Did Behringer Lie? The "POLY D"...

I was very disappointed with the Behringer Model D / Poly D in the beginning, as I found out that it is not polyphonic, but instead paraphonic. Despite this, I have grown an appreciation for it, and I display some of the capabilities in this video.
Demos:
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4:09
5:26
7:13

[@Songtweaker]

I just wanted to say, it is still a great synth, even for its mono capabilities. (Considering the original is like 10k). I was just disappointed in the beginning when I used this, and even almost sold it. But I'm glad I kept it.

[@JCBigCat]

So you bought a 700$ synth because of the name without a less than 1 minute search on the Internet? Wow 😅 nice playing anyway.

[@recceeboy1237]

My kids got me one for my birthday in August, to duplicate and make the sounds of my youth is nothing short of remarkable. Never thought i would even touch one, my kids are the best. Wow just wow.

[@duncankimball]

Bought one recently, having never gotten over being forced to sell my treasured Minimoog years ago (big mistake, especially considering what it's worth now). And I couldn't be happier. Everything I loved about the Minimoog with all those groovy extras, the arpeggiator is brilliant, the sequencer is great, the extra oscillator is a terrific feature .., I love and I'd recommend without reservation to anyone looking to capture the classic Minimoog sound, with a host of modern added features. 10/10 from this happy owner.

[@Songtweaker]

Yes, I love how in addition to having a cheap Model D, there's also effects, a 4th oscillator, AND the arp and sequencer. Thanks for sharing!

[@Steph_7d7]

What do these synths go for? Haven't seen behringer products in Canada for the last three years or so, just curious that's all, it's a wonderful synth.

[@duncankimball]

@@Steph_7d7 In Australia 2nd hand they are typically between $700-$1000 depending on condition and extras

[@Steph_7d7]

@@duncankimball thanks for the reply I appreciate it

[@DisciplinedCommotion]

I didn't realise it had an extra oscillator, I didn't know these existed when I bought a Moog Grandmother , might have gone for a Poly-D instead (love GM though) , Since then I have purchased a B-Odyssey, B-Monopoly and a Behringer System 15 modular, very pleased with them, great quality machines.

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

When i got my Poly D i did not even care about the paraphonic aspect because i was just happy enough to have a Minimoog Model D clone with a FOURTH oscillator, 2 analog chorus modes, SEQUENCER, Arpegiator, MIDI & USB connectio, Keys and all that for under 800 bucks. And so far i have mostly used it for monophonic sounds and pretending to be in the 1970s and using any form of technical limitation in a musical aspect. Adding a bit of reverb can really soften the sudden attacks during Paraphonic playing a little. And the added chorus really gives it an almost polyphonic drift that really can fool someone :) This thing really holds such a big place in my heart and i am so happy Behringer actually gave us this incarnation of their Model D clone. I certainly won't ever come any closer to actually owning a real Minimoog Model D but i don't care anymore. You can really fall in love with the Poly-D and this thing can sound SOOOOO smooth and sooo FATTTTT if you tickle it just right.

[@Songtweaker]

Absolutely! Like I mentioned, it's already amazing that it has paraphonic capabilities, since it's really just a Model D clone. Enjoy playing with your Poly D, thanks for sharing!

[@NTRSN-Archive]

A Korg Poly 800 is using also one filter for all the voices and using two Dco's is giving you only 4 voices poly and they called it Poly 8 00 . The Behringer Poly D is a fantastic synthesizer like all the other Behringer synths they make .

[@Songtweaker]

Interesting. Thanks for the information!

[@MrSmithUK]

The Casio CZ1/3/5000 use two oscillators, but offer a single mode for 8 note poly. I believe the Korg poly800 has this function too.

[@reecedeyoung6595]

Does it have separate VCAs and envelopes for each voice?

[@nicolasstrawberry4148]

Its a great synth especially for the money, but I don't use it as my main polyphonic synth, I have a Korg Prologue 16 for that. what's cool about the Poly D imo is that since its using 1 oscillator for each voice, you can change the octave and waveform for each note in a chord and get random voicing with chords , turn on some glide and it really gets nice

[@Songtweaker]

Yes I agree, I use my minilogue xd for poly sounds!

