miscend wrote: ↑11 Mar 2020
Behringer might be making affordable gear for all. But there’s a catch, can you honestly use any of their stuff with a clear conscience?
Wow. That's an interesting bunch of claims. My thoughts on Behringer over the last few years, and certainly the last 12 months, is that they were cool, innovative, good vibes, good quality, in touch with their customers, and all round A+ music hardware company.
Quite a few years ago, Behringer were producing some pretty dinky stuff, cheap, poor quality etc. But they also had some better quality gear as well, for the price point. I have a Behringer amp/cab combo for guitar that's a fair build quality, and a good sound (as a modelling amp). And I bought some cheap-ass condenser mics that do the job, since Im not recording Beyonce or any other vocalist.
I'm not their target audience for this new direction they are going in... hardware synths..... but I have (or now I might say *had*) had a growing respect & appreciation for them. Saw a short video recently that mentioned they have the manufacturing might to have become a supplier of complex circuitry (maybe chips) to other manufacturers..... they have become a component-level manufacturer, over and above them being a producer of their own gear.
It's good to step back and consider their ethical behaviors when it comes to manufacturing. I will look into this more... along with your links & references
But the sad truth is, a lot of what we use is the end product of an exploitative industry. Weren't Apple under the radar a few years ago for iPhones being made in tech manufacturing sweatshops in China ? Is Samsung much different ? Or Levi's Jeans, who have for decades outsourced manufacturing to third-world-countries such as India, Pakistan & Bangladesh. Tonnes of other clothing these days also comes out of Cambodia, a place where the workers went on strike for a higher wage, and the military were called in to disperse them.
If you haven't seen it already, I would like to recommend an excellent documentary .. "The True Cost". I'm sure you can either pay a small rental fee online, or source the film by other methods. I figure by the tone of your post that you will 'enjoy' watching it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_True_Cost
By no means am I supporting Behringer here as 'just another exploiter', rather I am very keen into doing some further research. But what of all the other gear we own ? I have five Asian-origin guitars in my studio (Indonesia, Korea, China), two Chinese-made MIDI Controllers, a pair of hefty 8" monitors that I assume are also assembled in China. And........ a Propellerhead Audio interface..... made in China. I'm sitting in clothes that came from developing countries (ie; cheap labour, poor conditions, no unions) drinking a wine (locally grown !) that's been chilled in a Korean made refrigerator. I'm smoking a cigarette made in Singapore, and I light them with a Chinese-manufactured lighter.