Behringer Kobol Expander (and the Leipzig V3)

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Here's my little demo of the Behringer Kobol Expander. It's a weird little synth, sounds nice, isn't perfect... but it's only £173. At that price it's a no brainer if you're in the market for a 2 VCO euro rack compatible analog synth. The only real competition is probably their own Model D, Pro-1, K2 etc.
I got the Leipzig out to see if the envelope behaviour was typical or if its due to them being digital - I couldn't remember if my other analog stuff gave little occasional pops and clicks at the start of a tone with fast attacks. The Leipzig was to hand and fitted on the table and looks the part!
here's my Leipzig review:
• Analog Solutions Leipz...
So this isn't a full comparison of the 2 synths, that would be too hard to figure out how to demo while explaining everything was different - the envelopes were something that just occurred to me.
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► Clubbing TV From the Studio:
• From The Studio
0:00 Am I really comparing these?
2:15 Kobol Overview what's it got?
3:46 Kick off with the Oscillators
9:41 LFO, FM and Modulation
13:25 It's got a 24dB LP Filter
16:56 THE ENVELOPES - are pops and clicks that bad?
23:46 Leipzig vs Kobol (light touch )
27:56 Will you be wrapping one up this Christmas?
#behringer #kobol #demo #review

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Опубликовано:

11 июл 2024

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Комментарии : 113

@StarskyCarr 6 месяцев назад

Apparently the envelopes are analog not digital @MrArpSolina has contacted Music Tribe who have confirmed they are... thats what I get for guessing! 🤦‍♂😅 but still wondering why they've not mentioned it on their website. All in all I don't really care! Its a cool little synth - and at least you can make your mind up if its an issue for you from this. I don't think it is btw.

@hdsubstance1 6 месяцев назад

Got mine yesterday, a real deal for the price, it's definitely a punk machine. Don't even care an inch about the digital analogue thing... just make music!

@kayvon_is_likes 4 месяца назад

I think the envelopes utilise CMOS chips so perhaps that has something to do with their response not being quite as smooth as e.g. the Leipzig? I believe the Jupiter 4 also uses CMOS in its envelopes too. Never listened to one of those closely to hear how they respond.

@davepegz 6 месяцев назад

Of course the envelopes are analog, just with a very fast attack, just like the original. I love the way people complain that 'it isn't a real clone', based on the fact that it performs exactly the way the original did rather than sounding like every other generic analog synth :~) Back in the day a snappy envelope 'click' was something sought after - you could always back it of if you didn't want it.......

@NTRSN-Archive 6 месяцев назад

I like your words . A lot of complainers have no idea , they are just able pressing a preset and if it not fit after 10 preset presses they call it fit not in my workflow .

@muppetpaster 6 месяцев назад

People act so sad, coming down on Behringer all hard....We should applaud them for making it possible for a lot more people to afford instruments of decent quality. The more people can play music, the better!

@goonfish 6 месяцев назад

So glad you did this, and agree with your choice to put it off for the hivemind to settle a bit - great demo! Leipzig sounds massif as well, but that's to be expected from them.

@JonadanandtheFreaks 6 месяцев назад

Thanks for your videos. I'm following you since i have my Kobol Expander. You're very pedagogical. You try to dig some stuffs, i guess, we're all interested in. So thanks for your work ! Great job 👍🏻

@wackerburg 6 месяцев назад

Very nice video! No-nonsense, much information and entertaining, too.

@XanderEwald 6 месяцев назад

Kobol sounds great! The most interesting B synth apart from Pro-1 for me.

@PeresD 6 месяцев назад

Just received mine today,getting some lovely sounds. And yes I’lld say ,having them all except for one,this and the Pro 1 are the stand out synths in the lineup.

