sure, they could differentiate, but they don’t really need to—there’s plenty of market there for a straight clone. and TBH, I don’t think they’re even going to eat much into Arturia’s sales on this. it’s $30 less—hardly a lot. it’s not like getting a good analog synth for $500 instead of a $2500 Moog.Koshdukai wrote: ↑23 Nov 2020The KeyStep line isn't just "a MIDI controller". There are way cheaper alternatives if all you want/need is a plastic MIDI controller.
Behringer cloned it because KeySteps were becoming ubiquitous on many euro-rack or desktop modules sets, which they sell, so, it's yet another piece of the market they want to grab.
The sad thing is that here's a great opportunity to differentiate through evolution/improvement but that seemed to be too much work for them.guitfnky wrote: ↑23 Nov 2020who cares if it’s a clone? you don’t have to buy it. not any different than cloning guitar pedals and selling them at lower prices (Behringer isn’t the first to do that either—not by a long shot).
some people don’t have boatloads of extra cash to drop on tHe ReAl tHiNg. if you do, that’s awesome—but nobody cares.
It's quite a shitty way to save on R&D which Behringer clearly have, besides manufacturing capabilities.
One thing is to champion "hard-to-get/unavailable synth classics for the masses", another is to do 1:1 copies of products still being sold today by active companies that do their own R&D and need a steady stream of revenue to continue coming up with new original stuff.
yes, it’s the principle, I know—I just don’t see this as any different than what anyone else does. sort of like this:
is it chincy? sure. but again, ultimately no different than buying a knockoff guitar pedal. and (another) again, the companies they’re cloning from aren’t hurting for business.