52 thoughts on “Behringer BMX Drum Machine Promises An Updated Take On The Classic Oberheim DMX”

1. I’d like to see Behringer’s take on cloning a Behringer. If you’re gonna meta, then fu#*ing go full meta.

   1. I think they already made that joke with the Proton

      1. Yep.

         “This time we cloned ourselves…,” they note.

         https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2022/03/01/behringer-clones-themselves-intros-proton-synthesizer/

2. Behringer’s ‘Hommage’ BS makes me feel sad for Tom Oberheim.

   Yes, Behringer can legally rip off Oberheim’s work. Yes, it’s out of copyright. Yes, they can steal the Oberheim look, because Oberheim’s original company failed.

   Yes, Behringer can afford a team of lawyers and Tom Oberheim can’t.

   But it’s still super-douchy to rip off Tom Oberheim. The guy is a living legend. Behringer even tried to rip off the Oberheim name, but their trademark application got rejected!

   1. Look outside of this particular scenario and see you’ll this kind of process (evolution? / opportunity?) happening in every single aspect of life.

      You’re saying that T.O. created something that shouldn’t be improved upon, just ’cause he’s a legend? You’re saying that another person/company should not act on a potentially successful business idea / opportunity because it’s, “super-duchy”, even if it’s legal?

      What about artists that create something because they’re inspired by another artist in some way? What about derivative works? Are all of your ideas are 100% original, and if not, are you paying the original creators of those ideas you’re “ripping off”?

      Take a look at the products you use every day, and dig into whether or not the companies that create those products are acting as you see fit. I think you’ll be really disappointed 🙁

      1. You’re saying that Behringer can’t make an drum machine that people would be interested in, without ripping off the look of the Oberheim DMX? You’re saying that they can’t do what Sequential and Korg and Erica Synths and Roland and Electron do, and come up with original designs, names and branding?

         If you’re trying to be a Behringer apologist, you should at least have an argument that isn’t idiotic.

         1. Idiotic? Why do you think gazillions of guitar manufacturers make guitars that look and sound like a Les Paul or Strat instead of their own designs?
            Now, where are my Hydrox cookies?

            1. Let’s put the guitar thing to rest. A guitar is two hunks of machined wood with a pickup coil or two. It’s not quite the same as duplicating a complex front panel and UI design, modulation matrix and the sound generation circuitry of a synth.

               Behringer is not simply making look-alikes. They’re attempting to register trademarks where possible and pass the products off as their own. They’re also aggressively duplicating a massive number of products made by some companies.

               So far, Behringer has copied approximately 50 Roland/Boss effects pedals, the TR-606, TR-808 and TR-909 drum machines, the SH-101, TB-303, VP-330, and now the Juno-106 (with a Jupiter apparently in the works). It’s copycat capitalism at its worst.

               1. Guitar thing to rest? The principle is the same.
                  They do it to make money. If you don’t like Behringer or any of the other gazillion companies in the world that do the same type of thing to make money, then don’t buy their products. It’s as simple as that.

                  1. Name one other music technology company that has copied more than 50 products made by an established competitor. Music Tribe is not “one of a gazillion,” they’re the only one in this industry using shanzhai.

                     Placing the onus on consumers to not buy their products overlooks the significant negatives of copycat manufacturing.

                  2. Lmao – “let’s put justifications and facts, that support & allow you to make valid points, to rest.” Classic move by your opposition lol

   2. That is exactly why they (and many others before and after them) copy Tom Oberheims work: He is a living legend. He will be remembered for his contribution to music history in centuries, while this striped sampler will likely have long been forgotten. I don’t see how it hurts his reputation or prosperity, given that he does not sell drum machines anymore and this is about as close to a DMX as a SP-1200 was in 1987.

      1. There is a difference between copying functionality and features and copying the look and feel of the unit itself — the ridiculous stripes and the DMX sound-alike name are simply attempts to pretend that this cheap drum machine is somehow related to classic Oberheim gear. It’s a con job.

