Behringer Asks Customers To Stop Complaining About Delivery Dates And To Focus On Plight Of Ukrainian People

Behringer today announced that the global chip shortage – which has led to the company recently introducing 10 new synths that they can’t put into production – is only going to get worse.

The reason? Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has halted production of half of the world’s supply of semiconductor-grade neon. Neon is critical for the manufacturing of lasers used to make chips, and an estimated 45% to 54% of it is made by two Ukrainian companies, Ingas and Cryoin.

The companies have had to shut down production because of the ongoing conflict.

Behringer is asking customers to stop complaining about wait times for their synthesizers and other products, and to think about the victims of the conflict instead:

“The chip shortage has just become much worse. 50% of the global production of neon gas required for all chip production comes from Ukrainian factories, which have now shut down.

But rather than complaining about delivery dates for products, shouldn’t we all take a step back and focus our thoughts and prayers on the Ukrainian people?”

Analysts attribute the global chip shortage to three main causes: global chip production was already maxed out; the US-China trade war has increased chip costs and disrupted production; and the pandemic temporarily shut down production completely, while also creating ongoing constraints on production.

The situation has led electronic instrument makers to delay introductions and raise prices. For buyers, it’s led to a shortage of new gear. And it’s likely to get worse, before it gets better.

According to analyst Angelo Zino, “If stockpiles are depleted by April and chipmakers don’t have orders locked up in other regions of the world, it likely means further constraints for the broader supply chain and inability to manufacture the end-product for many key customers.”

Behringer says that they plan to continue to introduce products, though they do not know when the new products will be able to move to production.

“We employ hundreds of engineers,” they note. “Why would we stop designing products together with our customers? One day, these chips will become available and we’ll ship all the products.”

82 thoughts on “Behringer Asks Customers To Stop Complaining About Delivery Dates And To Focus On Plight Of Ukrainian People”

    1. Frank

      That might make sense for some companies, but not Behringer.

      Behringer, as they say above, employs hundreds of engineers, and they actively incorporate customer feedback into their design process. With several of these recently introduced synths, they showed multiple panel designs on Facebook and asked for user input.

      Behringer keeping its engineers busy designing synths that people are going to want to buy, vs laying them off or having them design gear in a vacuum.

      While it’s a little frustrating now, it’s good for both them and customers in the long run.

      1. Working on synths doesn’t mean the company has to announce synths that aren’t done, either due to design or lack of components. This would be what the majority of companies do: wait until they have something to ship (or shipping very soon).

        This is just typical tears from Behringer in regards to their ongoing poor business practices.

        1. “Behringer employs hundreds of engineers, and they actively incorporate customer feedback into their design process. With several of these recently introduced synths, they showed multiple panel designs on Facebook and asked for user input.”

          So you’re asking Behringer to change the way that they work, Joe, because it makes you frustrated?

          1. AJ, as someone who fields complaints from customers, I’m not surprised. People are so entitled, they think they have the right to dictate your whole business to you just because they gave you $10. Check yourself, folks. If you want a product, buy it. If you don’t want it, don’t buy it. But stop acting like you’re the CEO of every company you ever bought something from.

          2. You seem very defensive of a company known for bad business practices. I’m quite happy and not frustrated at all, but it’s nice of you to be concerned. Thanks!

            I am a user researcher and have have been for decades. None of that means anything I research needs to be announced as an upcoming product. That is purely a business decision, or simply bad business decision making. I’m not asking Behringer to do anything. I’m just pointing out their crocodile tears.

          3. “Joe” is the client. If Behringer doesn’t want his business they can go elsewhere. For sure they don’t get to give us guidelines and humanitarian advice. Who do they think they are?

        2. people would be wise to remember there have always been such things as product ‘announcements’ and advertizing before release. Still trying to turn opinion against a situation where opinion doesn’t matter is the height of childishness and I agree with the other commenter, complete entitlement!

      3. The real problem here is that Behringer employs “hundreds of engineers” who are busy *designing* their products. Maybe if they hired a few dozen designers, the engineers would have more to do than just cloning vintage gear.

      4. No they don’t actively incorporate customer feedback or they would’ve stopped ripping off other people/companies years ago.

        1. Well, there aren’t as many people complaining about that as I’m sure you and your few dozen internet buddies want to believe there are.

          1. yep they are a #1-selling brand now for synths and the customers are the ones buying them not complaining about conjecture etc. Love my Behringer D module and it’s above what sound and features (with the usb options included) than anything else at the price point.

    2. “Stop announcing synths you can’t produce..”

      The first Behringer analogue synth was the Deepmind 12 in late 2016

      They currently have 104 analogue synth related products on Thomann

      By and large they have delivered on most of what they have announced

    2. I didn’t hear any hew and cry for the Iraqi people. But that was us (US) and we are always the Good Guys. Ask Ronnie Raygun. Also brown people don’t count.

