Behringer NEUTRON Reviews

An amazing entry level semi modular synth!

I was looking for a budget semi modular and after a lot of search, I ended up with Behringer Neutron, one of the best budget choices to experiment with modular synthesis.

Neutron is equipped with 3340 VCO, the clone of the legendary CEM3340 found in analogue classics of the late ’70s and early ’80s. Lot's of other stuff you'd expect from a semi-modular synth are included. Sine, triangle, sawtooth and square with independent width control, an additional tone mod setting allows further tweaking. Furthermore, oscillator sync, white noise generator plus the ability to freely mix between the two sound sources and an external audio source to the oscillator mix, located in the rear panel; Neutron delivers, with sound-wise, amazing results and functionality! On top of that, the quite big patch bay, perfectly located. Connectivity with other modular synths is of course available, that renders Neutron an absolute component in bigger modular setups (connecting cable provided). Also, it can be mounted on a Behringer modular synth rack. Having said that, Neutron can be used as a standalone unit or connected with a keyboard/sequencer controller. But even without a controller, it can do amazing things.

Neutron has a con however, an annoying problem that I sincerely hope will/can be fixed in future firmware updates. It has to do with the onboard delay unit that kills some frequencies, making the sound duller when applied! In my case that is not an actual problem as I'm using an external delay, but nevertheless, it is a problem.

I'm a harsh noise artist, so I wanted something... harsh and believe me, Neutron can be quite harsh in a very positive way! That vitriolic little beast loves industrial music, loves noise, loves harsh stuff. Neutron can give you some scorching sonic annihilation, even without external pedals/effects but in the same, a full arsenal of quiter/softer sounds with endless tweaking possibilities. Of course, no save preset function is available, something expected from a modular synth. But fear not, huge databases with settings can be found online, making your experimentation horizon endless.

The overall sound of Neutron is spectacular, it delivers in any way possible and remember, it is a budget synth. There isn't something more you'd want in that money.

Last but not least, the design/color, which I personally love but has gotten some harsh criticism. But that is not a problem after all as you can buy an aftermarket faceplate of your choice.

Final words: a highly recommended piece of gear for the beginning of your modular synth experiments, if you are after a synth with a more modern sound.

Un soucis en particulier...

Super synthé mais un truc insupportable c'est que les oscillateurs sont à accorder manuellement, et que comme les boutons "tune" sont hyper sensibles il suffit d'effleurer le truc pour tout désaccorder... ce qui arrive souvent car le bouton de mixage des oscillos est juste en dessus à 2 ou 3 centimètres...

Sinon le son est là, il suffit de mixer deux ondes dent de scie basiques et ça sonne déjà 15 fois mieux que n'importe quel vst.

Attention c'est modulaire, pour repatcher un son qu'on a déjà fait, en dehors des trucs très simples, c'est l'enfer.

Oscillators are amazing

The most creative analogue desktop

power supply slightly noisy,

Love the machine, very versatile and good sounding, the power trasformer is a bit noisy and is better to replace it if you can.

GREAT SOUND, GREAT BUILD QUALITY

This is a great analogue synth, very rich in features and it sounds great. Many tutorials and patch ideas on YouTube for beginners. Great synth to start your analogue/eurorack journey with. I highly recommend it!

Great Synth

As a beginner and after two months of my use. I can say its a great synth for beginners to get into the analog synth world because its worth it, you can get many cool sounds and can also get chaotic with it. There are many possibilities to explore with the patchbay area and its fun to play with. Its good if you can get a sequencer or midi keyboard with it.

Pros :

- the patchbay area is easy to play with since its all over to the right side of the synth and does not overlap any of the knobs

- can get pretty wild sounds out of it like chaotic

- its worth for the money

- the sample and hold function is awesome

- you can also get cool musical sounds out of it

- dual 3340 VCOS are an advantage you can play around with the osc mix between two.

- awesome drum sounds with some easy patches

Cons:

- when adjusting the shapes or osc mix knobs there is a slight chance that your hand might touch the osc tune knob since the tune knobs are big, it happens with me sometimes but not a big deal but I have seen in some videos that changing those knobs (tune knob) with the smaller ones might help.

Conclusion - overall its a great synth, there are many great options to play with and many possibilities with the patchbay and it might also take you into an other world if if you go chaotic with it.

All these are from a beginners perspective since Im new into the analog synth and its my first one, still exploring it. I hope this helps someone.

