Behringer Poly D Synthesizer Review

[Bob Womack]

What do Rick Wakeman, Phil Collins, Chris Cross, David Foster, Rick Wright, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Pete Bardens, Jan Hammer, Herbie Hancock, David Gates, Manfred Mann, Patrick Moraz, Giorgio Moroder, Steve Morse, Gary Numan, Gerry Rafferty, Richard Tandy, Frank Zappa, and many more artists have in common? They all played the Moog MiniMoog Model D!

I've had the Behringer Poly D synth in the studio for a month and a half now and have had plenty of time to get to know it. For those who don't know, the Poly D is a recreation and expansion of the venerable MiniMoog Model D. You can learn what I found out about it, HERE.

Bob

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

What do Rick Wakeman, Phil Collins, Chris Cross, David Foster, Rick Wright, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Pete Bardens, Jan Hammer, Herbie Hancock, David Gates, Manfred Mann, Patrick Moraz, Giorgio Moroder, Steve Morse, Gary Numan, Gerry Rafferty, Richard Tandy, Frank Zappa, and many more artists have in common? They all played the Moog MiniMoog Model D!

I've had the Behringer Poly D synth in the studio for a month and a half now and have had plenty of time to get to know it. For those who don't know, the Poly D is a recreation and expansion of the venerable MiniMoog Model D. You can learn what I found out about it, HERE.

Bob

Interesting and very thorough review.
Probably beats the heck out of me trying to lip vibrate thru a kazoo an imitation of the moog when I cover Lucky Man

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by KevWind

Interesting and very thorough review.
Probably beats the heck out of me trying to lip vibrate thru a kazoo an imitation of the moog when I cover Lucky Man

Thanks for your kind words! In fact, the "Lucky Man" solo was one of the solos I noodled on with this synth. I was able to get that sound and the two-octave glides or portamenti come off nicely. While doing research for the article I came across an interesting piece of info about the song: Keith Emerson never intended for that solo to be heard - he was just frittering about and tuning the synth and the production team rolled on his rehearsal. When the producer decided to use it on the record, Keith was appalled. As a result, for years the band did the song as a Greg Lake guitar/vocal solo. Later on when the band decided to play it as an ensemble again, Emerson literally didn't know how to play his own solo so he got in touch with KEYBOARD magazine, who had done a transcription. They sent a copy to him and he said it was quite accurate and helpful.

Bob

[egordon99]

Great article/review! I have a Poly D arriving tomorrow. I have had a Korg 01/WFD for years but just recently started really learning synthesis via Arturia's Collection V.

[ROSTR]

Thanks, Bob, for this wonderful, and informative trip, down memory lane. The early 1970s were transformative for me, and the Moog settings of songs such as Lucky Man and If formed the soundtrack as I embarked on my own musical career. Your deep dive into the evolution of Moog was worthy of a history Pulitzer.

Regards,
Rick

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by egordon99

Great article/review! I have a Poly D arriving tomorrow. I have had a Korg 01/WFD for years but just recently started really learning synthesis via Arturia's Collection V.

Thanks for your kind words! How did you find it?

Originally Posted by ROSTR

Thanks, Bob, for this wonderful, and informative trip, down memory lane. The early 1970s were transformative for me, and the Moog settings of songs such as Lucky Man and If formed the soundtrack as I embarked on my own musical career. Your deep dive into the evolution of Moog was worthy of a history Pulitzer.
Regards,
Rick

Thank you for your kindness and I'm glad you found it fun!

Bob

[egordon99]

So far I'm loving it. Like I said above, it's my first "real" (analog) synth despite having owned a Korg 01/WFD since 1993 (and I also had a Yamaha DX27 prior to that) but I always just played the presets.

It's a whole new and exciting world that for whatever reason I didn't pay much attention to.

I am now looking at the Korg Mini-logue to get some more variety.