MS-5

MS-5 tech specs

Behringer MS-5

Released: 2024^[1]
Initial price: £549^[1]
Company: Behringer
Type: Monophonic synthesiser
Polyphony: Monophonic
Timbrality: Monotimbral
Control: 1V/Oct CV & V-trig gate; MIDI; MIDI over USB
Features: Multimode VCF, oscillator sync, ring mod

The MS-5 is a monophonic synthesiser released by Behringer in 2024. Specifically, it's a clone of Roland's SH-5.

There are a few superficial changes. The colour scheme's a more subdued grey than the original's sort of bluish grey, and the knobs and slider caps are slightly modernised — there's no putting this next to an SH-3A or System-100 to admire the cohesive aesthetics. Perhaps Behringer should clone these too. More notably, the panel's now hinged, Minimoog style. There are three angles to choose from, or you can simply keep it flat.

Alas, for sensible ergonomic reasons, the bandpass filter's controls have been moved below the mixer's. This makes it less intuitive that the two filters run in parallel, being alternative routes from the mixer to the VCA. A few other controls have also been moved around, which should only present a problem if you're likely to use the real thing, and hoping your muscle memory will serve you.

As usual, Behringer have added MIDI (both regular and USB), while keeping most other features authentic to the original. This time, they've also added automatic tuning, so the synthesiser can tune itself while you go and make a coffee.

If the comparison videos are anything to go by, it sounds pretty authentic,^[2] albeit a tad politer.^[3] The varied routing options appear to have survived intact too. These are surely the main things.

This is pretty much usual fare for Behringer: a clone of a classic synthesiser, which behaves and sounds almost identical to the real thing, is a fraction of the cost (at time of writing, the cost of a secondhand SH-5 is over ten times as much as the cost of a brand new MS-5), a fraction of the size and weight, and has MIDI. What more could you ask for?