Behringer Crave 5-stars Reviews

Best Buy!

this tiny little beast delivers such an exceptional sound , pair it with an delay/reverb effects pedals and you can do wonders!

Nice fat sound for cheap

Very vice sound and a simple start into modular, would like a sample and hold and some attenuators.

Crave my little Friend

Crave is my first Analog Synthesizer. I have had an experience with Roland S1 before which uses an ACB technology. The sound of Behringer Crave it's just full and massive and you can shape and come up with different sounds even that you are limited to 2 wave forms Saw & Square. I can say that you can go from very basic sounds to very interesting ones that you may find hard to achieve in other equipments. Its Osc "color" gives you a very nice feeling of the sound as it is an alive instrument. The patchbay is its powerful side which lets you dive into different modulations of sound. The only thing that I wish crave could have is another osc with changable octaves for a fuller bass for example at B note, it just comes muddy as a bass at the mentioned note. Overall Behringer Crave is an instrument I would like to have around. I've begun to implement its sound to almost every project of mine. A lot of features and great sound. To not mentioned the price! haha Definitely a must go!

Incredible

I dealt with it within half an hour. In the next hour I was already playing electronic operas with literally three notes. A wonderful device with great capabilities.

CRAVE the CRAVE

this little box is a monster. very unique sound. totally fits in my rig/sound. top notch construction. it will be a part of my setup for years to come.

A cheap way to start your sound synthesis quest.

If it's your first synthesizer, you may want to get a comfortable keyboard with MIDI out since the keys on Crave aren't great for live use - it takes a toll if you have big sausage fingers like mine.

Not too much variety in sounds since it offers only square and reversed sawtooth sound.

However, you're gonna have fun toying around with this: There's blending, sequencing, filtering and patching to figure out alone.

USB compatibility is flawless.

If you are going to lug it around, try not to break those seemingly fragile wooden sides, the metal housing itself is pretty much indestructible.

You will CRAVE this

My introduction to synths a few years back now and decided to wait to review it. This is a fantastic little synth that is well worth the money. If you are looking to get in to analog modular synths, this is a great way to start. Jump in!

Insane value for money

This is the perfect little go to oscillator for any setup. Super quick to dial in any sound and to patch some creative new idea. Love it!

Amazing little synth...

Sounds massive, versatile, but not for everybody... Watch some youtube tutorials about the Moog Mother 32 to get the idea. Build quality is fine, overall - great value for money!

I liked it

I just got my BehCrave a somedays ago. The minimalist user manual is a bit small in actually using this synth, but using the video is better, I can watch and try the different steps as they are presenting them.

Suberb value, great first modular experience

The Crave sounds fantastic and offers tons of possibilities. Its build quality is excellent. Add a Neutron, some effects and drums and you've got a mini studio for endless live fun. Another superb Behringer product.

Great for the Price

Good product worth quite a bit more than asked. Nice analog sound.

Great synth for beginners and experienced users

A great gatweway into modular synthesis for a price that cannot be beat. Once you start pairing it with other semi-modulars a vast world of sound design will open for you. But by itself it also rocks!

Looking for an entry level synth? This is it.

All I can say that this baby can do so much from such a little package, it is truly unbelievable. It can be everything you want it to be, and more. With only a few patches it becomes a monster, but the main thing about it, it's very versatile. Add another one, use DAW + effects, and you have a perfect little rig for creating awesomeness.

Great Product, Great Price

Sounds amazing, fun to play, and the build quality is remarkable given the price. Just a really fun instrument to use. The sound is distinctive, and while you can get a fair range of tones from this synth, they all very much have a unified flavor. So long as you aren't expecting a sonically varied polysynth, this unit should satisfy anyone interested in analogue synthesis, regardless of background and experience.

Nice

Been using it few months now with some nice results biggest downfall it goes out of tune as you go up & down octaves and can get frustrating

Crave - what a beast!

very well made synth, metal chassis. Knobs feel high quality.

Endless fun

bargain!

fekkin lovin this lil one.....

