Music

Behringer goes into warp drive with Poly D synth

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With the Poly D, the iconic Model D fat sound just got fatter
Behringer
With the Poly D, the iconic Model D fat sound just got fatter
Behringer
Ins and outs around the back, plus the main panel can be tilted for ease of use
Behringer
The Poly D features an 84 control upper panel, 37 full-sized keys, 32 step sequencer and arpeggiator
Behringer
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Back in early 2018, Germany's Behringer launched what it called an homage to the Minimoog Model D, an almost exact copy of Moog's iconic monophonic analog synthesizer. Now, after a short teaser campaign online, the company has built a polyphonic version called the Poly D.

Where the Behringer Model D attracted a fair amount of controversy for being essentially a carbon copy of Moog's original, the Poly D moves into new territory. It can still be used in monophonic mode, but can also be switched to four-voice polyphony – which allows players to key more than one note at a time for "stunning chord harmonies and luscious pads." There's also a Unison mode available, which thickens up the tone by layering voices one on top of another.

The Poly D features four voltage-controlled oscillators, with the first three offering triangular, triangular/saw, saw, square, wide pulse, and narrow pulse waveforms, while the fourth features triangular, reverse saw, saw, square, wide pulse, and narrow pulse. All of these oscillators can be adjusted across a six octave range for playing flexibility.

The Poly D features an 84 control upper panel, 37 full-sized keys, 32 step sequencer and arpeggiator
Behringer

Elsewhere, there's a 37 note keyboard, an upper panel rocks 84 controls and can be tilted at different angles for sonic tweaking ease, a 24 dB Ladder Filter with voltage-controlled amplification, a fully analog triangle/square wave low frequency oscillator, built-in effects like bucket bridge delay stereo chorus and distortion, a 32-step sequencer and an arpeggiator.

Connectivity shapes up to include MIDI in, out and thru over USB or DIN, the pressure and velocity outputs come with their own volume controls, there's internal and external V-Trig in and outs, and more.

Availability and pricing hasn't been revealed as of writing. And the warp drive? Well, that's part of the teaser campaign and marketing pitch, It doesn't really have one. You can see what's actually on offer in the video below.

Product page: Behringer Poly D

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1 comment
Brian M
"of the teaser campaign and marketing pitch"

For once definitely marketing a pitch!

Although surprised someone hasn't created a MIDI type program for doing this anyway in true polyphonic mode?