65 thoughts on “Behringer MS-101 Now Available To Pre-Order”

1. The blue SH-101 is by far the most desirable and valuable. The same will be true of the MS-101 and I will buy one when they come out with the blue version.

   1. Black is the only color for real synths.

      1. Booooooooooo

         1. White colour is by far the best sounding filter colour

      2. Actually, it would look great in white…..a color I don’t often like on synths.

         1. Moog Little Phatty is awesome in white 🙂

            1. So is the MM Voyager, although if they made the MS-101 in Orange I’d pretty much be required to buy it.

2. Gray version please.

3. Won’t they don’t tell you is that the new one won’t run on batteries and uses a standard wall-wart.

   Who the **** is going to use a keytar with a wall-wart?

   1. Get a rechargeable battery pack, tape it to the synth, plug it in. It’s ghetto, but it works.

4. God, I don’t even need this, but for the price it’s sort of an insta-buy.

   Must. Hold. Out. For. VC340.

   1. FWIW, Sweetwater has the VC340 on preorder now too.

   2. noise as modulation source is like “whoa.. new ideas an shit…”

5. that amazon link is for $355. Everyone else online (Sweetwater, Kraft…) have it for $329. Pretty sure I’m sitting this one out though. The original didn’t do much for me so this one isn’t sparking my GAS.

6. Not sure why anyone other than a beginner would want this synth, other than the ‘cute’ factor.

   1. Maybe because it sounds good…

   2. Nice synth beginner comment. Cute.

      1. My other favourite comment is the “I’ll leave this to the beginners while I go make some real music”

         1. my other joke is the funny one

      2. I’m no beginner, I’m a musician on a budget, but we all visit this page for the same reason: because we enjoy synthesizers. There’s nothing wrong with beginners, we were all beginners at one point.

         1. Tom – my comment was for Chiara, because they have no idea what they are talking about. The Sh-101 is one of the most classic mono synths of all time. Easily in the top 5 synths used 90s electronica, techno, idm, and house. It’s like saying the Roland Tb-303 is a beginner synth due to its simplicity, Such a noob statement I see far to often on here.

            1. woolgathering

               Suggesting that you should get a synth because it was used a lot on songs 30 years ago is the ‘noob statement’.

               The sonic possibilities of the SH-101 were explored years ago, and are not fertile ground for people interested in sound design. The same statement would apply to the TB-303 – another synth that gets revisited over and over so that people can relive their youth. Those synths had a big impact 30 years ago, because nobody had heard those sounds before.

               Technology moves on. There are much better monosynths available, with more capabilities and more sound design possibilities.

               Other than being an inexpensive synth for beginners, the MS-101 is for people that want to collect synths and recreate the sounds from songs they liked as kids. That’s not a criticism – that’s a statement.

               If you want to imitate the sounds of 30 years ago, maybe this is for you, in which case it’s cool to be able to get an affordable knockoff.

               1. Chiara

                  Ok now that you made it clear you are not a musician and just a sound designer I would agree with you the sh-101 is not the best mono-synth for sound designers, but everyone knows that. You might as well posted “I like turtles” if that is the point you are trying to make.

                  Many vintage synths from over 30 years are more complex than anything today. I recommend trying sound design on Kawai additive synthesizer or Yamaha fm synths if you want complex sound design.
                  What synths would you recommend for modern sound design synths both mono and poly?

               2. By that token, it makes no sense that instruments like pianos and violins continue to be manufactured, essentially unchanged. Surely everything that could have been created with those designs had been done within the first 50 years they were available.

               3. Glad they finally came out with that new Orchestra 2.0! The first version was getting long in the teeth after many centuries. Imagine listening to hoary old violins instead of those amazing new bazookophones!!

               4. I dont like the Admins of Synthtopia.

   3. I’ll bet that’s exactly what Squarepusher was thinking to himself when he was making Feed Me Weird Things and Hard Normal Daddy using his “synth for beginners 101”

      1. They were thinking ‘this is a cheap synth that makes cools sounds I’ve never heard before’.

         Today’s interesting music isn’t going to come from people imitating Squarepusher’s music from the 90’s.

         It’s going to come from people that think like Squarepusher was thinking back in the 90’s, and find ways to create sounds that people have never heard before.

         There are a more inexpensive synth options today than ever, so not sure why people would want this except as a beginner synth or nostalgia synth.

         1. As a cheap synth, that does way more than the original 101, why would they not want it? The 101 is now one of the affordable synths you just mentioned. If “cute” factor (which in my 30 years of playing synthesizers I have never heard a single person other than you reference as a factor) is the only thing you think a 101 is good for, than you must have a very limited knowledge of it. It’s a mono bass. It is by design, simplistic in form and function. Just like every other mono bass synth you can think of. If manufacturers were making mono synths that were super difficult to use, no one would want one. They all know that if you’re looking for more esoteric mono synth sounds, you can always look at Eurorack or whatever. They make mono bass synths so you can get easily reproducable, reliable bass and lead sounds with minimum effort.

            Anyways you’re point is completely moot. The MS-101 will be the most popular selling mono synth of 2019 and possibly even 2020. When the sales figures come in then we’ll see “why anyone would want to buy a beginners synth”

7. Its really amusing folks are concerned with the color instead crossing their fingers it isnt a piece of shit when a questionable company with questionable quality across the boarf is taking preorders.

   1. There has been plenty of reviews saying it is already much better quality than the cheap original. Also, Behringer have now a track record of solidly constructed synths via the the DM12, Model D and Neotron. These Behringer trolls are getting boring.

