Behringer today announced that its RD-78 drum machine – an updated copy of the Roland CR-78 from 1978 – is now shipping from their factory.
The Behringer RD-78 isn’t a straight copy of the original CR-78. Instead, it takes the sequencing interface from their RD-8 and pairs it with the the sounds of the CR-78.
Here’s the official Behringer RD-78 drum machine intro:
Features:
- Copies original CR-78 circuitry from the 70s
- 15 drum sounds with mix parameters and global accent capability
- 34 iconic rhythm patterns with fill in, rolling and break variations
- 10 independent analog outputs for external processing or recording your rhythms as multi-track audio
- Easy-to-use 16-step drum sequencer with real-time switching between 32 separate patterns
- Patterns can be chained into full songs with up to 250 bars
- 16 step buttons with LED indicators
- 18 controls and 29 switches to give you direct and real-time access to all important parameters
- MIDI and USB implementation for synchronization and connection to external devices
- Sync options include USB, MIDI, Clock and Internal
Pricing and Availability:
Behringer says that the RD-78 is now shipping from their factory, priced at $199 USD. It typically takes a month or so for their shipping products to be available through their retail partners.
If the RD-78 is basically the same drum machine as the RD-6, why is it priced $70 higher?
RD-6 is a TR-606 clone and thus already different soundwise. Also the RD-78 has more controls, more outputs etc.pp.
The RD-78 does have more sounds, but it also drops all the modular patch points.
My guess is that they drop the price to $129 after they get all the buyers they can at the higher price.
“but it also drops all the modular patch points.”
There are no modular patch points on the RD-6, only sync in/out, a couple of trigger outs and individual outputs for the different sounds.
You can debate whether or not jacks that support Eurorack standards are ‘modular patch points’, but that’s kind of irrelevant.
The point is that Behringer dropped these patch points to make space for controls for the additional voices.
You seem to be very confused
And your comment sounds like it’s coming from an incel with nothing better to do than wank on the Internet.
If you want to be argumentative, man up and at least try to make a competent argument. We’ll all thank you.
You’re comments speak for themselves
Named after fart
Badly informed comments about mini jacks basically being “modular patch points”
Resorting to insults and abuse when it’s pointed out to you that you are talking shite
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Admin: Personal attack deleted.
Flatus & eoin – Your comments are a little on the ‘spicy’ side in this discussion.
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Flatus – your comment squeaks by, though pretty colorful, because it’s criticizing eoin’s comment.
eoin – your comment included a direct personal attack, so we deleted that.
Be cool, contribute positively to the discussion and don’t waste the admin’s time!
All what modular patch points? The only thing that looks to be missing are the two trigger outs on the low and high toms.. So it’s not designed to sequence another drum module. Not sure what else is missing here
That price will depend on the upcoming trade war
RD-6 “modular patch points”. Lol!
stratimus, Elwyn – I’m kind of surprised that you don’t understand how triggers are used with analog gear.
The RD-6 is designed so that you can sync it to other gear, and also so you can use it to sequence analog drum modules.
This obviously isn’t complete modular control over the individual submodules within the RD-6. Behringer only seems to include that when it’s copying Moog.
But you seem to be slagging on the idea that this has any modular connectivity, when it’s pretty obviously designed to let you sequence other analog gear.
RD-6 was introduced at around $185 from Thomann. blame exchange rates for the rest of the difference.
It was around $199 in the US when it was introduced, but dropped to $129 pretty quickly.
Since this uses the same form factor, I’d think it would end up priced pretty similarly. It’s not like the additional analog voices cost anything anymore.
yes, there was some significant price fluctuations. i suspect there will be many more fluctuations before this makes it to retailers. fwiw, i was unimpressed with the previous RD’s, mostly because i don’t like drum machines, or the sounds these guys make. I prefer a velocity sensitive ROMpler instead, or modular sources.
Breaking news: guy who doesn’t like drum machines is also unimpressed by them
And has to shout about it…
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Admin: Personal attack deleted.
You know the drill – keep comments on topic and constructive, and don’t waste the admin’s time.
okok, i forget what i said.
Retail pricing on the TD-3 and RD-6 has been pretty wild, e.g. Amazon were selling the different colours at different prices. Maybe there was some secret supply-and-demand algorithm working in the background, but I think I saved something like €50 by not getting the silver TD-3.
Why? Additional circuitry isn’t free.
Analog circuitry IS essentially free in mass-produced products like this.
A populated surface-mount PCB typically costs under $10 in volume. Behringer probably spends more shipping the device to retailers than it does on the analog circuitry.
Analog circuits get expensive when companies use ‘vintage’ through-hole manufacturing techniques and use rare parts, like Moog with their Modular reissues or DIN SYNC with their x0x drop-in boards, and when companies work in small volumes.
“A populated surface-mount PCB typically costs under $10 in volume.” Fabbing and populating a board of this complexity for under $10 is unlikely. Source: I’m a hardware engineer for a company that manufactures in Guangdong.
