Behringer JT-4000 Micro Synth | A $49 Synth W/ One BIG Setback 

Yeah with the midi over usb, you might as well have an app on an iPad. The hardware midi connections is what differentiates boxes like this from virtual synths in terms of their integration into a hardware setup

Too bad Behringer didn’t listen to their fans and add a MIDI type A TRS port to this thing. It’s a pass for me because of that.

This is perfect for me since I connect everything to a usb docked to my MPC Live! It would suck to have another two cables for the JT4000 and proVS. This is excellent

JP8000 was released 1997. It was supposed to be a Virtual Analog to compete with the NordLead

It's not smaller than my Nunomo Qun Mk2...which has a MIDI in, and out, dual osc, 2/4 pole multifilter, plus 2/4 pole Moog style ladder filter....plus granular synthesis, a three track looper, complex sequencer.....But it's almost $200

from what ive seen theyre doing a whole series of these micros including a similar sized usb hub/ midi host

yeh... a trs midi port would have been really nice. USB c power is almost a given on something this small, but having to breakout the midi somehow is kind of a big drag, cuz it basically means ill have to run it through my PC ...

I have tried my Keystep plus synths with midi usb plus every cable type out there to no avail in JT-4000 connecting to other devices. Even tried a usb/midi host box with same results. Before returning it I’d appreciate my advice you might have in case I’m missing something.

I've had a JT-4000 for several days. It sounds very good, but is so tiny it is hard to use. The controls are tiny and the screen is tiny. I'm running it through a Korg Kaoscillator KP-2 as a filter which is also tiny so it is a very cool micro rig. But as is it is mostly just a toy. If I can figure out MIDI in/out however, it may become much more than just a toy. One very cool thing about it, I don't know if it is a bug or a feature, if you hold a note down while using the arpegiator and change octaves, it will hold the note and keep playing it. This can be done with more than one note so it become somewhat like a sequencer.

The Behringer TD-3 comes with a USB Type B/Midi connector which provides both power and midi connectivity. I reckon it's the same thing with this one. I've had no problems with the TD-3 so far, Ableton instantly recognizes it and I'm able to send midi to it (of course no midi out) I've had some noise coming from the usb port but it got fixed once I moved it to another port. Honestly a polyphonic synth for $49? it can be pink and covered with Hello Kitty stickers (that actually sounds kinda cool)

I wonder whether it will work with my Synthstrom Deluge? The Deluge can power and control a USB midi synth/controller as long as it doesn't expect too much juice. You do need a USB B to USB A adapter, and you have to run the Deluge off a DC power supply rather than USB. It might also work with a MPC live.

I tried connecting it to my Arturia sync with a c to b cable but 4000 gets no power even with Arturia powered by dc

Eeesh, it definitely definitely needs an analog midi port or attatchment, this would be sick to hook up to a bigger keyboard right?

Mine just arrived yesterday evening. I’ll update if and when I find a solid workaround for the weird midi/usb-c nonsense.

Oh no! A new technology is taking over! 😂

If they do something like the volca mix with built in MIDI hub functionality that could definitely tempt more folks into picking up a few of this IMHO.

I have an arturia keystep 32 and behringer jt4000 from Andertons it does not work to connect to the usb socket for power and midi. I can do it with an iPad running a virtual keyboard app so the swing keyboard might do it but then its not a clone of the keystep and arturia are wrong I just bought both and I'm quite upset.

You are Absolutely right! This is a magical little synth with great possibilities but the MIDI Port is a Horror. The adaptor is more expensive than the Behringer JT4000 ....

Hey guys you can have a Behringer JT-4000 or you can spend your money on a Korg monotron. I won't go into detail, just listen.

