Behringer CAT Deep Dive: Review, Walkthrough and Demo
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- čas přidán 28. 06. 2024
- A much closer look at the Behringer CAT following my original unboxing and first impressions. There are a few bits of odd behaviour - the note priority needs a firmware upgrade, plus the S&H and sync sound a bit odd. Maybe the original CAT did the same but it sounds so good I can live with them all!
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• From The Studio
Intro 0:00
Overview: 0:30
Oscillators 0:55
Poly Mode and Note Priority 5:20
Filters 9:07
Modulation 12:46
S&H 14:20
Envelope and Cross-Modulation 17:10
Envelopes 22:10
Noise and Percussion Patches 26:30
Bass Patches 28:55
VCO1 as LFO 32:52
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thanks for showing the flaws, nothing pisses me off more than buying a tool and finding all sorts of little bugs that no reviewers talked about
@Edwin Mohammed Quit trolling
The flaws give it character.
I love this little thing. It doesn't follow the rules and it does what it wants. Kinda like a real cat lol.
Wonderful stuff, you do the work of the Gods with these superb dives.
I already have far too many Behringer logo's reminding me I'm of limited means but this thing sounds compelling....here we go again.....
Thanks, Starsky...great in depth review as ever...
Always really well done review!!! Bravo. Thanks.
You seem to have a lot of fun doing your reviews!
Great walkthrough as always. Thanks!
just picked one of these up, and man is it wacky! I absolutely love it! It can do so much!
Awesome!.. Especially the patch examples❤
Love the sound, love the looks. Really love the price :-)
I was at a Ben Folds Five concert back in the 90's and the bass player had an Octave Cat. I remember at one part of the show he just gave it full resonance and dropped the cutoff and it literally felt like an earthquake was happening! Very strange and disorienting halfway through their set.
Anouther amazing review 😉👌
Great tutorial. Thank you!!!!
My first analog mono (or duo rather : ) was a Cat Mk1. The sync worked well on it, as did sample and hold. But the tuning issues were absolutely maddening. Such a temperamental beast and I sold it to buy a ‘73 model D. I performed on club systems with that synth and let me tell you even my minimoog can not generate bass like that. Yes you could blow out the club system with the resonance and I think I got close a time or two... “system bass test” ... Overall I think Behringer’s done a decent job for the cost and form. This synth does not sound as beefy or wild as my OG Cat but then again it sounds great and seems to stay in tune. I’ll take one!
I really like the layout on this thing. It seems much more intuitive for a novice like me.
This is useful. I just got one, and it's much less obvious to set up/understand (for me anyway) than the Wasp etc.
Excellent as usual! 👍 But I will wait a few weeks before I buy it! 😁 I know I will! I only can delay that moment! 😁😁
I’m blaming you. I’m having one sent and when the complaints start coming, I’m blaming you! The price of jumping into the synth arena has always held me at bay, but this sounds like the perfect spot for me to jump in. Behringer is making it happen. Thank you for this. Greetings from New Mexico!
Thanks for confirming the oscillator sync quality on this reissue. Nobody else has up until now. I have 2 original CAT SRM's and I CV them together and do that sync oscillator thing to them both. The resulting sound is unattainable by any other synth I've ever heard or owned.
can you record an example?
About to buy this thing permitting I can CV sync with my Moog Werkstatt. Have you seen it done before and does it work well? I'm a little anxious tbh.
@@jeredalmeida1880 thats exactly what I was hoping to do.
@@benbauer1065 Turns out that all Behringer clones have ability to sync with Werkstatt as they're designed as semi-modular but you do need the Moog CV expander. Ended up getting the Crave instead and the CV patches up just fine.
@@vhsx I did record a track back in the 90’s on the song
“Your redneck past” by Ben Folds Five. The sync feature is the reason I love this synth.
My cat puts up a fuss around the sink too. Pulse tail wave.
I mean, it sounds great, but does it track litter all over the house?
Amazing⚡️
Cheers mate. relay thinking of getting a cat
Thank You. From Frisco, TX
Nice, I do like Frisco .. although I visited so long ago its probably completely changed now!
it produces fantastic, useful character sounds and superb basses. I like it over the model d and many others
Hmm, I tested and my Cat doesn't have that sample & hold glitch. It does have the keyboard input glitch though, which is super annoying... hope they're quick with the firmware update for that.
Still, even with it's bugs and glitches, I'm in love with this synth. Those blendable wave forms intermodulating just have so many glorious sweet spots. I also think it's one of the best looking synths... love those solar eclipse-looking knobs.