Amazing synth for its price

Although sound is not breathtaking, the possibilities of experimenting and influencing other synthesizers synchronized to it are enormous.

It teaches a lot about music synthesis to the newcomer that wants to experiment.

As well, for the pro user that has more advanced equipment, this synth will not become obsolete. A must buy.

Very satisfied!!

Ok, obviously at first thought i din't expect that much, but once i started patching and playing with it i realised there is more than you see here! The patchbay offers many possiblities and the bass of this synth is amazing! I' m using it in every track i compose whether it is ambient soundscapes or arpeggios...well done Behringer and for this price you have done an amazing job!

Very decent synth

I use it for adding some bass or melody sounds. Have it for a while now it still does what it's meant to do.

It does take a little learning to understand how the patching changes the sound. Just because patching can get pretty complex.

Total madness

Crazy little synth. Will definitely be getting another one.

great starter tool

I just started in the synth world, and the neutron definitely helped me understand a bit better the world of semi-modular without breaking my bank. Easy to understand and start, and plenty of combinations to test and explore afterwards. The bass lines out of this are great and so rich. The delay is the only feature I don't like at all, it's noisy, blurry and has some bleed; guess that for the price you can simply consider it a very good fully analog synth with-out- a delay.

A great introduction to sound synthesis

This is my first hardware analogue synthesizer and I have been very happy with it. It is very flexible and versatile. It is easy to make a quick bass or a lead sound, but it can be as deep as one wants it to be. It simply invites experimentation and I feel so much satisfaction when I create a sound I did not think I could do. It also looks handsome sitting on my desk. Only criticism I have is for the OSC MIX knob. It is situated between the oscillator tuners and when turning the former, it is difficult not to bump into the tuners. If these knobs could have offered a bit more resistance that would have been great. Ultimately this is nitpicking though. So much synthesizer considering the price asked.

Flexible analog monster

Great analog synth, very flexible and wide range of sounds, but mainly best for bass and stabs. May sometimes be a bit wild with its analog delay, but it just adds to the beauty of it. Extensive patchbay, even more great if you have other modular or semi-modular synths..

It would of sounded good without some fundamental flaws

I got it for actual use in music as it sound very close to the "moog" sound.

If it would of had a clean sound this would be an amazing addition to any studio for those thick deep harmonics filled sounds, but unfortunately it's unusable because of some fundamental flaws that make it unusable in a professional context and I think these flaws are directly related to the low price components used.

These are the flaws that make it unusable in my opinion: OSC 2 sound bleed (quite audible on low cutoff freq tones), high LFO bleed in some situations, unstable oscillators (they drift quite a lot), unexpected saturated / distorted delay section, quite some noise on the output although I was recording with a RME Fireface 802 preamp.

I would of preferred a higher price, but with more reliable components to avoid the problems listed above.

It's a very cool piece of gear for synth enthusiasts, but in a real world high end production studio it's impossible to ignore the sound flaws. I would consider it more of a semi-professional toy rather than a professional synth.

Crazy value for money

Very powerful synth, which can create almost anything. Would recommend to use the software too, since it makes tweaking stuff much easier.

Very good sounding synth with many capabilities.

You can use for a whole spectrum of sound: bass (of course), leads, pads, drums and other percussions.

It's very user friendly, and it's a good starting point to modular world.

Must have for me.

This pach bay

Very nice gear as an introduction to modular synthesis. Rich patch bay gives a great sound capability beyond already very nice basic set of VCOs and ADSRs. It can get pretty wild very quickly but also able to produce nice clean sounds.

Not the biggest fan of built-in delay but it's there. Filter is not the sharpest or juiciest but still sounds good.

Overall within the price range it's hard to beat and considering it's parpaphonic capability with big range of wave shapes, plus very nice build quality I'd totally recommend to anyone who want's to dive into semi/modular world of sound synthesis.

Excellent small synth

The sound of this thing is HUGE! For the price it is a no brainer. Either for the beginner or the advanced.

Subjective con: the color/aesthetic is ugly

Great introduction to modular

This has its drawbacks but it's a brilliant introduction to modular synthesis. Build quality and handling are both great, it's packed full of features that will help you learn your way around modular, and I'm using it as a basis to build my Eurorack system around. The sounds produced are not always to my taste but at this price it can't be beat, and it still makes some amazing creazy sounds and great basslines. Definitely a good choice for anyone wanting to get to grips with modular

Excellent analog!!! Fat sound!