Behringer has announced the release of SD-3, a clone of the classic 1978 Simmons drum synth of the same name that the the company promises is going to "blow your mind".
The SD-3 was the debut product from Dave Simmons, the British instrument designer that later went on to found Simmons Electronics, the company behind the Simmons Drum Synthesizer (SDS-5), the world's first fully electronic drum kit. SDS-V and its instantly recognizable hexagonal pads became a runaway success in the '80s, finding fans in everyone from Duran Duran and Prince to Depeche Mode and Queen.
Three years before the SDS-V, Simmons developed the SDS-3 while working for the St. Albans-based company Musicaid, a four-voice analogue drum synth played via a custom set of four Premier pads that paved the way for his later innovations. First teased in 2023, Behringer's SDS-3 drops the pads, tacks on a few modern enhancements and squeezes the synth into a smaller, Eurorack-friendly form factor.
Like its predecessor, the Behringer SDS-3 offers four identical mono voices of analogue drum synthesis alongside a fifth channel reserved for modulation. Each voice is equipped with a self-oscillating diode ladder filter and a noise generator that can be blended together, between them covering all the familiar percussive territory – kicks, snares, toms, cymbals and hi-hats – along with hybrid sounds and experimental tones.
Each voice is equipped with controls for adjusting pitch - a dual-purpose control that adjusts the pitch for the tone generator and acts as a low-pass filter for the noise generator – and introducing impact click, along with pitch bend and decay. These are joined by level sliders along the bottom and a microphone sensitivity control up top. Finally, on each channel you have both on/off switches and an amount knob for SDS-3's LFO and Run Time effect.
Assigned to the pitch of each voice, the LFO offers both square and sine waves and can also do audio-rate modulation. When engaged, the Run Time effect also introduces pitch modulation, but this continues over time rather than retriggering with each hit – you get a rate control for this too. Rounding things off we have a master pitch fader, which can be controlled via CV through the pitch pedal inputs.
Each voice can be triggered via audio on 3.5mm TS jacks, so you're able to use real drums to play the SDS-3, just like the original. You can also sequence the synth via its 5-pin MIDI In port and USB-B connection, if you're no Buddy Rich behind the kit. Each voice has a trigger output and its own audio output, and a 3.5mm master output on the mixer panel too is complemented by a 1/4" output on the rear.
Behringer's SDS-3 is available now and priced at $249 outside the US. (We've no word yet on US pricing.)
Find out more on Behringer's website.
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