Behringer TD-3 An Updated Roland TB-303 Clone

Behringer today introduced the TD-3 Analog Bass Line Synthesizer, an updated clone of the Roland TB-303.

Behringer says that the analog circuitry is ‘an authentic reproduction of the original circuitry with matched transistors’. The TD-3 expands on the original, though, by adding USB/DIN MIDI In/Out, some basic CV/Gate features and built-in distortion.

The company is positioning this to go head-to-head with Korg’s recently introduced NuBass synth, with a street price of around 150 Euro.

Features:

  • Reproduction of original circuitry with matched transistors
  • Analog signal path based on original VCO, VCF and VCA designs
  • Sawtooth and square waveform VCO with transistor wave-shaping circuitry
  • 4-pole low-pass resonant filter with cut-off, resonance, envelope, decay and accent controls
  • 16-step sequencer with 7 tracks, each with 250 user patterns
  • Arpeggiator with wide patterns for great sound effects
  • Distortion circuitry modeled after the DS-1
  • 16-voice Poly Chain allows combining multiple synthesizers for up to 16 voice polyphony
  • 11 controls and 28 switches to give you direct and real-time access to all important parameters
  • MIDI and USB implementation with MIDI channel and Voice Priority selection
  • 3-Year Warranty Program

The Behringer TD-3 will reportedly be available to customers sometime this quarter.

Behringer TD-3 Intro Video

82 thoughts on “Behringer TD-3 An Updated Roland TB-303 Clone”

  5. Behringer needs to fire their entire marketing team, because their videos are always beyond heinous.

    As long as they keep making cheap knockoffs, though, people will keep buying them.

    There’s a missed opportunity to make this Eurorack compatible, with serious gate/cv connectivity – but it’s clear that Behringer knows what compromises/price points need to be met to make a mass-market piece of gear.

    2. The marketing is REALLY bad. As a subscriber on their Youtube, they are halfway through announcing their Wingman mixer letter-by-letter (they got as far as WING), then completely stopped that to tease the 303 for the past 3 days.

      The teasers are abstract, telling you nothing about the product, and they’re trying to do it for 2 products at once. Very messy and confusing.

        1. There’s doing it on the cheap, and there’s doing it badly. Parent post describes comically BAD marketing, not cheap marketing.

            1. People concerned with the actual marketing, instead of the manual of the product and its functionality against the pricepoint, are the ones wasting their time complaining about it in these threads.
              This is not a marketing summit, it’s a ****ing piece of electronic music gear, and so far it looks good – which is why its gonna get shared. *patchcabledrop*

    3. What are you talking about, that was hilarious. Go back and look at music videos from the original acid house period and you’ll get it. As for specs and sound, this actually seems great. I’m impressed and I already have a 303.

    5. No, they should keep their marketing team because they don’t need to spend any money on marketing. Just give a couple to some youtube influencers. I got a Model D for 200 when it was on sale a couple months back and it’s the real deal. Slick marketing is everywhere, for everything, 24/7, for garbage, buggy products. The real deal speaks for itself.

        1. Kinda like how that was an issue also on the original Model D and even went on to become a problem with the Moog Voyager because it’s a 40 year old circuit? Notice in the video in the article you linked he doesn’t compare it to other Moogs. That was one of the selling points of ARP synths in the 70’s in that they didn’t have the tuning problems Moogs were known for.

  6. Have hardware manufacturers given up on creating something new?

    iPad apps are the only place where anything new is happening in synthesis right now.

    1. No (see eg the Neutron or Arturia’s MicroFreak or the various Modal synths), but any analog hardware team needs to be able to produce satisfying renditions of ‘classic’ sounds while any digital product needs to overcome the question of ‘how is this different from a plugin with a hardware controller’.

  8. They coulda’ dropped some more FX into this and hit an instant home run! They’d prob need to be analog, but still at that price.

  10. Nice, another supposed clone mono-synth that doesn’t nail the sound or soul of what it’s marketed as that the modern bedroom producer will be convinced they need in their arsenal.

    Do yourself a favor and buy the Korg Nutube. It’s actual innovation and still has the acid sound in the same footprint.

    These practices are going to destroy the industry. Once every legit company that still produces originals is out of business and there’s nothing left to clone, all you’ll have are you broken Behringer synths collecting dust.

    1. 1st off, there have been clones for some years now, and the industry seems to continue to grow. What manufacturers have been put out of business by behringer?

      2nd off, doesn’t nail the sound? There might be some slight differences in sound but it sounds pretty much exactly like a bass guitar.

      3rd 0ff 3.

      1. Think this through carefully. Consumers only have $X in disposable income. If company A (let’s call it Walmart) offers goods at low prices in a convenient department store format, it will put small shops like B, C and D out of business because they cannot compete.

