It’s the Behringer clone we all knew was coming. Today we’ve had our first look at the RD-808, a clone of Roland’s infamous drum machine the TR-808.

The company surreptitiously dropped a video demo of their prototype in action on 808 day (August 8th) – check it out below.

The latest clone from Behringer HQ is the RD-808, a clone of Roland’s TR-808 with a proposed price point of less than $400 US.

Given the machine is firmly in prototype stage, take everything you hear and see with a grain of salt. I’m guessing the bendy front panelling won’t be making it to the final design stages, for example.

It’s a little hard to figure out where the market for this is, honestly. With Roland’s own TR-08, TR-8, and the newer TR-8S on the market as three pieces of medium to expensive hardware with 808 samples, there’s a relatively small price range Behringer will be tapping into.

Not to mention there are hundreds of ways to get your mitts on 808 samples for free on software. Regardless, check out the RD-808 in action below.

Notably the video ends with a teaser ‘SEE YOU 9/9’, which looks to me like a hint towards a Behringer unveiling a TR-909 clone. Stay tuned.