Behringer - Vladimir Kuzmin

Behringer teams up with original Polivoks designer Vladimir Kuzmin for new synth

German audio giant Behringer has teamed up with original Polivoks designer Vladimir Kuzmin to develop a new synthesizer.

Kuzmin’s Soviet-era duophonic synth was first produced under the Polivoks name (or Поливоксs in Russian) in 1982 and went on to become a cult classic used by artists such as Franz Ferdinand and Goldfrapp.

“With great interest have I followed Behringer’s vision to bring back iconic synthesizers and make them affordable for musicians,” said Vladimir Kuzmin. “For all my life, I have been extremely passionate about synthesizers and I decided to contact Uli to see if Behringer would be interested to design a new Polivoks as I would love to see my legacy live on.

“I designed the Polivoks in 1980 at the Urals Vector plant in Russia, while it was produced by the Formanta Radio Factory. The Polivoks has features that are very unusual on most analog synthesizers, which creates this very unique and distinctive sound, often referred to as “Russian synthesizer sound”.

“For many years it has been my dream to create a new and much improved Polivoks. Uli’s synthesizer viision provides a fantastic opportunity for me to contribute to the reimagining of my Polivoks and to make it accessible to everyone – a vision I profoundly believe in and want to be part of.”

No release date has been given so it’s not clear when exactly the new Polivoks-branded synth will arrive.

“It’s an immense honor to have Vladimir Kuzmin on our team as he is a legendary synth designer,” said Founder and CEO Uli Behringer. “We are extremely proud, we could win him for our ambitious vision. This partnership demonstrates again that we welcome collaborations with boutique inventors and manufacturers, as we believe we can perfectly coexist and complement each other.”

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