Behringer BDS-3

• Analogue Drum synthesizer
• Clone of the Simmons SDS-3 (1978)
• Desktop case (19" & Eurorack compatible)
• 4 identical channels
• Channel structure: oscillator with white noise (mixable), pitch envelope (switchable up/down), decay envelope for the VCA, impact click
• Effect/global section with overall pitch, LFO (square or sine waveform, 2 speed ranges) and sample & hold
• Channels can be triggered via MIDI, USB, microphone & analogue sequencer
• Adjustable sensitivity for the trigger inputs (Mic Sens)
• 4 microphone/trigger inputs with thru outputs
• 4 individual outputs with small jack
• Mix output with large and small jack
• Pitch pedal input with large and small jacks
• Decay kill input
• MIDI In & Thru
• USB MIDI

Analogue quartet with sidekick

The BDS-3 consists of four similarly constructed synthesiser channels, each of which can be played in unison. Each percussion channel consists of an oscillator and white noise; the level ratio between the two sound sources can be mixed. Impact Click affects the attack phase and adds a lot of punch to the sounds. There is an up/down pitch envelope for modulating the pitch. The decay behaviour of the VCA is set with the decay envelope. With these options alone, there are plenty of Kick drums, snares, HiHats and other analogue Percussion sounds that make do with this manageable architecture.

The area on the far right of the panel is the effect/global section. A closer look at the two red "lines" helps to understand what happens where. The upper line frames the overall pitch fader and leads to the pitch controls of the four channels. This adjusts the overall tuning for all channels simultaneously; this can be done manually or with an external control voltage via the Pitch pedal input. The lower red line includes the internal LFO with its two waveforms square and sine and the sample & hold circuit and leads to the effect controls and switches of the four channels. The LFO and the S&H also have a superordinate effect on the four channels; you can set separately for each channel whether the LFO and/or S&H affect the pitch; the proportion of the LFO can also be adjusted. This expands the sound palette to include loud electro zaps, FM-like, atonal sounds, walking basslines, piu, whoop, bells and anything else that could be mixed in with a 909 or 808 in an electronic context.

Electronic drums without a sequencer?

Exactly, because in 1978 the concept was to play the SDS-3 with four microphones and/or trigger pads as an extension of the sound palette in the drum setup. Behringer's adaptation is far more flexible. On the one hand, the Drum synthesizer can be triggered with trigger pads, microphones or a sequencer from the Eurorack modular system, such as the Behringer RS-9, thanks to the adjustable sensitivity for the trigger inputs, and on the other hand it can also be triggered in the classic way with the trigger outputs of the Behringer drum computers RD-6, RD-8 MkII and RD-9 respectively Roland TR-x0x / Din Sync RE-x0x. Triggering via MIDI and USB is naturally also available.