Merita toti banii

Asta e primul synth pe care l-am cumparat, l-am ales deoarece n-am vrut sa investesc banii intr-un Mother-32 (care esential face aceleasi lucruri) fara sa fiu sigur ca ma tin de asta. La inceput din poze nu mi-a placut deloc cum arata portocaliul acela dar m-am obisnuit si intre timp m-am indragostit de jucaria asta. Sunetul pe care-l produce ii foarte cald si poate fi foarte bassos - fix ceea ce cautam pentru productia muzicala, voiam ceva analog cu care sa pot face basslines faine si sa pot sa ma tot joc manual cu setarile.

Imi era greu sa inteleg care-i treaba cu LFOs, Envelopes, Wave shapes etc. doar jucandu-ma in Operator si Analog in Ableton dar dupa cateva seri in care m-am tot jucat cu Crave-ul pot sa zic c-am invatat extrem de multe despre ce inseamna conceptele astea si interfata intuitiva a synthului a ajutat mult.

Inca nu am facut patchuri deoarece vreau sa-l invat ca lumea mai intai dar din cate am vazut in clipuri exista foarte multe posibilitati de a programa melodii generative folosind patch bayul.

Sequencer-ul inclus mi se pare prea basic si folosesc Rozzer (plugin gratis pentru Ableton) sa trimit informatie midi in Crave. O sa cumpar si un Keystep 37 in viitor sa pot face asta fara laptop. Am facut deja cateva trackuri personale cu sunete doar din Crave (plus percutie din Ableton) si pot zice ca sunt foarte multumit de varietatea de care da dovada, daca treci sunetul si printr-un reberb bun devine magic de-a dreptul. Abia astept sa-l invat cat mai bine, sunt sigur ca n-o sa vand niciodata jucaria asta si daca ma las de muzica complet. Recomand cu incredere!

A fantastic instrument

Crave is a fully functional, semi-modular analog synthesizer with a really nice sequencer, for the price of a single modular filter... It's not a secret it clones Moog's mother32, up to the point where Moog's manual helps programming the sequencer (Behringer's short manual feels a bit chaotic). You can see comparisons between the two on yt, but that's completely not the point; neither is the often repeated "great for the price" - the success of (four times more expensive) mother32 makes the case this witty design of a synthesizer is just great, and price has nothing to do with it.

It is highly patchable: you don't see filter's resonance with CV input too often, yet this tiny machine has it... The VCO, VCF, VCA, LFO and the sequencer all have ins and outs. There are few utility modules as well: mixer/attenuator, noise generator, a multiple, and a "hidden" second LFO in the sequencer. All this encourages experimenting with synthesis much as any "large" modular would. The only thing lacking is sample&hold module.

I've learned some fun tricks with it (like VCF feedback for some distortion). It's fun to connect external gear (yes it is compatible with eurorack, 1V/oct and positive trigs), additional LFOs or a random voltage source for irregular sequencer resets. Some people claim the cheapest entry to modulars is getting two or three Craves and I can see this working nicely. Plugging another synthesizer as a sub-oscillator via external input works like a charm too.

The sequencer is a bit tricky to use (that's why it's worth to check out mother32's manual) and is limited to 32 steps: for most applications that's not a serious limitation as the sequences are transposable with either built-in keys or external keyboard.

The envelope is not a complete ADSR as D and R are controlled with the same knob. You can turn sustain off to get AD envelope instead. Sadly the envelope doesn't have CV ins (that would be wicked).

The filter (transistor ladder if you like that kind of stuff) besides usual low-pass has also a hi-pass mode (neat on higher resonance), and self-oscillates on a wide range of frequencies.

The LFO gets into audio range as well, though getting it tuned with the oscillator is doable only for a short frequency range (say 1 octave).

On the build quality: it's nice. The jacks are not screwed to the front-panel but so far sit well. Knobs are fine: you can twist them with one finger if you're busy, but you can also move them quite precisely. The built-in keys feel good to me. They are enough for transposing sequences with a left hand while playing the other synth with right one. Entering sequences from them is also fine, I rarely connect external keyboard to it. I've heard people complaining about clickiness, but somehow my unit is not that loud...

To sum up: it's a fantastic education/tinkering toy and a really nice, useful instrument with wide (and wild!) palette of sounds. After 9 months of everyday use I'm more than happy, I would buy it again, I would pay double that price too, and I do recommend it to everyone who wants to put their hands on semi-modular analog but don't want to invest into a large modular rack or (b)ARP 2600.