Behringer confirms price and details of the RD-9 Rhythm Designer
This will certainly cost you much less than an original TR-909.
[UPDATE 15/06/21: Gear4Music has a confirmed date for RD-9 stock arrival. This article previously stated that stock was expected 1 December 2021.]
Following the news that Behringer is now shipping the RD-9, the company has revealed the price and further details of the drum machine.
Behringer confirmed the price of the RD-9 in a Facebook post today (3 June) after opening pre-orders earlier this week. The good news is that the price tag weighs in way less than an original Roland TR-909. Behringer has said it’ll cost $349/€349, and prices seem to go as low as £249 in the UK, per an Andertons listing.
The bad news? There’s still no exact confirmation of when the RD-9 will be in stock. Andertons’ site claims stock will arrive on 29 July 2021, and Gear4Music told MusicTech: “We’re very excited to offer our customers the Behringer RD-9 and are expecting stock to arrive at the beginning of July.”
Thomann is selling the RD-9 on pre-order, too, although it cannot confirm a specific date. Sweetwater – a Behringer Super Partner –, Amazon and Cosmo Music are yet to list the drum machine.
YouTuber Honeysmack seems to have gotten their hands on one early, though. Check out a demo video below.
Behringer’s analogue-digital drum machine has been in the works for three years and has undergone several design changes along the way – it was initially called the TD-909, for one.
The finalised product is touted as a faithful recreation of a 909-style drum machine, with 11 drum sounds based on the original TR-909. In addition, users can program 64 steps with poly-meter, step repeat, note repeat, realtime triggering and more, with the ability to save up to 16 songs and 256 patterns.
The RD-9 can sit neatly in a contemporary studio with USB, MIDI, CV and trigger connectivity, plus analogue outputs for each drum sound. Other modern features include the Wave Designer with attack and sustain parameters, and a dual-mode filter. An Authentic Mode omits these enhancements and uses custom-made analogue components for a more genuine TR-909 experience.
Learn more at behringer.com.