Cmon man , the JP came out in 96/97 not the 80s , its a V/a synth

I wonder what could happened if paired with your phone and an app like caustic

Simple work around is a powered USB hub, that can then be fed into USB to MIDI device like say your interface. You will need a computer to do the host parts but my Akai Force will allow a USB powered hub to go in and the 5 pin MIDI to go out which means no computer needed. So you have power for your minis, conversion to 5 pin din and then a sequencer to do the rest whilst being a nice sampler too.

you just add it to your aggregate device on mac and voila, midi controlled via DAW, same as my Roland JU-06 & SE-02. Cant wait for it to labd this week...

I was very excited for these mini synths to release. Halfway through placing an order for the ProVSMini, I looked into how the unit was being powered. It's a shame that this and the ProVSMini aren't battery powered-compatible. Who cares if the units are pocketable if you can't just power on and play like a Volca (for instance). Maybe if I could find a small pen-sized usb-c battery it would be okay. When I messaged Behringer about it they said 'we don't believe in batteries for sustainability reasons'. Well, your guitar pedals have 9-volt slots...so which is it?

USB-C Midi/Power and 3.5 mm line out is known for picking up ground-loops. A well-known example of this is Ik-Multimedias Uno Synth. I had to buy a ground-loop "remover adapter" to put between the 3.5 mm out and the "real" audio cable to get rid of it. At this price it is still worth it if you have some of these adapters lying around. If not the extra fee for delivery of them (they are not that easy to find in "normal" stores) will put you off with a quite a bit more in total cost, percentage wize! I think Behringer went to cheap on this one. 8 voices and some proper outputs/inputs would not have made it that much more expensive. I mean a JP-8000 with an analog filter for, say, $99, even that would be a steal! If you account for the extra cost of the goundloop remover (including the cost of the delivery) it would not be far off anyway!

Mine arrives tomorrow

1:52 how can it be directly plugged into the swing, they both need power 😅😂

This "big set back" applies to most of the small synthesizers then. Actually I haven't used one that connects directly to a midi keyboard, you always need a midi host to connect them. And complaining about it when you get good instrument so cheap is just complaining for the sake of it.

My thing is that it doesn't have an aux-in AND an aux-out, it just has out, so I'm not able to hook my old Casios up to it. From what I'm seeing it looks like I'd only be able to use it with Midi, and that makes me sad as fuck because I wanted to hook my MT-100 up to this bad-boi.

It is a bit annoying that there isnt any real midi. I'll still biy one and just use the mini keyboard or sequence it if thats possible.

This seems like gear for people who will never go past the one $49 synth investment. Needing a Hub, and a powerbank( to avoid noise) to both power it and use midi brings the price more near synths that have midi in separate from the power like their own Pro VS mini( which I will buy). There are some set ups that all go through a USB hub, so those people might be liking it, who knows. Will it also allow audio over the USB at the same time though? I use a hub for my MPC to Tascam 24, I wonder If you could plug it into the hub, control it via MPC, and get it's audio to go to the mixer, all without any wires except the hub?

Neither unit has internal power, so how can the USB power /MIDI USB C be powering either unit as you showed from their product video? They were probably "lip syncing" in that video.

I'd bet that You can power the device and also run usb into a MIDI host device to break out a 5 pin DIN MIDI I/O like those made by Kenton and others, but those run $50-$70. I happen to have one laying around, though. an otherwise unexpected cost but it most likely works fine.

Sweetwater never have anything in stock, and I thought these weren’t shipping yet until I looked elsewhere.

Exactly.

However… there’s this Swedish company called Primova that makes a tiny box called the MIDX-20 that serves as a host for some MIDI-USB only synths, not compatible with all that many, but I just tried mine (TRS to DIN MIDI cable from an OP-Z and USB to the JT-4K) and it works! Relieved too, because that 220 euro box was just sitting on my shelf since I sold my GP-10… Seems a bit pricey but it’s come in handy from time to time, and this time actually makes the JT worth the cash… whether it’s worth 49+220 euros, well… not quite sure yet… but the JT sounds great, and blends in well with the OP-Z and my Octatrack… Would need a day to assemble all the cables and power supplies to do a demo though… 😬

The background little synth sounds a little like the McDonalds timer in the restaurant 😂

Maybe you can sync with headphone Jack like pocket operators?