[@user-cv8ud8qo9f]

To be fair they couldn't call it the ParaD (Parody!)

[@Songtweaker]

haha it totally is!

[@ET2carbon]

Fantastic joke

[@RadicalCaveman]

Quad D would have been an honest and descriptive name. Like the Model D but with a fourth oscillator and able to play four notes.

[@WrvrUgoThrUR]

But you have, and I have to say…..well played good sir, well played.

[@devinwells9399]

Dude this review was unreal the pads throughout sounded excellent! Think I might have to pick one of these up….do you have any experience with the Pro 800 they make? Kind of between those two at the moment

[@Songtweaker]

I don't unfortunately. The poly d is nice with the extra built in features but at the expense of presets. For me, I'm fine with having no presets on this synth as my virtual synths are able to hold presets already. This is more for the hands on sound design side of production.

[@gatosoul]

Hi, it is such a great Analog synth, I can't believe how affordable it is, it is just Crazy. I love mine, the same happened to me at the beginning, I didn't understand how it works, but now I love it, it is a keeper :) thank you for sharing

[@Songtweaker]

I totally agree! Thanks for watching!

[@HIGH_VOLTAGE1984]

Sounds great, I love those types of pads

[@tonystephen6312]

I know the minimoog was well before patch memories but this would be awesome if it had user memories.

[@Songtweaker]

That would be really nice. I just like to think of it as a grandmother without the patching.

[@patsonmusic]

If you want patch memory you should try out the Roland SE-02 from the boutique series.

[@tonystephen6312]

@@patsonmusic sounds too brittle but love the ju06 and sh01 out of that range.

[@ET2carbon]

You won't like this but you're gonna have to keep it old school. Use a recall sheet. It's a front panel diagram where the dials don't have lines, you have to draw the lines in where they belong to recall on another date or location. The intern engineers used to do that for entire studios taking 2 hours to recall sessions

[@RadicalCaveman]

It would be great to have presets, but this is really expensive on an analog synth. Lots of extra internal wiring. Instead, you can just take pictures of your patches.

[@rareform6747]

After my 4rd Poly D I love it ... Many quality control issues both physically and electronics bad . Have a perfect synth and pair it with the Moog Grandmother !

[@Songtweaker]

I would love to try the grandmother! Seems like an amazing synth. Or maybe the matriarch but they’re both too expensive…

[@rareform6747]

@@Songtweaker Grandmother has all you need ....

[@RadicalCaveman]

@@rareform6747 You can turn your Grandmother on right away, but it takes ten or fifteen minutes to warm her up.

[@PeaceDub]

Very lovely review.. I want to see reviews like this.. Little bit of talk but not too much and more playing and some words of thoughts.

[@teknokont]

They did not lie, they just adopted the concept of Korg Mono Poly. As you might know they also cloned Mono Poly which has pretty close specs compared to the Poly D. And I should admit that it is a good idea.

[@RadicalCaveman]

You really have ideal hands for playing keyboards. Your fingers are so tall and thin, each of your hands could be a basketball team!

[@Songtweaker]

haha, I get told that a lot!

[@Seekthetruth3000]

Can this synth imitate the sounds of a Moog Model D? Thanks.

[@Songtweaker]

I wouldn't know since I've never touched a Model D, but here's a good video comparing the 2. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nGTHdnSmqdialaM

[@synthsproblems3475]

can u put some of those patches plz ? sounds really nice , only can i see there r 4 oscilators actives on sawtooth on 16

[@Songtweaker]

yeah, I'll try to get a top down camera angle for the next video. For the first one, cutoff and res was all the way down, but contour was up to 4. Envelope was 5 sec attack 1 sec decay and 4 sustain. That's how I got the evolving sound. Thanks for watching!

[@robappleby583]

Paraphony is not just a cheap form of polyphony imo. You can do things with the round robin oscillator assignment that are not possible with a polyphonic synth, especially in arpeggios and sequences. Polyphony is great but paraphonic synths usually have much deeper modulation routing plus paraphonic mode itself. Which is why I would never give up my Pro 3.

[@Songtweaker]

Yeah, there's different uses for both and pros and cons for both as well! Thanks for sharing!