@tihinter 6 месяцев назад

to be honest, I never had much love for Behringer synths. I got the Kobol one week ago. My mindset changed. I love this Bobol! 😊 It’s just so capable of doing A LOT of stuff and sounds plain beautiful! I will release some audio examples in two weeks, where I compared it with my vintage MS20. Whilst both being OTA VCFs, it is still an unfair comparison, since the Kobol has an 24dB VCF, whereas the MS20 has two very distinctive 12dB filters. But the Kobols ENVs and Waveform morphing capabilities blow the Ms20 out of the water, IMHO. Chapeau to Ulli Behringer and his team! I never liked modern Monosynths. Thos one is the long awaited exception. If „best buy“ needs a new definition, here it is laid out in front of us. Tip: try some guitar pedals on it!

@err4071 6 месяцев назад

The ARP 2600 and the Model D and the Neutron are Behringer's best synths in my opinion. It's crazy to believe but you can now pick up a secondhand Behringer 2600 for £300 lol.

@Iglobalhead 6 месяцев назад

For me the Kobol is amazing, got the 2600 which is of course the best got the K2 and the pro 800. Got rid of the Model D and the neutron - these just didnt do it for me. The Kobol however is amazing. I have also a bit of the behringer modular stuff and it works brilliant with the Kobol. Guess I love it cos its not a regular mono. The leipzig sounds amazing but I have the analogusolutions medic VCO and filter and the are dirty :)

@Formal-DeHyde 6 месяцев назад

I loved that when you were messing with the oscs playing some really gnarly beefy bassy sounds, the captions just said '(soft music)". Hardly! XD (not sure why my captions were on, though /shrug)

@sub-jec-tiv 6 месяцев назад

Kobol is one of those synths that’s great for noise percussion, there’s something about the noise gen and the filter on it. I haven’t had the chance to check and see if Beh has got that right. But if anybody out there is making synthwave or whatever, that may be one reason to look at a Kobol rather than one of the other monos.

@Iglobalhead 6 месяцев назад

I got mine at the same time. Yes there are a few idiosyncrasies, cant get full sweep of the waveform mod but bloody hell it is an amazing sound. The filter is superb as is the resonance. I have had a few old analogue solutions modules in the past and thought they were so distinctive and lets be honest dirty dirty filters :) still got the cranial saw and defibrillator medic module and these exhibit that AS power, that growl I can hear in the Leipzig and the colossus videos (wish I could afford one and that new maximus) I just think the Kobol has a different sound and it is absolutely brilliant - great video btw.

@StarskyCarr 6 месяцев назад

Thanks… I didn’t have too much time to put this together, so haven’t explored everything in depth. I was in the process of making a bit of a banger when I came across the envelope pop. Will have to get back to the track!

@randydarklight 6 месяцев назад

Got mine yesterday. I like the VCF. Would be cool to have a 1:1 test.

@JohnAlchemy 6 месяцев назад

I think that click sound is coming from the Oscs waveform not starting from 0 when you trigger them, so my guess is that Kobol has free running oscillators while liepzig retriggers them when you hitting a key. Most of the synths I have do click. Slight attack does the trick . Thanks for the review! At this price you get too much, this will be out of stock soon. Happy new year Synth people!

@StarskyCarr 6 месяцев назад

Thanks… yeah could be that. Doesn’t quite explain why it pops though ie starts load and quickly drops in volume. It seems there a lag between the env closing fully and restarting the attack. Could be analog envelopes under digital (MIDI) control - or could be a quirk of the original. Weird but as I say no biggie. Just thought I’d check as so many had asked.

@Rockky67 6 месяцев назад

I didn’t notice anything digital about the envelope on mine, but then again I was running in duophonic mode via cv and only using the Kobol’s envelope on one of the two voices and sending the other into an EG on my modular. You can run the two voices as separate VCOs or through the same filter or use the envelopes, gives you options. All for less than the price of most eurorack voice modules.

@StarskyCarr 6 месяцев назад

I wish I hadn’t noticed tbh, I’d have finished my track! But the clicks sounded similar to the poly D - which Id noted in my demo with the Minimoog. I thought it was worth taking a deeper look. I’d only I’d not decided to put a breakdown in the track I’d have it finished.

@simoningate2056 6 месяцев назад

The pops might be the LFO - on mine there is some sort of bleed. You can turn down the oscillators and turn up the LFO and you get an audio buzz.

