Behringer Deepmind

Was always intrigued by these and I was wondering if anyone has any thoughts about them, a few years after the release.

You can pick up a new 6 for less than £400 or a 12 for around £600 these days! I'm old enough to regard an analog polysynth for the price of a couple of upmarket pedals as some kind of miracle.

I've owned a few S&S synths (still have my old JV1080) and a couple of analog modelling ones (still have a Novation Nova desktop). I have a fair few VSTs and my favourite is NI Massive. This is the only one I've ever had any success with in creating my own patches. Something about dragging a connector "wire" between, say, an lfo and a parameter like filter frequency seems so easy compared to my old hardware. (I'd probably die of old age and/or frustration trying to do this on the JV1080s tiny "letterbox" screen.)

I'm really fancying the Deepmind though. I love the demos and it seems to cover Jupiter-like strings, classic mono leads and sfx well. The effects seem to bring a lot to the sound.

I just want something where I can muck about with, and record, some live knob twiddling, something I always find a pain on VSTs.

Or are there other synths I should be thinking about? The world has clearly moved on and the concept of an analog poly costing (and probably weighing) as much as a terraced house in Sheffield seems, thankfully, to be a thing of the past. 

If you have a controller keyboard already the Dreadbox Nymphes is very well regarded

The Deepmind is definitely worth the price of admission. The screen is a bit low-tech, but the user interface is very well done. The way the engineers did the mod matrix makes it a LOT more powerful than you'd think a 1-osc analogue synth could be. It has DCOs, but there are some excellent tricks to randomise the phase/etc using the mod matrix to get closer to an analogue VCO. The FX (more or less borrowed direct from Behringer's X-series of digital mixers are excellent. Getting the 12-voice is a better option.

I miss mine, but eventually ended up at a super ROMpler (Fantom) for synth sounds. (Also, I try not to give Behringer any money, for reasons. YMMV.)

Of others that compete, perhaps the Minilogue Xd? But that lacks the aftertouch keyboard, IIRC.

Thanks for the thoughts. Unfortunately my cheap controller keyboard doesn't have a dedicated midi out (only via usb) so that reduces my options. I can get midi via my audio interface so a module might work.

Yes, things like the Nimphes and Minilogue appeal (as do the Brute or even the polyphonic model D clone). If I'm being honest, I'd probably use the synth for strange bleeps, peeps and farts, rather than the more bread & butter sounds that are reasonably covered by vsts. 

For bleeps, peeps and farts, maybe get something more modular/weird?

Wavestate if you're not set on real analogue?

The Deepmind gets very deep indeed if you want to go there - I spent a lot of hours just setting up the mod matrix and sequencer to change random parameters over very long timescales and then just letting it ride and develop sounds itself. Brilliant pad/drone machine. For basic twiddling its mostly good but not a one knob per function kind of synth. 

I struggled with it as a live synth as there is a slight delay changing patches and no preset functions on the front panel beyond the scroll wheel and Bank +/-. Also don't totally count out the "weighing as much as an end terrace" part as it's pretty chunky. If I was just wanting a studio synth I'd probably still have it but I traded for a Studiologic Sledge, which while not as deep was much more intuitive for learning to patch a pseudo-analogue synth (and also had reverse keys so uber cool).

Thanks for the thoughts @goldtop and @borntohang who's writeup really got me thinking!

I've been trying to come up with actually what I want a synth for. Certainly to learn more about programming sounds. I enjoy that with NI Massive but as soon as I use Monark (mini moog vst) I don't get the results I want. Given that the mini is about as simple as synths get, this worries me.

I did once manage to make a lovely JMJarre style self oscillating patch on my Nova but am such a goon that I've never been able to recreate it on other gear. 

The Deepmind just seemed interesting as it's an analog poly and I've never owned anything analog, much less abalog and polyphonic. My favourite synth over the years was a Roland JP8000 (virtual analog) that I foolishly sold in a cull of synth gear including my Korg Triton.

I've not ruled the deepmind out but am a bit worried that it's very much its own thing and that them programming and suchlike is specific to the deepmind and not transferable. That said, a used DM12 has just come up for sale locally so I could pick that up for the same price as a used DM6. 

My view of hardware is that it's main advantage is that it is tactile and fun. 

If you get something where you are programming it through a tiny confusing screen then a VST will be easier to use and sound lots better so there is no point.

There are loads of cheap excellent synths on the iPad and the touch screen adds an additional layer of tactility

Behringer have just released a clone of the PPG Wave for under £600. No idea how it compares to a Deepmind  for sounds and usability though.

crosstownvamp said:

Behringer have just released a clone of the PPG Wave for under £600. No idea how it compares to a Deepmind  for sounds and usability though.

Yes, I've seen that. Love the 80s Tangerine Dream albums where I believe the PPG was used for a lot of the clangy, metallic drones.

I'd love a clone of this (and a Jupiter 8) but guess it'd be wasted on my idiot-level ability. Having trouble storing my guitars at the moment so acquiring racks of cloned vintage classics is probably not the way to go!

monquixote said:

My view of hardware is that it's main advantage is that it is tactile and fun. 

If you get something where you are programming it through a tiny confusing screen then a VST will be easier to use and sound lots better so there is no point.

There are loads of cheap excellent synths on the iPad and the touch screen adds an additional layer of tactility

Wise words. Unfortunately, I'm stuck in Android land and very much at the bottom of the food-chain there. What money I have is mainly going to have to go on replacing my ancient PC (although this will open up lots more opportunities to use the vsts).

I do get the tactile/fun thing though. Hence missing the JP8000. The Novation Nova does another dissimilar thing but is very polite and "produced" sounding.

Basher said:

Thanks for the thoughts @goldtop and @borntohang who's writeup really got me thinking!

I've been trying to come up with actually what I want a synth for. Certainly to learn more about programming sounds. I enjoy that with NI Massive but as soon as I use Monark (mini moog vst) I don't get the results I want. Given that the mini is about as simple as synths get, this worries me.

I did once manage to make a lovely JMJarre style self oscillating patch on my Nova but am such a goon that I've never been able to recreate it on other gear. 

The Deepmind just seemed interesting as it's an analog poly and I've never owned anything analog, much less abalog and polyphonic. My favourite synth over the years was a Roland JP8000 (virtual analog) that I foolishly sold in a cull of synth gear including my Korg Triton.

I've not ruled the deepmind out but am a bit worried that it's very much its own thing and that them programming and suchlike is specific to the deepmind and not transferable. That said, a used DM12 has just come up for sale locally so I could pick that up for the same price as a used DM6. 

Well, synth parameters are roughly the same regardless of the actual interface so there will always be transferrable knowledge; 1 for 1 interfaces are just useful for being able to visualise your process. A Mini is great for this as there are zero menu options to get lost in. There's an interesting document called The Minimoog Patch Book which is freely available online and while some of the sounds are pretty niche it's useful for getting started on the mechanics of replicating patches.

Once you know how to get the basics of a oscillator sound then that's going to be universal across synths (individual quirks aside) and you can get into more complicated patches with modulation options and so on.