Behringer is teasing a forthcoming hardware sampler, Kick, which looks an awful lot like Akai’s recently-updated MPC One. That in itself isn’t especially noteworthy. Barely a week goes by without Behringer teasing a new product concept, many of which are very obviously inspired by existing, pricier hardware from rival brands.
What makes Kick different is the fact that, even before the hardware itself has been released, Behringer has uploaded resources for its open source firmware to GitHub, inviting potential users to “create, modify and reinvent what an instrument can do.”
Although the Kick hardware itself largely mimics the format of Akai’s MPC, with 16 pads, four assignable knobs, a touchscreen and a mix of audio, MIDI and CV connectivity, there are a couple of intriguing features mentioned in the specs.
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One of these is the inclusion of an ‘AI camera’, which is said to allow for gesture control. Kick also includes a small touchstrip, similar to that found on Akai’s higher-end MPCs but not the similarly-sized MPC One.
Behringer announced Kick on Facebook in typically modest fashion, with a post that reads:
“HE WAS KICKED OUT OF A MUSIC STORE BECAUSE HE COULDN’T AFFORD ANYTHING.
That young musician was Uli Behringer.
That experience inspired a mission: Democratize music technology and empower those who have not and cannot.
Nearly 40 years later, we’re taking that mission to another level.”
Sure. This mission, the post goes on to explain, not only guided Kick’s affordable price point – which at a promised $150 is certainly very cheap – but also the decision to open the hardware and software resources in order to allow the user community to shape the device’s capabilities.
This sudden shift towards open source isn’t happening in a vacuum, of course. With the rise of AI-powered ‘vibe coding’, DIY firmware and custom plugins have become a topic of hot discussion in music technology circles. This same emphasis on open firmware is what has powered the whirlwind success of M-Wave’s FM-1 digital synth, which has inspired countless user-generated reimaginings thanks to its FM1 Open SDK.
In the same Facebook post, Behringer is explicit about the role it sees AI playing in the ongoing development of Kick: “With AI, even people without programming experience can turn their ideas into new features and firmware.”
Behringer is hardly alone in jumping on the open source bandwagon. Akai itself looks set to embrace an open approach with the recently teased MPC Sample Key, which is reported to be open source too.
There are a few ways to look at this industry shift. There are obvious benefits in this embrace of community collaboration. Open source music technology is nothing new, and there are numerous examples – such as software like Surge XT or VCV Rack, or Mutable Instruments’ digital hardware – where open source code has resulted in thriving communities of like-minded collaborators.
There is also an obvious danger though, that this move ends up shifting certain responsibilities from the brands themselves onto their user bases. Over the past few decades, it’s become standard practice for makers of music tech hardware to issue post-release firmware updates, used to fix bugs and improve performance, but also often as a way to extend a product’s lifespan by adding new features. By opening a product up to AI-generated firmware, at least the latter part of that deal becomes more of a community responsibility.
It will be interesting to see what Behringer Kick is capable of – and how it runs – when it hits the market. Its Github specs tout capabilities including sample editing, step sequencer and looper, and appears to be based around something called ‘JAM DAW’, implying it should ship with fairly capable ‘official’ firmware. For users, the ideal setup would be one where a product arrives with a broad set of features that make Kick a worthwhile purchase in its own right, and any user-generated content becomes an entirely optional bonus.
It’s not hard to imagine a world, however, where brands see AI-empowered users as a way to save money on the development, testing and updating of products. Effectively striking a deal whereby hardware brands put hardware in the hands of users in a minimal viable state and let the community refine it themselves.
Which is not to say this is what Behringer, Akai or any other brand has planned. It’s also worth acknowledging that users have started creating AI-generated firmware for a multitude of hardware devices whether officially sanctioned or not – a fact that likely contributed to Elektron banning unofficial updates from its forums.
This could well be the dawn of a newly democratised hardware market where a single cheap desktop device unlocks a multitude of inspiring workflows. Then again, five years from now we could be looking back wistfully on the days when we didn’t have to wade through a mountain of AI slop just to get our new synths to function properly.
