Behringer shared this preview for their D Mini Synthesizer, a compact synth that copies the name, styling and some synthesis elements of the Moog Minimoog.
Can a mini-synth capture the true Minimoog sound? Stranger things have happened. But compromises in the design include reducing the architecture down to a single VCO.
Features:
- Based on the classic MiniMoog from the 1970s
- VCO with 5 selectable wave forms, including saw, triangle, sharktooth, square and pulse
- “Vintage-sounding” lowpass filter with resonance for those classic sounds
- LFO with 4 different waveforms for amazing vibrato and filter effects
- VCA with a dedicated envelope control
- Variable envelope amount for filter cut-off control
- White and pink noise with its own volume control
- 27 touch keys
- 18 controls for access to major functions
- USB Type C allows powering via smartphone, power bank or computer
Pricing and Availability:
The Behringer D Mini is available to preorder, with a street price of about $120 USD.
Update: Behringer’s official specs note a single VCO, but they also have a knob option for a Poly (paraphonic?) option. Their product information for this does not appear to be accurate at this time.
“the design include reducing the architecture down to a single VCO”
Not true, it is a 3 oscillator synth just as its big brother, hence the detune option and 3 voice paraphony mode.
The Behringer product page says “Portable Legendary Analog Synthesizer with 1 VCO, Classic VCF, 1 LFO and 2 Envelopes”.
“A single VCO offers five selectable waveforms (saw, triangle, sharktooth, square and pulse), giving you a wider sonic palette than the original. The vintage-voiced lowpass filter with resonance delivers those classic Moog sweeps and screams, while the LFO with four waveforms drives expressive modulation. A dedicated envelope controls the VCA, and variable envelope amount on the filter cutoff lets you sculpt every note’s character.”
The detune knob doesn’t make make sense with a single VCO. It looks their own product specs may be wrong.
If anyone has official information to share that’s accurate, leave a comment!
On the Behringer site you’ve linked to there is a “D-MINI Quick Start Guide” PDF. It says
“D MINI
Portable Legendary Analog Synthesizer with
3 VCOs, 1 Classic VCF, 1 LFO and 1 Envelope”
I guess you could consider this to be pretty official information.
Another volca keys clone with different looks …
Except the Volca Keys has a delay effect that this doesn’t have.
Also this has white and pink noise which the Volca doesn’t have.
So, not a Volca Keys clone then.
this one like the other analog ones in this format under the hood are nothing like the keys or sound like a keys, they just have a similar layout to it ui/function wise
One of the things about the MiniMoog or Behringer Model D is that you can select 3 waveforms and set them at different octaves. This obviously can’t do that. They appear to have copied the original Korg Volca style again with a lot of its layout as with the Pharo Mini. I’d probably get it for travelling with although, I like the Volca style sequencer and the Ring mod setting and paraphonic mode.
one of the thing I have really liked playing with this like is the parameter locking – it has the per step locking as a toggle so you can get really need sync’d steppy effects if you run the sequencer and play on top of it
The guy in the video says it has 3 oscs?
It seems to have some limitations. It has polyphony (paraphony?) and you can use a switch to do octaves and fifths, but as far as I can tell you cannot independently tune them otherwise and it also appears you are stuff to using the same waveform on all three. Not a deal breaker at that price, but definitely a motivator to spend the extra buck fifty for the Model D. I’ll probably be picking one up
Yet…
Not for me – but regarding development and design it’s surely an interesting piece of kit.
One might as well pay the difference and get the Model D and skip the Mini aspect.
They clearly want for you to gang up three of the little beeyotches and boom, instant sorta-not-a-Minimoog. You could mix & match any of their micro-synths the same way.