Behringer today announced that it is hiring hardware and software engineers to help it with its quest to design 20+ new synths and clones of classic gear.
They shared this message via Facebook:
Want to design amazing synthesizers?
We are looking for several passionate and talented digital hardware, FPGA and software engineers for our world-class synthesizer teams in the UK and Germany.
Send us your CV with your email address if you are interested to turn the synth world upside down:-)
They have an application on their Facebook page.
Looks like we’ll have some digital Behringer synths in the near future.
Wow, the Glass Door reviews of working at Behringer are terrible!
A whopping 4% employees would recommend the company to a friend. Yikes!
https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Behringer-Reviews-E334438.htm
What are they doing to employees there?
How many people are working at Behringer? How many of those reply at that site? It’s not enough data to judge an employer to my eyes.
“As an engineer, this is not the place you go to innovate and do great things. This is where you go to learn to rip off other companies designs and recreate them using the absolute cheapest parts.”
The comments on that job site are such a surprise, considering their product line.
Engineer of what? clarify
It’s interesting, but like bert said it’s probably quite biased. Even a company like Gibson gets 2.2/5 on this website. Most people that go through all the trouble of leaving a review here generally do so because they’re pissed off with the company and want some sort of revenge. Still, that was a laughable reading! 🙂
*lol* Taking “glassdoor” as a serious reputation meter….. (never heart of this site before…)
Anyone can post his “opinion” there.
It’s obvious that most of the ratings are coming from Behringer haters.
Is there a better site that you’d suggest?
Glassdoor allows people to speak freely about their experiences. You’re a lot more likely to get uncensored feedback there and it seems like Behringer’s feedback matches what you’d expect. The engineers are all complaining about only getting to make clones!
Didn’t know that their feedback would be as harsh as that, though! Maybe it’s true that people with bad experiences are more likely to respond to a survey like that?
No website at all.
I once looked up the ratings of a Romanian airport I had to go to. It got 1/10. Then I checked the Beirut airport I had to go to. It got 1/10. Then, for fun, I checked my local airport. I know that one well, and I consider it to be one of the best airports in the world. It got 1/10.
Websites like Glassdoor probably only attracts the moaners. People using that kind of websites to make their point are usually so happy that their preconceptions are confirmed by some source, that they don’t even care if it’s reputable or not.
Sounds like you could be the one interpreting the site to meet your preconceptions.
Do you actually know any former Behringer engineers or have some other actual experience or information that would lead you to dismiss the feedback of 20+ former employees at GlassDoor?
Because it sounds like you are saying that you trust your preconceptions over ANY job review site.
I like cheap synths as much as the next guy. I understand that. But that doesn’t mean you have to drink the Kool Aid, dude!
Troll attempt alert!
My DM12D is one of the best sounding synths I have. It sounds terrific and on par with my OB-6, Prophet 12, Juno 2, Microwave 1, e.t.c. Living classic. I must admit I use Dm12 the most. Other synths have strong points as well, but DM12 is the best value for its price. OB-6 with 2-3 good pedals will cost you $3k (native OB-6 effects are not that good – even when DSI says it is “studio quality” which is terrible BS), DM12 has same result for just $500.
completely agree, I bought the DM12 as a total impulse but I really love the way it sounds. The Ambika and Novation Peak can give it a run for its money but it beats all my other analog polys hands down.
All DSI effects seem cheaply tacked in like an afterthought if you ask me. I know it’s now a long time ago but the Tempest Distortion and Compressor? Pure rubbish. But I guess at least the OB sounds good enough in and of itself for it to not matter. I also like the DM12. But the fx on there are next level
<3
yes please! i cant wait for clones to be a boring concept.
OSCar! OSCar! OSCar! Pleeeeeeeease!!!!
Me wants it much too. 🙂
Ulli: U require Cool looking bands making awesome synth hit songs,
Superb composers composing classic synth scores for album, movie, tv
to “turn the synth world upside down”
Remember Ulli gear on its own does Nada.
What’s the point in “turning the synth world upside down” though? The synth world is amazing as it is, there have never been as many inspiring and affordable tools to create music than in the last couple of years.
It is only when someone turns the world upside down when people realizes that what they thought was good could be even better. I am not saying Behringer will invent the wheel but still, thinking that what we have is good enough does not necessary help with progress.
Not quite sure how a flood of low budget imitations of synthesizers we already had 40 years ago will change the way we see the world to be honest. But that’s just my personal, highly subjective and biased two cents. I’m sure lots of people will have lots of fun with this stuff, and that’s okay.
Even if that was all they made, one still has to consider the impact it could have, in people getting access to hardware synths to become synth players in bands. That was not the same when the “original” products were made.
The price of products are not irrelevant when it comes to the way we see the synth world.