@genoekenfloeken 6 месяцев назад

At this price point I can’t say that the cable situation is bothering me. I think most of us sit on a ton of cables by now 🔌

@GertBoers 6 месяцев назад

Just to help the algorithm: on my Hydrasynth they deliberately have snappy envelopes, but usually when I make a patch, I too set the attack (and also release) to around the 10 ms to get rid of the pop. The envelope for me then is still snappy enough. Maybe on the Kobol Extender they use the same philosophy?

@user-kl7ht2bk6o 6 месяцев назад

19:04 am i tripping or is the kobol speaking

@victormeich 3 месяца назад

jjaja, he says "that thig there"😂

@PeresD 6 месяцев назад

I have many synths,quite a few Behringer synths too . The funny thing is that most people ,even reviewers complaining don’t even actually make any tracks. Funny that. I buy what I like and don’t really care what other people think,never have never will.

@uv77mc85 6 месяцев назад

what does "making tracks" have to do with anything? music has been around for 10000s of years at least, only in the last 100 years or so have people been recording it. Was Mozarts and bachs opinion worthless because they didn''t "make tracks"? seriously.

@sub-jec-tiv 6 месяцев назад

@@uv77mc85yeah think of how many people out there with an acoustic guitar are making recordings. Not so many. Most people just like having a musical instrument around to enjoy themselves. Completely valid.

@rachelar 6 месяцев назад

Try the one synth challenge? It's like doing a hike or a marathon. You can tell your grandkids you did it

@stephaneschmitz8030 6 месяцев назад

For me, making music is a relaxing moment, I need that when coming back from work, it brings balance to my life. I don't care about making tracks, but sometimes I do because I like to remember what I did at some point of my life, and sometimes I play the tracks and ask friends what they think about it. But that's all. Making tracks is not a goal in itself, and it never will be.

@StarskyCarr 6 месяцев назад

I hope I’m not bundled in with those complaining reviewers 😂😂😵‍💫 I normally make a track or 2 for each demo.. and started here which is where I noticed the clicks and pops - during a breakdown when reducing the filter to a low thud. Hence the Leiozig… and spending my time investigating what was going on so ran out of time in this demo. FYI: My Favourite Synth Tracks of 2023 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-a-clQy6qD9c.html

@ivanskunov9166 6 месяцев назад

I can't be objective, since two days ago I finally bought a Leipzig s.(I've been hunting for him for a whole year) But if you compare, to my completely subjective ear, Kobol has a slightly rubbery sound, unlike analog solutions. After all, the boutique has a great sound, it's full hardcore for all the money! Due to the clicks of the behringer filter.Something similar is present in poly D. This is something specific to this company.

@StarskyCarr 6 месяцев назад

Leipzig is a monster. … and yeah I noticed it in the Pol D hence looking deeper this time.

@YdalirUllrsson 6 месяцев назад

About 1979 I built a mono analog modularized synth named "The Formant" which was thence developed by an electronic magazine named ELRAD which today is the C't. I payed about 1700 Deutsche Mark (which is about 850€ today (not counting inflation and such stuff) having two VCO three LFO, 12db Filter (Bandpass, Lowpass, Notch and HIGHPass) a 24dB Low/Highpass filter, two VCAs and a noise section). This little guy here gives nme back the feeling of this now old machine, To be honest, modern analog Synths have abilities which I can not reach in full... it is simply too much (Although I now own a Prohpet Rev 2 because Dave Smith somehow was able to produce a filter which is a real WOW and gives the Prophets their really distinctive sound.) I AM looking forward playing with the Kobol) @Starsky: I think the filter is a 12dB 4 pole, so the feature list says)

@orion98mc92 5 месяцев назад

@StarskyCarr thanks for the review. What are the two oscilloscopes (waveform and frequency analysis) you display in your tutorials? Are they audio plugins?

@StarskyCarr 5 месяцев назад

Yeah… the frequency analysis is Logics EQ and the oscilloscope is Meldaproductions freeware.

@orion98mc92 5 месяцев назад

@@StarskyCarr thanks!