         1. What you’re saying is that people aren’t intelligent enough to understand the Behringer brand and what they’ve doing for several years. I think, by now, anyone who buys this knows what Behringer are doing and knows what the deal is with their product strategy.

         2. This is just classic marketing, walk into any Lidl or Aldi and see the exact same thing in the food isles – really don’t understand the same arguments against Behringer time and time again. Don’t like it, don’t buy it.

            1. What you’re saying is that Behringer fanboys like to buy the cheap knockoffs, but they freak out if you call Behringer synths knockoffs.

               Why are some people are mentally incapable of appreciating Behringer synths for what they are – well done knockoffs, with all the pros and cons that come with that.

3. My 2 cents: having put hand on and ears to a few of these — the Model D, Octave Cat, WASP Deluxe, and RD-8 — I have to kind of admire the dedication to recreation. But I found those devices transmitted absolutely no sense of fun or joy. And it’s not just because they also reproduce the most irritating limitations of the originals (the WASP Deluxe’s octave range, for instance). Because no real thought has been given to the user experience — it’s baked in — there’s a hollowness and superficiality to them; they feel like facsimiles, or weird novelties (despite being anachronistic in a lot of way). But they aren’t instruments despite the fact that their based on what we think of as classic instruments. A synth is more than how it sounds, I suppose… or I’m just looking for more of a complete aesthetic experience than Behringer is selling. Which, after all, does keep the price point low.

4. Blah blah blah! I’m on it. This looks like it’ll be interesting if it sounds good and…works.

   1. Admin: Personal attack deleted.

      Keep comments on topic and constructive.

      If you continue to bring hate speech to the site, you will be banned.

   2. Admin: Personal attack deleted. Keep comments on topic and constructive.

      1. you should have seen Modern2!

         i chock the grousing up to ‘crisis actors’ paid for by yamaha, roland and korg.

5. I know these people crack me up, if you don’t want it, don’t buy it.

6. The 3-year warranty is the most unusual feature. It loosely seems as though 7 people cuss their B-gear for crapping out prematurely and 2 or 3 others chip in with tales of solid performance for a rational time. Its not as if you’re going to go broke offering people less pricey gear, especially the way the economic world has been going.

   My main thought is wondering how a dedicated player might commit to this seriously and then have springs pop out of it 90 days past the warranty date. When I was a wee synth wanker, I would have been happy to have a couple of synths I could afford, rather than just Moog ads pinned to the wall. “If it sounds good and works” is always the Holy Grail, innit?

   1. You make a lot of sense right there BUT the price of this might make a lot more sense to me than you ever could. In all honestly, I never think about warranty’s or repair with gear. I’m not rich by any stretch, just something I dont consider. Find it funny when I sell used gear and someone ask me if its still in warranty. Just not my bag to care about that, I probably should, just dont. I buy gear, take care of it and hope for the best. Even if this is assumed to be a total piece of crap before you open the box, I’ll treat it the same. Will be pissed if it craps out on me after, for instance, a year, but again, I just dont care. My loss. Funny how everyone cares so much about everyone elses loss. I care more about my 4 year old Jeep Renegade starting to crap out or my PS5 getting sketchy.

      1. this behringer gear has been a golden age of modifying stuff for me. with a brand name I couldn’t possibly cut things up without destroying the possible resale value – and I have a *lot* of brand name gear, but a behringer instrument? heck, i never put 1/2 the screws back in afterward. I tweak the synths to my liking and spend all my time playing them instead of my dragons den of vintage boring stuff.

         it’s a brilliant business model if they deliver on 1/2 f the stuff they’ve shown. never would have returned to modular without them, and as a result bought more expensive stuff as well. soon i can retire that linndrum to the resale heap.

         1. “i never put 1/2 the screws back in afterward.”
            lol!

            1. yeah, it’s quicker to get in and monkey around with something else. I only put enough screws back it keep it together. it’s not going anywhere but the bench and my rig. *shrug* their pots are not great, the audio taper is especially egregious. i replace them for much, much better timing and tuning performance.

               i just have a cheap source of stuff to modify and play. I’m very happy with behringer.

