Behringer has announced the availability of the MS-1 mkII, an updated version of their Roland SH-101 knockoff that they say is ‘vastly improved’ over the original Behringer MS-1.
The Behringer MS-1 mkII – originally announced last year – uses cloned 662 chips, to get closer to the original’s sound, and they’ve also updated the firmware to address some problems with the original MS-1’s implementation.
Here’s what’s new in Behringer MS-1 mkII 1.0.6:
- Transpose Fix – The Arp playback now follows the original implementation, making your music creation smoother and more intuitive.
- Portamento Improvements – Whether you’re using Arp, Sequencer, or just playing around with different modes (off/auto/on), Portamento is now more responsive, with better scaling for smoother control and playback. Plus, the start time has been refined for even better performance.
- Random LFO Upgrade – You can now clock the Random LFO from external source
See the Behringer site for details.
Pricing and Availability:
The Behringer MS-1 mkII is available now with a street price of about $260 USD.
Brilliant update. If the next one increase the cutoff potentiometer size and perhaps the envelope sliders, then this cowboy will shout ‘Yeehaw!’ ?
Is it only available in red?
Hopefully not!
Sadly ues for now, lets petition them to make a see-through green version!
I would prefer black. Not a fan of the red.
Can’t wait for v3 to have all the kinks worked out. Just kidding! you’d be 100000 times better off buying a Michigan synth works MSW-810, an Intellijel Atlantis or Atlantix for the authentic Roland SH-101 vibe with modern build quality.
But none of those synths include firmware that change the size of the cutoff potentiometer!?
This rly is the rescue for this synth.
I denied the mk1 because the glide was incomplete, then finding out the mk2 had the same behaviour just with always on for the keys was a bummer.
Now its all good!
(Behringer website not up to date is a pity.)
It’s astounding that Behringer takes years to deliver their synths after they announce them, but they don’t use that time to get the designs right. They must be spreading themselves too thin with the dozens of designs that they have in the works.
Multiple designs – like the RD-8 and MS-1 – were marketed as “accurate recreations of the original circuits” for several years. Then Behringer released mkII versions that make the mk1 versions worthless.
Behringer also makes a lot of what seem like noob design errors, like not making trim pots accessible on the Model D, or with the Moog modular knockoffs not knowing when to copy the originals vs copy clones of the originals.
Why is this synth on Amazon but not on Sweetwater?