Behringer Poly D

Slaps like a

This unit packs a lot of punch, especially for the price.

I would love to have an original Model D just a much as you, but I don't have a third kidney to auction off - so to be able to get a sensible modern take on a classic is a fortunate opportunity.

Sonically, it really hits the spot and when driven through the external input it's a meaty experience. Chorus is a nice feature, however on 2 there is an overt warble , maybe a bit too much. For leads and bass it clears the floor, and fits for many different genres and playing styles.

As with any analogue synth it does sound best after warming up for half an hour to a couple of hours . For some real fun, turn the Glide all the way up, and switch to Unison mode; then just as you turn the synth on, just a few chords and riffs will provide instant hilarity and have you saying 'Portamento Gosh!'. Lead lines at such a time sound similar to a Big Room EDM monster slowly being toppled, and who doesn't wanna know what that sounds like?

As has been documented, the Poly mode is not truly polyphonic, and it's a bit dodgy all in all in this department, notes here there and everywhere and I stay away from it altogether.

Generally, the sequencer is a positive extra touch, it's a bit fiddly to get to grips with, but once done it's a fantastic feature.

Behringer's Synth Tool is a must to calibrate the Poly D, some of the default settings will not be to taste for everyone.

As default, the Poly D is set to be the Master Clock of a MIDI chain, and not to receive clock signal from other devices (drum machine/sequencer) via MIDI. However, after plunging it into Synth Tool I was able to change that quickly. I haven't quite worked out how to write sequences using synth tool yet, and although the sequencer could use a little update so one might be able to edit with a bit more intricacy.

Overall, you can't go wrong with this unit.


P.S -- Uli, if you're reading this, please can you make patch sheets/maybe an online thing like 20 Patch (For the MS-20), but for the Poly D? Thx

A great sounding instrument with a few quality issues.

Pros:
- The classic MiniMoog sound is all there.
- Solid metal and wood case.
- Nice sounding Juno chorus addition.
- Feels like an actual instrument. The whole structure and the tilting panel make it very accessible to the user.
- Paraphony.
- No patch memory (yes I consider that a feature).

Cons:
- The Oscillator waveform and octave switch caps rotate for quite a few millimeters before the switch actually starts moving beneath that. Feels quite off and unreliable.
- The black keys require a noticeable amount of extra pressure to act the same way the white keys are. Too noticeable when using velocity.
- Velocity response seems to always affect the cutoff frequency in a way that sounds like an extra envelope making playing notes with filter resonance impossible. I managed to deactivate through the app but was still there when played from a daw and had to bring velocity response to 0.
- The power button on the front panel is a really bad move and can easily switch the instrument off accidentally.
- Absence of a 440Hz tone switch for tunning. Thankfully I have my model d to tune poly d too however it'd be so much better to replace the power switch with the A440 and place the power switch somewhere in the back panel.
- The overdrive circuit feels rather useless as it doesn't suit the rest of the instrument sound.
- All in all, it feels like Behringer has little idea about how to design a functional front panel layout from an actual musician's perspective.

Overall I would recommend this to any musician looking for a classic analog instrument feel. I'm quite troubled by the build quality though. It makes it feel quite unreliable. I'm quite uncertain about whether I should return my copy or just relax and enjoy using it.

Essentially the Moog clone but with extra features, such as the Juno style Chorus, sequencer and distortion.
I've played the real thing and honestly unless you are nit picking about the exact shape of the filter or waveshapes (and I have seen youtube videos of people that have) you are going to be happy with this unit.
The first thing I did was change the pitch wheel down to a tone from it's default octave setting, and it was a breeze to interface the unit with the software, I had a quick look at the sequencing side with the software and that all looks great, though I don't really use it for that.
I wasn't expecting the distortion setting to sound that great, but actually it's pretty good for the unit. The chorus is a fairly faithful representation of the Juno 60 chorus (I have one and tested them against each other). It has the same character, but the stereo modulation is way more prominent in the Behringher, I feel like they overdid it a bit, perhaps on purpose I don't know.
The unit's midi in & out are all good, I noticed another user mentioned it not working, but that must be a one off or user error as that's all good.
Build quality feels great, the polyphonic glide is SO COOL.
If you have trouble keeping the oscillators in tune, yeah that happens with the moog as well. I honestly don't know why they didn't go a bit further and add a coarser tuning feature that would have been able to go up to a 5th, but I guess they are trying to keep it as close to the original as possible.
I'm using this thing ALL the time, a VST just doesn't come close to having a real unit like this!

I am a keyboard player in a prog rock band with an influence from ELP, early Genesis, Floyd, etc. Have been using digital synths so far, as the majority of the music is Hammond based anyway, despite I have always wanted to have a Minimoog Model D but that is way too expensive. Have been thinking of Behringer's Model D but then I have heard they bringing out the Poly D soon!

Man, it was worth the wait. This little synth just arrived yesterday and I am totally in love. I am still just scratching the surface of its capabilities and I am sure I will love it even more later with some experience.