Concerning that S&H, It sounds like the clock circuit that triggers it is getting some noise bleed through or something.
This video, starting at 7:23, is why I bought a Behringer CAT... and subsequently why I bought the WASP Deluxe. I really like their foibles, makes them interesting even if it means they're not quite right.
The envelopes on the neutron are very useful
29:10 that bass sound was exactly what I was looking for and trying to confirm that the CAT can do, I like it way more than the Model D bass sound itself personally
I actually like the extra little blips of the sample and hold in noise mode! I’m also curious to know if any of the original versions had that same quirk, but it’s definitely fine with me if they didn’t
I've just picked one up, and - although it's a slightly weird one to navigate and learn - it does spit out some weirdness that I'll never get off any other analogue. Exactly what I was looking for!. But, it does have sweet spots of usable "normal" patches too, although they take a bit of dialling in.
Interesting video and thanks for the thorough review. I have an original Cat SRM II and I was just comparing some of the sounds. The glitchy sync doesn't seem to be present in the Mode A setting on mine. It can jump about a bit when it is locking onto harmonics, but it doesn't sound glitchy like you demonstrated. The sample and hold is completely normal on mine, I must assume there is something funky with your unit. I've also checked the envelope behaviour and there does appear to be more variation between click and zap for short decay times but there's not much in it. Maybe it's just because the original has longer sliders?
Hola excelente la explicación se entendió espectacular. Una pregunta tengo un behringer cat que tiene entradas VCO, VCF fc, VCF q y VCA. La consulta sería si se puede conectar con un korg SQ1 con salidas CV y Gate a esas entradas del behringer.
love mine :) fix for last note priority is in synthtool where you put it in poly mode and then you can choose note priority... also mine S&H works as expected
Thanks, my S&H is definitely broken. The Synthtool options, however, don't fix the weird voicing. No matter what you choose the lowest note is still held - which isn't what's meant to happen.
@@StarskyCarr not sure if we are talking about the same thing but in SynthTool in Polychain option when you Enable it you can set Priority to last and it will play the last note but only in mono mode
Will wait for rev2 with amended env
If you watch the GForce video on the original, the sync seems to behave the same way. Sync 1 creates an odd glitchy effect (Dave explains it in that video) and Sync 2 is more of a traditional hard sync. Dunno what's up with that S&H bug though, some people are claiming theirs works ok and others seem to have the same problem you do so it could be a bad batch or something.
What a quirky little synths with such a massiv sound
Behringer keep surprising me with great bargains. Wasp is on the way and I just now learned about this. Yes, I have a virus and an analog four. But there is something about analog mono synths that keeps me always hunting for something cool.
Thanks for doing this; mine is enroute.
Hi! Thank you for the 2nd review!
7:40 - seems they've made the same mistake as in Neutron! It has a glitchy Hard Sync as well. And the mod to fix this exists already )
8:15 - actually, it's not the same "glitch"! Neutron just skips some cycles in HS regularly but CAT has some threshold obviously. Maybe it's one of the famous versions... There are a bit different schematics of HS but I'm far from this )) There is a diode that makes the whole magic happening... Probably this "step" is some transient region of the diode (or maybe few parts together) that creates this "over sync".
15:20 - your CAT is drunk obviously )))
Do you have any reference about this “fix”? Is it a hardware mod or just a firmware upgrade? Thanks!
23:00 - hmm... I could be wrong about the envelopes' "digitalness"... It can be a possible problem with the potentiometers' quality. Or the issue is in some of the parts in the envelope itself. It's a bit strange that they've didn't tested this moment properly... I "bet" on potentiometers. Slider pots (of a great quality) are pretty expensive so it's the place where you can _probably_ slightly cut the expenses.
100% - when people replace the pots they notice the difference in response. Not an expensive upgrade if it's a problem though
I’ve had mine a few days, love the sound, but I’m also experiencing those Sync glitches. It’s related to pitch somehow it seems, as higher notes are generally a lot smoother with Sync on. With some settings certain lower notes refuse to play at all, or jump erratically in pitch - it’s very odd. Are we in a position to confirm whether this is an issue on all Behringer CATs, or are some of us just receiving faulty units? Is anyone not hearing this? On the other hand my S&H appears to be okay, without the extra elements heard in Starsky Carr's video.
Hi Starksy, could you make a more in depth video showing how to use the modulation/cross modulation on the Cat with different types of patches like, organ/pluck/pad? I know this thing has some great sound opportunities but I'm struggling to get out of the very boring generic sound or the out of control bleep bloop stuff I hear in this video. There's got to be a tasteful way to use this modulation, I'm relatively new to synthesis and this Cat is kicking my butt! Appreciate your videos, not many are showing the Cat love so I hope you can continue to fill this void on it for YT coverage and ideas.
