Behringer TD-3-SR

My unit was shipped from the first batch of TD-3's to hit the shelves, so I was expecting some minor niggles. However, so far, so amazing! :)

From an authenticity perspective the TD-3 does a great job at emulating the warm depth and high screams of the original.

If you've owned a TB303 then you'll feel right at home with this.

Yes, it's chassis is made of quite cheap plastic, but it's functional whilst the knobs and pot's (Which are the main touch points for end users) seem of high quality.

The minor gripes I have are are that it didn't ship with a UK PSU so you have to buy an adaptor, and my personal unit suffers with quite a lot of mains interference.? A ground loop isolator took care of most, but it's still quite noisy. I'd be interested to hear from others on this.

Finally the headphone jack wobbles and seems like it may not last that long from first impressions. Time will tell on that one.

With that said, the device does come with a whopping 3 year warranty as standard so any build quality concerns I have with mine can get sorted over time if required.

Having owned and sold a few originals over the years I'm more than happy with this purchase.

Pro's:
Its £130 for a 95% TB303 Clone!
It comes with built in distortion effect! (No need to ship it to Australia for a Devilfish Modification). ;)
Its £130 for a 95% TB303 Clone!

Cons:
UK PSU not supplied. :(
Possible shielding issues on PSU creating noise? (can others please comment)
Possible weak connectors on the faceplate. (time will tell)


For the money the TD-3 is a no brainer and on the whole I'm having a blast replicating my Rebirth set up of the 90's with actual analogue hardware. A dream come true. Thanks Behringer! Top marks for keeping the vintage analogue revival going.

PS: I ordered a 2nd yellow one. Not Sorry. :)

Supposedly, this unit was built off of the work of the Open Music Labs x0x-Heart module, which is open source. That being said the TD-3 sounds the part of a 303. Of course it's not 100% like the original, but nothing will ever sound like the original and the originals all sound different anyways.However, for the price, there are zero valid complaints in regards to sound. The unit sounds the part and does it well on a budget.

Unfortunately, the sequencer also fills the part. It's archaic and cryptic just like the original, which is what led to the downfall of the Roland TB 303. Thankfully, Behringer made an easy to use computer sequencer program that is quick to get good results. Just connect the TD-3 to the computer via USB and you're off to the races. I was able to use the program without any instructions in stark contrast to the onboard sequencer of the TD-3.

Everything else like build quality is good. The machine is light, but that doesn't correlate to quality as it's probably just a single circuit board and no on board power supply. My unit did ship with a UK power plug to the US. A slight inconvenience, but I think Behringer and Thomann could eventually offer country specific plugs worldwide. The distortion circuit does not sound great, but it could be used to get extra sounds out of the machine so a welcome addition.

Overall, I would recommend the TD-3 to anyone that wants the 303 sound. For the price, there's nothing else out there that comes close and also is analog. It sounds better than the Roland TB-03 digital reissue (DOH!) for way less money. The alternate sequencer on the Roland TB-03 is better though. My answer is to get both. The TD-3 for the analog fatness and squelching filter, and the TB-03 to fill a different sonic space that digital does well. They would complement each other well.

I got an early version. The filter is a tad too polite even for 303 but it's not bad. I think they maybe improved it a bit since but google it if you are bothered (you shouldn't be for what you get at this price). Maybe if I a/b I'd notice but from ancient memories of using 303's this sounds like one.

What I don't like - missing that last 2% of filter oomph, no battery power (guys could have done USB here).

What I love - cheap as chips, random function. Random is is a huuge underrated feature and a stroke of genius, I swear many people would have paid double for original 303 with this. Really 303 is horrible to program, only fun to play - it's exactly why all those cool basslines made with it back in the day were kind of random anyway :D I will only ever use random sequences on this guy!