Will Behringer Crash The ‘808 Day’ Party?

For the last few years, Roland has used ‘808 Day‘ – August 8th – as an opportunity to celebrate its legacy and as an opportunity to introduce new gear. But it looks like this year, Behringer may be crashing the 808 Day party.

Last year, Roland introduced the $349 TR-08 – a boutique-sized circuit-modeled clone of the classic TR-808 Rhythm Composer.

This year, though, Roland + Puma are introducing 808-inspired sneakers, while it’s Behringer teasing the new gear:

Given the date, it seems likely that they’ll officially introduce the Behringer RD-808 drum machine, previewed at Superbooth.

Here’s an intro from Rob Belcham, Senior Principal Systems Engineer at Music Group. The RD-808 discussions starts about 2 minutes into the video:

The Behringer MS-101 is a clone of the Roland Sh-101.

Behringer could also be planning to make a bigger splash and introduce other clones on Roland’s turf.

Last year on 808 Day, the company shared a teaser of the MS-101 – a clone of the Roland SH-101 synthesizer.

Since then, Behringer has teased plans for many other clones of vintage Roland gear:

Let us know what you think of Behringer’s plans in the comments!

42 thoughts on “Will Behringer Crash The ‘808 Day’ Party?”

    1. I didn’t know that trolling is now perceived as interesting. To me, they are just party pooper. Probably envy that they are only known as trolls and “teaser”, while Roland at some point released gear, which wrote history. Sure, nowadays Roland mostly just ride that wave, but at least they release what they tease.

      2. Behringer can poop on my party anytime, if it means a get a real analog new 808 for a cheap price. Better than Roland’s 808 efforts in that department.

        1. Funny how people said that “analog” is just a “buzzword”, when commenting on the DrumBrute Impact.
          Anyway, so far Behringer only farts on parties, because hot air is all they have.

  3. It seems like Roland is falling behind the last years and their image too. Looking at their product line in the last 2-3 years has been embarrassing.

    The ironic part here is that Behringer has proven, that they are better at re-issue Roland products, than Roland are themselves due to that they listen to their end-users.

    1. > The ironic part here is that Behringer has proven

      Proven that they can announce roland clones, make a whole lotta noise, and don’t actually have to releasse anything. You may like the specs on behringer’s roland clones, but at least I can go to the store and BUY roland’s re-issues, today.

        1. Just because you don’t like it, doesn’t make it a joke. There is certainly a market for this format, otherwise Roland would have stopped making them a long time ago already.

  4. More, for yet another “tease”. If you read the above text, you’ll see that they are mostly tease, rather than release.

  6. looking forward to the B 808. would even love to get their version of the Pro-One, VP-330 and holy shit, even a Jupiter 8!?!?!?
    I suspect their 808 will be great!!! Roland should have done this in the first place. Idiots.

    2. Don’t agree whatsoever. I don’t see ANY impact myself. The person buying the behringer was never buying the OB-6 and Minimoog reissue like I just did. The begringer D sounds great but there’s more to the overall presentation, quality, insiraption , etc. than just the sound and little crappy knobs.
      In fact, as many of the behringer customers mature and continue on with music they are likely tossing all the behringer gear on ebay in order to buy a more robust product.. in this respect they may actually sell a more expensive synth that would have never been sold to begin with.

  12. I love what Behringer is doing. They are selling all the classic pieces for very affordable prices and not beating the consumer over the head. Roland could rerelease the 808 if they want, but they don’t. Instead Roland made that awful digital clone. Everyone complaining is crazy. Uli is a synth god in my opinion, keep em coming. Give us an ARP 2600 please

    1. Every Uli fanboy seems to be broke as a joke, justifying his unethical behavior because it saves someone money… funny how that works.

    2. > Give us an ARP 2600 please
      why? sounds awful compared to my electribe 2s. analog fanboys are always nuttier than fruitcakes.

      1. you call this abc shit “great”? Sorry whats wrong with you every pluign for 10$ sounds the same…
        Then I need no hardware with tiny knobs and minimal functions…

  13. I would’ve been happy to buy a proper, full size analog reissue of a TR808 from Roland but instead they released itty bitty digital junk. Bash Behringer all you want (and they deserve it on many fronts) but they are serving a hungry market what they want: Analog gear at very affordable rates. Most working musicians I know would much prefer Moog, DSI, etc… but simply can’t afford it. With that said, I’m a have me an RD808 boyeeee!

  14. Behringer is copying these synths and I do not care. No one really says anything when someone makes VST’s of them. If Behringer wants to clone let them. You either buy it or you do not.

  17. Haha, sorry you guys take things to Serious, loving my behringer model d for a month or two, just a really good product with a nice feel and killer sound. Not too small not too big fits easy in my backpack. Roland let me down with their poor constructed bootiq series.. They feel and look like toys. Go behringer, show them the way and satisfy the musicians

    2. considering how classic and loved they are we should hope for new versions every year! All 303 clones and other x0x clones sound unique to me. Plus artists are still creating new music with these proven classics.

      why do people in synth community get bothered by clones? The pedal and guitar world are filled with clones.
      brass, woodwinds, strings, and percussion are all pretty much different companies cloning the same instruments.

      do all new electronic instruments need a new form of synthesis, new filter designs, and sound design capabilities?

      Are there not enough innovative products coming out for you to make super experimental music?

      I really want to understand why so many people make these comments on here.

  21. No! Not many plugin sounds and works like the new drummachines Roland released the last years. TR8S actually is supergreat!

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