very different.

        1. No mate you’re wrong. They might be similar if doing boring vanilla patches, but try doing anything vaguely interesting like oscillator FM/cross mod and your Rev2 will be useless.

          1. I wrote they can sound the same
            I don’t think simple FM in subtract synth is any interesting (unless you just heard about synthesizers and you living in the 70’s)
            If interesting is your goal, the REV2 is much more complex, It’s like a poly modular synth with presets in a box,
            and inferior DCO 🙂

        2. I don’t really think people who want the 600 sound are going to by a rev 2 8 voice, it’s definitely a good synth but the only thing they have in common is the form factor and they’re polys

      2. Anybody that thinks DCOs are a problem on current Sequential synths doesn’t know what they’re doing.

        Dave Smith has as much as said that his current VCO synths (great synths!) use VCOs to keep the fetishists happy.

        I wonder if the Brophet 800 will copy the sucky aspects of the Prophet 600, like the general lagginess, slow envelopes, steppy knobs, etc?

        1. As much as said? So what did he actually say then? Methinks it’s actually you who don’t know what you’re talking about. Try doing osc fm on your DSI DCO synth. It can’t do it. There were FAQs for the Mopho and Evo which confirmed the osc chip was not capable of it. Old DCO synths by Roland for example managed to do FM. So it’s just DSI’s shitty DCOs which won’t do it, plus they sound like crap. You should stop self-righteously posting about DSI synths being better than everything else. It’s not true, plus no-one cares and you make yourself look smug and stupid.

        2. I don’t know if it’s a _problem_ but surely they must have a good reason for building the Prophet 6.

          By the way I think the successor of the Prophet 600 is supposed to be the Prophet 6, rather than the Rev2 or the Tempest. I think the Prophet 6 is > $2000. It’s a different instrument and I’d love to have one, but it is not a budget synth.

    3. Well, if you double the price, you can get more, yes. If you double again, for 2400 you’ll get a Polybrute. If you double again, you can get…..

            1. Maybe you want to support american industry out of loyalty or patriotism, but some of us live elsewhere so we don’t really mind where they are made. Remember DSI was not immune to quality control problems (eg Tempest)

              1. The polybrute is cheaply made, in china,
                It’s not complex nor high quality (some think it looks good) but cost 2400$
                Other synth that cost less manufactured in house in small quantities using Neutrik/amphenol connectors, Alps/Alpha pot’s/encoders, Highly specified Fatar keyboards, expensive parts but they feel great and very durable.
                If you have some experience with high quality you can feel and see the matrixbrute is not (the polybrute seems the same)
                There was no quality control problems with the tempest. (maybe you mean the OS?)
                Nothing in the universe “immune” to problems but if you are decent brand you can try to minimize that on the expense of your margins.
                Do you know arturia midi keyboards history?
                I’m not an American.

                1. I apologise for guessing your nationality. But I think things _can_ be made well in any country.
                  I did mean the Tempest OS — I think that kind of thing is a quality control issue too.
                  I do appreciate a solid build and fine workmanship, although I also enjoy messing about with cheap and cheerful stuff sometimes.
                  I agree that the Polybrute has a bit of a psychological problem because despite all the wood it’s hard for me to think of them as a luxury hardware brand.

                  1. Agreed 🙂
                    I’v been there with the Tempest. Most of the complain was feature requests and alot of times “too much to ask”, People piss off each other and it become much more issue then the Tempest it self. But it did help made it to one of the most powerfull machine ever built.
                    Since it’s upgradable it’s not really qulity control issue but i understnad your point.

    4. What if we don’t want a god damn rev2? It’s not essential just because it’s DSI. It’s just an updated Prophet 8 which was uninspiring DCO crap.

    5. Sorry but in the EU and the UK (and I’ll wager Australia and NZ too), these prices aren’t even close. It’s €1350 ($1600) for the 8 voice and €1900 ($2250) for the 16 voice.

      The US$ prices listed on all these blogs etc are always minus sales tax. Something most people in the UK and EU aren’t used to seeing. Where I’m from these prices only make sense if you have a government registered VAT number you can claim back from. The majority of people do not

      This Behringer like the other poly behringers so far will be approx €799 (VAT inclusive)

      This is massively outside the price of even an 8 voice Sequential desktop

  15. I am a big fan of Dave Smith instruments. we all owe him for midi and his synths.
    It seems though Behringer are cornering the budget market and Dave Smith isn’t producing budget synths anymore?

    1. I don’t think that Sequential wants to compete at the bottom of the market.

      They’d have to sell a ton of synths to make any money, like Behringer or Korg. And does anybody think Dave Smith is still at it because he wants to make cheapy synths?

