Behringer Previews Entire Line Of ‘Boogerfooger’ Knockoffs

Behringer today shared teaser images of an entire line of hardware effects modules that appear to be fairly straight knockoffs of classic Big Briar/Moog Music Moogerfooger effects.

The images, above, show four ‘Boogerfooger’ effects:

  • The Behringer BM-101 Low Pass Filter copies the Moog MF-101 Lowpass Filter.
  • The Behringer BM-103 Phaser copies the Moog MF-103 12-Stage Phaser.
  • The Behringer AD-104 Analog Delay copies the Moog MF-104M Analog Delay.
  • The Behringer BM-107 Frequency Box copies the Moog MF-107 Freqbox.

The company originally announced its intentions to copy Moogerfooger effects about a year ago, with a preview of their AD104 Analog Delay. At that time, Behringer tagged the AD104 as #hardvaporware, indicating that they were not putting it into production yet, because of limited parts availability.

Behringer isn’t announcing pricing or availability for these effects yet, but says that their design is complete and that they are “now moving them all to beta testing.”

They have not said yet if they plan to make copies of the other members of the Moogerfooger line:

  • MF-102S Ring Modulator
  • MF-105S MuRF
  • MF-108S Cluster Flux

The Original Moog Moogerfoogers

Moog retired the Moogerfooger line in 2018, after making Moogerfooger hardware effects for about 20 years. Since then, used prices for Moogerfooger have increased, because of the popularity of the line and their limited quantities.

Last year, they introduced a full line of Moogerfooger plugins.

The Moogerfooger MF-106TC is lost in time, like tears in rain.

What about the MF-106?

Some readers may have noticed a gap in the Moogerfooger numbering scheme between the MF-105S MuRF and the MF-107 Freqbox.

The Moog MF-106TC Analog Time Compressor, right, was announced April 1st, 2009, but has never been released. According to the company, the effect was the result of a happy accident:

“We accidentally reversed the clock phasing in the time generation on our MF-104Z Analog Delay, and discovered that it can actually work in reverse, compressing the time stream instead of expanding it. Much to our amazement and delight we began hearing sounds up to 1000 milliseconds before we played them,” said Amos Gaynes, Moog Temporal Engineer.

Gaynes said that the Analog Time Compressor circuit on the MF-106TC can eliminate digital latency in real time, or sound like you’re playing faster than you really are. The Analog Time Compressor’s unique Slap-Forward delay effect sounds even better than Slap-Back, according to Gaynes.

“The MF-106TC has hundreds of unique applications,” said Moog Marketing Manager Chris Stack. “Used on the Pitch Preview output of our new Etherwave Plus Theremin, you not only hear your note before the audience does; you actually hear it before you play it.”

42 thoughts on “Behringer Previews Entire Line Of ‘Boogerfooger’ Knockoffs”

  3. the boogerfoogers look so ugly lmao, but that might just be the astonishingly bad lighting that every single behringer “hardvaporware” photo is taken under. i don’t understand how they can run an operation of this scale and use such trash photography. your gear development lab looks like a hostage video, my dudes.

    1. If you look at the way they use their logo, you understand. In these products they use the name only (it’s not that bad), but they insist in many other products to use that ugly (unreadable and a mess) triangle logo from the early days of Behringer. I bet It was designed by Uli Behringer and nobody has the courage to tell him that it sucks.

      1. Oh, it’s even better, if you check the Behringer website “About” section he claims that he paid an ex-girlfriend from Dusseldorf to design it for him. (Not even kidding.)

    2. So true!

      What’s weird to me is how closely Behringer copies the originals, and then they alway half-ass the type and graphics, which makes their products look trashy.

      They obviously cut corners on anything that their average customer won’t care about, to keep prices low. But would it really cost more to have the panels designed by somebody that knows what they are doing?

        1. Imagine having command of your own chip fab, an army of low-cost laborers working 24/7 in a factory town that shares your family name, scores of half-decent engineers, a marketing machine with connections to all major musical instrument dealers and distributors, and a hardcore fan base of earnestly misguided individuals who rejoice at your ability to create economies of scale.

          But instead of designing your own gear you spend your time ripping off other brands, trademark trolling, and begging for lawsuits. That’s Behringer.

          1. Ripping of? So there should be only one guitar factory, one piano factory, one of every instrument maker because after that everyone is just ripping off? Sorry, I was not born 50 years ago to be able to buy gear from that time, and don’t feel like paying ammount of money that can get you more than decent car to get a piece of gear that is also hard to find in most of the world because of limited number. And yes, we should praise companies who don’t want to re-release their products because it is better having people who aren’t musicians collecting them for display in their house and inflating prices. But keep being elitist and hating company who makes affordable gear people want and prove that it can be done for fraction of money today.

  4. I do not understand why the original Moogerfooger’s have gained such a cult status in some circles. They sound good, but the second-hand asking prices are bonkers these days, given that these are fairly simple effects. I don’t see a need for the knockoffs in my setup either, but maybe I will change my mind once I heard them.