I'm skipping this one due to no DIN/TRS MIDI. This format just seems too small.. the Pro VS mini size I could understand somewhat. I think it'd be interesting reworked as a small eurorack voice module. There's also far too many people believing somehow this is a JP-8000/JP-8080.. let's be honest, it's not. It's a little VA and they've had a go at doing a supersaw

$49? 69 ere

They are not attached together. Swing has only Micro USB and not USB-C. Second, Swing does not have USB Host facillities.

Thomann For EU ,And Andertons UK & Sweetwater US. Ive seen Pre orders with Andertons saying September 25th priced at £45.00

You neglected to mention it would be sold out except for the shysters who will sell it on eBay at vastly inflated prices!

One thing I found odd in their video for this ; it appears there's just the cable from the Swing to the synth , and the output cable ........so how was it being powered ? I mean using a splitter cable is just asking for noise from the usb power . I'm probably missing something obvious , fairly sure the Swing doesn't have a built in power bank (ideas for next model) .

I read somewhere they had to increase the release price to $69 USD

Waiting for Behringer DAW, especially for iPad version.

Finally it’s Andertons in UK that took the all stock in the nose of Thomann EU… exploding the Price with extra taxes to bring it almost to the level in price of its big brother Pro VS. But it still worth it for the sounds and features, far better compares to Stylophone Gen X1…

pretty much what you said

sorry but jp 800 was release in 1996

Nah man u wanna check out the nunumo

It's an "inspired by" micro synth with a real analog filter, not found in the original, not as as feature rich, obviously it's $49. It's not a clone, to be clear, and they did say as much in the comments on FB. It does have the original waveforms according to them though. IMO it sounds, and I strictly mean the tone of it, better than the OG. I never did like that synth, I ended up selling it to a pawnshop (got it for free) to buy some weed back in the 90s. 😁 Edit: oh and the OG had an 18-Bit DAC and this has a 12-Bit DAC.

The mini invasion is here

AI Summary: Behringer announced the JT-4000 micro synth, a reproduction of the 1980s Roland JP-8000 synthesizer. It packs many features into a small size, with 4 voices, 2 oscillators per voice, an arpeggiator, and touch keyboard. While very affordable at $49, the synth has only a single USB-C port for both power and MIDI, which the speaker sees as an inconvenience. Otherwise it sounds great for the price and includes many functions. The synth is not available yet but may face delays due to shipping from the factory in China and high demand expected to cause sellouts. Time saved: 3 minutes.

It’s probably a pass for me. Needing extra cables complicates my setup and I am not going to buy a SWING to fix that.

I used to have a JP-8000 so im curious to see how this compares at this unreal price point

The "I make grooves out of the box with tiny synths" market is probably small. Behringer knows many more people are in the box and so cheap out of need or reluctance to spend money that even at that they often do it on the high seas. A 49 USD physical synth is aimed at them. Not the crowd that doesn't wanna go in the box on principle.

I have to totally disagree…but just my opinion. I can power it and run midi from my Akai Force or my Juno-X. Seems like a solid plan for me.

Behringer have announced they are making cheap (£20 1xmidi £50 6xmidi) usb to midi host hubs.

I just ordered one :) 🎶 There’s a gadget called a usb midi host box :-)

Don't ask me how or why, but I have 3 JP-8080's. I'm actually really excited about this module and will pick up a few. I think Sunrizer on iOS is really good too.

Only USB is pretty much a deal breaker for me. I can’t use it and I’m not buying a hub just for this. Shame really.

What's going to piss me of is all the synth snobs who have the best of synths and are hating on it are going be the first folk to buy it and they will be sold out when other people who can only afford this sort of synth will not get it until they make more and by then the price will triple

The JT-4000 is interesting and has an introductory price less than $50 (for now). However, I'm not sure that this little box does anything better than a host of iPad synth apps. And since this device requires a USB host, computer, or iPad to get the most out of it, I'm thinking this device seems a bit redundant. I really thought Behringer would have started their mini-module line with an analog synth similar to the Volca Keys.