Cheers for this me ol` Ford Torino, just got one of these and it confused the hell out of me at first ......
Hi! I'm looking into the monos of Behringer and was wondering which one you would recommend if I want that raw bass DAF kind of bass sound? Thinking about the CAT, K2 or Pro-1? Any favourites you've made out of them for raw mono bass sounds? Thanks for you great videos!
I'm in the same boat, looking for the same sounds, unfortunately not many reviewers seem to test these sort of patches, loooking for classic EBM, industrial, electro, techno kinda stuff.
DAF often used ARP Odyssey on their classic recordings and a Korg MS20 live.
And, as far as I know, a Korg SQ10 sequenser.
Nice
Just an FYI, if you have a keyboard with CV outputs you can circumvent that key triggering bug. The notes only get stuck when using midi. So still playable until they fix the firmware.
What about in POLY mode?
@@hexahexametermeter Poly mode doesn't work when using CV, nor does filter tracking, glide, or LFO delay, which is a bummer. Hope they hurry up with that firmware update...
So you think a firmware upgrade will fix the key issue?
Does sound close to the original from what I remember. It had that 'dirty' sound to it and think Behringer have captured that.
I would love to see a comparison between a Behringer mono-poly and a Behringer Poly D
actually you singing those bleeps was surpirisingly nice. id sample that rather than bother using s+h
Love all the rhythm sounds you can get with the lfo, but useless in a track as the lfo does not sync to external midi clock - I know this is the same as the original, but would have been nice to have lfo syn.
Love sound Cat Is very ,very nice
Love that one, it is the bitiest classic 70s synths i found yet, but i cannot pass on the sheer beauty that is the poly d..wish they sold different clones in that poly housing, its unique enough to sell it with the cat or the pro 1 too, its easily a authentic design i think.. monopoly just isnt as beautiful, i need that wood.
hi! Have Behringer fixed the strange behavior of the sync modes?
That Noise section...quite amazing to get those kind of sounds+percussion that easily compared to Neutron that I use and doesn't need any patch-cable connections over there with CAT...I Make Industrial Death noisy music so what would you recommend for me to get without actually any patch cables used Analog Synth nowdays to get from Behringer's Analog Synths(where I could also get -80's style Depeche Mode style sounds out with just turnimg some knobs?) because after seeing this video,I am not so sure that do I wan't this CAT afterall...or Toro.....or WHAT???....btw,I have. also that Nubass from Korg.......how did.you connect that to this CAT(or Neutron)????
Wonder about the external audio input, what can you do with it? Oscillator? Modulation? Filter?
Can I use the pitch bend and mod wheel from a midi controller? I love the mod possibilities and the sub mixer but I want to be able to do some snappy pitch bend funky lines too. What do you synth?
Yes, pitch bend and Mod wheel are set up to work with a MIDI controller.
Just received Mine and its sounds fantastic. But what about Tuning Guys ? i always switch on all my synths 30 min before to use them. for this one i have to tune it all the time before using it (no problems) but its never perfeclty tuned on 2 octaves even one... and sometimes i have to tune it again while using it... do you guys have some similar issues or its just mine ?
have you tried a firmware update?
Just got mine, agree about the note priority being naff. The original certainly didn't do that
Pretty sure that the original had that (really frustrating) low note priority too.
It's something Behringer should have dumped.
Just noticed - I've heard the bat thing :o
24:01 good to play Queen's 'Radio Ga Ga'
Champion! Good on headphones..
I watched a Bill Leader scholar from Manchester make the original Cat do wonderful dance thing, effortlessly. Comparison please, i f you can.. That one is in north of Ireland but maybe some one near you can help. And the new un-punable behringer mono/poly for the real.. that would be champion too.
Bill leader....now there’s a blast from the past. I remember a funny party I went to with that guy!
nice one! @@matthewpreston1396 great ears on him
Thanks for this great overview! I’m currently running mine via cv/gate and neither the lfo delay or the glide works. Also my poly mode does nothing like demonstrated in this video. Do I have a faulty device?
So the LFO delay and the glide aren’t triggered by the CV gate?
Starsky Carr: I don’t have a keyboard with midi out to compare with, but at least with my brute I can’t get lfo delay or glide to trigger. :/
Starsky Carr : Tested with a Keystep now, and running it over MIDI solved all my problems. Except on cv gate i can change between last w high and last note priority, not found a way to do that on midi, so stuck on low note priority there
@@kjetiltangen505 Are you using the App to change note priority?