Pros:
- unbelievably precise recreation of the original sound. Fat, juicy, analog sound as it has to be. The added CHORUS feature is AWESOME. I know some people are arguing that but it makes the classic fat sound even more brutal.
- price is a bargain compared to other synths in this cathegory
- it looks nice, the build quality is first class in this range
I cannot write much in the Cons section other than a more detailed user's manual would be ace (how to tune the oscillators, etc), and that the action of the keyboard is a little bit stiff compared to other synths I have. But I will get used to it I am sure.
Behringer did an outstanding job here, and I will be their enthusiastic supporter from now on.

I have to add, the guys at THOMANN did an amazing job again with the pro communication, and the ultra fast delivery. I will continue to be your faithful customer in the future!

The Poly D looks and feels very high qualiy. Control panel is well laid out, with the added bonus of being able to tilt it towards you. Good, firm keys. A bit heavy. Think about that before you put it on top of your stack. Velocity and aftertouch work well, but aftertouch is a bit hard for my taste. The power supply very looks silly on a keyboard of this size, weight and build quality. A proper power cable and internal power supply would have suited the unit better - but i guess it's a matter of cost. What you get for the price is really astounding. This synth will likely outlive me, allthough the power supply likely will be lost more than once along the way.

The synth is polyfonic in a way. I use it mostly in mono-mode, but if you can adapt your playing style to the way the notes trigger, i guess you could use it to play simple pads for instance. Mind you, each note will be single oscillator, and it's a bit of a pain to tune.

Excellent chorus. Would gladly replace the overdrive-section for a delay, for instance - but then again: you could buy practically all delays made up through human history and still not come close to the price of a minimoog.

For all intents and purposes, this IS a minimoog. No doubt about it. Anything you can do with a Minimoog, you can do with the Poly D, and a few more things. As such it is likely to become a classic in its own right. Well done, Behringer!

I needed something that resembled the vintage East German Vermona Sync, and this was the closest option within my budget. After three large music festivals, I can say it generally gets the job done. However, there are several major downsides for me as a live musician.

First, the oscillator tuning is extremely sensitive, making it almost impossible to get right, especially on a noisy stage. While the buttons are large (which is great), even the slightest movement to the right or left drastically changes the sound, making it impractical for serious live play. There is no way of locking the needed tuning setup. Image before the show your synth was in your bag and tune buttons have been touched. It means that before the show on a stage you need to tune it again.

Second, tuning is inconsistent when playing higher notes. The keybed is essentially only in tune within a single octave.

Third, the keys themselves are overly sensitive, increasing the likelihood of missed notes during live performances or even studio practice. This isn’t ideal when you’re playing in front of thousands at a major music festival.

Lastly, the four-note chord option doesn’t function like a normal piano, so keep that in mind. While it’s possible to play chords, the analog board has its limitations.

Overall, the Sync looks fantastic and is built to last. It would be perfect if not for the issues mentioned. However, it’s still a good option for recording a solo album in your bedroom. :)

If you can wait and save, better invest in high-quality Moog, for example.

Sound is rich and warm and gives lots of depth in performances, tone quality is beyond my expectations and love it as a musical instrument. All knobs fee nice and handling is excelent.
The build quality in general is good, but I feel the keyboard a little fragile and response of black keys do not exactly match the response of white keys. But I guess in general keys are ok provided you don't play with a heavy piano technique :-)
Output is a kind of low, if connected with usual line-level inputs gives something like -18db to -12db with volume at the full setting. With an active DI I get some good level, but you need double DI's to keep the stereo output (a very good stereo output from the integrated Chorus Unit). I also connected Poly-D to microphone inputs with very good results, output impedance of PolyD is about 1kΩ, so I guess it matches most microphone inputs.
Arpeggiator is very basic, but integrated sequencer has a lot of features and it is very handy, however is not well documented, but luckly there are a lot of tutorials in youtube.

Después de leer y ver decenas de reviews me decanté por el Poly D porque buscaba un sonido analógico gomoso para hacer bajos tipo Moog.

El sintetizador es una maravilla aunque, a veces, puede resultar imprevisible. Se necesita conocerlo en profundidad para sacarle todo el partido que puede ofrecer. A veces hacer dos acordes seguidos es una lotería.

Si lo están pensando comprar, te recomiendo para novatos como yo, enterarse bien de lo que supone ser un sinte parafónico. De cualquier forma lo recomiendo 100%. Su funcionamiento te abre la mente y te anima a buscar sonidos fantásticos. Como única nota negativa diría que la diferencia de volumen de la distorsión es un poco bajona para introducirla en directo.

Para terminarlo, el sinte es muy bonito y de construcción robusta. Sé que es una tontería pero tener un cacharro agradable a la vista creo que ayuda a la creatividad de alguna forma.

I have purchased the Poly D to replace my Minimoog, this thing can do what a Minimoog can and more. I have played on the Minimoogs since the 80's. We had two of them in my band and most of the time they where out of tune and needed a lot of costly service to maintain them. I have managed to create almost similar sound on the poly D, yes it's not 100% similar but so is two Minimoogs are similar too. Slight tweaks can get you there. Overall the sound is almost similar to the Minimoog and the build quality is good but the they could have improved the keys and the mod wheels but of course at the expense of the price but overall not bad.

I am happy with the purchase and would definitely buy Behringer products again in the future.
Don't believe that it's not close to a Minimoog, it can do more and look at the price you could buy 10 of them and still cheaper than Minimoog.
Great service by Thomann as usual, the item delivered well and on time.
Thanks