Neutron bomb

Get to know Behringer’s little red synth…

While Behringer’s unashamed clones of iconic synths and drum machines may steal the limelight, it’s their little red synth module – a unique creation – that has really grabbed our attention. For £300 you get a paraphonic two-oscillator synth with PWM and sync; multimode resonant filter switchable between low-, band- and high-pass; two ADSR envelopes and an LFO; 32-in/24-out patchbay; plus overdrive and a Bucket-Brigade delay. And the synth can be mounted in a Eurorack case! What’s not to like? In this walkthrough, we’ll take a quick look at some of the Neutron’s most useful features.

Oscillators

Engage the oscillator section’s Paraphonic switch, then play two MIDI notes at the same time to pitch either oscillator independently. Alternatively, activate Sync, which causes the first oscillator to track pitch and reset the wave period of oscillator 2 for classic hard sync effects.

Filter

The Neutron’s -12dB/oct filter is capable of self-oscillation, and can be keytracked. The filter has two outputs: patch VCF 1 and 2 Out into Sum 1 (A) and Sum 1 (B), then patch Sum1 into OD In to mix more than one filter type – for example, to create a notch filter.

Overdrive and Delay

The Neutron’s beefy drive is useful for fattening up sounds, and you can shape its tone to customise timbre. The BBD delay is fairly self-explanatory – use short time values and use an LFO to modulate this parameter for modulating chorus effects.