I don’t think behringer will be able to do a new synth that will blow our minds.
Subtractive synthesis is still the most approachable form of synthesis when it comes to programming and learning. And there isn’t that much that can be done to that, without making it too complex.
And I’m skeptic about their ability to invent a new type of relevant synthesis.
But they will make usable products at better prices then we are used to.
How their products sound and “awesomeness” of the price point have nothing at all to do with how they treat their employees. Glassdoor rating aside, there was some pretty disturbing reporting about conditions at the Behringer plant in China this past Summer.
I am not OK with buying a $200 clone of a classic synth at the expense of the health and safety of others. There are plenty of other options available that are not a lot more expensive.
Behringer’s troubling history with, let’s say “intellectual property” issues, is another problem. It’s wrong for them to profit off of the time, effort, and designs of others. It doesn’t matter how low the price point. Suing bloggers and Dave Smith did nothing to make me feel better about all of this.
No more Behringer for me. There is a lot of other gear in the sea.
Do I miss the report regarding conditions at the Behringer plant in China or is it just a myth? Could you give us an official source or an evidence for your statement?
As far as I know it’s not a myth, there were several news reports last year about it the questionable working conditions in Behringer’s Chinese factories:
– https://www.clb.org.hk/content/factory-workers-zhongshan-protest-dangerous-working-conditions
– https://m.midifan.com/news_body.php?id=28353
– https://www.gearnews.com/behringer-midifan-and-the-music-tribe-city-factory-strike-uli-takes-to-facebook/
Synthtopia doesn’t appear to have covered this news themselves, although I can’t blame them given that there are elements of political and social issues involved.
Well it is quite obvious that cancer from working conditions, are unlikely to have appeared that quickly.
So that makes the reporting clearly biased. And there is no reliable source of information.
There might be some level of truth, but it is clearly not completely true.
So in that regard it is a myth, in that those articles articles aren’t completely true, and could be completely fabricated.
The truth is that we don’t have the full truth. All we have are some clearly biased articles at best, but that could even be complete fakes.
Glassdoor is anonymous reporting site closer to 4chan rather then to Yelp.
Admin: Personal attack deleted.
Keep comments on topic and constructive.
Admin: Personal attack deleted.
Keep comments on topic and constructive.
wait til they start doing modular
I guess it depends on what “turning the synth world upside down” means. I doubt everyone has the same definition.
It means moving all synth production from this side of the world to China, where labor is dirt cheap.
I like that, keep up the good work Behringer!
Give us a Nord Modular 3…. ?
If you can make a Yamaha CS-80
Roland Jupiter 8
Hartmann Neuron
Elka Synthex
and Yamaha VP1 clone….then you will achieve god status, and I would buy all 5.
The Hartmann Neuron, seems to be quite buggy. A product inspired by it possibly. Keep in mind though that it is basically a softsynth, in hardware form, and perhaps doing it in software is the best approach…
VP1 may be nice. But physical modeling works better with large graphical interfaces. The same of synthesis could be done in software, even as an iPad app. And there are some physical modeling softsynths out there, just not one that does exactly what the yamaha ones did.
I rather see some company do a iPad musician dock, with controllers, audio and midi i/o, with a tilting and size adjustable stand that holds its in place even when touching it… And then see synths like those mentioned above in software form… And an iPad easily has the computing power to do what the Hartman Neuron did with a intel CPU inside, or what the VP1 did with DSP.
Those analog synths you mentioned, would be nice to see. Although there is a CS-80 clone. And there was plans for the Synthex if I’m not mistaken.
But behringer would be able to price them better than those.
They’re going to turn the synth world upside-down by………doing what has already been done?
lol that $300 behringer neutron turned my synth world upside down 🙂
I have purchased a number of Behringer products myself, and have been generally delighted by the first 6 months of ownership. Then, the noisy pots (e.g. ALL the pan pots on my 1602 rack mixer), the cheap and poorly designed connectors (like their portable mixers), and other glitches and awkward designs have caused disappointment. As is often said, “The Bitterness of Poor Quality Remains Long After the Sweetness of Low Price is Forgotten”
Please make a multitrimbal analog synth!
16 independent channels with 32 voices and lots of knobs.
That’s great, if working conditions are poor at Behringer, daycare-droid employees are much less likely to even stay with them, let alone to get on board as a new employee. If so, Behringer will hopefully not only struggle to work to targets, but might even critically fail to start planned projects, this is where contractors come in, who, in knowledge of the situation, will now charge premiums. Incidentally, this may well even render the end products better, too. I should start hiring some droids myself, to write arbitrary negative reviews on Glassdoor, for that matter, to rig the pathetic crowd opinion system, nudging target companies towards contractors.