    3. This all the while each and everyone commenting supports the CCP by continuing to buy Nike, and a host of other companies that utilize slave labor to make their products. The world is buying cheap junk made in China, and where as many of us do the best we can NOT to by china made products until EVERYONE follows suit, all this chatter is silly ON a side note , It used to be that china prpducts were inexpensive, as if the people are paid its pennies a day, yet the end consumer pays nearly the same as if the product was union made in the free world.

  4. Ukraine was invaded on February 24. Music Tribe has announced eight or nine new synths since then, trickled out at a rate of one every day or two. Now they’re telling us to ignore their product announcements and focus on Ukraine?

    1. frodo – where did Behringer tell you to ignore their product announcements? You’re just making that up.

      We’re on the tail end of a global pandemic and following it with the possibility of World War 3. Behringer is just saying to worry about things that are real.

      Also, if you let the Russians shut down synth design, Putin has won.

      FREEEEEEDOM!

      1. “tail end of a global pandemic and following it with the possibility of World War 3”
        “worry about things that are real”

        got to love this 🙂

    2. Behringer 2-XM
      Behringer Behremin
      Behringer DS-80
      Behringer Hiro Tribe Soul
      Behringer JP-4000 Spirit (USB MIDI) $49
      Behringer M15
      Behringer Model D Soul
      Behringer MS-5
      Behringer Pro VS Soul
      Behringer Pro 16
      Behringer Pro-800
      Behringer Proton
      Behringer Saturn Soul
      Behringer TD-3-MO
      Behringer Toro
      Behringer UB-1 Spirit (USB MIDI) $49
      Behringer UB-Xa
      Behringer UB-Xa Desktop

      Did I miss any?

  5. Beringer…hmm, coming from a company whose manufacturing is in Zhongshan, Guangdong. Curious. Remember that is the birthplace of Sun-Yat Sen. A hero who risked his life against the Qing. And if today, a threat to the social harmony.

  6. Thats funny, the original post of these “not in production” announcements were all tagged with the disclaimer about the chip shortages. I’m not anti-behringer or one of those people that refer to them as “B” for some sort brownie points with the internet, but Behringer is as sloppy as the designs for those Bolca synths.

    1. It’s not “B”, it’s “B-word”; I know because I’m literally the only person who does it, and it’s not for brownie points.

      1. I refer to them as B regularly. Company with such despicable practices does not deserve my effort of typing out their name. (can’t wait how that somehow gets misconstrued again as meaning I’m against affordable knockoffs of vintage stuff)

  7. Behringer,
    You don’t have to stop designing new synths, just stop announcing them before they go to production.
    You don’t even have prototypes to demonstrate
    What a joke…

  8. I’m neither a fan nor a hater of Behringer. I just find it weird that they’re (he’s) complaining about people complaining. And this — meta twist — people complain about Behringer’s complaining. Etc.

    1. The Ukraine have got billions from the EU already in the past years. Before the “revolution” against the pro-russian government 8 yerars ago, the CIA has supported the pro-west opposition with 1 billion dollar alone.
      Still, the people there are poor, men work in neighbour countries for low money, often womens only chance is prostitution, and the ukrain oligarchs collect billions and laugh together with the comedian Selenskyj.

      1. Thanks for sharing your expertise, stranger on the internet. Although I am sure it is thoroughly researched and based on years of professional experience, I am afraid it does not help the up to 4000 Ukrainian women and children refugees that arrive in my city every day, carrying nothing but the clothes on their body. From what I have heard, what actually helps them is said money. So, you keep on investigating these important things you know so much about, and the rest of us keep donating for the people in need.

      2. Such Russian state media propaganda doesn’t hold up outside of its borders. The world has seen the collapse of their disinformation practically in real-time.

      3. Hi WOK. How much financial and military support will the Chinese government provide to the authoritarian dictator in Russia over the coming months? The Russian people are poor, and getting poorer as a result of the invasion. Why is China supporting?

  11. sounds like a good time to buy Ukranian gear, as long as i’m waitlisting anyway. list i stole from reddit:
    Hardware

    Dnipro Modular

    Happy Nerding

    Sylph Modular / Reverb Store

    knob.farm

    Software

    Sinevibes

  12. I don’t see much logic to focus on people with instant gratification disorder, they will ship when they ship, why should someone care when or if? I yet heard any logical explanation to why the availability is so important to complain about, you are not an investor, Its not even a kickstarter.

    But let’s take a step back, there was not that much comments complaining about delivery dates, not many that deserve behringer reaction, seems to me like just another attempt of controversial advertising.

  13. Behringer are not the only company who have very long lead times. I put down a deposit on an Osmose keyboard so long ago I can’t actually remember how long I’ve been waiting. Somewhere in the region of three years.

