Behringer TD-3 (Silver)

The Behringer TD-3 SR at a glance

The Behringer TD-3 SR is a clone of the famous Roland TB-303 bass synthesizer, whose bubbling and screaming sound has captivated generations of musicians, DJs and audiences. Probably the most widely used sound in electronic music, it gets by with surprisingly few controls and really comes alive with its internal sequencer. An oscillator with two waveforms, the legendary acid filter, a decay envelope and the accent parameter; that's all it takes to shape the legendary sound. Compared to the original from 1982, a distortion effect for the analog tone generation and, among other things, a directly accessible randomize function for the sequencer have been added to the Behringer TD-3 SR.

History & Hype

Originally, the TB-303, along with the TR-606 drum machine (both made by Roland), was intended to replace drums and bass in a solo entertainer context, allowing musicians to practice without band members present. However, this target group did not feel addressed and thus the TB-303 ended up with disco house DJs and producers, who linked the bass machine with a drum machine and thus created countless tracks that are legendary then and now.

In the 90s, with the emerging techno wave, many producers wanted to call a "303" their own, which was unfortunately reserved for only a few due to the then already increased second-hand market prices and the low availability. So numerous manufacturers took up the cause and released a good number of clones in software and hardware. Sometimes the sequencer was successful, sometimes the sound generation, but many times the result was so different that it was many things, just not a 303.

As Fatboy Slim put it so simply and aptly: "Everybody needs a 303!"