Re: [AH] Behringer Stringer

From Giles Ward
Sent Fri, Feb 16th 2018, 15:47

 From Gearslutz. The three octave VP330 clone gets the green light. 
Price at the end:


I'd definitely buy one of these if we were living in normal times. But 
Uli, you are your greatest competitor. It's 20 more synths on the way? 
I'd hate to blow a thousand on this then have the Arp 2600 released the 
next day. In order of GAS .... Synthi, 2600, Wasp. If any of these are 
announced soon, I'll be keeping my powder dry.

Maybe I'm not the only one thinking this way?-

---

Hi Tricera,

that's a fair point but frankly it doesn't really matter to us. Allow me 
to explain the motivation behind our synth journey:

After 30 years of running a business, I decided to fulfill my lifelong 
dream - to build all the synths and drum machines I could never afford 
when I was a kid. Looking at all the feedback, I believe I am not alone.

As you can see we are selling these synths at very low prices and in 
return it will hopefully create some really happy people. Consider this 
- if it was such a lucrative business, many other companies would have 
jumped on this train long ago.
Instead, many competitors use DSPs to keep the component and 
manufacturing cost real low and instead spend their effort and money on 
marketing by trying to convince you that “virtual analog” sounds the 
same as analog when in fact it is digital technology.
As you may have noticed we don't advertise at all, simply because we 
don't believe in "pay to play" which means getting "great" reviews in 
return for advertisement dollars. Instead we believe in honest reviews 
from real customers and in return we love to pass these marketing 
savings to our customers.

Our mission is to build popular synths such as the Model D but also 
exotic ones like the VC340. If profit was our purpose, it would be much 
smarter to stretch the launch of these many synths over a longer period 
of time. Exactly as you suggested.

We now have 4 incredibly motivated engineering teams and all they care 
is to showcase their new products. Why would I stop them?

I've read many comments where people believe that recreating these 
synths is a walk in the forest. Frankly, these statements couldn't be 
further from the truth and the engineers among you will appreciate that 
replicating the analog circuitry from these synths is a very small 
aspect of the actual work. The majority of the effort goes into creating 
a complete new digital control platform including writing new firmware, 
designing all mechanical parts and PCB's including prototyping and 
trouble shooting. Then comes the serious investment in tooling, test 
jigs, test software and finally compliance testing, spare parts and 
after-sale service.

I am the first to admit that this is a crazy journey by traditional 
business means. But I can also tell you it's the most fun we've ever had 
- and for our people and me that's priceless. The incredible feedback 
we're receiving from you is so overwhelming that it's worth every effort:-)

Thanks for all your support!

Uli

P.S. Even though we haven't collected orders for 1,000 units yet, I have 
decided to produce the VC340 regardless and at a MAP of US$ 799.99. 
Hopefully we won’t lose too much money!