We haven’t covered products released by Behringer in this space in quite awhile and not at all in 2024.
This isn’t the result of a boycott. I just don’t think there’s much to say anymore. Behringer is a producer of cheap replicas, and the remaining synthblogs do an adequate job of dropping company-approved leaks and press copy at regular intervals.
Even they can’t seem to rouse the same giddy excitement about them anymore. The products are not horrible. They’re not an abomination on the industry. Or maybe they are, but that’s not why we don’t write about them.
They’re just boring. Another reverb plugin or lo-fi VST, at this point, peaks more interest than another knockoff that they might sue you for calling a “clone.”
Roger Linn has now gone through the surreal exercise of seeing his namesake LinnDrum — a groundbreaking instrument from the early 1980s, made iconic in the radio-ready hits from Michael Jackson and Prince — rolling off Behringer’s replica assembly line. As creator of the MPC (a product which was eventually removed from his control by Akai), Linn is not a noob to the realities of the music hardware industry. But Behringer’s latest tribute/nostalgia trip replicates the LinnDrum almost down to the name. Behringer calls it the “LmDrum,” with “i” removed and the double “nn” replaced by a double hump “m.”
I can’t think of a better symbol of Behringer as a whole: it’s almost Linn. It’s Lm. It’s unpronounceable, but stuck in the background of a studio shot, it could be mistaken for the real thing.
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Linn chimed in on Behringer’s $399 MumbleDrum, noting that Uli Behringer had kindly sent him one to try out. Linn described it as “a bit of a head-scratcher”:
“However, it uses an entirely different operating system and user interface, one that is based on earlier Behinger drum machines. Personally, I found it somewhat confusing and difficult to use, though I was given an unfinished manual. I’d imagine they will improve both the software and manual over time. I suspect the designers found it difficult to find a balance between 1) the impression of a LinnDrum clone, and 2) the addition of modern features, given that the 1982 LinnDrum’s feature set is woefully inadequate by today’s standards.”
Linn’s “mixed feelings” about the product are underlined when he points out that Behringer sent the synth but never asked for permission for copying the LinnDrum’s visual style and sounds (and, in keeping with the company’s pugnacious style, they will likely offer no apologies after the fact either). He would have liked to have been asked, he said, and doesn’t “enjoy legal stuff so I’ve generally ignored the issue so far.” But “even if [Behringer] thinks it is legal,” Linn says, “I question whether it is ethical.”
Linn also sounded off on a market that has fragmented, with one jagged shard focused entirely on a flattering but synthetic recreation of the past.
“What’s the big deal about nostalgia?” he asks. “I can understand that some people value analog synthesis, though I find the many types of innovative software synthesis created in recent decades to be far more capable, versatile and interesting. But even if people value vintage analog synths, why vintage digital drum machines?”
“I must admit I’ve never cared much about the past” Linn added. “I find the future far more exciting.”
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