@Cysubtor_8vb 6 месяцев назад

Aside from the Hz/V difference, how well would the Kobol work as an expander to a Korg MS-20 mini and Behringer K-2?

@tihinter 6 месяцев назад

having both side by side right now, I can tell you that the Kobols envelops are much tighter! MS20 simply can’t deliver this punch. And I love that high range of the VCOs. Deeply reminded me of the 2600. VCF is different enough to be a great enrichment. MS20 has ring mod, Kobol has waveform mod. MS20 has Highpass, Kobol has that moogey 24dB/Oct resonance. And it has res mod CV in. Kobol is very classy sounding, much less noise than other Behringer products.

@LimneticVillains 6 месяцев назад

@@tihinter I've got the edge, crave, uno from IK, the microfreak, a bunch of pocket ops, and the volca modular and now the Kobol, and the Kobol is bar far the most fun I've had so far with the nicest warmest sound.

@BassFunMusic 6 месяцев назад

NICE ♥☺♦♪sounds

@boxodrive 6 месяцев назад

Thanks for the demo of the kobol are we going to get any music with it was looking forward to a starsky composition

@StarskyCarr 6 месяцев назад

I was making a track when I noticed the pops. I ran out of time in the end.. took the Leipzig out and enjoyed playing with them both together for too long! … it was all there, the beat, the riff, the breakdown.. then I decided to do it with both, then I ended up just doing g the little intro bit… duh. maybe it’ll be resurrected.

@boxodrive 6 месяцев назад

@@StarskyCarr hopefully! Was really looking forward to one or 2 of your tracks so I could get a better sense of it. I like your videos as explorations of what gear can do. You have a knack for that.

@StarskyCarr 6 месяцев назад

@@boxodrive cheers… I’m planning a clubbing TV episode with it so I’ll defo make something for that.

@boxodrive 6 месяцев назад

@@StarskyCarr excellent

@truthministry. 6 месяцев назад

Ha ha Benny Benassi, Satisfaction, at 7:32.

@simoningate2056 6 месяцев назад

Nice to see you found the same LFO CV "bug" I reported this recently. Can you try sending pitch bend after a note off - on mine the note is killed.

@StarskyCarr 6 месяцев назад

You’re right. It’s not turning the note off, it’s reducing the pitch by a few octaves. If you try it in a high note you can hear it retuning to LFO frequencies.

@klstay 6 месяцев назад

I believe a number of folks are waiting for UB-Xa from you. While I also want to see that what I am really hoping for is a comparison of closely matched (I know that is not always easy) "signature" patches between it and Hydra Deluxe.

@StarskyCarr 6 месяцев назад

I’ll have to get in the queue like everyone else as they don’t give preferential treatment to reviewers.

@abwilson2852 6 месяцев назад

I got one as soon as they came out. They are an amazing synth. You didn’t really talk about or demo the best features.

@falangistavaleroso9689 6 месяцев назад

Always wanted a Kobol Expander, never found one back in my time, so can´t give my opinion on the Uli´s clone.

@realestatecult3105 6 месяцев назад

Good grief, Starsky, have you given up sleeping? That must be half a dozen videos this week.... All good stuff, though and much appreciated.

@StarskyCarr 6 месяцев назад

Haha… almost!

@ColonelForkEyes 3 месяца назад

apologies if anyone already mentioned this but apparenty the pop-click issue is fixable by tweakinng some kind of screw on a board somewhere.

@QuestionMarkComposer 6 месяцев назад

I love the Kobol. But how about the MIDI-implementation of Velocity Sensitivity, Modulation Wheel and Portomento. I hope that these might be updatable in the app. The total voltage control and basic sound are phantastic.And how great is it that there are 2 extra VCAs controlling the VCO levels before they go into the filter? Actually the PWM amount is controllable, since there are Waveform modulation inputs, and the LFO has an output with level control (1) and one without (2). But there is this one setting where the VCO delivers perfect maximal PWM only, without any patching.

@randydarklight 6 месяцев назад

I can only emphasise again and again that you should have at least a small Euorack so that you can use VCF velocity etc. with Behringer synths instead of waiting for a Midi implementation...