  14. Ukraine doesn’t have anything to do with me though. What am I supposed to do about it? I mean, I could try a Facebook filter if that would make Uli happy. On second thoughts; nah, just keep me posted about the availability of the new synths. Good luck with your supply chains, all you manufacturers out there. _You_ are the good guys, not the damn politicians.

    1. It affects you just like everybody else. Gas prices are soaring, currencies are rising or falling, supply chains (like in this case) are compromised, not to mention the larger international conflicts feeding off the war and its consequences. And it’s on most peeps minds, so it is everywhere. Like covid. In short, regardless of your perspective, the war in Ukraine affects everybody.

  15. I’ve got some Behringer kit. Ok for the money, but what a whiny company? You don’t get Arturia or Korg whingeing on like this.

  17. Honestly i don’t understand how they feel they can dicate what a potential customer feels or wants. They definitely do not seem to understand the role of a music technology company. They could simply have said, “our products will get delayed because of the situation”. But attacking the customers? Mind-blowing. Imagine if Coca-cola made such a statement…

  18. The explanation of Behringer about the neon makes sense, once you know that a) neon is needed and b) a lot of it comes from Ukraine. But trying to shove a feeling of guilt towards the potential consumer as if a) we are all supposed to know about this neon and b) we need to be told about the misery the Ukranian people are undergoing, is a bit insulting and paternalistic. However this will not be their intention, because that would be foolish.

    I can tell that most people around me have taken several steps back in recent days and think how they can help Ukraine and democracy, and it certainly doesn’t imply Behringer is the one that needs to tell them to do that.

    So in my opinion, I imagine the following has happened: people at Behringer might have been quite proud of the announcements of their new designs, and then got disappointed as the reaction went sideways to the delivery issues. So as a consequence someone at Behringer felt the plight to defend their personnel. Which is a decent thing to do, but the paternalistic connotation should have been avoided. We don’t need to take ethical lessons from Behringer.

    These are assumptions, but without anything that might contradict it, it may explain why the message is perceived harsher than intended. If anything we learned in recent years is that they have a weird way of communicating with their consumers.

  19. The WEFs Great Reset plans seem to succeed.
    Just two weeks ago I have read that the chip manufacturers don’t worry, because they diversified their delivery chains already during the corona crisis. And why should the existing neon lasers now suddenly stop working? Nonsense. This is not because of Putin’s war (what about all the other wars in the last 30 years??). It’s about global players really “playing” with the world in the moment. And the USA is deeply involved, spreading all these propaganda and fake news. Also the USA is responsible for what’s happening in the Ukraine now, when the CIA supportet the anti-russian parties until the revolution 8 years ago – before, the country was perfectly stable, since then there was civil war with tenthousand of deaths (noone ared fore….)

    1. Might i suggest you read about Ukranian history before you make unfonded statements like this …The country was not stable before 2014 …on the contrary … Are you on the payrol of Vlad?

    3. Did you not watch Putin’s February 24 address on Russia 1 or Moskva 24? He stated, “…the leading NATO countries are supporting the far-right nationalists and neo-Nazis in Ukraine” and “[Comrade officers] Your fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers did not fight the Nazi occupiers and did not defend our common Motherland to allow today’s neo-Nazis to seize power in Ukraine.”

      The CIA has nothing to do with this insanity.

  20. synthesizers I don’t use them a lot anymore like vegans protecting animals rights i am protecting mineral world of our planet so i am against of extreme exploitation of natural resources in demand they need for so many semiconductors from raw materials from nature rare minerals , metals, chemical compounds……oposite for example wooden instruments , natural acoustic instruments they are not hyped modern anymore….world crisis let us see alternative ways of music making it is time to change agenda what kind of mainstream sonic culture we will promote to younger generations of future music producers……for example i would like to see more score film producers making efx with natural sounding sources instead ……just electronic instuments

  22. Why is it such a big deal that these are not available. You didn’t have them before and still don’t have them, so nothing has changed. Bunch of entitled cry babies in my honest and most sincere opinion.

  23. ! Behringer shouldn‘t wonder about customers who ask for product delivery time. In my opinion Behringer is announcing too many new products, which are not deliverable. Behringer, think about „Less is More“ and do not argument with Urkraine war, this is a totally different story

  24. I’ve learned to accept long wait times from Behringer, and it won’t stop me from buying their products, but I don’t know why they insist on making the most annoying public statements imaginable. Yes, we understand there’s a chip shortage. Yes, we understand it’s your MO to announce synths years before they ship. But that’s no reason to attack your customers and accuse them of not worrying about Ukraine – what a scummy distraction technique. Uli should leave the public statements to a PR firm.

