Behringer DEEPMIND 12

Maybe it's that I used to play a Korg Polysix, a Juno 106, a Korg Poly Ensemble (anyone remember those?) back in the day and this has me nostalgic for that time, but I REALLY enjoy playing this thing. And, I'll be honest, I no longer want the 106 back (well, maybe, a bit.). Excellent combination of throwback analog synthesis and modern digital effects processing. I find myself lost in inspiration, tinkering with this in my practice studio. Really fat analog leads, warm rich pads, endless possibilities with the arpeggio, intuitive sliders for sound programming, a mod matrix that is deep and wide, fantastic effects processing, it goes on. There are some limitations with the oscillators and the waveforms, but at this price, what it offers far outweighs them. I use it to compliment a modern digital performance synth on stage and for inspiration in my home studio. Build quality is sturdy, keys are springy but have a decent weight. When you pick it up, it has some heft - does not have a cheap plastic-y feel to it. Has an internal power supply, which is nice. Control layout is intuitive. MASSIVE number of factory patches - some great, some not. If you're familiar with analog synth patch programming, you can find one that's close to what you want and adjust it to your liking. Or start from scratch. And you can do it all, visually, right from the synth - you don't need to go to your PC. OK, there are many parameters that are menu-driven, but they are intuitive and relatively easy to find. Certainly not deal breakers, but the fans are a bit noisy. Not an issue on stage, but could be in a quiet studio. You can reduce their speed or turn them off if necessary. Also, the return spring on the mod wheel is a bit strong for my taste. 5 stars because nothing else out there can touch it at this price point!

Great banks of sounds. Controls are easy to use. Price is great, of course. Wish the sound quality when recorded at higher volumes was bit more pristine.

A very high quality, well built, and sophisticated synth for the money. Strong sound engine and quality keys. Sound tweaking comes from a combination of surface controls and menu diving. Each section of the synth has an edit button that opens an edit screen allowing you to edit the applicable parameters for more extensive sound shaping. Oodles of effects that can be accessed and modified from the edit menu. The synth also includes a computer app for editing but I actually find the onboard menu screen easier to work with. Others have mentioned the tremendous amount of presets (over 1,000). They actually may have gone a bit overboard here especially since the presets are not organized by type. The presets are spread between multiple banks but each bank contains all types of sounds. The presets in the first bank are mostly duplicates of presets found in other banks. Luckily you do have the ability to tag presets into a favorites folder but you will spend a lot of time browsing through all of the preset banks in order to select your favorites. I'm relatively new to synthesizers (only a couple of years). I wouldn't call this a beginner synth as it's a pretty sophisticated machine where you are mostly working with preset sounds and an occasionally bewildering number of surface and menu parameters to adjust. As an affordable upgrade, it's a terrific buy.

This instrument combines the best of multiple eras in a fairly compact and well-built package. And it’s especially impressive given the price point. The basis of the Deepmind 12 is a 12-voice analog signal path, a sincere homage to the classic sound of analog polyphonic synthesizers popularized in the 80’s. It sounds really pleasant and has a lot of character. Then the signal path can be routed through a flexible digital effects system, which contains quality reverbs, delays, eqs, compressors, and more. The cherry on top is having a modulation matrix, which can route signals all over the place, including effects parameters. There’s a bunch of ways to connect other devices to the instrument, including WiFi midi and a special pc/mobile app that’s essentially a 2nd display with extra features. I purchased this for the price and flexibility, but I didn’t have high expectations. In reality those expectations were far surpassed. I can tell this was an earnest effort to make a unique and well-crafted machine. There is just no end of the sonic possibilities, and many of the factory patches don’t really do it justice. Very excited for it to be a part of my sound for years to come.

I admit was on the fence about purchasing the DeepMind 12. I have to say I'm becoming impressed, and the instrument has grown on me quickly. After only a few days, I feel very comfortable with basic modulation, syncing, button layout, menus, modifying effects, etc. There is a small learning curve to get started, and as others have mentioned, the stock patches are only examples, and many of them have thick FX added on. That encouraged me to figure out how to shape the envelopes and modify FX quickly. Adding Juno 106 sounds and another bank of custom patches was simple through the PC/USB connection. I found that there isn't much deep "menu diving", most common functions require only one button press to access the appropriate menu and the button layout seems very intuitive... I can't really speak to any other polysynths in this price range or above -- so far the sounds, deep features, ease of use, and easy (MIDI/USB) connectivity seem like solid reasons to own this budget synth.

Pros: Price is reasonable, easy to use, works flawlessly, plenty of options/presets, input/output options are great Cons: No manual (even the online manual is not very good), materials are not super high quality

Love love love this synth!! As they name implies, it's a deep synth. Lots of capabilities available, make sure to have a look at the various instructional Youtubes that are posted on this. Sound quality is top rate, I think the build quality is equally good. Amazing range of sonic goodness that this synth can produce. The IOS app that you can use with this is really well constructed, very usable...would highly recommend since it provide a second good visual view at a glance of all the settings. Additionally, much easier to tweak the effects from the app. Speaking of...the effects are definitely high quality. Not a surprise since Behringer owns those companies. Super high quality effects marry well with the already high quality sound generation abilities of this synth. Not a Behringer employee, just a very pleased customer. I don't think there is anything on the market that can touch this synth on price. Lots (like 1000) of excellent presets to get you started and see some of the capabilities. Easy to update the firmware. Obviously, I'm a big fan. Highly recommend this synth. Enjoy!

The synth is awesome, no other synthesizer will do all the things this one does. Even the $4,000 units. Just want to get that out of the way before saying anything bad about the company. The huge issue lies in MusicTribe, the technical support company Behringer makes you go through in order to get minimal, if any product support. No matter how small the issue may be. I've been on both my phone and computer for the last 2 hours registering, filling out countless fields of information, questionnaires and personal info just to talk to some one or get product support. It's been pointless. The MusicTribe website is one of the worst I've come across, it has errors and glitches through out most of the submit forms. After filling out mindless amount of information you are faced with glitches, hitting brick walls with every step you make towards getting support. Thank god Amazon takes care of their customers in a different manner after you buy one of their products. I called them immediately with the hope of getting Behringer's direct number and guess what?Behringer never provided Amazon with a technical support number. Luckily, Amazon's product support group stepped in suggesting and allowing me to return the Deepmind12 so that I may purchase a new unit. Even when it was past its return date. So in short, the Deepmind12 is awesome. No compaints there, but if you need product support through Behringer or MusicTribe then your in trouble. If you dont believe me just look at the countless threads online of people saying horrible things about MusicTribe's website and their company. MOST IMPORTANTLY: Do not, for the love of god create an accidental MIDI or USB loop on the Deepmind12. It's a common issue and after performing a factory reset, complete re-calibraton, firmware update, patch reset and re installed all 1,200 patches I still had problems. The patches are behaving erratically and most are unusable. Im sure something MusicTribe is aware of and has experience with yet deliberately makes it impossible to get support by them. Thank god Amazon has a different approach to customer service.