[@LipazMusic]

Technically it is a synth that is capable for generating sounds in polyphony… 4 voices. You hear them. That’s a different thing, that the voices use the same filter and the industry created a word for this scenario: paraphonic… although there is no such thing in music theory. Interestingly, they could call this polyphonic and the fully separeted voice synths, that are more complex and expensive, could be superpolyphonic synths. Just a matter of history and point of view. Always think and gather information before buy.

[@Songtweaker]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing!

[@vaiman7777]

It’s still not a polyphonic synth

[@LipazMusic]

@@vaiman7777 from your point of view, yes, you can say that. However it’s a polyphonic synth with one filter. If you wish to call that paraphonic, or whatever label you put on it, feel free to do so. :)

[@vaiman7777]

@@LipazMusic It’s a pixie dust machine that makes sweet tinkles… with 1 filter

[@vaiman7777]

@@LipazMusic Fwiw, paraphonic is an articulation. 1 filter through 1 vca. Nothing to do with polyphony. Every monophonic is paraphonic. As the name “implies” the synth is a poly, manufacturers like it. But it’s not, at all. Like this, it’s a paraphonic :)

[@inperfectsequence7840]

Oh my friend, welcome to the world of synthesizers. You say that it is a negative point that it is paraphonic and not polyphonic, but for me it is better to play a different waveform for each note. The poly D has a 4-note polyphonic sequencer, you can play 4 notes with a single oscillator, but if sequencer you can't do that. Polyphony is that 2 notes can be played simultaneously (a minimum polyphony). Poly D gives you 4 notes to play chords with the same waveform as Prophet, Jupiter, Juno, but in the case of Poly D with 4 real VCOS and you can play them with different shapes equally, but the sequencer is 4 polyphonic notes and can sequence chords for one VCO. Polyphonic mode allows you to use 1 oscillator on one note, if you play 2 the first two sound if you play 4 notes all 4 at the same time, with 3 oscillators 1,2 and 3, and you can make each note have a different waveform , the sequencer is polyphonic with 4 notes That can't be done on a prophet 5 or a moog voyager or later 37, nor the plugins that emulate them, moog matriarch does the same thing but costs you 2000 bucks and behringer monopoly is the other one that makes those cool sounds, but the moog, for example, cannot sound with an oscillator on each note, because it only has 3 oscillators for 8 voices of polyphony, due to the result of making the same sound and waveform 8 times without separating or individualizing the oscillators for each note. Ok, I sum up the power of this synth in a few words. Moog D model = 1 note max. realtime, 3 oscillators, no analog effects, no extras, no polyphonic aftertouch, no switches to calibrate each zone or synth part or change the behavior of filters and envelopes. Behringer Poly D = 4 oscillators, 4 note realtime, 32-step 4 note polyphonic sequencer, 4 note polyphonic arpeggiator, Juno 60 chorus and analog FX layout, V-trigger, pitch, velocity and aftertouch outputs, switchable low-pass/high-pass filter. rear panel with switches to calibrate or change synth behaviors. Poly D is a mix of Minimoog and Korg monopoly in a box with sequencer keys and aftertouch, that's all.

[@randydarklight]

Even if the VCF is not 1:1 the Behringer Poly is a Moog on a budget.

[@KingCrimson82]

looks better or let me say modernized, it looks as if roland made it(when they still had good designs).

[@CrossStario]

Idk if this or the sequential prophet rev2

[@Songtweaker]

I would definitely say rev 2 personally.

[@thegerman3480]

WOT, no reverb?

[@Songtweaker]

no built in reverb. All they have is a chorus and distortion effect.

[@davidgoode7416]

Very nice!

[@Songtweaker]

thank you!

[@tuanmichigan]

Dude, it's a Para-D !

[@Songtweaker]

Hah, imagine if they called it that though.

[@LocoFocoLit]

@@Songtweaker You know the folks at Behringer had this conversation.

[@samycoppola6359]

Is there a vocoder on it ?

[@Songtweaker]

unfortunately not.

[@alexandra_saloff-coste5523]

How did you install it so it can actually make some sound ? I am a beginner:)

[@Songtweaker]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/qJ3CpX-GhamVrs0 this might be what you're looking for!

