22/10/2025
German gear manufacturer Behringer has a history of announcing instruments long before they hit the market, teasing music-makers with shots of prototyped products via its page years before those products receive an official release.
There has previously been some backlash from impatient music-makers frustrated by the company's tendency to overshare. Last year, Behringer hit back at these critics via its social media accounts before triumphantly showing up at NAMM a month later (its first appearance in a decade) with a raft of new releases in tow, including its eagerly anticipated clones of the LinnDrum and PPG Wave.
It appears that Behringer may be up to its old tricks again, however, as reports on Reddit suggest that the company may be cancelling two long-awaited synths that have been in development for several years. Several customers have reported that preorders made via US gear retailer Sweetwater for Behringer's Pro-16 and VCS3 synths have been cancelled.
While this hasn't been officially confirmed by Behringer, screenshots of messages allegedly sent by a Sweetwater employee suggest that Behringer is discontinuing the development of both instruments. "Behringer just let us know that the Pro-16 isn't happening, so I just cancelled your order," one message reads.
The instruments in question are the Pro-16, a clone of the Prophet-5 with expanded 16-voice polyphony that was on display (but not plugged in) at NAMM earlier this year, and the VCS3, a clone of the classic EMS synth of the same name that was first teased all the way back in June 2019. (In 2023, Behringer claimed that it was shipping units of the VCS3 to beta testers for "final testing".)
Last year, Behringer shared an update on the Pro-16 that described the "extraordinarily complex" engineering work behind its design, suggesting that the development of the product has proved more costly and demanding than expected.
📷 Behringer
