Helllooooo. First time posting, but thankyou for the wealth of knowledge I have attained from lurking across these forums the last few months.
I have made my first (of many I am sure) major blunder. My Behringer CP1A -12V rail has stopped working. No led and no -12 when I measure the output. +12 is working fine.
Now it could just be Behringer being Behringer, but I think it happened by have the +12V of another module sitting against its aluminium faceplate.
I soldered the -12, +12 and ground wires to the pin header and then hot glued it to the back of the module (the AR/AD for what its worth). Turns out I didn’t have the hot glue cover the whole area and the +12 was making contacted with the faceplate.
I have a frequency central PCB and parts ready to solder up, but any ideas on how I could starting fixing the Behringer supply?
If I understand you correctly, your AR/AD had the +12V shorted to the faceplate. Is the faceplate also connected to ground? (Should be.) If so then +12V was shorted to ground and plugging the power supply would short the power supply rails. (Was the Behringer the power supply being used for the AR/AD?)
That’s bad, but it’d surprise me if a commercial PS weren’t protected against shorts. If that’s really what happened then maybe you can repair the Behringer but frankly I’d worry about using it any more — if for no other reason than its demonstrated inability to handle something like this.
If it’s still under warranty it couldn’t hurt to make a claim. By defect or by poor design it failed in circumstances where it shouldn’t have.
Oh, and check for shorts before the next time you plug in a new module.
Thanks @analogoutput! Yeah your right about how it happened.
Ive just logged a ticket with Behringer to get a refund/replacement. I tested for shorts before gluing it all down, but didn’t think anything of it after that.
Just to make sure you tried it, have you plugged the power supply in without anything attached to it? It’s possible there’s a short on the negative rail somewhere. That would explain the behavior.
For a more direct apples-to-apples comparison, Korg’s downsized (not full size keys) version of the Odyssey is $830 at Sweetwater (US). The full size version seems to be out of production but I see it on Reverb for $1495. Sweetwater has the (full size) Behringer Odyssey for $588.
The Behringer Crave is almost identical, feature for feature, with the Moog Mother-32. At Sweetwater (US) the Crave is $199, the Mother-32 is $649.
I have issues with Behringer, but I think their reputation for low price is accurate.
I have the neutron and I like all it does and for the price it was worth it.
My biggest behringer plug is for the little bits they do that are super cheap. Reasonably well made and just work. DI boxes, headphone mixers, many of their standard pedals, headphones, pre-amps and yes power supply bits.
Like Rich ( @analogoutput) I do have some qualms about some of the “clones” which are frankly blatant copies and that’s a whole other thread… or not. Im a musician not a lawyer and I’ve never subscribed to any brand mysticism. If I can make it I will and if I can’t I’ll get the cheapest I can to do the job. At the moment that’s Behringer but I remember when Yamaha and Sony had the same rep.
If you take away all the politics, behringer makes a solid machine at a good price. I think that’s the end of the line for a lot of us. Big biz is always kind of slimy isn’t it?
My B pro-1 was my second synth (after a microkorg I’ve had since I was 14) and I had so much fun with it I decided to start building Kosmo. Super thankful for that! So maybe I just see behringer in a good light
Apologies for the attribution. My memory is pish and I was sure you’d had a thing or two to say when behringer came up before.
Is it worth Googling the “cork Sniffer” thing as I have no idea what that’s about and don’t want to start hating my behringer gear.
Wanted a 2600 since I first saw a glossy pro mo of a man with a beard and kipper necktie standing next to the machine. The sound is so unique to me. But it’s looks are more iconic than almost all the rest. It oozes sci-fi and death star. I have gathered every schema and note I could find about building my own but it’s a huge, huge faff and expensive too. The soft versions are fun to play with but I want a real synth not a Hasbro.
Hmm perhaps a fake MIDI controller faceplate and soft synth combo? No! It won’t smell right.
(Confidentialy of course… I might have to get the Behringer … purely for consumer research … and to sneer at it… I look forward to @analogoutput’s future review )
The ARP 2600 was the first synth I ever used (45ish years ago) and still the best. I’ve never had the ambition to build a clone and the Korg version is, like vintage originals, out of my price range. But the B2600… I dunno… maybe…
Go on! Just the one! No one here is going to judge you. (Though owning 2 B2600 is now almost possible)
Only ever used one once in a London studio and the engineer was seriously “no touchy touchy” so I had to hum and mime what was needed, using a dozen film and TV references, to get that bladder vibrating bass sound and sweep.
I’ve got a Crave and a new Neutron and I’m strongly tempted to buy a Model D. I also bought a BCF2000 MIDI controller second hand because the price was excellent for a programmable MIDI device with eight rotary controllers and eight motorized faders and twenty buttons.
When it came down to the Neutron or Model D, I went for the Neutron because it’s got a good patch panel with lots of useful stuff. If I want a Model D sound I can probably approximate it using the Crave and Neutron together.
Prices for new items, UK including 20% VAT, shipping free, both items from Bax Music.
Crave ÂŁ122 (March 2020)
Neutron ÂŁ248 (November 2020)
Total ÂŁ370
And for the controller, ÂŁ95 including shipping from a private seller on eBay.
So that’s amazing value. I’m very happy with this and I don’t think I could have got that much useful kit for much less even if I had built it all myself.
The two synthesisers are very solid. I got a decent aluminium flight case that holds the Crave for about £20 from Amazon. A case for the Neutron may prove more expensive but mainly because it’s a much bigger device.
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