How To Tune A Behringer Model D

[@payt01]

Thanks for this. When you try the Boog with the 3 squares, yours is clipping pretty badly. I tried the same settings on mine, and had the same result. The thing I did was to set the mixer pots to 12 o'clock, and then it sounded just like your minimoog. The thing is: the square wave is somehow the loudest waveform on the Boog, and probably also on the MM. So when you have 3 of them going into your mixer, it starts clipping. It's kindof a general rule that as long as oyu keep the mixer pots at or below 12, you're pretty safe as far as clipping is concerned. If you go over 12, (actually 5 on the pots' readout), things may start to distort and clip. If you try it that way, I;m pretty sure your Boog is going to sound just like your Moog :)

[@MarshalArnold]

Payt Laros oh very cool! Thanks for the info! I'll def be giving that a try!

[@alunmauve]

Great info Payt. I could hear that break up of the upper harmonics and a close up of the level pots confirmed them all at 10... or 11 as Marshall call it! I too try to keep mine at the 12 o'clock position and use the Ext In when i want to get some overdrive going. Only because the break up is more gradual and over a wider range with lower individual VCO levels. I've let mine settle for a week or two and Osc 3 is reliably flat by some degree. Great tutorial though Marshal, I am much more confident about calibrating mine now, so thanks!

[@alunmauve]

Out of interest Marshall, was there still much of a difference between the Moog and The Behringer when you dropped the individual gain of each oscillator, as Payt suggested?

[@MarshalArnold]

alunmauve it was much closer for sure, but had to back off the input levels in the mixer section like was mentioned to about half. Not really sure how to adjust them so that max level is approx the same as the Mini but yeah was much closer. Will have a video out this weekend about it.

[@MarshalArnold]

Behringer KnowledgeBase yup! Very cool!

[@priestsofsyrinx9145]

I just finished this procedure on my Model D, so big thanks to Marshal for this great video. One point to make. Once I'd finished the calibration procedure, I shut the Model D off, and I took my time putting it back together and then putting it back on my keyboard stand, approximately 5 minutes. When I powered it back on and checked the tuning it was off by quite a bit. But I kept playing with the Model D and after a couple of minutes it locked into tune. So, even after only 2 minutes of being shut off, the Model D can cool off enough to throw its tuning off, so be sure to leave your Model D on for 5 minutes or so before confirming the tuning worked.

[@StormdriverOne]

Thanks for the video. I tuned mine last night and it sounded great again. Now I must go test it again tonight to make sure it stays in tune.

[@TrystanGreyvein]

Just got mine yesterday! Its reading at between an F# and a G lol. This vid helped a lot to fix that

[@MarshalArnold]

Glad to hear it helped!

[@aidanvinum]

Do you have to tune it only once? Or you’ll have to do it constantly? Thanks.

[@BobIGomez]

When I got my Prophet 08(brand new) it was actually tuned a note low...for example E on the keyboard made the sound of D. It was easy to retune, but sounded pretty good either way.

[@andrewgeorge479]

Thanks I've just got mine today and thought it sounded off Hopefully I can now get it sorted

[@dosgos]

Nice tutorial! I would use a non-metallic screwdriver as the metal could slightly impact tuning (but only when inserted). Also turn pots gently. And don't short out any of the other contacts on the board.

[@MarshalArnold]

Yup, I could have wrapped the handle in electrical tape maybe, but eh is all good. Def should use a insolated driver!!

[@dosgos]

Or better a screwdriver with a plastic tip like those used by radio techs.

[@MarshalArnold]

Oh cool, I didn't know about those! Am going have to snag a set for future use! Thanks DOs Gos!

[@MrCowfood]

of course the good ole static wrist guard with alligator clips if you must.

[@TooSlowTube]

Yep. They're called trimmer tools, or trimming tools. They come in different sizes, so it's probably best to buy a cheap set and hope one fits - I just ordered a set on ebay.

