Behringer ramps up the controversy by rolling out its Model D

Flattery or imitaiton?Democratising technology or ripping off classics?

Behringer began shipping its headline-making Model D in January, a Eurorack homage of the classic Minimoog Model D. While a new Model D by Moog might set you back just over three grand, Behringer’s Model D clocks in at £300.

The company’s been sued in the past for copying designs but argues that the Model D’s technology is in the public domain now Moog’s patents have expired. And it’s not a straight copy: while the circuitry is cloned from Moog’s original and the flow of knobs and switches is similar, Behringer’s Model D is a rack device, so doesn’t have a keyboard.

The company has announced plans to clone further classics. In December they teased plans to clone six new machines, and in January posted photos of three new clones in production.

The Behringer UB-Xa is a remake of the legendary Oberheim OB-Xa synthesizer, while pictures posted by the company on tech site Gearslutz suggest it is also working on clones of the Arp 2600 and the Roland VP 330 vocoder.

Behringer Model D, £299 musictri.be/brand/behringer/home