A Passion for Keyboards

Our founder, Uli Behringer has a deep passion for keyboards. Born in the small town of Baden, Switzerland in 1961, Uli grew up in a musical family where his mother taught him to play the piano at the tender age of four. His father was a scientist who built a massive organ in the family home and taught the young lad all about electronics. So, at the age of 17, Behringer built his first synthesizer – the UB-1. Later, while attending college to seek a degree in audio engineering, Uli put his electronics knowledge to use, building his own equalizers and signal processors to fill the gap left by the university’s inability to provide enough proper studio gear. Word soon spread about how good his products were, and he began building gear for his friends – the Behringer legacy had begun. The rest, as they say, is history…

The 1970s spawned the first truly portable analog synthesizer, and while it was quickly adopted by lots of renowned musical artists including Jan Hammer, Chick Corea, Rick Wakeman, Jean-Michel Jarre, Isao Tomita and Keith Emerson to name a few, it was somewhat temperamental and very expensive. An ultra-affordable homage to that iconic synthesizer, with all the features of the original and then some, the Behringer POLY D lets you conjure up virtually any monophonic or polyphonic sound imaginable with incredible finesse and ease. The pure analog signal path is based on authentic VCO, VCF, VCA and ladder filter designs in conjunction with a dedicated and fully analog triangle/square wave LFO. Owning a POLY D is like having your own personal time machine, enabling you to freely embrace the past – or shape the future!

Great care has been taken in designing the POLY D including the true to the original “D Type” circuitry with its matched transistors and JFETs, ultra-high precision 0.1% thin film resistors and polyphenylene sulphide capacitors. This highly-focused attention to detail is what gives the POLY D its ultra-flexible sound shaping capability, which covers everything from super-fat bass and lead tones, stunning effects, progressive organ sounds – and all the way out to the otherworldly sounds of your imagination.

The inspired synthesizer tracks laid down in the 1970s and ’80s are etched in the annals of progressive rock, wave and synth-pop music forever, making them truly classic in every sense of the word. POLY D’s pure analog signal path with legendary VCO, VCF and VCA circuits, lets you recreate all of that magic – or design incredibly fat and original sounds that will make you a legend in your own right!

With the POLY D, you can get the best of three worlds by switching between monophonic, polyphonic or unison modes. With the POLY D set to Mono, you can have the characteristics of a classic monophonic synth with fuller, more expressive solos, bass lines and portamentos. Flipping the switch to Poly allows you to play more than one note at the same time to produce stunning chord harmonies and luscious pads that add soul and depth to your music. Unison Mode thickens up your sound by layering all of the POLY D’s voices on top of each other, adding more harmonic content and creating a richer sound.

The POLY D has four highly-flexible Voltage Controlled Oscillators (VCOs) that provide an incredible range of 5 waveforms for sculpting the perfect sound. Oscillators 1, 2 and 3 options include: triangular; triangular/saw; saw; square; wide pulse; and narrow pulse, while OSC 4 features: triangular; reverse saw; saw; square; wide pulse; and narrow pulse. Additionally, all 4 VCOs can be adjusted across an extremely-wide, 6-octave range (LO, 32’, 16’, 8’, 4’ and 2’). This amazing flexibility gives you all the tools you need to be your creative best.

The very heart of the POLY D’s sound is its highly flexible 24 dB Ladder Filter, which lets you freely experiment with the Cutoff Frequency, Emphasis and Contour to dial in the perfect sound. POLY D’s Filter Mode switch can be set to either Lo- or Hi-pass for selecting the range of your choice. You can also adjust the Attack, Decay and Sustain controls to affect the cutoff frequency with time.

We just can’t help ourselves – like you, we’re gear-heads, too. For those who want the numbers, POLY D has 84 controls, all laid out in a highly-intuitive format that puts the joy back into your music creation. Input and output connections include: MIDI I/O and Thru over USB/MIDI DIN; After Pressure and Velocity outputs with their own dedicated volume controls; internal and external V-Trig I/O; external Loudness, Filter, OSC, and modulation source outputs.

When it comes to not just pushing envelopes but creating them, POLY D gives your imagination its voice – and it’s so very affordable. When modern performance calls for classic analog sound – it calls for the Behringer POLY D!

Visit your dealer to experience the stunning POLY D or get yours online today. Music never felt this good!