        The same economic mechanisms are at play in other industries. Music Tribe’s factory is vertically integrated (they make the cases, print them, make the boards, assemble them, print the packaging, etc.) and heavily funded (presumably by some deep pocketed Chinese investors). Companies in the west cannot compete.

    2. The NuBass does not sound good….let alone like a 303.

      The Behringer 303 is a little on the bright side and with some slight tweaks they could fix this.

  12. The cheap machine from the 80’s comes back cheap. So what? Everything is 100% pure acid and still there some people moaning that this or that isn’t done right their way. This is the best release 2019 and 20’s are coming…. Party on!

  13. Seems like they had fun making the video. I salute any company as big as Behringer that’s still willing to let its people have fun.

      1. They have much more fun than those who made many other things you own.

        Anyhow….Uli does not run a sweatshop like many do in China. The standards at his facility are much higher.

  16. Fxck the snobbery.Cheap gear is what spawned Detroit techno and Chicago acid.
    Long live the audio hooligans.Cheap gear in the right hands creates groundbreaking music.

    1. Therefore absolutely nothing new is going to happen because this is all cheap gear that’s already existed, inspired its genre and moved on. These sounds are going to be lost to the wind while real manufacturers creating OG synths like Moog’s Matriarch or the Novation Peak will be all over renowned records until they inevitably go out of business due to Behringer’s scummy practices.

    2. “Cheap gear is what spawned Detroit techno and Chicago acid.”

      No. TALENT and CREATIVITY are what spawn new musical genres.

      As revered as they are now, the 303 and the 808 basically bombed when they were introduced. The only reason that they’re desirable now is that creative musicians made great tracks with them. “

  17. I’m more impressed by the 3-year warranty than the sound or the specs. I look forward to seeing if their builds and support live up to that, after all of the shade the company’s been taking. The reports from the first few techs who do Behringer repair will define it. Oh sorry, I forgot to bitch about “Where’s my CS-80 and OB-X and $1100 T.O.N.T.O. and flying saucer??”

    1. Behringer had to move to a 3-year warranty because their gear had a deserved reputation for being trash, and people were avoiding it. Talk to ANYBODY with experience with older Behringer gear and they will tell you about noisy mixers and putting tape over the controls of channels that went out.

      At least the 3-year warranty gives Behringer the incentive to catch up with the quality control levels of the rest of the industry.

      1. “ Talk to ANYBODY with experience with older Behringer gear and they will tell you about noisy mixers and putting tape over the controls of channels that went out.”

        Every mixer is going to have failures. The Behringer mixers were two board designs. You couldn’t remove broken channels. More expensive mixers are built with a PCB per individual channel – removable when broken. They were cheap – but tape is a feature of cheap, not a bug. My mixers weren’t noisy at all.

    2. > I’m more impressed by the 3-year warranty than the sound or the specs.

      Wait until you see the cost of shipping the unit to Europe for repair service on your own dime.

  19. It sounds really good (maybe the filter is a little brighter than it should be) but the price is a no-brainer. One thing I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere – can it be battery powered?

  20. ACIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID!

    1. Well it’s not shipping yet so that’s a preorder price. MSRP is supposedly $300?

      At the commonly mentioned 150 euros, that is 165 USD. 165 USD plus the 25% Chinese import tariff on electronics comes to $206 USD. So street price in US might be $200. Or might be $150 once it starts shipping.

          1. Only if you still have those production capacities in your country. Makes no sense to protect production you don’t have anymore. I agree with the environmental argument. All this shipping around the world is bad becuase of the fossil fuels needed to do so. The moment ships use sails and solar energy, this point will become moot. Long way to go till that happens.

        1. Insanely irrelevant in this case though, right? Sweetwater, amazon, etc, which of those import less than $800 in goods from overseas?

          In the specific case of this instrument, which Chinese site provides for direct import of this model at $150?

          Pray do tell friend!

    1. No, they seem to like money.

      Everything outside of that is an irrelevant means to an end brought about by prior experience and specialized knowledge that can accumulate said money.

  25. Admin: Personal attack deleted.

    Also, you’re using multiple user names to comment on the site, which results in your comments being flagged as spam.

    1. Ya, ripped off designs, conditions so bad at “Music Tribe” your workers strike, and disrespect to other industry leaders that paved the way is soooo fun and compassionate.

  28. At $229 CAD, seems like a no brainer to get more analog knobs in the house without the wife noticing the bank balance. Order placed, apparently on the way already.

  30. NO MIDI CC CONTROL. NO PATCH SAVING. WTF?

    What’s wrong with Behringer? It’s 2019, not 1979!

    Every other company in the industry has figured out how to make synths with memory.

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