OK...so, apparently, we have these posted here now. Not surprising, given that MG is the de facto modular synth database for all intents and purposes these days.
The problem I have, however, is this: is this real, or is this Uli Behringer teasing something in order to get the Internet to do his market feasibility study for him?
I'm not going to mince words here: I have serious misgivings about this entry into Eurorack by, as per Behringer's usual modus operandi, doing a significant intellectual property lift and touting it as 'innovation'. And perhaps, yes, the ability to get these pretty decent looking System 100m clones at $100 a pop is an 'innovation' of sorts. But when, exactly, will we get them? That's the question. Or even moreso, will we get them, or is this just another hype ramp-up, winding up the synth public up while having a larf and going off to build more substandard MI gear and plundering another saged audio firm.
Case in point: the Model D. It's just started shipping...finally...about effing time, actually...after how many years of wind-up? And why was that, actually? After all, cloning a Minimoog shouldn't be all that difficult with a modern-day robotic board production line. Bob did it with actual workers and such, and built over 10k of them, and they're still making th...oh...wait. Yeah. They're still making them. Might be a tiny, wee, itsy-bitsy IP issue there. Ya think?
Fact is, I have memories of the very first major stink Behringer stepped in, waaaaaay back around the early 1990s. Wasn't smart to clone dbx's gear that they still made. Even less intelligent to reproduce the same manuals. But really frickin' stupid to forget to proofread them and delete all of the references to 'dbx' that got left in (and brought up in court).
If they can do this and make it work, and do this with the same component quality and QC that Roland put into these back in the day, OK. But at $100 per complex module (these ain't something basic, folks...ask Malekko, who did the builds on the System 500 modules in cooperation with Roland), I'm just thinking that certain corners might get cut a tad.
Some will likely disagree, but I have a not-too-good feeling about this.
PS: interesting about how Behringer's been hyping the Neutron...but when you look at Sweetwater's website (probably the prime Internet retailer for music gear in the USA), you see zilch about it. Nothing. Not even a preorder or cursory mention or jack-else. And they did do a lot of pre-hype and pre-order for the Model D, but my bet is that they kinda had a bad taste left in their mouths in Ft. Wayne after B. couldn't deliver for nigh-upon two years for...whatever reason. About which I, of course, have my suspicions as noted above. But if Sweetwater felt kinda burned about being made to hold Behringer's water for that long, I don't think they'll bite on the Neutron until Uli can dropship a few pallet-loads of them first. And that, gang, makes them potentially even less jazzed about thirteen new Behringer twiddlys being amped-up by Uli's 'Tribe', especially something more niche-like such as Eurorack modules.
Quite honestly, this has a slight potential of putting Sweetwater off Eurorack; they've only recently gotten a clue about it (I recall having a discussion with a sales engineer about why SW just might want to stock multiples about 18-19 months back; they had no clue about why anyone would want a bunch of jacks with no electronics attached to them), and if Uli causes some sort of debacle with them over Eurorack, there will be ripple-effects. Guarantee it.
So, Uli...if you're reading this, either do this right, or don't do it at all.