@QuestionMarkComposer 6 месяцев назад

@@randydarklight, I do have a plethora of that. Still, it is not weird to expect that a mono synth can process Mod Wheel directly and has a portamento function which allows for fingered portamento without the need to address two USB-MIDI-Interfaces from a DAW in parallel.

@caballorojo 6 месяцев назад

This thing really slipped by the radar! Can I ask you how you know, (or why you think,) the envelopes are digital? I can't find a source.

@StarskyCarr 6 месяцев назад

It says everything else is analog.. LFOs, VCOs, filter. If the envs were it should state it. All their others have digital envs - which makes sense for the price.

@caballorojo 6 месяцев назад

Thanks, I think so too, just got mine, and in my experience of synth stuff, that "pop" can only happen with digital envelopes. Korg Minilogue is a prime example. Cheers.@@StarskyCarr

@AdamTheAd-vanc3d 6 месяцев назад

Yes most of Behringers new synths apart from I'd say model D use fpga modulation. Say for Envelopes LFOs etc. It's not a bad thing if anything it makes them more flexible and easy to improve in firmware updates etc.

@adognamedshinji 6 месяцев назад

@@StarskyCarrModel D is fully analog, and I imagine more of their synths are as well (aside from sequencer if there is one onboard)

@Black_Agent_Seattle 6 месяцев назад

Did you find that the VCO 2 level was quieter than VCO 1?

@StarskyCarr 6 месяцев назад

No, mine sound the same level.

@RolandSxxx1 6 месяцев назад

😀

@jacquesmertens3369 6 месяцев назад

When will we ever see Midi 2.0 on Behringer equipment? Midi 2.0 is the only reason I can think of for buying new hardware.

@tihinter 6 месяцев назад

I feel with you. But keep in mind the plenthora of classic albums, all made with poor MIDI 1.0. To be honest, I don’t miss a thing in Madonnas „Ray Of Light“, or B-Zets (R.I.P.) opus magnus „When I See“. Those were made exclusively with hardware synths, samplers and an Atari ST. If you know about its limitations, you could still do great music with ol plain „MIDI-classic“…

@RulgertGhostalker 13 дней назад

I have no idea why people would get toxicly negative about affordable analog syths .. for everyone of them there would have to be hundreds rejoicing, who only pause long enough to raise an eyebrow at those others.

@pauljeavons8878 6 месяцев назад

To me this synth fits the standard mono sound at a cheaper price but let's face it and probably due to behringer's success everybody has got the standard mono sound. I only bought the wasp because it was 133 quid and it was my first synth. I can tell you though. Vst.... All these monosynths sound wonderful as polys especially the ms20. The mod Moog V ... Fabulous poly. Arp2600v... Incredible as a poly and with effects....I'm getting board with over hype of analog to be honest.

@Il-Cane 6 месяцев назад

wasp as the first synth-......why ahahaahaha, you buy it if u use that type of sound for your prod, unless that 6 types of sound ... is useless

@crunchyfrog555 6 месяцев назад

I truly don't get the nasty comments about Behringer. If you find actual demonstrable issues, fine. But when people moan about it being cheap or some sort of vague nonsense then it's truly stupid. I find them fine generally. While you can find something like their TB-303 clone isn't exactly the same, it's damned close and I seriously doubt in any mix most would tell the difference anyway. But the best part is that for the most of us, they offer a means to actually OWN a synth we would never ever otherwise have the chance of owning. So what's so wrong about that? I'm disabled and benefits are my only means of income. I owned a few synths which I bought decades ago and thought I'd never really have much chance of buying anything new in future. And yet now I can, thanks not only to the likes of Behringer, but others who have similarly exploded the market. I've got the AE Modular, Behringer TD-3, a few Korg Volcas, Roland JD-08, Arturia Minibrute 2, and a Microfreak. So I can't fathom how people think that's a bad thing.

@mimetype 6 месяцев назад

Berin-ger or Berin-jer?

