Hardware manufacturer Behringer, known historically and primarily for their cheap noisy mixers, fucked up.
Their recent efforts to re-brand themselves as a cheap clone company have been mostly welcomed by the larger music making community. They got a bit carried away though and started to trademark names from other companies. Synth Anatomy first broke this story, but CDM's Peter Kirn brought more attention to it. Two weeks later Behringer trademarked Peter Kirn's last name.
Peter had previously attracted Behringer's attention when he exposed their attempts to sue a site that called Behringer a shameless copycat. They also tried to sue Dave Smith Instruments and some DSI forum posters for defamation; which Peter also reported on. While many people have been happily buying up their new cheap clones, it seems like Peter Kirn has been the only one pointing out their disturbing trend of silencing critics.
Faced with a voice that they could not easily intimidate into silence, Behringer's marketing department spent a lot of time and money producing a mock product to mock Peter. This was almost immediately pulled from their social media posts when people began accusing the German manufacturer of antisemitism. I think the nose looks more like Pinocchio. I spoke with Peter this morning and can report that Peter is not Jewish.
Behringer have apologized specifically for any implications of antisemitism, but have yet to apologize for attacking an independent journalist with the full force of their goddamn marketing department. Fuck Behringer.
It is worth noting that Behringer doesn't even own the rights to the music they used in this video. Like many of their real products, their fake product is also a clone, because they're shameless copycats.
Reader Comments 34
But mission accomplished, every music tech news site has Behringer front and center. It's not going to stop people from buying their stuff. Every time you all freak out about their pcb photocopying ways, they get more exposure! Guitar pedal manufacturers got trolled the same way for a decade before boutique makers learned that hey have to innovate beyond simple designs to stay ahead of them.
Behringer is like a shark, they choose the lowest hanging fruit (lately curtis chip based designs) because the boards are incredibly easy to copy, they don't exhaust themselves innovating. But also boutique makers create great instruments that are generally (though not in Kirns case) far outside the budget of someone starting out, so Behringer steps in and makes stuff affordable. Unfortunately, the hate turns on the major manufacturers when they make affordable stuff, and the blogs call the products crappy or lacking, and no one buys them so they dont get made.
I get the hate, it seems someone at Behringer is a huge WWF fan, because they've made themselves into a complete heel, and by doing so, get way more exposure than any other manufacturer. No amount of pointing out that they are copying, and what they are copying, is going to stop them from copying. In fact, it just makes it easier to search for their device equivalents.
I'm probably not alone.
But I suppose you could be right that they are now getting even more exposure and brand recognition. And, I suppose this won't affect them nearly as much as covid19 will.
I've seen some comments commending Behringer for putting affordable tech in the hands of folks with smaller budgets. I think this is overblown. For people who can't afford analog synths, there are quite good, quite affordable VI's. For kidz wanting crappy stompbox clones, Behringer isn't the only game in town.
@Tim Webb
I'm glad you noticed that Blammo Cork-Sniffer DirtyBoost. Adds another level of irony.
Thanks for this excellent post.
I promise you there is no cabal among journalists. But if you attack one of us for reporting on your shady shit, you should expect others to come to their defense and take a greater interest in the shady shit you're trying to silence.
This sort of behavior is called a "chilling effect" where threats, intimidation, or being creepy as fuck in this case, is intended to silence reasonable criticism. An attempt like that is about the only thing that will get other journalists to work together on anything. After careful review; nothing Peter has reported on Behringer was unreasonable, in my opinion, so I'm going to add my voice to those defending his reporting.
There is no anti-semitism in this clip. Have you heard about Pinocchio? Remember his nose?
Shut up, holy political correctness.
BTW: Uli Behringer is not german, he is from Switzerland.
Perhaps when it's a multi-million dollar company harassing a journalist? Punching down is never a good look.
And this wasn't a "joke" it was an attempt at humiliating Kirn for being a "snob".
You do realize that all of this started because Peter Kirn was reporting on Behringer suing forum members for criticizing Behringer?
They are not paragons of free speech, they are, in fact, the complete opposite, trying to silence their critics and then trying to harass a journalist for reporting on those suits.
Behringer's "joke" was dumb, mean, wrong, and not funny. Peter didn't lie, so the pinocchio thing is a projection at best. The overall effect of the video was mean-spirited and abusive.
I try to be sympathetic to other points of view (within reason), I try to be kind and respectful. I am not easily offended, but some things cross the line, and I alone get to decide where my line is.
