Behringer’s RD-9 - a reboot of Roland’s TR-909 drum machine - has been in the works for what seems like an eternity, but it’s still a no-show in stores. Now, just too late for 909 day - which is probably appropriate - Behringer has told us why.
Apparently, it all relates to a MIDI sync issue that still needs fixing in Behringer’s RD-8 808 clone, which has been available for some time now. The RD-8 and RD-9 share much of the same firmware, and it turns out that a rewrite of this is required to sort the problem.
Commenting on the delay, Behringer says (opens in new tab): “We apologize to keep you waiting but we simply don’t compromise on quality,” which is admirable in one respect but also slightly perplexing when you consider that the RD-8 was released with the MIDI sync problem.
Anyway, the positive news is that, once the firmware update has been completed, the RD-9 will be released - this update will also add integration with Behringer’s SynthTool app (opens in new tab) and various other improvements.
There’s no timeframe on when all of this will happen, but we’ll let you know when we have further details.