Your experience may be different than mine. What’s your cost guestimate for the PCB, then?
We’ve purchased large PCBs in volume for under $20 – and that, of course, includes their markup. This doesn’t look like it would have a particularly large PCB, though, and Behringer is using cheap jacks and pots, from what I’ve seen. They’re doing this all in-house, in volumes of 10,000 pieces or more, so I’d be willing to bet money that their cost is not far off from my guestimate.
Also – would you disagree with my statement that the difference in cost for having a couple of extra drum voices should be negligible in a design like this?
I’d be more concerned about whether the analog circuits require manual trimming that then any additional analog components.
The CR-78 uses inductor coils on many of its sounds. These are largely obsolete nowadays. So if Behringer has chosen to use coils for the voices in this machine, that could drive the component cost up considerably.
I think it looks and sounds beautiful!
Er no… THT components are extremely cheap. Granted not quite as cheap as SMD but that’s irrelevant. Claiming Moog are bespoke is laughable. This is the same nonsense that the clowns at Make Noise use to justify the $480 price for a simple delay using a garbage IC because it contains ‘vactols’.
Omnipresent Moustache – I’d agree that standard through-hole components are cheap AF.
You appear to have no knowledge about the build on the Moog modulars and Model D, because if you did, you wouldn’t make such laughable statements.
So do I!!!!
Anyone got any ideas about what’s providing the bass line on the video??? Model d???? (Sounds great! Proper vintage like sound)…..
Starting to wonder when I will see my first ‘all Behringer’ studio…..
The cowbell on their 808 “clone” wasn’t in the same pitch as the original, there was no way to alter it, and the MK2 did not address this problem… I wonder if Behringer have got their act together for the ’78?
Has anyone else had volume issues with these inexpensive Behringer items? My TB-3 has serious gain problems…
I wonder if the pricing was building in the effects of tariffs. As of today, the US Postal Service is no longer accepting any packages from China/Hong Kong until further notice, which is probably going to be really disruptive for the synth industry.
Behringer doesn’t build anything in the USA. They are an EU company so I can’t see any effect it will have on Behringers manufacturing in China. If you are in the US you will pay more to import the synths from behringer
The country of origin is what’s used for determining & collecting tariffs, not the location of the company’s headquarters.
If Behringer is based in a tax haven & manufacturing in China, tariffs are applied when the object is imported to the destination country. So, USA customers should expect to pay more.
Unless Behringer copies what other Chinese clothing manufacturers have done & relocate to Cambodia. Labour is even cheaper there & their exports are not the subject of ridiculous trade wars (yet).
Music Tribe is headquartered in Dubai, UAE. As far as I’m aware, all their products are made in China and tariffed accordingly.
The US postal service has nothing to do with Behringer. Their products are shipped from China by sea container. When they arrive, the importer is charged any import duties owing and the goods are forwarded to retailers for sale. Import duties were already set at 25% for electronic music gear prior to Trump’s latest round of tariffs.
This is incredibly outdated and boring …I wish Behringer would offer something innovative and cutting edge …just for a change.
You clearly missed the point but thanks for trying.
Please illuminate us with “the point”.
I can explain it with only 2 words “signature sounds”.
If you dont like the sound of CR-78, then move on …thank you 🙂
“In the air tonight” has already been done, so I fail to see the point of this instrument.
to do cover tunes of that awesome song.
Purple haze has already been done, so I fail to see the point in the electric guitar.
Fair point. However – given the fact of possibilites of expression on an electric guitar compared to a rudimentray drum machine… I’m not so sure ..
oh I agree with you. This thing sounds dated and boring to my ears. I can’t imagine wanting to use it, myself, but I guess there are people who like to recreate this classic mix.
this is Like saying that you can only make “ planet rock” with a tr-808 and “ Vogue” with tr-909.
Dont you find that ignorant?
You’ve lost the thread a bit — who made that claim? Dozens of iPad apps today would enable one to recreate those tracks. But this drum machine — that’s pretty much all it can do.
From my experience using CR-78 samples, many of the sounds layer really, really nicely with other drum machines. They are extremely punchy and bright without being harsh.
It is definitely a specialty machine. If you can recall the 1980s, the DDM220, TR-727 and RX21L latin drum machines from Korg, Roland and Yamaha respectively. Few people would use one of these boxes on their own, unless you wanted to make entire songs with congas and timbales. They were meant to be synced to, and heard alongside a regular drum machine, providing an alternate set of sounds to accompany the main beat.
I think that’s the main use for a machine like this. It’s not for everyone, but if it sounds good I’ll pick one up.
Yeahhhh !!! Let’s fade to grey ?
I like the direction that Behringer took with this one. Little box full of basic sounds perfect for sound design adventures married with decent modern sequencer. IMHO it is a really nice tool.
If anyone is interested in something close in sound, but letting you modify all of the sounds in quite significant way, check out MiniPops by Full Bucket Music. It is a free VST plugin, one of those “more than meets the eye” 🙂
Beware, panel with all of the parameter knobs is strangely named ‘settings’!