As an aside: even back in the days, when they were only known here in Germany, I wouldn’t buy any of their crappy gear - they were the ALDI of music equipment. But worse in quality ;-)
It's immature as hell to lash out like they did, and they're way too big a company to be engaging in this kind of shit. It seems like an attempt at taking the offense against critics with generally poor opinions of them. It does stand to reason that in a perfect world, being a critic or journalist, you would be shielded from backlash from the subject in question. For better, for worse, it may be that companies are going to offer their opinion of opinion-makers, though hopefully in a more tasteful, less ambiguously anti-Semitic way moving forward.
If this hadn't happened the way it did i would have loved see Behringer engage Peter and the community at large, in how to create a more legitimate image for their brand. I think a value audio gear brand is needed to grow the industry, I just wish using this particular value brand wouldn't prompt eye rolls and tutting from other enthusiasts with deeper pockets.
I don’t own anything by Behringer but seriously considered the Deep Mind and was excited about their latest Wing console mixer. But they are off my list. What they did to Peter Kirn is insane, wrong and shows you exactly what they are.
Everyone know their products are low-grade knock offs that sound like crap. Sometimes that’s all you can afford so you buy them, and you get what you’ve paid for...
The best thing I ever did for my music making was to replace a Behringer mixer with a Yamaha. It wasn’t a very expensive upgrade but the difference in quality was so noticeable that I spent the next several years replacing all their gear I owned with similar products that didn’t sound like shit.
They suck, if you can afford anything else, don’t buy their gear. If you can’t afford anything but Behringer, buy it used so they don’t get you money.
All you clowns crying about political correctness can suck it too.
This is the drop that made my proverbial goblet overflow. Fuck it, it’s time to listen to lookmumnocomputer and make my own modules. I’ve looked into it before, and it seems piss easy tbh. Especially from kits. Maybe with some luck I could find some buchla stuff to copy...although buchla stuff is complex in a way that moog is not. Probably not a good starter module..
Anyways, can not fucking stand the behavior they are displaying right now.. authoritarian style tactics to silence dissenters is so fucked up, and when it creeps into the behavioral patterns of private industry I’m given the oportunity to turn my back on it, so I do at any oportunity.
Psychology and sociology lesson time!
"Bunch of offended people everywhere. When did making jokes, even rather crudely ever go out of fashion?"
Went out of fashion about the same time the "bunch of offended people TAKE A JOKE" attitude from the conservatives really took off. When it became the perfect fallback for bigots like cold feet Crowder and Ben "pope of the jews" Shapiro(A devout jewish conservative guy who spends his time judging who is worthy of calling themselves a jew and eagerly fights the scourge of gay cakes..) began using it as an excuse every time they got called out for preaching the more insidious parts of social conservative philosophy. When the "jokes" you tell are the talking points of your faction’s elders, it’s not a joke. It’s just a sermon held by a fuckhead who can’t take the heat for airing their true opinions.
They fall back on the "but I’m just joking brah!" Which, and this is probably by coincidence, coincided with the era where the right started losing their god damned minds about gender and the ’totally real’ rise of stalinist communism in the west. The old "I identify as an attack helicopter" meme and all that boomer shit. We found out that conservatives don’t understand humor but at the same time want everyone to laugh at jokes rooted in bigotry.. Typical of galaxy brain righties. If trans or gay people aren’t being made fun of in a conservative person’s "joke", that’s a great opportunity to add some bigotry and lift the joke to new provocative heights. why not mention that someone looks kinda jewy, that’s edgy right? And edgy humor, as we know, is really funny when you’re a teen or a conservative. Gotta rile up them libruls! That’s humor, right? Triggering people, that’s where the funny comes in or? That’s why I mock fatties, they get angry, I laugh. It’s all just jokes man! MIRTH!
Why don’t the righties laugh when lefties like me tell them the gulags stand ready to receive them once the left takes power? Really funny to me, why isn’t it funny to righties? Oh because it comes from a place of hatred, right... right... My lefty ass understands this, why don’t conservatives? Is it just because I’m smarter, or is it because conservatives are dumber? I’m just joking bro. Totally not gonna throw all the conservatives in work camps. We’ll bypass that and mince you all up for dog food - JOKES LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!
Jokes, regardless of topic: Always funny. If you don’t find it funny, or,even find it objectionable, you’re just offended.
So about that time when it grew out of fashione, let’s say 2014 or so, around gamergate probably. There were a lot of jokes about raping feminists back then I remember. You know, jokes that come from the worst impulses of abject scum. Look up the ever hilarious racist piece of shit Sargon of Akkad, how he completely fucked up a bunch of rape jokes about a british politician on the internet and then had the delusional idea to run for office (UKIP, obviously..) Press conference was an absolute fuckfest where he said over and over "it’s just a joke durr durr druur.." becoming the butt to his own jokes by clowning himself into a meme.