@StarskyCarr 6 месяцев назад

They say ger others say jer. I go with ger as it’s what they call themselves… like I go with Mogue although every neuron tries to say moooog

@russ254 6 месяцев назад

@@StarskyCarr in China where they make them, they call it mooooooog

@unclemick-synths 6 месяцев назад

I pronounce it beh-ring-er. My high school German teacher would be so pleased her efforts to educate me weren't in vain! 😎

@mimetype 6 месяцев назад

berinGer it is 👍

@YdalirUllrsson 6 месяцев назад

Uli Behringer is originaly a German guy, expanding his operations made him move the production to China. (Because German Workmanship cost is naturally much higher than the Chinese.. a fact which influences ANY product on any market in the world. Japanese companies like Sony or Korg have their products manufactured in China as well, and we - the world - will pay for this fact one fine day). So the pronunciation of Behringer is I N G E and not I N J E. Not Beerindjer but Beeringer .. which most English speakers have a little problem just as Germans do have a problem with the Tee Aidg (TH) which is mostly pronounced "se" by Germans. (This -> Sis) (Just a fun fact). I myself am German.

@juliaseppi2205 6 месяцев назад

I think the beh kobol actually sounds nicer than the Leipzig V3. I've just sold my Leipzig V3, didn't rate it at all.

@StarskyCarr 6 месяцев назад

Heresy!!! Call the Spanish Inquisition 😂😂

@juliaseppi2205 6 месяцев назад

Just my opinion, found it disappointing :)@@StarskyCarr

@juliaseppi2205 6 месяцев назад

The envelopes are analogue !

@StarskyCarr 6 месяцев назад

Are you sure? Send a link and I'll pin it.

@steffenbott70 6 месяцев назад

Hi Starsky, I dont get this endless discussion about Behringer Synth..who point people they need to buy one...why always this useless debates about it....want to highlight this as no any hobbiest is able to afford a moog or other expensive and better in quality build synth. Why it is an issue to have much fun with these little gems Behringer provide us!

@ktreier 6 месяцев назад

I sold all my Behringer Synths. Don’t miss them.

@fjfrancois 6 месяцев назад

How many do you had before were sold.

@dankeplace 6 месяцев назад

@@fjfrancois 20, all the same synth, just sent back for warranty!!!

@ktreier 6 месяцев назад

@@fjfrancois 9

@LimneticVillains 6 месяцев назад

@@ktreier Did collecting Behringer synths stop you from collecting weirder stuff? Do you now go out and collect radio active objects or random hair from barbershops?

@ktreier 6 месяцев назад

@@LimneticVillains no I just took a stand against Behringer slighting some of favorite RU-vidrs.

@pirateradioFPV 6 месяцев назад

Lets pretend it sounds and does things different than the rest of the analogs. Gotta wonder how many times we need the concept re-heated and served as new.

@Ellipse_is 6 месяцев назад

I think we stopped needing it a long time ago, but since we all collectively keep buying, it is a no brainier for them as a business. Just as you said, they don't actually put much effort into it compared to their initial re-creations, but they get the full profit

@leftovernoise 6 месяцев назад

I mostly agree, the only ones ever ever had any interest in are the b2600 and the K2. The fact that you can get a K2 new for 200 was too good of a deal for me to pass up. The rest seem pretty unnecessary

@XanderEwald 6 месяцев назад

If it doesn't sound different to you, then you shouldn't buy it.

@Metamerist625 6 месяцев назад

Let's pretend your comment is original, interesting and informative so that you can pretend you are making a worthwhile contribution.

@PeresD 6 месяцев назад

⁠@@XanderEwaldexactly,there isn’t a gun being held to the head. As a matter of fact you could say that about cars,anything collectible . All cars do the same thing but some people have three,four ,five etc.

@norjects7495 6 месяцев назад

None of these Behringer synths you review lately are actually available in most markets, making Behringer a bit of a paper tiger. looks like a massive list of great and affordable products but the reality, of what is actually in stock anywhere, is very different. All of this dishonest and duplicitous marketing leaves a bad taste in one's mouth, reflecting poorly on Behringer but also on you as a product reviewer.