Rob Keeble of AM Synths has been developing his own versions of vintage ARP modules for many years. Behringer have been looking for classic modular systems to resurrect and so gave him the opportunity to take his ARP 2500 designs to a much wider audience.
Behringer 2500 Filtamp Module 1006: 16HP, +12V 22mA, ‑12V 20mA.The Filtamp 1006 is a combined 24dB ladder VCF and VCA module. It has two mixable audio inputs, three modulation inputs, filter resonance and amplifier gain with linear or exponential control. They’ve scaled it down quite a bit from the original which had four audio inputs and five modulation inputs for the VCF and five for VCA. But Rob’s scaling is really quite clever. The first modulation input is labelled KYBD and didn’t exist on the original, but it gives an attenuated 1V/oct input to the filter frequency. The other two CV inputs can be routed to either the VCF cutoff or the VCA or both via a pair of attenuators for each input. This means that you use a single envelope to control both the filter and the amp via one CV input, or you can separate them out, or combine all three to produce complex control over the parameters of your choosing.
With the original 2500 there was no shortage of modulation possibilities via the matrix routing system. In smaller Eurorack systems few things are in abundance and the Behringer Filtamp 1006 has come up with an innovative way of maximising the control of a common filter‑into‑amp combination. The doubling up of the controls helps with making it look more authentic even if the functionality is not quite on the money.
The look of the module is fantastic; those coloured knob caps, the writing and circuit diagram and there’s something about those silver front panels that makes them feel at home in a rack without having to buy into the whole 2500 system. Although it does pair rather well with the 1033 Dual Envelope and I recommend getting them together.
The combination of the price and feature set make it ideal for people taking their first modular steps but it’s a great module for anyone.
The sound and the response of the module is spot on. I’m yet to find anyone not impressed by the character of the gooey sound coming out of it. When pushed into self‑resonance the oscillations have a bit of grit to them, although there is some drop in volume as you dial it in. The VCA works as expected to about 12 o’clock and then starts to let signal through with or without any CV input.
As with all Behringer modules the price is ridiculous. The combination of the price and feature set make it ideal for people taking their first modular steps but it’s a great module for anyone. The build quality does reflect the price somewhat with them being a little lightweight, and the metallic ends of the knobs are more card than metal — one of mine fell off. All in all though, this is a great piece of work.
£85
$99