5.0 out of 5 stars
This Neutron has star quality - great synth that's affordable for beginners
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 15, 2020
Have you got £300 burning a hole in your pocket and an unquenchable thirst for yet more synthesizers? Are you agonising over the boutique, hand-built quality you can't afford, or the low-cost digital recreations of the same old ideas?
Step this way - 'cause this synth is, unusually for Behringer, a pretty original concept that's been done rather well.
If you're wondering what genre or style of music it's appropriate for - all of 'em. Wendy Carlos did classical on synths like this, they're in everything from prog rock to drill/rap; it has no restrictions (no instrument does - but because you're putting the music in, and it's just making the sound you created, it's very open-ended unlike a box of presets and samples).
TBH, you don't even need to read the rest of this review. It's a brilliant analogue synth at low cost.
Behringer's synth designs are better known as clones of classics, and it's not wholly original - there are only so many ways you can make a patchable analogue two-oscillator synth with this type of filter and these oscillators - but it has its own look and its own sound, and is really rather good; a lot of that is down to opening up the features as much as possible - all waveforms are available,for example, no artificial limits for the sake of marketing a 'higher-end' version.
It's a top choice for introducing older kids to analogue synthesis, or adding some analogue joy to your existing setup. You will need a controller though - I recommend the
Arturia Keystep Pro
because it's very easy to use, but also offers lots of control-voltage (CV) connectivity effectively providing an animation sequencer as well as notes.
Other modular solutions are available!
Pros - for beginners:
* Low-cost for the power you get
* Really straightforward - with a couple of caveats
* Instant results every time
* Hugely popular - loads of tutorial videos, how-tos, patches, hacks and advice out there
Pros - for pros:
* Super-beefy dual-VCO sound with genuinely usable delay and fun overdrive section (can be bypassed)
* So cheap you can consider building polychained monsters
* Great connectivity, modular-friendly design, including audio patching
* Doesn't take up much space, has proper connectors - no 3.5mm nonsense here except on the patchbay
* Genuinely different sound engine in some regards, due to blending/routing. A real bargain compared to anything with similar features
* Paraphonic mode, and flexible retriggering (but needs the utility to change)
Cons:
* The tuning knobs are super-sensitive and super-light to touch, even in standard ranges
* Can be glitchy sometimes - firmware process/calibration isn't the best, but it's still more than most bare-bones analogues offer
* For beginners, there's no patch storage, sequencer or anything. so you need to note down the cool stuff you've created! Pro's need to as well, but it becomes habit - there's nothing more frustrating than making a nice sound then forgetting what you did
* You're about to learn a lot about gain-staging and considering your pre-amp part of the whole sound-creation process - but this thing can whisper or wail to great effect
* That front panel might be original, but it's also pretty hard to read. You may want an aftermarket one
What do I love about it - and some context.
This is my first Behringer synth, and it's taken a long time and a lot of 'wanting' to get there - since the mid '90s I've owned a ridiculous variety of synths, and very few of them gel; I bought this primarily to explore the CV control possibilities of the Keystep Pro as I already have a Circuit Mono Station for analogue realness.
They couldn't be more different, though. The Neutron's old-school design really shines through, with serious punch at times even without the overdrive. It's got so much instant character that I've been distracted from my other synths every time I start playing with it. It can do basses, synth pianos, sci-fi noises, leads, clever tricks and amazing, evolving drones - with the aid of a CV sequencer you can really take it up a notch, too, animating filter and waveform for some insane, subtle and not-so subtle noises. The filter doesn't so much self-oscillate as self-immolate, the resonance is so hot - and you can run the LFO at audio frequencies.
Even with the experience I've had of different synths, the Neutron's 'drive' section caught me out - so while this is a super affordable, super-flexible synth that is a great investment for your kids if they're interested in electronic music, it does have more of a learning curve than say, an MS-1, Circuit or BassStation.
The patchbay might look intimidating, but as a first synth you can just ignore it - everything is pre-routed and already very flexible. This is about as good as it gets for self-contained, cheap, patchable without random limitations and affordable - and it's very musically useful, far from a disposable toy.
As the first Behringer synth I've bought, I really couldn't be happier with it.
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