BEHRINGER DeepMind 12
Details
Manufacturer Behringer
Price £1,000 (street price)
Contact via website
Key Features
• Full-size analogue synth
• 12-note polyphonic
• 49 velocity and aftertouch keys
• 8 x 128 patches
• Arpeggiator onboard
• Large LCD display
If you’re into synths, one of the hottest topics for conversation over the last six months has been the relentless dripfeed of information being released into the world by Behringer, all relating to the production of its new flagship machine – the DeepMind 12 analogue synthesiser.
Many of us synth enthusiasts have predicted that, with the recent resurgence of interest in modular and monosynths, it was only a matter of time before the same sort of model could be applied to the polysynth market – to bring us something affordable, usable, and quite likely analogue. The first product to fit the bill is the DeepMind 12 is from Behringer.
I was fortunate enough to have a play on it last summer, but was limited in time and capacity, listening through a pair of headphones while a queue of people waited behind me to hear it. But now, with one of the first production models before me, it’s time to give it a thorough workout within the confines of my own studio.
So the first thing that can’t escape your attention is how good the synth looks. With four octaves of keyboard, it’s compact, but still very playable.
I actually thought I might miss a fifth octave, but to my surprise, this was not the case at all. The actual physical design is ergonomic, as the panel containing all of the enticing faders sweeps away from you and is blocked in at each end by some wooden end cheeks, whose curved nature makes them alluring in themselves. Uli Behringer has had a fascination with the idea of building a production synth for some time, and many of the duties for this project were handed over to the ‘Midas’ team, which is one of the Behringer Music Group family members, along with the likes of TC Electronic and Klark Teknik, both of which get a name-check on the front panel – we’ll come to their input later.
All the parameters you’ll want to get at are right with you on the DeepMind 12’s front panel
The keyboard feels very reassuring to play and the panel buttons feel tight, without any movement. There is a little bit of play in the faders, but regardless of this they feel like they’re of a good quality. When in use, they do track very accurately with the central display screen, so I have no concerns
