The Neutron is the most cost-effective way to add an entire second voice to a system. It is a semi-modular: everything is normalled internally so it makes sound the moment it is powered, and every one of those connections is broken out on the patch bay.
What is inside
Two Curtis 3340 oscillators with a continuously variable waveform blend, a multimode filter, a BBD delay, an overdrive stage, two ADSR envelopes, an LFO and a 56-point patch bay. The oscillators track well and the filter has real character, which is more than the price suggests.
The patch bay is the point
Fifty-six patch points turn the instrument from a synthesizer into a rack extension: you can take the oscillators and use them as sources in your modular, or feed your modular into its filter and delay. Mounted in an 80 HP skiff, it becomes a permanent part of the system rather than a box sitting beside it.
An original design, and a popular one
The Neutron is not a reproduction of anything: it is an original Behringer design, announced with details in February 2018 at $299, with the first units promised that May in limited quantities and Thomann listing it as available since September 2018. Its filter is Behringer’s own design, the ‘Moffat’ filter, named for design engineer Keith Moffat. Popularity followed the price: the Gearspace community thread on the Neutron has grown past two hundred pages since launch, and Behringer has kept supporting it long past release, with a firmware 2.0 update dated December 2022 and a desktop companion application still listed among the product page’s downloads.
Availability
The Neutron is listed on Behringer’s own page: behringer.com/en/products/0718-AAB. The maker’s page states no price, and dealer stock moves in and out: Thomann listed it at €298 at the time of writing but expects new stock, so treat the exact figure as whatever the dealer currently publishes. Out of stock is not out of reach, though: the Neutron has been in the world since 2018 and units turn up on the secondhand market regularly, often for a bargain against the new price, so a patient look at the usual used-gear listings is often the cheapest way in.
I like the Neutron for one reason above the rest: it is a great-value, genuinely unique synth, and it can teach you the basics of modular synthesizers without breaking the bank. Every fundamental a beginner needs is on this panel: envelopes, a filter with real character, an LFO, and a patch bay that rewards curiosity.