Low-cost electronic music gear king Behringer has begun asking a peculiar series of what-if questions on Facebook.
First, they asked, hey, what if we entered synth market? (And, specifically, how many keys it should have and whether it should even be software or hardware.)
Now, here’s a Christmas bombshell: they’re suggesting they might just go and make an ARP Odyssey for $500 with USB/MIDI and multiple filter models. There’s even a mock-up image, above.
This will really come as a surprise at … KORG.
It was only February when KORG announced it would re-release the ARP Odyssey, working with none other than David Friend, the man who led the development of many of the company’s pioneering instruments. Tatsuya Takahashi is also involved in the same effort. And Takahashi, leading the volca, monotron, and littleBits Synth Kit projects, has himself been a leader in making new instruments for a new age.
Now, at the very least, Behringer has deflated (at least hypothetically) KORG’s efforts. And if they go through with what they propose, they could undercut the KORG remake on price.
Appropriately, our friends at Synthtopia respond with a “naughty or nice” poll.
I was trying to think of something to say, but … now, inspired by Behringer’s social media, I can only think in hypothetical questions. Behold:
What will KORG’s remake cost?
Why is Behringer’s so cheap? How will it sound, or feel, versus KORG’s?
Mostly: why is Behringer asking so many hypothetical questions on their Facebook page?
Have they decided they’re doing this, in fact, and they’re teasing us? Are they actually using Facebook polls to make product decisions? Didn’t it worry them that they might tip their hand this way? Is their plan to tip their hand?
Did anyone else notice that German site Amazona.de already pointed out (in 2009) that it’s perfectly possible to make an analog polysynth for 500€? Did anyone spot that it’s one of the top comments on the Behringer post, from November?
Since Behringer hired John Price and the Midas team to develop analog polysynths, why aren’t they making a new polysynth rather than a clone of the ARP Odyssey, something few outside of synth nerd circles have even heard of?
Why do people think that analog is expensive, anyway?
Does Behringer just want everyone at KORG to sweat between now and NAMM? Is this whole thing just intended to mess with KORG’s head?
(Did any of you ever play that theater improv game where you’re only allowed to ask questions? Did you find it satisfying? Do you find yourself flashing back to that experience, right now?
Will I ever be able to speak in complete sentences again, or will we simply begin communicating in questions and polls?
Tune in – early next year – to the exciting conclusion of, what synths will come out in 2015?