[@technologyreboot9161]

I mean, Para-D would be too on the nose

[@KingCrimson82]

hahaha, PaRaDi depends either a maneater french/slavic hootie or Paranoya or, Parody

[@ageshero]

paraphonic entails exactly what though? are you saying it will trigger the initial voice of the held note? like say you hold an a minor with one note, and arpegiate your fingers with 3 notes after, and get weird retriggering ?

[@Songtweaker]

Yeah, basically you get weird retriggering as well as mitigating the envelopes, if that makes sense.

[@ageshero]

@@Songtweaker Im find myself back here again, i love the sound of it, i own a POLY D NOW, i got it at a pawnshop, sounds insane through a good ambient reverb. im actually suprised more VSTS dont utilize paraphony, it allows for some really fun "happy accidents"

[@alexwestconsulting]

A cursory look at the front panel shows that the Poly D isn't and can't actually be polyphonic since no env/filter controls per osc. But paraphonic has it's own plusses, adds a certain special character. The only things I don't like about the poly d are the chorus doesn't have enough control (though I get they were going for a certain similar old-school chrorus of note), and the main thing, the distortion sounds terrible IMO.

[@Songtweaker]

Yeah, personally I like to run it through some effects in Ableton, and I rarely use the distortion. I use the chorus quite a bit, but it's definitely a different type of sound.

[@alexwestconsulting]

@@Songtweaker The problem is that the distortion comes before the chorus in the signal chain. Mono analogue distortion drive through a stereo chorus. If that worked out, then adding reverb and/or delay would come next in external processing. But because the distortion sounds so awful (IMO), that means I can't apply it after the chorus in an external processor, because distorting the chorus doesn't make any sense, and it would have to be a stereo distortion drive at that point besides, good luck with that. So that leaves not only the distortion as a waste of real-estate on the board, but ALSO effectively the chorus. So beyond a simple play, for production's sake, that's the 2 effects that I can't use, even though I paid for them and they end up just cluttering up the board. Anyway, that's my rant. I'm still glad I got one and it's still good value, but its not what it was cracked up to be. This on top of the paraphony/polyphony misrepresentation.

[@Songtweaker]

Maybe that's just part of the price point. Personally, I'm overall not the biggest fan anymore of the sound, but I don't have much to compare it to.

[@alexwestconsulting]

@@Songtweaker agreed. Yeah can’t complain in the end w the price being what it is. I like the sound of it, but it has a sweet spot, not much outside of that sweet spot, and it takes some familiarity to find that sweet spot. I’ll keep it but have mixed feelings about it.

[@RayyMusik]

You can‘t see on the front panel if a synth is poly- or paraphonic. There aren‘t filter/envelope controls per oscillator on real poly synths either.

[@MrSmithUK]

Do you think it’s better than say the Arturia plug-in?

[@Songtweaker]

Sound wise, I wouldn’t know, but I’m sure this is much more fun to play with.

[@333jobforacowboy]

Do you find that the output on the Poly D is really low?

[@Songtweaker]

Is it an issue with the audio signal? I haven't had an issue. You could also try directly plugging in headphones too to see.

[@333jobforacowboy]

@@Songtweaker the headphones are fine

[@glenesis]

Yes. It's a Para-D 😂

[@PgTrAxX]

where those black keys at?

[@Songtweaker]

between the white keys!

[@NTRSN-Archive]

Why are you using not a mixer table ?

[@Songtweaker]

Space issues.

[@massimocesareAnnaloro]

E' una macchina fantastica. Punto.

[@ericMT]

Para D just wasn’t as catchy of a name.

[@Songtweaker]

It's not terrible actually...

[@KingCrimson82]

yeah, Just call it Vanessa @@Songtweaker not terrible and i heard the french were early in the synth game werent they? at least they used it the longest.

[@sergeyermolenko6034]

Много бесполезной, лишней и не понятной для меня, иностранца, жестикуляции руками. Лучше повключайте и покрутите переключатели с ручками левой рукой, а правой нажмите на клавиши. Или выучите русский язык и донесите свои мысли словами. Что из себя представляет Minimoog и что из него можно выжать, продемонстрировал Keith Emerson, когда вас не было на свете😅