One of the main draws for this type of device is to use it without a DAW. Otherwise, I'd just get a plugin, right? So WHY on earth is there no proper midi port. How am I supposed to power this and control it with an external device if not plugging into a computer? I need a USB to Midi + USB splitter? c'mon guys. Such an obvious oversight. I'd have paid 99 bucks for this just get a midi din port. dumb.

It’s a doorbell so no midi is no problem

Where'd you get the crazy idea that is is a "recreation" of the JP8000...It resembles it A BIT....but is nowhere near a recreation...

Released in the 80s?? 😂

Most powerful for the size...cough cough Micromonsta 2

it's a shame Behringer advertises this as "super portable"... yes, it is as portable as a brick is...

A big pass for me. I’m happy with my mellotron. 👍

the classic midi connector needs to die. USBC should be ubiquitous and adopted. Its akin to early 90's printer ports... like why?

I used to have an jp8080 it was released in 1997

This is so cheap i do mods. Ts midi added

You lost me on the big deal about Midi USB? Most of us will be using this with a cheap midi controller that has USB C anyway? $50 synth, with a $60-$100 midi controller? Sort of no brainer. I'm sure you CC# channel mapping as well to your controller meaning you can also get even more tangible controllability to this little toy. As to those complaining about connections??? Umm, USB hub is like $20-$30! No one is running out of ports! Most modern studios are going to have USB midi anyway. I'm thinking we'll see very little old school midi in new products as most are using modern controllers that are USB anyway.

At $49, all the troubles seem kinda faint. The real drag with anything "MIDI" that's really only USB is that to really work and play well with others you need not only a powered USB hub but something like the new ZOOM UAC or the IConnect. Still, you need a USB hub for the gear (more than one, anyway) into the box and out of the box USB to wherever it needs to go. Live to a MIDI patchbay so all those controllers talk to something or a computer/device to trigger virtual. Which is a cheese out on the manufacturer's part. Even Arturia. IF it doesn't have DIN or 1/8th TRS MIDI, it's a toy. If it's a real toy it needs batteries. No matter how cool it is, if it it's stupid, it's stupid. It's like a cool $49 VST in a dongle. Can't play by itself, can't play with others without another $$$ investment unless you have USB C ports to burn? Sheesh. Whatever happened to a clavinet and a pignose? Now that was some hefty portability.

This is the dumbest point I've ever heard. USB whether that is USB-C or USB-B for both power and MIDI has been standard on synths for years, My Bass Station II has both MIDI out (not thru or actual interface functionality) as well as USB for both power and MIDI. I can't think of many devices from any brand that don't have both MIDI and power via USB apart from some of the more higher powered analogue synths that absolutely need an external power adapter. It will be fine. At worst you'd need a 3.5mm stereo to dual 1/4" mono lead for the audio out to a standard interface or mixer and USB-A to USB-C cable if your Mac or PC doesn't have USB-C.

It's not a setback, it's no problem whatsoever

No sounds? Too much talkking

ya it sucks and sounds like plastic with bells and whistles. not a fan

Its only $49 dollars people, jeez ... i drop more than tbat on a good Sushi lunch! Stop your whining!

No midi, no buy. The thing costs in euros something like 50€. But, when you have to buy the cables, it's more like a 100€. Just the headphone output. 32 presets. Plastic. Like, ok. Yeah. But for over 100 € i can buy something else. Now it's a toy. It could have been sensational but they blew it. What i am going to do with this? That's the main question. Maybe some students with no money (or starving children in Africa) can get something realistic out of it. In 2023 we have already all the synths we need, so why buy this. It's a toy.

In reality it will be around 70-80$ but still - best he synth in the world for that price. MIDI port is upsetting but for this price - ok