Not long after announcing their KORG MS-20 clone, the K-2, Behringer have revealed that renowned synth developer Hiroaki Nishijima will be joining their team.

The announcement is timely because Nishijima was one of the original developers of the KORG MS-20, as well as the Sigma, KES and PME-40X series, Z3 and more.

Behringer have announced that iconic synth developer, Hiroaki Nishijima, will be joining the company, leading new “high-tech innovation centre“.

Nishijima will be leading Behringer’s new high-tech innovation centre, located at its Tokyo Headquarters. In a statement, Behringer has explained that their vision is to create a large research and development centre, hiring talented Japanese engineers to focus on flagship synthesizers, samplers, and other innovative product designs.

Uli Behringer described Nishijija as “a legendary synth icon with decades of experience.” Continuing on, he explained that: “Behringer is on a mission to bring back classic synthesizers as well as design completely new instruments and make them available at prices everyone can afford.”

In a personal statement provided by Nishijima, he described how as a child he loved to “disassemble toys and explore how they work”, a passion which was nurtured by his father and grandfather who taught him how to solder. In junior high school he saw his first synthesizer, and despite wanting one for himself, it was too expensive at the time. At University he continued to repair friends’ amps and design effects on the side until finally, he joined KORG after graduating University.

“I have watched Behringer deliver high-quality synthesizers and pursue a very strong mission to deliver impressive instruments to musicians around the world,” Nishijima described. “I reached out to Uli Behringer because I wanted to be part of his mission and help Behringer design world-class musical instruments. This is my dream, too. These days, it’s difficult for current Japanese companies to create the types of synths that I used to develop.”

Both Nishijima and Behringer have also issued a callout for experienced embedded software leaders and synthesizer engineers for their new innovation centre. Behringer have also recently published a Facebook post welcoming all “passionate engineers” from the likes of Roland, Korg, and Yamaha, as well as directly reaching out to engineers of a “well-known DJ manufacturer in Germany” who have recently been laid off, for 50 available positions in Innovation centres across Europe.