Published
Mon, Jun 19, 2023, 14:00
- First teased in 2021, the new instrument is an emulation of an extremely rare French monosynth.
Behringer is cloning another rare synth.
The RSF Kobol was a French instrument produced in 1978. It's a two-oscillator monosynth with fairly standard features and controls. But despite only around 200 ever being produced, the Kobol has developed a near-legendary status among analogue synth fanatics.
Behringer floated the idea of recreating the synth two years ago, releasing images of a prototype. Nothing more was heard until last week, when the company announced it was ready to go into production.
Behringer is frequently criticised both for appropriating the designs and intellectual property of other synth makers, as well as for teasing instruments that never see the light of day. However, as the supply-chain disruption caused by Covid-19 has receded, the company has cranked up production.
In the past two months, Behringer has brought to market recreations of ARP's Solina string synth; Sequential Circuits' Prophet 600; Moog's Taurus bass pedal system; a drum synth that's heavily influenced by Moog's DFAM; plus numerous Eurorack modules.
The company has also continued to publish ideas for new clones, including remakes of the ARP Quadra, the Buchla Easel, the Oberheim OB-X and Sequential's Prophet-5. Most recently, it also floated the possibility of building a low-cost rotary DJ mixer.
Watch a video of an original RSF Kobol.