So yeah, kinda a lot has happened in the past 5ish years to advance our views of what’s ok and what’s not. Sorry you didn’t keep up with the changing culture. Must be confusing living in a world that no longer reflects reality.
Hope this heated lecture helped you catch up. If not, dig deep into gamergate and the metoo movement. Social justice is the shit right now. You can better yourself, or you can grow old and angry at the world for being so sensitive. Back in your dad’s time, you could say the n word. Say it now and you suffer from all the progress made since that time. Use the gay slur starting with f today and you’ll suffer the consequences of the last 30 years of social progress. times change, and so does art, culture and humor. Only thing that never changes is conservative values. They’re still furuous at feminists for raising the age of consent. Hard for a conservative to impress adults. IT’S A JOKE! They’re angry because feminists made violence against women illegal. Aaah, we have fun. Or I just made two horrible generalizations. Hard to tell.
People who bitch about “PC culture” are usually the people who feel like their “freedom” to be verbally abusive has been “taken away”. I’m a sensitive person, but I have no empathy for their “loss”.
As for Behringer... sigh. Why is it that they successfully burn any amount of good will their products manage to earn them? I see people left and right complimenting them for these synth clones and their accessible pricing. If Uli Behringer is that insecure that he needs to use the full power of a mega-corporation to lash out at forum commentators and reporters, maybe I don’t need to buy his stuff. I’ve been considering it for some time because I’m poor and never owned any analog or modular gear. I want to try to have fun and explore with physical synths instead of software.
Dog damned insecurity of powerful people. Ruins things all the time.
Ok. Take a break. Stop reading about stuff you don't care about. Go have a coffee. Enjoy some space.
Insecurity.
Fully agreed.
This is absolutely not a matter of sensitivities, SJW or snowflakiness. If that's your takeaway of the story then you've missed the point completely.
This was a case of a major company (again) trying to silence its critics in rather insidious ways. And it's not a matter of edgy-humor gone wrong. This was already the third jab they're taking against an individual - which makes it more like a structural vendetta.
Add to that the lawsuits they've initiated against GS forum users and Dave Smith in the past and all their other dubious activities. If that doesn't tell you what kind of company/person Behringer is, then I don't know what will.
Dismissing it as hypersensitivity on the part of people who are shocked at this behavior is odd, to say the least.
They lost me when they named a Pro-One clone "Pro-1". I don't need to get angry on Dave Smith's behalf - he's a big boy - but I felt it insulted the intelligence of the customer. Seems like they're appealing to consumers who wouldn't know a Pro-One or Mono/Poly clone unless they named them that.
I just noticed the "KIRN" font looks a bit like the "KORG" font ...
You won’t be missed by me if that’s your response. This isn’t “Uber precious sensitivities”. This is a reasonable person’s reaction to an authoritarian corporation using its [considerable] resources to attack a reporter over factual reporting the corporation dislikes. That’s not a reasonable response to factual press. That’s fascism.
When corporations try to censor people in the media, it’s bad for everyone, but sadly not uncommon. But making an ad hominem attack of the journalist specifically? Suing people on forums for voicing opinions... these are the telltale signs of childishly insecure and utterly unhinged management. I thought Behringer had learned some lesson before, but clearly they haven’t, or he hasn’t.
Libertarians and republicans are always saying the market is controlled by the customers and that we “vote with our wallets”... If this is NOT a big enough reason to reconsider a purchase from a specific company, then what the fucking hell IS?? Just how fucking low do you have the bar set for acceptable behavior??
Not wanting to be a corporate bootlicker doesn’t make someone “Uber precious sensitive”. It makes them NORMAL. Whatever toxic masculinity was thrown your way in life seems to have taken control of your reasoning facilities. Soften the fuck up, bro. Society doesn’t work via stoic slavery to corporations.
Peter Kirn? Maybe he’s being silent until he has consulted a lawyer on how to deal with a corporation making ad hominem attacks against a journalist to silence them...?
Of course, there's nothing preciously sensitive about your feelings. Just ours.
Some people prefer unjustified downward punching over self-defensive upward punching-- but it's not a concept they can hear or understand. It's just out of their field of vision.
Corporate culture?
I keep wondering if all of the people we see in Behringer videos are in alignment with this infantile behavior, or if they’re embarrassed... or if they know even more about how toxic the corporate culture is than we see here, that this is just par for the course, and they’re not interested in risking their own income to protest it by leaving the company. It’s hard as fuck to make an income anymore.