Behringer Surges Eurorack Module, A Clone Of The Mutable Instruments Ripples, Now Shipping

Behringer today introduced the Surges “Ultimate Liquid Filter” for Eurorack modular systems.

The Behringer Surges is an 8HP voltage-controlled “liquid” multi-mode filter, based on the Mutable Instruments Ripples. Mutable founder Émilie Gillet retired in 2022 and made the company’s designs available as open source via Github.

Like the original, the Behringer Surges is an analog filter with switchable 2-pole and 4-pole slopes, for both band-pass and low-pass outputs. The Surges appears to be a straight clone of the Ripples, with a few compromises in build quality (smaller knobs, no panel washers) to make it more cheaper to manufacture. 

Features:

  • Voltage controlled multimode filter which provide high-pass, band-pass and low-pass. The slope of the band-pass and low-pass output is switchable (2-pole or 4-pole)
  • Based on Mutable Instruments Ripples
  • “Liquid” and musical tone coloration reminiscent of SH/Jupiter filters
  • Loudness compensation with increased resonance
  • Wide frequency range from 18 Hz to 18 kHz
  • Purely analog circuitry based on 2164 and 13700 semiconductors
  • Eurorack specs: 8 HP, 35 mA +12 V, 35 mA -12 V

Pricing and Availability:

The Behringer Surges is ready to ship, with a street price of $49. There’s typically a month or two lag between Behringer making their shipping announcements and general availability at their Super Partner retailers.

34 thoughts on “Behringer Surges Eurorack Module, A Clone Of The Mutable Instruments Ripples, Now Shipping”

  2. meaningless panel graphics: pass. first version was so much better. now that there are two ugly panel graphic styles. i’ll stay with OG’s or magpie panels on clones.

    1. Behringer’s panel designs are universally pretty terrible. It seems like that’s a place where they cut corners to keep the prices down.

      There are overlays for fixing pretty much all of their Euro format synths, but I wish they’d just hire Grayscale to do their panels so they wouldn’t look like crap and be hard to decipher.

      1. the black panels with white legends are fine with me, and fit in with the System 55 ok – if they’re all bunched together. even the orange (as much as the color sucks in general now) graphic is fairly minimal. this looks like a Transformer toy. sadly, it *was* in black and white before, then they mucked it up. same will happen for the Mixer eurorack module as well i’m suspecting.

        i never buy anyone’s modules with superfluous graphics and colorized legends. i’m happy with the plain jane system 55 and 2500 stuff they did. i’ll buy OG MI’s or clones w/magpie panels. calsynth ships good panels on their clones. have four Plaits/Plaidies arriving tomorrow. then i can shift these Brains modules into my kid’s rig (where they belong, lol)

        cost reductions are done with platform engineering – using all the same parts for everything to increase parts volume and reduce bolk purchase costs. it’s a winning strategy. you can’t save money by painting panels lol :0)

        1. Good single-color panel designs, like what Grayscale makes, would be more attractive, much easier to read and cheaper to manufacture.

          So it’s really annoying that Behringer consistently cheaps out at the design stage. For $49, though, most buyers probably don’t care.

          I wonder if Behringer intentionally wants to make gear like this look cheap, so that people are more likely to see it as a inexpensive alternative.

          1. It’s just a lack of taste from the top down.
            You only need to look at the Behringer triangle logo to get the idea. Probably was designed by Uli himself an no one has the courage to tell him it’s a very bad logo. Sometimes they get it right (panel wise) because the originals were good. But when they venture into something new, you see that there is no taste or direction. They just don’t have a clue. It’s a company without a conscious branding placement in the market.

            1. The logo is the most important thing about any sound making device. This logic has helped me spend over $400000 on largely unused modules collecting dust, mainly from overpriced manufacturers like Make Noise. Who cares what it may sound like when I can wax my ironic moustache in front of the wall of eurorack modules with pretty panels in a sometimes successful ploy to attract over strange men online. I can you you, like me, are a strange and special individual. You on the app?

            2. I agree about the logo. Looks worse than the one I did at college for my modules. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder they say but that logo isn’t even ugly. It’s just amateurish.

    2. Looks like some things will never change.
      Behringer attracts nothing else but complains – today is “meaningless panel graphics” LoL
      It doesn’t matter that it sounds excellent.

  3. The only thing worse than this utter nonsense of a product is this article calling it a clone. It’s a lame ripoff. My critique of your journalism here is an opinion that you could be writing about how it’s a knockoff of something that’s widely available now (out of production fine but you can find them anywhere!) that’s unethical. Many would agree with that.
    Also the fact that it’s shit quality and you didn’t even bother to find out if the PCB says mutable on it? Does it meet all of Emile’s requirements for sharing her IP? Did you have any communication with the manufacturer regarding this? I’m sorry synthhead I’ll say this again you and your team really do a great job but this pass that you give B is lazy. If there’s something to write about because B is so newsworthy then why not do so? Instead of just notifying us that it’s available. Garbage company.

    1. We categorize products as clones if they are functionally equivalent to the original, and Surges appears to be just that, a clone based on Mutable Instruments’ open source design.