    1. “I do not understand why the original Moogerfooger’s have gained such a cult status in some circles. ”

      It’s pretty simple – they sound great, they’re built like tanks, they’re way more sophisticated than most pedals, and they’re designed for synthesists as much as they are for guitarists.

      The entire line is really well thought out, to the point that it’s not that uncommon to see synth rigs with many of them or even all of them. You don’t see that with many other effects lines. The Moogerfoogers can be interconnected in really powerful ways, too.

      The used prices reflect that and the fact that that they were made in limited quantities. There’s just not that many of them out there.

      I’m somewhat interested in the “Boogerfooger” versions, but would really be more interested in Moog doing an interesting multi-effects unit in Mother-32 format. The Boogerfooger versions are going to cost $150 , so it would get pricey to get the bunch, even with knockoffs. I’d rather see something original that’s designed with Eurorack in mind – three effects stages, delay, chorus/flanger/phaser, and reverb, combined with a 4-channel mixer. Throw a compressor on the end and it would be an insta-buy for everybody that’s bought into the M32 format.

      1. Everything you say is true, they are great pedals. But I still think that the current asking price of 1300 – 2000 Euros for an MF-104Z is ridiculously overpriced and utterly detached from the real-world use one gets out of them. Once things become collector’s items, they lose all appeal to me as a musician.

        1. It’s called supply and demand.

          The only reason anybody cares about these knockoffs is that Moog created something that musicians love, and the originals in limited supply.

    2. once stuff goes out of production it always gets crazy. I bought 12 of these pedals along the way. I don’t use them anymore. someday I’ll repackage them into eurorack or something easier to use. screwing around on the floor is for the kids, and the foot pedal format doesn’t work with lots of CV cords. it’s just a big mess if you have more than one or two at the most. the jacks are also a bit of a limitation. I was always finding myself wondering why moog pulled *these* I/O’s out, when *those* would have been more useful kind of thing. having jacks on the back was both great and the worst.

      it’s moog stuff. we’ll always have the ‘fanboi’ effect with any vendor.

    3. Simple supply and demand by people that are more collectors than makers of music. I’ll sell you my 909 for 20k. It has Sven Väth’s ball sweat on it.

      1. I like to think there is a special place in hell for gear collectors that ruin the prices for real musicians where they are forced to play Behringer synths in all eternity.

        1. Wannabe musicians and collectors are the ones bitching about gear prices.

          Real musicians are getting paid to play – and most would prefer to do it on nice gear.

          3. And most would also prefer not to overpay for gear because collectors and poachers drive up the prices. By the way, where did you get the idea that being paid makes anyone a real musician? I was talking about people that actually make music instead of collecting vintage gear and putting it on display or storage for profit. I can’t stop them, but I don’t have to like them either.

    1. They probably know that a cheap “knockoff” or clone of a successful synth is going to sell better than a new Neutron or other unfamiliar design.

    2. The masses want affordable Moogerfoogers – not new ideas

      Well they want new ideas too

      They want both

      What’s the problem with that?

      I don’t see a problem with that

  6. [… Behringer isn’t announcing pricing or availability for these effects yet…]
    You shouldn’t even consider writing an article knowing that

    1. It’s common for manufacturers to introduce products without pricing or release dates. Much of the gear introduced at NAMM, for example, doesn’t get a release date and price until 3-6 months later.

      This is why there’s a paragraph addressing pricing and availability on any new product introduction story. We share the information if it’s available, and note when it isn’t available.

      It would be irresponsible to readers to ignore introductions just because they don’t have hard release dates yet, and Behringer introductions are empirically of interest to readers.

      1. Ok, I’ll be more explicit: talking about upcoming Behringer products is meaningless, they will never come out anyway. Uli’s teasing list is very long (maybe 50 or more) and serious journalism shouldn’t even give space to these non-news anymore

        1. “talking about upcoming Behringer products is meaningless, they will never come out anyway.”

          Thanks for your feedback.

          Based on their track record, readers should have every expectation that Behringer will ship the synths that they’ve officially announced, and that it may take a few years for designs to go from prototypes to shipping synths.

          in 2017, Behringer announced plans for a bunch of knockoff synths, and some readers doubted that they would ever ship.This included copies of the Wasp, ARP 2600, Octave Cat, Synthi VCS, MS-101 & Korg MS-20. All of these have now been on the market for several years now, except for the VCS, which is still in development.

          It’s empirically incorrect to suggest that Behringer’s introductions are ‘non-news’ to synthesists, when news about their products is consistently of interest to readers.

  8. really hoping they do the MURF and Clusterflux, as those were the only two moogerfoogers I wasn’t able to grab before the prices went psychotic

    its a shame these boxes aren’t quite a pretty as the originals, but I guess thats what you get for $150~

    wish moog would just put them back in production, they were wildly successful and still my favourite thing moog has done since the 70s

    1. Maybe give Uli a call and see if he can bring a BF-106TC into production. Good timing for the (pre)announcement of this collaboration at the beginning of next month.

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