               1. Totally understand.
                  Was just reading your comment…and boom, was not expecting that.
                  When stuff makes me “lol” I have to post. And it made total sense.
                  So cool to be able to mess/mod stuff and not give an F.

                  1. for wackjobs like me, this is a previously unimaginable chance to do all the stuff I never had the chance to on the originals. add I/O, modulation options, filter tweaks, timing ranges for EG’s and LFO’s. the best though is key tracking on all kinds of things.

   2. Behringer switched to the 3-year warranty because they had to.

      They got their start making cheap Chinese knockoffs of Mackie mixers and other popular gear, and the quality was complete crap. Anybody that bought one of their mixers from back in the day thought that they were getting a great deal – for a year or so. And then channels started dying and the faders got noisy.

      Behringer had a notorious reputation for terrible build quality. Their gear looked solid, but they cheaped out on components, so nothing lasted.

      Behringer has improved their quality tremendously since then – but you can still easily see where they cut corners. For example, they don’t mount their pots to the panels, so when you’re tweaking the knobs, you’re breaking the solder joints on the PCB. Behringer probably calculates the mean time to failure for their designs, and as long as it’s over three years, they don’t care that their synths are time bombs.

      Behringer gear’s so cheap, though, that nobody cares. If your fake Minimoog dies after 4 years, you’ll just buy another one, if you still want it, right?

      1. “They got their start making cheap Chinese knockoffs of Mackie mixers”. This isn’t exactly true. While the company did make itself known with its Mackie knockoffs (and especially the eventual win of the lawsuit with Mackie), the original Behringer stuff wasn’t made in China. It was made in Germany. The parts may have been sourced from other countries, but the assembly labor was German. This was at a time when BMWs were considered the finest engineered cars ever made. Also, at about that time, the nightly news featured scenes of drunk American car maker personnel staggering out of the Ford, GM and Chrysler plants. Exploiting the “Made in Germany” tag was very influential in their initial successes.

7. Good. Goooood.

8. I like that they’re carrying the same step entry sequencer as a core component and adding on sounds and capability. I don’t have to learn a new drum machine for each one. it all goes through modular anyway :0)

   1. Do you think that this, the RD-8 and the RD-9 all are based on the same sequencer?

      1. same buttons. so yeah. if not. we’ll find out.

9. (Tom) Oberheim, Roland, Sequential Circuits etc. could _easily_ re-release their own classic synths and drum machines.
   Just that they don’t.

   Right now, a DMX is on Reverb for almost $4000.
   That is simply completely out of the price range for anybody, let alone a bedroom musician.

   Behringer gives the bedroom musician access to recreations of vintage gear without the price tag.

   Yes, Moog still makes the Minimoog. And yes, Behringer copied it into their Model-D. But, a full-time musician would prefer and afford a _Moog_ Minimoog or a Gibson GS-200 to $2000-$5000. For us enthusiasts, that is completely out of our price range. And there, Behringer offers the exact same sound, but at an affordable price tag.

   I cannot fathom what is wrong with that.

   1. Speaking only of the Model D. If the “full time musician” who chose a Minimoog over a Model D actually had ears, they wouldn’t have wasted their money. There is no reason (other than the furniture aesthetics, I guess) to choose a Minimoog over a Behringer Model D, unless the “prestige” of ownership of an overpriced instrument that bears the name of another dead and departed old guy of historic significance is more important than the music. Finally, after getting my hands on the “new” Minimoog creation by Moog, I find it sounds even less authentic (in comparison to a 1974 Minimoog) than did the 2016 knockoff. The Behringer Model D still stands as the product that most faithfully delivers that classic Minimoog sound. You can wear your Moog badge with pride if you are so inclined, but to play a Behringer Model D demonstrates that you have both ears and common sense.