The original I had definitely didn't do that glitchy thing .. you might have a dodgy unit there, but if they're all like that then that's a bit concerning.
chief tp no
So i pulled the trigger on it and i like it so far. I am just a bit disappointed that there is no retrigger or legato option. Apart from that, having fun, trying to come up with nice patches and taking pictures. It is my first No Save synth! Do you first tune the synth to A using Oscillator 2 Fine Tune? I would assume Osc 2 stays as the reference since Osc 1 syncs to Osc 2. You can check a couple of patches such as czcams.com/video/CKqLJjY-C4E/video.html for more traditional sound. Cats can meow and blow too.
10:40 The laugh of a passionate audiophile.
...more like that of a lunatic :)
Plz Starsky ,do the update and check the envelopes for us.....the main flaw that kept me away from getting me a new pet!
Hi. Thanks for that! But I have such a problem. The EXT AUDIO input is very but very quiet and only works when you press a tone or switch to BYPASS(ADSR). That's normal?
Yes. You’ll only hear it when the envelope is open and they all tend to use eurorack audio levels - which are really high, meaning putting most non eurorack audio sources into the external in will result in a quiet signal. This is the same for loads of things... and very annoying :)
@@StarskyCarr Thank you very much! :)
Hi. From all the Behringer synths which one you thing has the most mellow and creamiest filter for 70s type of leads? I have a poly D and I have to say something is missing. is nice, but its really hard to get a nice fat and creamy warm kind of lead. glide and filter envolpe not satisfing enough and not flexible as a vintage tone creator. any tip on this? thanks a lot
I have to say the MODEL D is very close to the Minimoog. Pretty classic 79s in a box ;)
@@StarskyCarr any difference between the poly d and model d? I think/thought they were the same but some people say it's not in terms of sound
Add a Intro: 0:00 timestamp to your list so CZcams will do the section thing! :D
Thanks for the tip! never know that. I'm on the case:)
10:20 wow I just discovered that I'm a bat!
I love how behringer made a fool of snobby rich synth folks. Making stuff affordable is way more productive for society. Its never easy to produce quality music. Kudos guys !
Regarding the envelope decay, is the longest decay time longer on the cat? This might be the difference in scaling.
That S/H is just sloppy engineering. Sounds like they chose the wrong FET.
On my next to get list, because it references a cat.
maybe 2 kHz on the coarse tuning is the frequency of the lowest note of the sub oscillator?
I doubt it, 2kHz is C6 .. the second highest C on a piano :) I think you’re thinking 2Hz... but the minimum setting is 0.2.. maybe it’s the max when keyboard control is off. In fact, that’ll be it!
@@StarskyCarr makes sense - cheers!
It really reminds me of my quirky old haunted PS-3100. Cant seem to find one listed in Canada here
Junkie XL had one up for sale on Reverb currently. Don't ask what the price is...
I stupidly sold my complete set of PS series Korgs 16 years ago. The PS-3300 was Klaus Shulze's original Korg prototype with slightly different printing.
@@davejames885 sorry to hear, had to sell mine before it completely degraded, to a guy looking to fully refurbish it. Had nowhere to live for a while so it seemed best at the time..
@@NinjaRastaMon My PS-3100 was pretty well mint and perfect, but the PS-3200 was faulty. The PS-3300 worked on two channels but the third was missing a card. I sold all three to the same guy
Ironically I could here that before the cats hid
My real cat heard the high frequecies at 10:27
About EG.. someone smart (lot smarted than me) should open one and look at the components and tell us :). For me it sounds like thoose analog faders are digitally scanned and later VCA is controlled by this digital logic.
I did open mine and it appears to be fully analog. The only digital thing I could see was the Arm processor for the USB/midi.
Log taper fader mod for the cat? Maybe squeeze a rotary pot in there?
@@gnarlysoundscapes7210 Thank you sir for accurate info!
Behringher Is Number One in clone
I set my cat the same as yours, and the S&H was consistent with the LFO. Yours may have a fault.
Thanks for letting me know. How about the sync?
@@StarskyCarr The sync can do very weird things. I suggest trying a few different settings, but playing simple scales. It's easy to find settings where the notes are wildly different. I don't have the experience to know if it is wrong, or just wacky...
There is a little bit of S&H on the filter at the sync section. Not sure it's enough to make a difference...
What I took from this video: apparently i am a bat!
"If you can hear that, you're a bat" 😂
Are you still using it to these days? Such a fat sound when combining those oscillators.
I haven't used it for a while tbh... I'll have to give it another outing.
