"Recreating the Magic of the Elka Synthex

The Elka Synthex, a synthesizer from the early 1980s, is cherished for its rich, warm sound and unique character. Musicians like Jean-Michel Jarre and Duran Duran have used it to create iconic tracks, solidifying its place in music history. Designed by Mario Maggi and produced by the Italian company Elka, the Synthex has a storied past.

At Behringer, we're working to revive the Elka Synthex with a dedicated team of top-notch R&D engineers in Italy, where the original was created. Using original DCO oscillators and advanced Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), we're able to replicate the original circuitry and signal paths, capturing the essence of its distinctive sound.

Honoring a Classic

Our goal is to make the classic sound of the Elka Synthex available to today’s musicians, combining its vintage appeal with modern technology. This passion project aims to respect the legacy of the Synthex while providing the enhancements needed for contemporary use.

Bringing back the Synthex

Stay tuned as we work to bring the Elka Synthex back to life, celebrating its history and sound with the same passion and innovation that marked its original creation.

This “labor of love” project will take lots of time, but it’ll be worth the wait as the Synthex is one of the most iconic synthesizers of all times."

 

Yeah Behringer.. bit bored with there "oh its a" when anyone who actullay owned one knows..
This cheap versioning is all good for the hobbyist and the manufacturing tech has enabled them to produce cheap standing on the shoulders of giants but, Stick to cheap recording gear.

Their cheap synths are great but be realistic is it a prophet, Modular, VS,OScar?... la la la... yeah nah.
thier are way better plugin emulations IMHO... Their giveaway VSt synth is pretty good.

Ask yourself id they have actually made a classic..
They are the knockoff chinese verion of audio.

 

Last edited: Jul 13, 2024

I wish there was a VST this good (although repro might count), it'd save me a bunch of money

 

Did you try the Arturia version of it?

 

We spent the afternoon with Gianni Grisanzio (aka Synthguru) with the first prototype of our STX synthesizer. His initial feedback was highly encouraging as he described the synth as “already sounding massive.” There’s still significant work ahead but the current architecture has proven to be solid.

 

Their synths are actually really good. Have you tried one? I own a couple, some of which i owned the actual hardware in which they copied. They are great clones, often times better with additional features.

 

Ripping the circuitry significantly reduces R&D costs. Making a clone of popular products reduces marketing costs. On top of that, Behringer haters are free marketing for Behringer because all they do is spread the word that they made a 1:1 clone for significantly less money, going into great detail how scummy they are by pulling up 1:1 schematics, lol. Behringer love these dudes, they probably spend fuck all on marketing and is one big reason they can sell them at such a low price. Cheap in this case does not = bad.

The ones I get for my children to play on are close enough that I can't hear much difference between most of my originals and their clones, and most of the time the only reason I can tell a difference is because I'm very familiar with all the little intricacies of my own original units. Maybe one sounds a bit darker, the other brighter, but so is the same if you pull up 2 moogs side by side with different manufacturing dates. One fun activity we do together is to make a sound and the other has to recreate it, and I bet most people couldn't A/B out the original, and would in many cases slightly prefer the clone, lol. But dude, VST emulations being way better than analog synth clones?? lmao....

Like Shinyzen said they often better the originals too, adding things like midi and parameter automation and control from your PC.

Btw the Neutron and Proton are seriously underrated products that fly under the radar cause they aren't cloning anything. They are like €200-€300 semi-modulars.. I mean you can't even buy an individual oscillator for much less than that, but these little babies are packed with dual oscs, dual sub oscs, dual filters, osc waveform blending, waveshaping, paraphony, dual lfos, 4 envelopes, a 64 pin patch bay, and way more shit, all that you can stick inside a euro rack, for less than €300??? You really start questioning the price tags on synths and modules in the €€€€'s range when you play with these.

They deserve some props for absolutely decimating the cost of entry into analog synthesis, and shining an interesting spotlight on how much a synth is really worth.

 

As you said, if you don't have to spend money on r&d, and surfing the wave of someone else's marketing hype and hard earned generational acclaim etc...

cool. that shaves a hell of a lot of the 'cost'.

I don't think that deserves "props" for decimating the cost as explained.

If people like it, cool. I don't care. and I'm happy for them.

But as someone who makes money off my ip, guess it is what it is, and I guess just used to this kinda thing, and learned a long time ago not to get my panties in a twist about it.

but I'm not going to embarrass myself fawning over their accomplishment, or pushing the next guy over to give them breathless "props" in that regard...

 

I think it's embarrassing that it took this long for the synthesizer industry (that started out completely ignoring each other's patent protections) to finally properly use other's patent designs. Preserving this shit more than the 20 years mandated by law is only to the detriment of society as a whole. Do I also wish a company slightly less awkward and ridiculous was doing it? Yes I do.

 

It's always about selling large quantities. First you do a market analysis and produce synthesizers that sell well. First you have to earn a lot of money so that you can pay your employees and also invest. If you run out of money you go bankrupt and disappear from the market.

If your name is Arturia, for example, you will approach the sponsoring companies and negotiate with them. If you can come to an agreement, you will be able to experience and buy old hardware in new software. Arturia even improved its products with more polyphony and arpeggios, for example.