It's good to hear that BCR32 and 2600 match so well. I am surprised to hear from you though, knowing that normally you don't like the "Behringer concept" very much, that you already done a full prepayment for the 2600. If there is one thing I have learned, no matter how "juicy" and nice something might look like (like the ASM for example that was once tested to me also quite a bit of a disappointment), I rather prefer to test it first at my local dealer before I really make a decision.
I've gotten some feedback via some European players who got theirs when Thomann got the first drop, plus from my sales engineer at Sweetwater (who knows first-hand what a picky bastard I can be about synths!), and the info was consistent: the SOUND is indistinguishable, but the "sweet spots" are slightly different, probably owing to the different slider pots used. And if it doesn't work, I won't simply return it, but I'll actually return it to Sweetwater in person.
Yeah, I don't like Uli. I've watched his business antics since the company first popped up, and I've seriously disapproved of his behavior since then. At least he's been consistent for the past 30 years on that tip. But in THIS case, I'd have to say that I'm more pissed-off at Korg for the whole "limited edition 2600 reissue" crapfest, which was the cherry on a bullshit cake that had taken a few years to bake as far as I was concerned. Even if they came out with a shrinky-dink 2600 at this point...yeah, don't care. Especially since there seems to be some very real QC issues with that $4k musical erection substitute of theirs.
But as for the BCR32...remember, I've used the ARP 1601 back in the day, and Korg's not made any move aside of the SQ-64 to come up with a substitute. The BCR32 comes a lot closer to the 1601, in that you have the ability to do a lot on the fly since the BCR2000 + ZAQuencer firmware was intended specifically as a LIVE performance tool, not merely a studio thing. And, of course, $150...plus, in THIS case, B. didn't just rip off the ZAQencer's developer, as he's getting credit for the firmware AND, apparently, a royalty on units sold. Hopefully that's a trend...except that they pulled the "Swing" stunt around the same point in time, so...perhaps not. Maybe the CCP will nationalize his factory and give it to Cuvave...which, IMHO, would be CRAZY COOL given what Cuvave was able to do on their own with a minimal budget. Not likely, tho...
Can't wait for the 2600 to arrive in the shops for testing! Usually a demo device arrives faster at my local dealer then the sales itself, since those kind of things, as you also already indicated, are sold out in a matter of minutes or hours.
This is why I did the lock-in the way that I did. I'm not getting burned on getting a new 2600 twice. But this would've been different anyway, since it doesn't come in a "LIMITED" "road" case that seems to have been made of papier-mache but which is part of the whole "LIMITED" rationale.
Really, I think Korg needs to issue an apology to the synth community for yanking them around for, in some cases, several YEARS with this 2600 shitshow. If they want to sell any "shrunk 2600s", that is. Otherwise, the Behringer 2600 is likely to be far more ubiquitous than Korg might like! And along with nonsense like $1400 green and blue MS-20s, drum machines without basic sync ports, attempting to rehash the Kronos as the Nautilus, rehashing the Wavestation as the Wavestate, etc etc etc, Korg needs to watch its step, as there seems to be a gradually-accumulating litany of errors from them in the past couple of years. Not good.