      1. Yep .. my first synth was a brand new Minimoog I bought in the 70’s, bought another one used two years later, then bought the Moog reissue D several years ago which I returned, and I bought the Behringer D instead (the Moog reissue had a power short, control wheels that barely moved, and an ugly stain in the finish), to me they all sounded the same, and I made my living for 10 years in the 80’s with one of my Minimoog’s so I know them pretty well. The advantage of the real ones is the bigger knobs .. but that’s about it for me. I like my plugin versions actually better than any of the hardware ones I own/owned.

10. …other websites mention different specs (older ones?), namely: built in sampler and analog filter.
    Both appealing functions to me

    It does have a single ‘Rec’ input though…

11. It’s funny to see people arguing over a piece of gear that will most likely never actually be released….

    1. and all those other products they’ve already produced; system 55, 2500, system 100, odyssey, 2600, monopoly, model d, poly d, neutron, pro-1, k2, cat, etc… so, they’re all illusions, and not at all indicative of successful products? ok!

       1. Thanks for proving my point that you are defensive and looking to argue. I can just as easily give you a list of their synthesizers teased and not released as you can give me one that shows the things they have released. That wasn’t my point. I’m just pointing out how ridiculous it is to argue about something until it actually exists and is for sale.

          I think they put out pictures and make prototypes and we are their focus group. Which isn’t a bad marketing model at all. I’m very neutral on them as a company. I wish they were doing this back when I was 17 and had a very limited budget. I think it’s great for a lot of people who can’t touch higher end things and that’s exactly where they’re placing themselves in the market. Too often people who they are not targeting blow things way out of proportion when the real answer is, those people are not their target market much like epiphone is not targeting the person looking at a $4000 custom Gibson Les Paul. Then on the flipside, a bunch of people wanna argue with those people and tell them they’re wrong when once again, they are all just different people in different parts of the market.

          My point was why argue about it when they are clearly just testing the market for something that may or may not come out and if you look at all of the things they’ve done this within the last couple years we see far less products than ideas that were tested.

          1. wow. you had to bait someone only to say the obvious. impressive intellect.

12. The venetian blinds are letting too much light in and now I have to squint.

13. If one were to glance over the article they might think Tom has something to do with it.
    I know you guys are horny for ad revenue but don’t use Tom and others for Behringer’s marketing crap.

    1. Tom Oberheim did have something to do with it. He created the original instrument on which Behringer’s superior device is modeled. He should be proud that somebody was appreciative enough of his initial design to replicate it and improve on it. After all, if he wanted to, he could have done it himself, but apparently chose not to. The only thing more appropriate would be for him to be holding a prototype of the Behringer unit with that same shit-eating grin.

       1. “Behringer’s superior device”

          You’re sounding like you drank the Koolaid, arguing that an unreleased knockoff is going to be superior to a stone-cold classic.

          Devices like the LinnDrum, the DMX and the TR-808 completely changed music, because they were so innovative compared to what had come before. A cheap copy, decades later, isn’t going to do that.

          Reasonable minds know that Behringer’s take on the DMX will be much like their RD-8 and RD-9 drum machines, a decent copy, but with cheap build quality and not quite capturing the feel of the original.

          If you want to see a ‘superior device’ to the DMX, you only have to check out the TR-8S or the Elektron Analog Rytm – which completely wipe the floor with what this promises to be, and are innovative enough that they open up new possibilities for musicians.

          If Behringer can price the BMX around $350, though, this should sell to the nostalgia freaks on a budget.

    2. Right, first they steal his name and now he needs to thank them for stealing old work?
       If I punch you in the face can we be friends afterwards? What world are we living in these days.
       Synthtopia playing a B hooker for ad revenue is just pathetic.

14. Wow, as someone who loves to BMX and play with drum machines, especially when 8-12 bit sampling is dangled in front of me…. I feel really seen here.

15. Instabuy for me! Been looking for a cheap lofi drumpler with indiouts and analogue filters, this fits the bill perfectly and will probably be impulse buy tier price 🙂

16. I always loved the sound if the old digital drum machines DMX, drumulator, linn… Add a sp1200 style sampler? I’m totally in!

17. come on, this thread should be at least 100 posts of angst by now. lol. yall ain’t even trying anymore.