Listen to Bartek Krzemiński demo the Behringer JN-80 in his trademark animated style as he goes through all the envelopes, filters and effects.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZIYOa6UMAg


Bartek is best known for his spirited performances on Ketron Arrangers. I am glad to see Behringer tapping into his talent.

The new Behringer JN-80 is a hardware clone of the Roland JUNO-60 released in 1982. It was prominently featured in 80s music. Used JUNO-60 units sell for $2,900.


https://reverb.com/p/roland-juno-60


Roland makes a software plug-in for the JUNO-60.


https://www.roland.com/us/products/rc_juno-60/


Sweetwater sells this plug-in for $199


https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Juno60plug--roland-juno-60-software-synthesizer-plug-in


For $569 you can have a hardware clone of this legendary analog 8-voice programmable polyphonic synthesizer with 3109 VCFs, BBD Chorus and 49-key keyboard with After Touch.


https://www.behringer.com/behringer/product?modelCode=0722-AAP


Behringer has hit a home run with this product. This company is famous for making affordable clones, often finding themselves embroiled in legal battles.

Many years ago I purchased a pair of Behringer TRUTH B2031A Studio Monitors, which were a clone of the popular Genelec 1030a Studio Monitors. Nothing could beat their performance at their price point of $367 a pair. It was a steal of a deal!

There's a huge range of Juno 60/106 (and just about every other Roland synth!) software, some of which is HIGHLY regarded for accuracy to the original. And despite Behringer being about as low a price as you can go with hardware (and unfortunately, the actions definitely illustrate that cheapness compared to the high quality keybeds even low end synths had back in the 80's and 90's 🤮),

I've got a bunch of the iPad Audiokit Roland emulators (most under $10!), and as an old Roland owner back in the day (J106), I can tell you they're pretty accurate.

While $800 or so for a Juno 60 is great compared to what good used originals are going for, the Behringer hardware (keybed, sliders and knobs etc) can't compete, and $800 buys you a HUGE selection of top end software!

I completely agree with your sentiments Diki.

Software emulations have become indistinguishable from their hardware counterparts. They are far cheaper and convenient. All you really need to make music today is investing in a Mac mini M4 or the upcoming M5 and a decent MIDI controller keyboard.

The days of hardware synths and arranger workstations are numbered. It just does not make monetary sense buying a whole new synth or a top of the line arranger just to access a handful of new features and functions.

Hardware vendors realize this new reality. They are shifting gears accordingly. When you buy the Korg Kronos3, you get to use it as a VST with full access to its powerful synth engines.

Yamaha has their Montage M VST Plugin.

All of Roland’s sounds can be accessed from the Roland Cloud with a subscription.

This is just the wave of the future. It is far more practical to get Omnisphere, Keyscape, and Pianoteq to start building your software library.

The only problem you have with something like the Montage M plugin is, you have to buy the actual Montage to get the plugin! In which case, if you have the Montage, why stress your CPU with the plugin?!

Those of us who used the original synths understand that the hardware back then was bulletproof... you could really abuse the sliders and they would give decades of reliability. You hear a lot of Behringer owners complaining about how delicate you have to be with the hardware or it fails. And that's on gear virtually brand new...

I really wish I'd had the sense to mothball my old stuff rather than trade in (or give away!) for newer gear. My Oberheim alone would be worth serious bucks! It's easy to forget that a $2000 synth back in the mid-80's would be $6000+ nowadays! I blew some big bucks back then... Today, a grand's worth of software would replace my entire 8 keyboard rig from back then!

Unfortunately, the kids seem to think that an $800 Behringer should be as good as a $5000 mid-80's Roland... Sure, the SOUND is 'close', but the minute you start playing those cheap Chinese actions and waggle those cheap Chinese sliders and knobs, you realize where the other $4000 went!