[@georgeray3492]

Nice job. Tuning an analog synth is a regular part of ownership. Not so much with a DCO analog, but with a CV oscillator, temp and humidity are going to cause issues. I agree your Mini and the Model D sound different. I have two different oscillator boards for my Mini, the original discrete and the last rev stabilized board. Those two also sound different when installed in the same Mini. That is the art of analog, no two are exactly the same.

[@MarshalArnold]

George Ray thanks! Yeah, is no biggie turning this guy wasn't tough so that's nice. I did see someone commented that the squares are likely clipping and if I adjust some additional pots I can probably get the Boog a bit closer to the MiniMoog. Am going to give that a try and will do another video of it does. Would love to get this thing sounding as close to my Mini as possible so I can get it out on the road for shows and have it really dialed in!

[@phlattgetit]

In the few second example you played I thought the Behringer sounded better? It was richer and more complex interplay of harmonics. The Moog had a thinner, narrower sound.

[@MarshalArnold]

Yeah is a matter of preference. Sonically while these synths are close the MiniMoog runs away with it in some areas, while in others I also think the Behringer sounds better or rather is different in a way that I really like.

[@lownrgy]

i love the fact how you find tiesto usable

[@MarshalArnold]

lownrgy ha! Yeah thought that was fitting 😁

[@zmix]

27:27 It sounds like the Behriger is overdriving it's mixer, which may be an intentional modification to the original Moog. I bet if you backed off the oscillator levels you'd have a much better match.

[@watchaddicts1213]

Thank you for this. Just one question or maybe I missed it: HOW often would one have to do this, on average per year? I’ve watched the first half of the video; I had to stop it and take a nerves pill. I think I’m a software and/or Modern synth guy.

[@MarshalArnold]

Lol no problem 😊 how often you might need to tune the synth will depend on several variables and conditions. I haven't had to touch mine again since this video, but frequent changes in temperatures in the environment can cause things to go a bit put of wack. So, be sure to power on the synth and let it warm up for a good 30 minutes before tuning. It should remain stable for a long time once set, but again that's not set in stone as conditions in the environment can affect this as well as frequent movement, if you throw it in a bag frequently for whatever reason it could cause the tuning to go out, but is a quick and easy job to tune it back up if needed.

[@dosgos]

Sounds great - nice upgrade for free and 10 minutes of work.

[@MarshalArnold]

In deed, pretty necessary for my unit. I had heard some others with them arriving out of tune so hopefully this is corrected for later units shipped. Is not a huge chore to do either so no biggie!

[@dosgos]

Even if Behringer heated up the units for an hour and properly tuned them in the factory, after a bumpy ride from China in wildly varying temperatures, these will likely need to be tuned up. Helpful tutorial!

[@MarshalArnold]

Very true!

[@MrCowfood]

Yep, I think it a must for new arrivals, and of course let it warm up for at least an hour before going through this procedure.

[@MrCowfood]

Ahh wait till I bust my question in our up coming "D" thoughts vidy.. I saw a pot on that backside that might make things - well, might - sing a little more.

[@MadelnMachines]

Useful to know. I hope mine comes tuned because I can't be arsed doing that. Once it's tuned it should hold tune for years shouldn't it if you don't expose it to extreme temperatures or knock it about?

[@analogsynthplayer]

Made In Machines I went with the Korg minilogue and it tunes itself everytime you turn it on, no problems. If behringer ever gets this issue resolved i’ll get the Boog D. Haven’t heard the Neutron having these issues

[@djencode]

Hmm...at the end there, what I noticed in the difference in sound between your minimoog and the boog is that the minimoog was more stable, boog was a bit more unstable. Which, for the kind of music I make, is better. This was something I noticed when I took it out of the box too. It was really wild sounding.

[@Ancaja123]

My A2 and A5 are different octaves than yours, and I have it set to 8’. I’m a little confused how to properly calibrate it now

[@McSynth]

Great vid. Looking for non-existant probs - such as oscs 2 and 3 needing to be beought into line with osc one..........geez. Having said that, my home audio is way too loud, at least it was until I got my head around this 'volume' pot on the front panel of my power amp ! Apparently, when I rotate said pot clockwise - the sound gets louder. You wouldn't believe what happens when I counter rotate the pot.

