Behringer JT-2 Demo: 15 Patches for Ambient and Techno

video upload by Limbic Bits

0:00 Quick Overview
1:43 Afterlife Lead
2:28 Dark Wave Bass
3:17 IDM Triangled Lead
4:18 Noisy Arp Cross Mod
5:51 Electro Pulse (short envelopes)
6:51 EBM Bass
7:46 Console Pulse Lead
8:05 Paraphonic Magic
9:34 Killah Bass
9:48 Indie-Cade
10:39 7th Pad
11:36 Psy Alert (FX)
12:06 Kick Bass
12:19 Sonar Noise
13:12 Bubbles
14:20 Paraphonic Outro

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"Behringer JT-2: My 2 Cents
With all the available 'heavily-inspired-but-not-clones' from Behringer, I’m starting to wonder when the company will introduce original synths again. Anyhow... This time, I’m taking a closer look at the Behringer JT-2, a paraphonic synth inspired by Roland’s Jupiter-8. It comes in similar colours but certainly doesn’t carry over the visual aesthetics of the '80s flagship synth. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as Behringer can keep costs down by using one chassis for a plethora of different models. At a budget-friendly price point, you get a lot of synth in a unit that doesn’t take up too much valuable studio real estate, either. But first things first...

Oscillators
Two VCOs with selectable waveforms (triangle, saw, pulse/PWM, and noise)m plus sync and cross-modulation already offer a lot of sound-shaping options. The oscillators sound good and deliver that Roland-esque hollow pulse wave. The sawtooth also cuts easily through a mix, but I found the triangle to be a bit too overtone-laden for my taste. But that’s what filters are for, right?

Filters
The good-sounding low-pass filter can be used in 12 dB and 24 dB modes, with resonance that can be driven into self-oscillation. Again, I had the feeling that high resonance settings tend to whistle instead of delivering that liquid Roland filter sound, but maybe the JT-2 shares that behaviour with the original. The seamlessly blendable high-pass filter lacks resonance but is super useful for taming sounds that are too fat.

Modulation
Two envelopes, ranging from quite fast to slow, can be routed to the filter, amp, pulse width, and oscillator tuning. The flexibility goes far enough to escape standard analogue patches, but it’s hard to enter very noisy and experimental territory with the JT-2. That’s not a bad thing and, from what I’ve heard, wasn’t possible with the Jupiter-8 either. If modern sounds with extensive modulation and experimental features are your thing, you might want to skip the JT-2.

Verdict
If you’re searching for Roland sound at a very low price and don’t care too much about it being analogue, you might want to check out the Roland AIRA S-1. I still find that one hard to beat when it comes to sound quality, portability, and polyphony.
If you want an analogue sound engine, enough features to get started, and a sound that’s a bit more on the tame side but offers plenty of sweet spots, then the JT-2 can be an ideal candidate.

If you already have a lot of Behringer synths, you might also want to skip the JT-2 and wait for the polyphonic version. I find there’s a certain sonic redundancy across Behringer’s most recent releases. The synths often seem closer to the next model in Behringer’s product line than to the original they are trying to emulate. In this case, I can’t really judge, so I might be wrong. Take my opinion for what it is: just another opinion.

Pro
• A lot of features at a fairly low price
• Well built without taking up too much studio real estate
• Easy-to-use modulation routings

Neutral
• Tame overall sound with a lot of sweet spots but without experimental surprises

Con
• Arpeggiator glitches when first played"