   2. I’ve had on OG red 101 for about ten years now. News Flash: it’s also a cheaply made synth that often needs servicing and replacement parts and Roland are also a questionable company with questionable practices. The difference here being that Behringer have made a much better synth with more features for about a quarter of the price of an OG 101

      1. Let’s not forget about the 3-year warranty

      2. > Roland are also a questionable company with questionable practices

         What problems have you had with Roland?

         1. Whataboutism?

         2. You must have missed this one:
            https://www.musicradar.com/news/top-guitar-and-music-tech-firms-raided-in-price-fixing-probe
            The big companies have been at this shit for years.
            Interestingly, one company that wasn’t involved… Behringer

            1. Oh boy, I worked in a music store doing the books in the 70’s-80’s. I never bought a piece of new gear after seeing the markups. Wow…

8. I’m excited about the oberheim clone.

   1. Me too! UB-Xa will be my first Behringer synth. I also like the System 100 clone idea. Maybe the VC340 too, although the Roland boutique sounds good.

9. The title in the video says “299$” and on Amazon it is listed as 355.52 $….there is a price-mismatch here…

   1. Behringer originally said that they were ‘targeting’ $300 for the price.

      It seems like the best pre-order price is about $330. Maybe that will go down, but Behringer may have just had to price it a litter higher than that because it’s bigger.

10. Yet another nostalgia synth?

11. I’m waiting for the Behringer Odyssey.

    1. > I’m waiting for the Behringer Odyssey.

       You’re in luck. This credible site called synthtopia promised us it was going to ship in February 2019! So you must have yours already, right!

       https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2019/01/25/behringer-odyssey-coming-in-february-for-499/

       Or should we note the fact it’s been delisted from all the major stores after the naive glassy eyed ad revenue receivers at synthtopia were scammed by a huckster and they are responding by reporting nothing at all about the scam and censoring discussion of it? Smells like fraud to me!

       1. This is just how behringer operates. They tease to gauge interest, then don’t deliver. leaving everyone pissed off and the dealers to field all the questions about when the new cheap synth arrives.

       2. I wonder where you see that promise in the article? I see “The Behringer Odyssey is expected to be available in February, priced at US $499.” The hate is going strong in you apparently

12. … all good, nice reissue with extra goodies – but why did they drop the portamento/glide always on mode ??

    1. I was wondering this too.

13. Admin: Personal attack deleted (name calling).

    Keep comments on topic and constructive.

14. The amazon product page says “Behringer Synthesizer Software…” 😀
    It kind of makes it look like a scam!

15. Can this run off batteries like the original?

    1. It doesn’t look like it. I see no battery compartment in the pics, and haven’t seen any mention of it working on batteries.

16. Wow pretty lame that the handgrip doesn’t match the red color of the synth

    1. Yeah I’m sure that single small difference has all the prospective 101 owners who could never afford the original running for the hills right now

       1. lol ok mr. sarcasm

          not suggesting that this detail would necessarily dissuade a buyer. just saying it looks LAME! and it does.

          1. Guitar necks don’t generally match the colour of the body, suppose that’s LAME too right?

17. So it is definitely possible to build and sell an SH101 for $300: why Roland sold that for big bucks in the 90’s?

    1. Morrio Erricone – Roland never sold the SH-101 for big bucks in the 90’s.
       It only ever had a production run from late 1982-1986 with an MSRP of $495 US.
       Any price increases have occurred overtime in the second hand market.
       Considering Roland could not use modern surface mount tech manufacturing techniques back in the 80’s I’d wager $495 USD was a pretty good deal for its day.

18. The pre sale in germany is open since NAMM, first shipment 16.05., this has been corrected to 15.06. for RD, the “new” colors will ship 15.08., expect the RDs during summer!

19. Hoping Behringer releases desktop/rack versions of all the clones…
    * Don’t have room / Don’t want to pay for multiple keybeds
    * Would be awesome to have a D, Neutron, MS101, UB-X, etc., all fit in one rack. A super-duper behringer synth rack.

    Owned a couple crapo mixers from behringer in the past, but the build quality of my Neutron, DeepMind 12d (and BCR2000 for that matter) is as good as you get in this price range. And they have a 3-year warranty, though I’m curious how well they back it up. But seriously, the poor quality complaints do not apply to what they are building in 2019.

    1. Bought the DM12 desktop to rack it, and really love it. Also have no room for more keyboards, so any rack versions are always appreciated.

    2. there’s module/rack for the model d and pro-1 (upcoming at some time… please let it be soon)
       I’d really love this ms101 if it er.. sounded better. i dont like the roland filter for monosynths. A module is an ok idea i guess, tho a different filter would be even better. Hoping they take this model and give it a revamp and some variations / iterations, cus i would definitely go for a keytar monosynth, just not this one particularly.

20. The 101 design is a bit of a weenie for my purposes. Single oscillator synths are too limiting, although Arturia’s MicroFreak has a potent take on it. OTOH, this thing is packed with useful aspects. I’m curious about its MIDI/USB implementation, because aside from only using it AS a keytar, that’ll decide how well it fits into a rig. A lot of people who buy this will probably also have a Boutique, Volca, Neutron or Erebus. If it plays well as a tentacle on that octopus, that’ll probably account for most of its sales.

21. The original 101 was never earth shattering in terms of features, but it was fun, quick, easy, and sounds great for what it is. I think this thing will be even better if they get the sound and build quality right. I just got a Neutron, and while it has some flaws in the sound, overall it’s a really good synth and for the money you really can’t complain. It feels very solid; we’ll see how it holds up over time. I’m definitely keeping an eye on this one as well as the new vocoder.

22. I’m waiting for a Moog Liberation clone!