[@marcomizzoni8323]

I hope Behringer is doing their best to QC these before going out the door it makes me think that their is something partially rubbing against capacitators to cause this. So makes me also think these could go out sooner then expected.Also with the supply and demand and trying to get orders out the door and even new models being designed I really really want to put good faith Behringer is being thorough about quality. I bought a model D about 2 months ago and still waiting... it seems like every month they keep telling me the orders have been pushed back more so I’ll let you know how mine is with a follow up.

[@viktorvolaric-horvat5190]

What's the Enterprise interface thingie you have on your phone?

[@MarshalArnold]

Is called Trek Total Interface. Still use it on my latest phone, I love it. Link is below, think is only on the Amazon Android app store: Get ✦ TREK ✦ Total Interface from the Amazon Appstore. Check it out - www.amazon.com/dp/B01CVTPYZS/ref=apps_sf_sta

[@fried_bandit]

Those were A-sharps on the tuning pedal when you calibrated the first oscillator.

[@fried_bandit]

Yes, I comment before watching the entire video.

[@sqriations]

Great tutorial! I definitely need to crack it open and give it the ol retune, especially with how fast these have been flying off the shelves.

[@SnakesOSullivan]

Does the Behringer 2600 also go out of tune often like the Model D? I'm still learning about analog synths

[@dussie920]

When you open the housing to tune this synth, will the warranty be voided?

[@MarshalArnold]

I don't believe so as the synth is designed to be mounted in Eurorack. But mucking with the pots if damaged could possibly result in voiding the warranty I'd imagine.

[@sebastianvega4576]

octave range tuning?

[@VictorSteiner]

That Oscilloscope looks like it would be part of Ableton, but I can't find it and bought MOscilloscope. Where did you get yours?

[@AdamTheAd-vanc3d]

Even though i dont own one . It was intresting to watch your procedure for future refrence. Great stuff Marshal. Oh by the way i found that using a n unisulated scredriver for calibration can cause interference to the screw of a multi turn teimmer if it is metal aswell. How well does it stay in tune say over a period of hours or from day to day ?

[@MarshalArnold]

Yo Adam! Thanks man, hope it's helpful. Um, I think it's been fine tune wise. I haven't checked it after a full day, but I'll do that this weekend. Am going to give some patches vs the Mini another go now that it's calibrated. Should be closer, however I have noticed that Osc 1 and 2 the semitone adjustments don't match the same as the Mini so I'll still have to do some tuning by ear which is a bit of a bummer. that means if you go just my the patch sheets they will sound different, but in some testing I did the other day I was able to walk the Boog to match the Mini really well.

[@AdamTheAd-vanc3d]

Marshal Arnold Ok kool kool . Let me know how well it does tuning stability wise as and when you get the time bro. That semi tone tuning issue sounds strange , maybe the pots are a diffrent value or even the refrence volatge on the power rails are slightly diffrent ?

[@MarshalArnold]

FYI- tune is pretty solid. Left the unit on for a few days straight and it's spot on still :)

[@AdamTheAd-vanc3d]

Marshal Arnold Brilliant thanks for the info . Very good on Behringer.

[@brgolsen]

Hi! Great video! In midi mine is in perfect tune but when controling it with CV/gate, it is out of tune. I like to use it with cv/gate because then it becomes touch sensitive, so do you think it would work tuning it without midi? Only using cv/gate? I need to adjust the octave range.

[@AndreaGrandi]

Question (I ask because you are actually the second person doing this): if you end up using Ableton to show the oscillator or play your notes etc.... why don't you also use the Ableton TUNER? That way you don't have to use any external tuner or to connect any additional cable.

[@MarshalArnold]

Not everyone uses Ableton, but yeah I could have used the Ambeton Tuner, I actually use that all the time when I tune kicks ect. But, nothing wrong with showing the process with a 3rd party app on a synth.