      1. That sort of implies synths like the Mopho and Evolver were “Cheapy Synths” Which they weren’t. They were really quality instruments at an affordable price. If Dave Smith came out with another synth like those in the price range of the korg stuff it would sell like Hot cakes. I for sure would buy one. I wanted an evolver but alas never got around to it while they were still being produced.

  16. I’m OK with mediocre build quality on a synth that’s essentially disposable, like the Model-D, but when a synth is priced over $600….not so much.

    1. What part of the Behringer Model D is “mediocre build quality?”

      Along with other synths, I have a Korg MS-20 mini and a Model D. The build quality on the Model D is waaaaay better than the MS-20 mini.

      1. Not saying that it isn’t a good value, but you definitely get what you pay for with the Behringer Model D.

        The thing is, when you get one, you really want to believe that you’re getting this amazing deal and a lot of people’s comments about it seem to reflect that.

        The build is much flimsier than most of my Euro modules. The Behringer D is built with the cheapest possible components.The pots and jacks are cheap parts held in place by the solder on the circuit board. As they wiggle over time, they’re likely to develop shorts.

        You’ll probably have to spend an hour tuning it as soon as you get it. It just doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence, compared to other modules.

        Compare this to something from a manufacturer like Synthesis Technology or Mutable Instruments and you’ll immediately see, feel and hear the difference.

      2. ms-20 mini is not a good example for good build quality. You choose one of the worse feeling synth ever.
        But also “feel” is not always the best way to assess built quality.

  17. behringer really should consider hiring some sort of designers, all these synths they clone look so ugly! i mean yeah, i make music, its not a beauty contest, but the look of the synth should be in some way appealing… and these fake wood ends…

  18. The prophet 600 wasn’t very good when it came out. It had a number of well documented issues and just didn’t do what people expected it to do. The patina of nostalgia has led to all kinds of remakes & reiteration of old stunts both analog & digital. Here’s hoping it’s a BETTER instrument than the original

  19. I’m not going to buy. But a lot of young kids and people who can’t buy quality will. They will make sounds they couldn’t before. That’s cool. I do like watching you debate new Behringer products.

  20. I can’t find the listing on Reverb that I pulled up last night. But it said 16 voice. All I see listed now are 8 voice versions. You can up grade an 8 voice version to 16 voices though.

    Price points are tricky things aren’t they? At some point you can’t pay your workers less, and you can’t put cheaper parts in a thing. Not if you expect it to be “quality”. You really do get what you pay for.

    I had a P-600 for a few years. An old friend gave it to me. Those membrane switches were always messing up. I bought a replacement panel from Wine Country, got it working and sold it. I used the cash to buy my first rack frame of modular from Mr. DotCom in Texas.

    1. Hi Atomic Shadow, thanks for looking. I think another part of price points is economies of scale, and obviously Behringer have got that nailed. I expect they have bits of production line that they can quickly switch between different products, all the expertise and tools ready to go, all the supply line and logistics contracts ready and negotiated down, and so on. Smaller companies just cannot compete with that.

  22. As a happy former P-600 player, I think this thing looks like $600 worth of hype in a $20 housing. It doesn’t offer any notable improvements over the original. I can roll with an instrument that has a singular focus, but this one at least deserves a small alphanumeric display for programming and a tougher keypad.

    I’d never aim for a real Oberheim OB synth, but Arturia and Synapse Audio make solid software versions with added switches, modulations and effects. Hardware clones need a little more of that.

    1. My thoughts aswell. To stay positive though, the cooperation with GliGli is at least something. Makes me hopeful that we might see things like a step-sequencer, random arpeggiator, faster envelopes, unison detune, individually tuneable oscillators, additional vibrato, filter distortion and a much enhanced LFO.

      It will still be a (rather limited) vintage inspired design, though.
      Which is kind of sad, unfortunately, given that Behringer not least in the effects and modulation department would have the DSP-power to create something much more enticing.

  23. Would be nice if they did something original with all of the engineering prowess. The Prophet 600 and The Jupiter 6 were one (the?) first MIDI equipped synths. I remember because I was there. LOL. The 600 was a compromise synth. The Jupiter less so but it never really blew me away, I was working in a music stores the keyboard/synth guy in 1984. We had the PPG Wave, Memorymoog, Jupiter 8, Synergy, Prophet 5 and 10, etc. Those flagships spawned scaled down less expensive derivative’s that were compromises. Mostly in features but also in sound quality. MIDI enabled an explosion in synth availability and the DX7 turned everything upside-down with a 2K synth that made the analog beasts fall off a cliff. Roland responded with cheaper analog synths as they had DCOs in the Juno-60 (released before the DX7) and later JX-3P, JX-8P, and more. Yamaha productized the DX7 technology into a dizzying array of synths, both up market and down market. IMHO (and remember I was there, selling this stuff and seeing interest die) DCOs, FM and Sampling killed the (true) analog synth. Sequential eventually started dying and was bought by Yamaha. Oberheim went to Gibson. PPG faded and later resurfaced as Waldorf. It was a blood bath. I sold my Juno-60 in 1989 for $250. Analog synth prices were a joke for most of the 90s.

