Apologies for adding to the heap of existing Behringer synth threads, but I'd like to hear thoughts and experiences from those of you who know more than me about hardware synths - which means practically all of you, because this would be my first synth.

I'm considering a Moog Mother 32. Obviously I have to consider the Neutron as a cheaper alternative. Is the added cost of the Moog justified? What if I can get a good deal on a used one?

Seeing as I'm basically just going off youtube demonstrations, I'd find it very helpful to hear from those of you who have tried one or both. Pretty much any input you care to offer would be welcome and probably helpful

edit - I'm open to Behringer K2 as well, which also seems great. I guess one of the major things I'm wondering is, why would one want a Monther 32 as opposed to something more feature rich. From watching some demonstrations, I have to say it's not obvious to me that there's a major sound quality advantage to the Moog. I guess maybe I'm a bit taken in by the reputation of Moog, and I'm tempted to get one but it sure does seem like the Behringer synths are really nice and perhaps a better value

edit2 - After going a bit deeper down the rabbit hole, the Neutron seems like a hell of a synth, especially at the current $230 discount price. I think I may have to buy one of these. I saw a used Mother 32 going for $300. but man the Neutron just offers so much more for a sound design tweaker

 

Last edited: Sep 16, 2019

I'm in the same predicament, undecided, I would like an analog synth that sounds Moogy, the Behringer Model D comes close to it, but I don't like the company "Behringer" they seem to cut corners and not be very reliable, I keep returning to the Roland SE-02, this ticks all the boxes for me, the only negative is the actual size... brings to mind the Stonehenge scenes from Spinal Tap, but you can get an editor for it and use that rather than your fingers.

 

Neutron = clean sound ( like a vst)
Moog stuff is slightly dirtier and has Moog filters, so get it if you are into this kind of sound.
Anyway, both are waste of money... I can understand getting a high end synth (Dave Smith and similar) or workstation for gigs, but "toys" are way too expensive considering all their limitations and they can't create any new sound that's not already in the factory presets of Diva, Arturia, The Legend etc.

 

I was tempted several times by those many recent retro and new design synths but what drew me back to the computer was the fact that these boxes are always quite limited and quickly take up quite some space on the desk.
I know that putting hands on hardware is an experience on its own but today, for this price range I would always go for an iPad plus miRack, Moog Model 15 and Model D and maybe a few others like Zeeon, Mood, GR16, KASPAR. I find it to be a fair compromise between "true hands-on plastic knobs" and clicking knobs with a mouse.
If you love to tweak your own sounds, once you've worked with Model 15 and miRack, I don't believe you'd ever want to go back.

 

You could consider the Behringer Crave which is very clonish of the Mother 32. I have the Mother, No coast, Neutron and Pittsburgh Modular microvolt 3900. All are very different. The Moog sounds gorgeous, the Pittsburgh does punchy, the no coast does zany and the Neutron does modulators.

The Neutron sounds a bit dark and ragged to me, a bit Korg MS-10, but there’s nothing wrong with that if you want it. Where the Neutron comes into its own is as a patchable modulation and oscillator source with MIDI thru. You can pass the MIDI out to another monosynth and use all those envelopes and patch utilities to control everything else. You must work to make the best of the Neutron.

The Pittsburgh is bass synth heaven because it has a low pass gate and handles external signals really well. The knobwork handles like a BMW and the sounds are left field but always good. But it’s the LPG that makes the Pittsbugh magic.

The No Coast is whackier than a box of frogs and does weird and wonderful so well. I wouldn’t use it on its own unless you’re after weird and wonderful. It’s an essential patch add on, but I wouldn’t chose it as a one and only.

The Moog mother, apart from its sequencer, is the simplest and most limiting of all these offerings. You have one of every thing. But sounds divine. It sounds like a Moog, it smells like a Moog and it is drop dead gorgeous. But you really need something else (like another Mother, or one of the above) to bring the best out. The DFAM is worth a looksie too.

It's what happens when you put a cable in that makes these machines so seductive, and when you start putting cables between them, hell, you're off with the fairies for a day or three.

 

Well thank you all for your replies but you're late! I already got a Neutron lol. At some shops it was just a little over $200. Worth the new experience for me. I've paid more than that for some softsynths.

Have you played with the Neutron? I don't think clean is how I'd describe it, or vst-like. Maybe if you route the osc straight to the vca it's clean. The filters can get pretty interesting, and the normalized connection goes through the drive module and even gets some bleed from the BBD line depending on how loud you push it.

Right now the Model D is $208 in several web shops. Nobody can speak to the longevity of it but I can tell you the neutron doesn't feel or sound cheap to me. And if your main concern is a moogy sound...

I mean that's pretty remarkable for being 1/10 the price. Well, more like 1/15 the price right now.

I actually did consider the no coast. I love wacky, sound designey stuff, but when I want to go nuts with weird sounds it feels like software might still be my best option for now. I don't have a whole suite of pedal effects or even extra inputs on my interface for that matter. When I bought an apollo twin I kinda figured I'd be recording my voice and maybe a guitar every now and then. I may have to eventually get some IO with adat to go through the Apollo.

But the no coast is $500 and I figured, if I were gonna spend real money on a synth I'd spend real money on a synth.

...so I got a Sub 37 instead
Found a good deal on one, couldn't say no. All told, I got the Neutron and the Sub for $1000 plus the cost of a sandwich basically

 

Last edited: Sep 23, 2019

Now that's hardware. Very nice choice.

 

From Neutron to Sub37. Wow.
But it's a great choice. Have one too and I enjoy playing it everytime.

 

I have two moog mother but as your first and only synth I don't know ... except you know exactly what to use it for. But they sound nice, are built well and everyone should have at least one moog some day. If you go with the moogs you can expand w two mothers and a dfam, then you have some cool options and it may get you into the modular world a little bit...

 

Behringer's philosophy has always been to emulate the sound of historic gear at a fraction of the cost: that’s why their products are so widespread.
Now, if you have the economic possibility of buying Moog ... well go for it you wont regret, it will certainly be the best choice

 

Last edited by a moderator: Sep 23, 2019