How is the Korgs Bluetooth connection to the cat??
Via a laptop... not direct. The CAT is connected via usb.
what was the reverb used at 35:08?
OTO Bam... 12 bit and quite unique, difficult to use, no labels... but sounds great. I’m
Trying to get to grips with it so bring it out at every opportunity at the moment!
Am I correct that the Behringer CAT does not recognize mod wheel changes?
It does not...
None of them do...
@@BendApparatus Model D does (mod depth)
@@ottsch Seems the Neutron does a s well.
I know the K2 does not.
Wonder if the Wasp does?
too many problems - this is 2020 - i dont care if its old scematics, and "you get what you pay for" is not even an argument,- but if it was - then the model D cost the same but have zero problems,- nah, if this is NOT a Lemon-unit ,- Behringer should be ashamed to put this crap out ,- - but then again - it sounds fat ,-and as usual, an exellent video from a true synth Guru,-
The Model D has uber sketchy rotary switches tho, makes grinding noises and are a bit flappy, does not feel solid, have a Poly D coming in soon, will see if its any better
Is my eyesight going or is this out of focus? I think the latter as the graphic overlays are sharp enough
yes, it's slightly out of focus... really annoying as I did it in 4k to get it nice and sharp! when editing in final cut it's always out of focus until rendered.. is I didn't realise until the final upload. After 12 hours work it was staying like that! :). AArrgh..
Starsky Carr Never mind, the content is great which is what counts :) I’m a new subscriber
Am I the only one who thought those kicks were beautiful? I dunno, maybe I'm a weirdo.
did they ever address the issues?
my unit was broken, I replaced it.
Is possible sync LFO to external tempo seq?
No, they work the same as the originals - which for stuff like this is a bit of a shame. I doubt it’s something they could add as a firmware update. I wonder whether there will be V2 of some of these with extra functionality?
@@StarskyCarr Yes, it seems a shame to me too. They could have created true synths of today even if they were clones of the past, but updated to the current century. Digital control for full MIDI implementation (CC minimum), USB audio/midi, presets memory, step sequencer with parameter lock, and effects!!! That is why they bought a company that integrates effects in a DSP chip and even mount them on their cheap mixing consoles. It’s disappointing to think about what synths they might be doing and what they do(knowing that they do, they do well). We all hope that when they get tired of selling clones of the seventies, they will produce V2 with everything, because there will no longer be an excuse, they will have all the money in the world XD
@@khromemusic Amen! Or at least receiving the full MIDI protocol so we can save the patches through sysex
The patch section is pretty... incomplete IMO. Noise output would be awesome! I don't think that ppl could stop buying ModelDs after that ))
Interestingly, even though I'm apparently a bat, I could also hear the lowest frequencies very well... using headphones. So I'm not sure what you were talking about?
Great video though - I'm thinking about buying Behringer CAT because I want a small and affordable analogue synth, which the CAT seems to be while also being the most flexible in this price range. The only thing I'm not so sure about is the aesthetics, it doesn't look as inspiring to me as some other synths, but maybe it looks better in person? I guess I can always replace the front panel, sliders and knobs if I really don't like it.
I love cats. Who doesn't! You trick cat lovers into buying synth toys!
It'd be fun if you could teach your cat to play the Cat.
It'd be really useful if I could train the cats to make the videos
@@StarskyCarr lol Cats who play synths and review them too.
So according to you I seem to be a bat 😂
Hi, I'm a bat
Ouch... sorry about that
Hello Starsky...Looks like Behringer have solved the glide and paraphonic issues, there's a new firmware on their support site. V2.3.5. Can't contact you via messenger anymore as I've deactivated ny Fakebook account due to Adolf Zuckerberg's censorship and general shystering...Cheers...Mike...Please let me know how you get on.
Hi, I had to return mine because of the sample and hold issue.. it didn’t sound like a firmware update could fix it, and someone mentioned a potential electrical fault that sounded plausible. Will pick up another at some point. Facebook drives me mad sometimes!
@@StarskyCarr Thanks for getting back to me...Sorry to hear that, the firmware release notes make no mention of fxing a sample and hold issue so sounds like that you had two units with the same fault...Very happy with mine now...The CAT is well worth having in your arsenal, it has a unique sound.
Help me decide. The Bro-1, The Borg K-2, Or this B-Cat?
cat for fat bass sounds , borg k2 is thin sounding but great for leads ,bro 1 is in somewhere in between
@@johngorgis I got them all eventually, save for the b-wasp. And I have to agree the b-cat is a sleeper bass monster. Although the s&h is definitively broken on mine like the one in this video. That's the only minus