    So…now the analog market is strong. IMO this is largely driven by artists looking for new sounds and finding them in old synths. That’s fine. It is great to see this market brought back to life by (again, IMO) the modular crowd. But that’s a new development.

    The nostalgia and prices I see for old synths is occasionally deserved. But there’s an awful lot of crappy “analog” synths going for top dollar on Reverb right now.

    So back to this synth. With so much innovation happening in the synth market right now, Behringer continues to drive…lining their pockets by copying 30+ year old designs? OK, maybe make a few, but how about something original? Arturia is doing it. ASM came out of nowhere and is doing it. Even Moog is making interesting, unique synths that cover a broad price range while not being completely derivative of their flagships (there are unique features and capabilities in each, again IMO).

    Bottom line: The Prophet 600 was not that good. U-He’s DIVA is much better sounding and more programmable. Save your coin for the unique stuff, not copies of mass market synths that were cost and feature reduced compromises. And Behringer, it sure would be nice if you put some of that engineering horsepower into something original.

  26. I notice that dozens of people get their weiners in a knot over the perceived lacks of sub-$1000 hardware synths, yet very few seem to go ballistic over their new $3K-4K instruments. Huh. 😛

    Yeah, the P-600 had ass for switches, weird phantom reboots and etc. It was also a fairly decent baby Prophet. The sound was Poly-Mod good and it drove my Jupiter-6. I had fun, learned plenty and cussed plenty. You know the deal. I’m not in line for a Brophet anyway. Its too underpowered.

  29. Behringer is making non-lustworthy synths like this one because they can? I don’t know anyone who will want this. Now a Jupiter 8 or 909 I can understand.

  30. I’m sure it will sound nice. I had one and liked it. I’m pretty happy with my synths right now and will not buy one. I do think it’s pretty cool though!

  31. Not only does Behringer have the audacity to SLAPP sue Dave Smith (for a Gearslutz post), he also continues to shamelessly rips off his designs. The irony…

      1. Admin: Comment deleted because it appeared to be stating misinformation as fact.

        We’re not aware of any Behringer lawsuit against Muffwigglers.

        Behringer’s parent company did sue Dave Smith Instruments, a DSI employee and 20 Gearslutz users for libel. The judge determined that the lawsuit was a ‘Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation’ (SLAPP) suit. A ‘SLAPP’ lawsuit is one intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition.

        Details on the case are available at the court site (https://webapps.sftc.org/ci/CaseInfo.dll?CaseNum=CGC17559458&SessionID=59771CADFF944815810790D0DE5C675691167D9A).

        If anyone has additional information on this, let us know.

        1. Never forget how Behringer’s marketing team reacted when Peter Kirn on his CDM blog pointed out to Midifan and reports floating around the net about awful working conditions in Behringer’s chinese factories.

  34. Where is the Behringer / ARP 2600 clone? Teased a lot, then disappears, now more teasing of other new synth products. Behringer, deliver the 2600 already!!!!! That’s something we ALL could use and appreciate.

  35. And that’s another Behringer post wrap. Thanks folks! You’ll never change.

    Meanwhile, I got a kick-ass System 55 clone I only had to change a couple of potentiometers to make great. Sucks to have an additude.

  36. All the comments i’ve read are so incredibely negatives & dumb. I’m so happy Behringer is making this synth and cant wait to buy it. All i’m hoping is that it can saves up to 999 presets and they bring 500 great presets made by the best synth artists including Inhalt. Keep making thoses great clones Behringer, and keep the original design which give me so much pleasure and bring me back to the 80’s.

  38. ‘How did the Prophet 600 differ sound wise from the Prophet 5? Can someone please elaborate on this?’-
    prophet 600 was a cheaper alternative to the 5,not just that tho, it was way more reliable,the 5 tends to need lots of servicing to keep happy.i think this looks great to me,why do people moan so much?,go get it done and i will buy it,i have lots of their clones and some of the original synths,plus i have met the designer of some of these at Synthfest.basically many are designed by ex-Midas employees in the u.k.I could rate each clone differently some are more close than others,but they all sound great given the price point.I was around when this stuff was out first time at the astronomical prices.Then late 80s/1990 they dropped-a yamaha cs80 was once priced around 800 quid,Jupiter 8 at 600-800 gbp.sh101 around 100 quid.808s around 200-300 quid!.Then the price got higher and higher every year until now they cost too much and are not worth buying at these prices mostly.I still have some synths from when they were cheaper tho lucky for me.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *