Behringer continues to look to vintage Roland gear to make new products. The teaser for the next product looks like a TR-606.
The 606 was a great cheap little box in its day, and has a cute form factor. But it was never the hit its 303 sibling was, and there are other compact drum machines now. That is, you’ve got not only the Roland Boutique Series, but also actual boutique items like MFB. And many drum machine lovers prefer larger form factors.
Cloning the 606 is old news:
If you didn’t like the sound of that, well – you probably just don’t like the sound of a 606, because that’s what it sounds like!
I always had a special affection for the 606, as did plenty of genuinely famous and relevant artists over the years (not just weirdos like myself). But the actual sound is pretty easy to replicate with samples, so this one is a puzzler.
And that may answer the question of why Roland didn’t do a TR-…. uh TR-06? … with the other Boutiques. The TR-08 and TR-09 are already essentially 606-sized, but with the 909 and 808 sounds and controls that more people are after. And you can more or less get some 606 sounds loading samples into a TR-8S or any other drum machine with sample import. (Heck, a volca sample will do the trick.)
I’m sure there are 606 fans who will be looking for this. You are presumably the ones Behringer “hears.” We’ll have to wait and see how Behringer executed their take on a bare-bones early 80s design.
The bigger question for Behringer at NAMM may be to find out where their TR-909 “tribute” is, as I think that’s the item more people will covet.
(Original) TR-606 image at top (CC-BY-SA) Midas Wouters.