      It does not appear to be a knockoff design, because while Behringer has made some compromises to make it cheaper to manufacture, it’s an official copy, since MI’s design is licensed cc-by-sa-3.0, which allows for the design to be adapted and used commercially.

      We have reported in the past when companies do not appear to be following the spirit of open source licenses. That does not appear to be the case here, since Behringer credits Mutable Instruments Ripples as the source of the design.

      Beyond that, we are not legal experts and we do not make any attempt to ‘police’ how Behringer or any other company follows licensing requirements.

      We do not label any products as ‘ripoffs’, because that’s inherently subjective. We can objectively label designs as clones, knockoffs, reissues, etc, which some readers find to be useful categorizations and others not so much!

      1. Synthhead really can’t win with some people. Reports an announced product based on the information available, even stating it “appears” to be a Ripples clone, and people complain that it wasn’t a scathing opinion piece shaming Behringer’s business practices.

        This site welcomes opinions in the comment section, while generally doing a good job of reporting objectively. It’s a good thing people who think it’s not worthwhile to inform people about new products if they don’t like the company aren’t runnning what is basically the only decent source of synth related updates out there. People can make their own minds up based on their own opinions.

        I also fail to see the unethical side of making a copy of an out of production open-source product.. The most unethical thing I see here is that icky panel design

      2. at least you don’t take the cowards way out and block comments on behringer products… like… someone elses…. blog does. lol.

        personally, i just don’t want racing stripes on my cars, cats, or my synths. just give me simple informative legends, i bought it for the *sound* anyway, not the looks.

        1. Who’s blocking discussion of Behringer gear?

          I know Behringer blocks any real critical discussion of their products on their Facebook page. But that seems like something that’s pretty normal for big corporations, since they’re using Facebook for marketing.

    2. I wholeheartedly agree whilst waxing my moustache and playing with my 11x instances of MakeNoise Maths (absolutely NOT A CLONE.. NO NO NO!! NO SUCH THING AS SERGE!! LALALALA NOT LISTENING!!!) B is the devil of synthesis, alongside pesky Tip-top, spreading Buchla to the great unwashed. Highly unsatisfying . Toodle Pip

        1. Not Uli here. My post is deadly serious. I really have spent over $400000 on overpriced modules to pose in front of them and make iambent ‘muzak’. Check my website for evidence. My racks are 100% based on how they appear on YouTube videos. Sound is for musicians , not Synth people!! Tip-top and Behringer are destroying this fine culture. The great unwashed must NEVER have gear, and if they absolutely must have it then at least it must have an undesirable face plate! That will show the peasants.

          AND NO – MATHS ISN’T A CLONE! (Serge Tcherepnin is a false flag panted by evil Uli)
          LALALA IM NOT LISTENING!

        3. so synthhead put you in your place and you’re butthurt at someone else for making a humorous, nonsensical comment?

          lol you need some new material

  4. There is an Icelandic low-cost grocery store called Bonus who’s whole thing is that they are super “no-frills” in order to pass on the savings to the customer, to the point where they (apparently) instead of paying a designer got one of their employees to draw their logo , which ended up being an amazing, very drunk-looking pig.

    …This is the eurorack version of that.

    2. You don’t get to choose what is news, based on whether you like it.

      Covering news is not ‘promoting’ a company. Synthopia’s coverage of Behringer actually gets criticized constantly by the Behringer fanboys, because they’re triggered by the term ‘knockoff’. But, when a company copies the Taurus and calls it the ‘Toro’, and even puts a variation of Moog’s bull on it, it’s a knockoff and all know it, even if stating the obvious makes the fanboys’ heads explode.

      Behringer probably makes and sells more synths than anybody now. So the idea that synth news site should ignore them is preposterous.

      1. actually, synthead’s ok. he understand manufacturing, markets, how the world works in general. it’s the lame comments, always the comments.

        1. It’s just weird to me how some people want to stick their heads in the sand and pretend that Behringer doesn’t exist. Go to Sweetwater these days, and half the synths are Behringer. They’re completely dominating entry-level synths.

  6. Mutable Instruments is no longer in business, who cares if they clone these modules. And that’s besides the fact that there are other many other companies cloning these modules.

    1. Emilie’s intent when open sourcing her designs was to educate and ensure that people could make (and even sell) a handful of their own variations. She didn’t intend her work to be mass produced by a massive Chinese corporation.

      1. Not sure where you’re getting that idea from.

        If you open source your work and license it for commercial use, you’re intending it to be used commercially by anyone that wants to use it.

        It’s cool that Mutable’s designs live on, and that they’re available so cheaply. The Behringer panels ARE terrible, though. Somebody should offer alternate panels.

  7. Let’s try to make some constructive observations.
    For someone on a tight budget this could be a great product, after all the original products was greatly overpriced by distributors and retailers.
    I spoke with Uli with regards to graphical design choices, he said “There are plenty critics out there, yet my products sell!”
    With low cost often come cheaper manufacturing processes, and possibly less durability.
    That is a choice we make, as consumers.
    Happy weekend.

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