Behringer DeepMind 12

A
fter all the teasers,
the first Behringer
synth is here. The
past five years
have seen all kinds
of musings about it
being a Juno-style
clone or an ARP monosynth.
DeepMind 12 is neither of these,
being far more feature-laden than a
Juno-106 and polyphonic to the tune
of 12 simultaneous voices. Also, with
a metal case and wooden side panels,
it looks like the real deal. Each voice
consists of two oscillators and a noise
more tonal variation than you might
expect by inserting a second variable
width pulse into the waveshape).
OSC1 allows manual, envelope or
LFO control of the square waves’
pulsewidth – perfect for thickening up
a single oscillator – and OSC2 offers
similar options for modulating the
Tone. Both have independently
selectable octave ranges and pitch
modulation (from a range of sources),
but it’s only OSC2 that offers a finer
level of pitch control for creating
semitone intervals or subtle detuning.
It is rather fiddly when dialling in
those smaller variations and, given
that not all parameters get their own
front panel control, it would have
been nice to get control over this from
within the Oscillator Edit menu. Also
the OSC1 waves are either on or off,
whereas the levels of OSC2 and Noise
are thankfully fully variable. Finally,
OSC2 can be hard-sync’d to OSC1 for
further timbral variation. The screen
gives a helpful visual guide to what
the resultant waveform will look like.
One advantage of the DeepMind’s
plentiful polyphony can be found in
the Poly section. This is the home of
source. The oscillators are digitally-
controlled (DCOs) so, in theory, lack
some of the wayward charm of their
less pitch-stable VCO brethren. The
fully automated calibration process
leaves you with a set of matched
voices, but the synth does have ways
of adding some artificial instability to
the proceedings should you wish.
The first DeepMind oscillator
offers a choice of sawtooth and
square waves, or both simultaneously,
while Oscillator 2 employs only a
square wave generator (though the
Tone Modulation parameter opens up
THE PROS & CONS
+
The onboard effects
are very strong and
offer a wide range of
routing options. The
plentiful supply of
effects parameters
can also be
controlled by a wide
range of modulation
and control sources
The DeepMind has a
healthy voice count,
making the various
unison modes less of
a compromise in
comparison to many
analogue synths
The Mod Matrix
offers a wide
range of control
destinations
-
The two onboard
fans generate
noticeable noise in a
studio setting
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Behringer DeepMind 12 | Reviews
FMU316.rev_behringer.indd 73 21/02/2017 10:12