[@AndreaGrandi]

Another question: since you didn't mention it and because I notice that when you tune OSC3 it doesn't seem to be very stable, did you warm up the Model D for at least 30 minutes before tuning?

[@MarshalArnold]

Yes, the synth was warmed up well beyond 30 min actually. I mention to the viewer to make sure to do that further into the vid as well.

[@AlexisGonzalez-sk5ne]

Thanks for your adviced

[@Grow_Everything]

How often do you find that your Behringer D needs tuning?

[@MarshalArnold]

So far it's been solid.. but environment is a factor. If you keep the synth in an area where the temps jump around a lot you might need to tune it more often.

[@Grow_Everything]

Fantastic! Thank you for the info. :)

[@MarshalArnold]

You bet!

[@JustinH95]

Mine won't initially even tune to the High A. :(

[@kezstone1]

Would've been a lot easier if Behringer were able to put these tuning pots on the back or top of the unit. You just know someones gonna fudge it up

[@theboutiquebandit8190]

you didn't do the "octave range calibration" or check that it was ok - that relates to the calibration between the different footings/octaves - so perhaps that might explain why the behringer doesn't sound as good when you stack the oscillators at different ranges. it would at least be worth checking things in regard to that, although it is a bit more tricky to calibrate correctly than the pitch calibration.

[@Ancaja123]

How do you do this? At 8’ my oscillators are all in tune with each other but the different footings are wildly off on all oscillators

[@mpingo91]

It came from the factory out of tune? Interesting. I read in the Mother-32 manual: _"Your Mother-32 is fully calibrated at the factory before packaging and shipping"_. Is Model D (clone) not calibrated because it's Behringer or Model D (Moog and Behringer) is to complicated or unstable because of old tech circuitry inside (please don't throw tomatoes at me because of blasphemy)?

[@MarshalArnold]

mpingo91 lol well it was tuned, but every oscillator what's a G not na A, so it was 2 semitones off. I think I recall DivKids being out as well I think he said something about his tuning being off on his as well.. so maybe some were calibrated where some guy hit the G thinking it was an A lol right next to eachother :) My Moog MiniMoog is still in tune and was that way from the factory. It's kind of shitty I had to do this to the Behringer, but was a chance to do another video I guess 😁

[@GearGuy]

I’m fairly sure they are all (at least roughly) calibrated at the factory...but analog gear like this is sensitive to temps swings, humidity, moon phases, etc...okay, maybe not moon phases, but you get the idea. Thing is that the factory and your location are likely different enough to push the calibration out slightly...But remember this can also be compensated for by simply adjusting tune on the front panel... the calibration is to make get the tune to be perfect (at zero)... Range, of course, can only be adjusted by the back panel, but that does not tend to drift as easily due to environment (at least as far as I have seen).

[@MarshalArnold]

Hey Eric! Yeah environment can have an impact for sure. In this case before I tuned this guy you could see that when tuning using the tune knob it was out a bit and Osc 2 and 3 were out as well so for this unit it def needed calibration via the pots. I did see Behringer made a design change where the single turn trim pots were replaced with multi-turn trim pots. Not sure why the change, but perhaps they hold up better in shipping? IDK. If this was calibrated at the factory is was out by quite a bit, but is not a huge chore to recalibrate so is no biggie. Is a 300.00 MiniMoog clone that sounds really good so no complaints on this. I will point out though my Mini has been in tune since that day I received it back in April 2017.

[@mpingo91]

I wonder if there's a general rule that it's better to avoid first batches of every new synth. I've heard that first Korg Arp Odysseys also had some minor problems (but now everything is perfect).

[@criqdekuyper9259]

You realize that in equal temperament, each octave is about 5 cents or so flat? Does the digital tuner take this into account?

[@sebastianvega4576]

in equal temperament, the octaves are perfect (double or half the frequency of the reference note), all other intervals are off from perfect. where did you get that, that the octaves are off?

[@williamgeorgefraser]

A synth is a musical instrument. It isn't laboratory test equipment. Nobody listening to a piece of music played on a Behringer model D along with other instruments will be able to tell the difference between it and a Minimoog. Moogists need to get off their high horse and admit that they are no longer a select few. Behrenger have opened up the Moog sound to the rest of the world and we can but thank them for that..

