What happens when a music technology company decides to act childishly in response to an article they don’t like? In the case of Behringer, a satirical product announcement video has been making the rounds this morning. The device shown, the “Kirn Corksniffer” (did a teenage boy come up with this idea?) directly attempts to admonish Peter Kirn – the talented music technology journalist behind Create Digital Music.
Update: the video has been pulled from Behringer’s official social media channels – but the video has been saved and the damage done.
“Behringer is having a go at those people who reject Behringer clones by insisting that a synth is not just about the sound or the components, but it’s about the feel, the sense of history and, of course, the smell.
[..] you have a dribblingly thick French accent describing how they sourced the cork knobs from vintage wines to ensure that it smells as authentic as possible. It then has suitably smelly controls such as Smelly, Corked, Cat Pee and Acidity.” – Gear News
Why did they even make this?
This is pretty sad. The worst part is that the reasoning for the company “punching down” might be based on Peter’s coverage of an ongoing feud between Midifan (a Chinese music tech site) and Behringer. At the time, Peter wrote:
“A manufacturer taking legal action against music press for being critical or even calling it names is as far as I know fairly unprecedented. I’d almost call it shamel– actually, let’s just stick with “unprecedented.””
Shortly after that piece went out, Behringer appeared to trademark “KIRN” – which many originally thought was a sign that Behringer would try to make a clone of the MeeBleep – but instead turned out to be a basis for this sad attack.
We’re continuing to follow this story as it unfolds – but right now one thing feels clear: Behringer should be pretty ashamed of stooping so low, and music gear buyers should pay close attention to how this plays out.
The reaction from many online is pretty strong – with one artist going as far to express their rage with their own wine-fueled destruction of a Behringer synth.