  26. Wish I had a couple million at the bank cause I would sue the living crap out of Uli! This company really has its moral compass so screwed up. Using the war in Ukraine for its own marketing is beyond sickening. Unbelievable!

  28. I really don’t need Behringer to tell me how to act and where to focus my energy. I know customers can be impatient but it’s the beast Uli has helped create. Perhaps a look in mirror is in order.

  29. Maybe behringer is right, instead of crying over them and the fact they make affordable music gear , it’s time to put up and shut up, and start to use these wonderful tools for peace and pray to God this situation doesn’t get worse.I much prefer playing a bearing er synth than having to use a tool of war to kill and defend.

  30. A lot of people here are ready to complain without context – they have actually been really cool about this in the facebook group where most of these announcements are happening. When they bring them out the engineers are basically saying – what do you like, what do you not like – these are our possible UI designs – what do you think of these accessories… I actually appreciate the whole thing

    1. That’s excellent that you appreciate it when companies do that. However….

      There’s this thing called user research a lot of companies do. None of it requires announcing a product because participants sign a document saying they won’t say anything. It’s typically conducted by professional researchers, or even designers before, during, and after a product is complete – mostly occurring before it ships. Sometimes product managers may conduct user research. I’ve never seen an engineer design and conduct a research study, but I suppose it could happen. The companion to user research is market research, which has some similar processes – and, again, doesn’t require that products be announced.

      It really just seems like B is just making crap up to blame others for their poor business decision making, once again compounding their errors with more unforced wrrors.

    2. Glad you appreciate doing their work for free for them! I’m sure I have some surveys you could fill in for me, too, while you’re at it.

  32. announcing these synths in parallel to the starting war in ukraine was a bad move. now criticizing customers for reacting on these announcements instead of focusing on the war is even worse. i like behringer products, but i definitely dislike their marketing.

  33. It’s unbelievable how many producers and artists pretend to fight injustices, racism, gender equality etc. Yet they support this horrible company that has proven again and again that their moral compass is way out of bounds. Behringer is a bad company – it’s THAT easy.

    Do we like cheap synths? Yes
    Is it worth giving into the temptation and support a racist, facist company? Hell no!

    1. When Putin sends his death machine into Ukraine.
      When there is a MOUNTAIN OF EVIDENCE that civilians are targeted, tourtured, murdered and raped.
      YES WE BLAME PUTIN.

  35. you mean the silent majority? unlike the newly introduced members of the GAS club that feel the need to defend investing in an unethical company, we usually refrain from commenting on companies we have no stake in

  36. Here’s an idea Behringer just SHUT YOUR MOUTH NO MORE PRESS RELEASES, NO MORE TEASERS, NOTHING, WHO CARES ABOUT YOUR VIDEOS FOR Investors WHEN YOU CAN’T Deliver, SO SHUT YOUR PRESS MOUTH until you can deliver

  38. Consistently seeing Synthtopia buy into (and thus support) B’s tactic of negative press and bad business practices to drive troll sales and ultimately using negative attention to drive traffic to Synthtopia has been really unfortunate to watch. Even if it’s not done purposefully, that is ultimately the end result.

    Here I am engaging with it and I’m done, it’s so transparent and gross. The toxic comment sections are endless. is that what you want your website to be moving forward Synthtopia? Is that helping or hurting people? I know you can do better, there are people you can consult with to help facilitate a less toxic online environment. Here’s to more good energy and peace in the future! -e

  39. By the time the UBXA is finally released it will have been obsoleted a 2nd time. Instead of pandering to Ukraine and the industrial war complex begging for ww3, pull your business out of China , there are other chip MFG’s, though they won’t be dirt cheap Losing interest fast in this project / topic

  41. I like Behringer. I like their synthesizers, mixers, pedals and ect. Many people who don’t know how to present themselves and are searching for an identity end up criticizing Behringer. These individuals have nothing better to do than spread nonsense online in the hope that others will react. The most absurd things get brought up. Take, for example, the corksniffer incident. That guy wasn’t even Jewish, but it was dragged into the discussion anyway. I suspect there are many consumers who spent a lot of money on vintage synthesizers, only to see Behringer release them for much less. This likely diminishes their “exclusive” and snobbish identity. They want so badly to be virtuous, but if you dig a little into the cluster of their choices, you’ll quickly find they also use products from Apple and Samsung—companies that other people criticize as well. It becomes a never-ending cycle. Necessary change must come from the people in the countries themselves, and hypocritical criticism of overseas companies isn’t going to change that. And to be honest, that criticism isn’t even meant for that; it’s purely a way to show how virtuous they are.

    2. “Many people who don’t know how to present themselves and are searching for an identity end up criticizing Behringer. These individuals have nothing better to do than spread nonsense online in the hope that others will react. The most absurd things get brought up.”

      Assumptions made about the people making valid critiques just because you don’t like it isn’t a good look.

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