[@Nobody7720]

"Moogists" that's a new one....

[@nero1810]

Got one yesterday, first thing I was thinking - it's drifting like crazy to an extent where it becomes unusable. I think I will simply send it back though.

[@Gainn]

Easiest way to do it is to tune one and do the others by ear.

[@fredwilco9052]

I received the synth uncalibrated and it was hopelessly out of tune. I would really advise against doing this tuning yourself. I tried to calibrate mine, but very carefully turning the adjustment pots caused my unit to go completely haywire. The main output did no longer work and the oscillators were completely out of control. I had to return my unit. I hope I get a new one soon because they are on backorder everywhere. Be aware that having this done by a technician will add to the cost. This synth sounds beautiful, but the hardware is made of cheap parts and very vulnerable. I wonder how long it will last. In the end you get what you pay for.

[@MarshalArnold]

Oh man, I'm sorry to hear that Fred! Hope you get a replacement soon!

[@fredwilco9052]

It happened that the unit was beyond repair and the retailer gave me my money back because it would take too long to get me a new one because of the many backorders. I managed to order one somewhere else and to my surprise I received it within 2 days. The tuning of the new unit is spot-on. Does not need any calibration. Somehow it looks and feels more solid too. Seems like a problem with quality control with the first one. The new one has a serial number that is about 4000 higher than the first.

[@istvantoth7431]

Fair demonstration!

[@MarshalArnold]

Thank you!

[@baillyyannis8823]

Only 10pages on manual

[@MarshalArnold]

Be sure you're looking at the full manual, not the quick start guide. The full manual is available on the Behringer website: media.music-group.com/media/PLM/data/docs/P0CQJ/MODEL%20D_M_EN.pdf

[@drummer4hire12]

Note to self: Make sure the dogs are far away at grandpa's house when attempting to tune oscillators......

[@MarshalArnold]

Good advice lol

[@drummer4hire12]

@@MarshalArnold the pain is real....🤣

[@PerryCodes]

Personally, I don't think this sounds anything like the Moog. The architecture is the same. But the overall sound isn't. I didn't buy this because I thought it would sound like the Moog. It was only $219 at Guitar Center. I would love to buy a real Model D... But the Behringer is what I can afford and guess what? Both can be used to make music. What I have and can afford is what I'm going to use!

[@MediaMusik777]

mmm how far can you tune them down maybe drop "D" lol

[@MarshalArnold]

lol

[@analogsynthplayer]

Sco B Kashmir on the Boog D lol 😂

[@Alkatross]

Thanks for... TUNING in... Lol

[@MediaMusik777]

mine never tuned right always out of tune everytime i tune it spent like 4 hours and nothing oh well return and get the microbrute!!!

[@MarshalArnold]

Oh man, sorry to hear that Sco, but the Microbrute is a sweet synth also!

[@MediaMusik777]

actually they had a granmother open box for 790 so i snagged it instead its great so far so good build quality superb metal bottom side and side plastic pieces that looks like it can be replaced with wood and the sound was instant good. I will more likely get a microbrute but the moog was too good... so i spent out of pocket 300 but also traded some gear that did not work good for me in and got the moog for 790 and with the trade in it cost me 200 out pocket with tax. this thing is a tank!!!

[@MarshalArnold]

Sco B oh wow, that's even better for sure! Congrats!

[@synthetic24]

I don't see the point to do that. I'm pretty sure after 2 days your Behringer Model D is out of tune again.

[@watchaddicts1213]

The Minimoog has noticeably More BITE…presence.

[@AcidTechnoMan5000]

I don’t think he said I’m not responsible enough times

[@vinnien]

WTF dude, LCARS on your phone, Now like like you even more.

[@MarshalArnold]

Ha, yup! Is a cool launcher and reminds me how cool Star Trek is 😁

[@ZenMountain]

Just get rid of the first 11 minutes!