Behringer JAM and JAM PLAY: KeyStep-style sequencer keyboards, one with 128 sounds built in

Behringer has published product pages for JAM and JAM PLAY, two small keyboards built around a step sequencer. JAM is a controller only. JAM PLAY adds a sound engine, so it can make music on its own. MusicRadar reports that both had appeared in a May leak of unreleased Behringer products, and that they follow on from the Swing, Behringer's earlier keyboard that looked very like Arturia's KeyStep 32. The question for anyone running a small modular case or a DAWless desk: is this the cheap box that ties it all together?

What do you get?

Behringer's pages list the same core on both models: 32 keys with velocity and aftertouch, touch strips for pitch and modulation, four assignable controls, and Record, Play and Stop buttons. The sequencer runs to 64 steps with 8-note polyphony. You can enter rests, ties and legato notes, and add ratchets and random gates. There is an arpeggiator with 8 styles, and a Chord Play mode that triggers chords of up to 16 notes from one key.

JAM PLAY adds 128 instrument voices, 10 drum kits, built-in effects and a small OLED screen. Its page calls the sequencer 4-channel, and has shift functions for MIDI channel, gate time and swing. MusicRadar says both models have the four-channel sequencer. Digital Mixing lists the sound controls as a low-cut filter, resonance, reverb, chorus, an attack-release envelope and two-band EQ. Behringer's page does not list those, so treat them as reported. The page also says nothing about the sound engine itself, so for now "128 voices" tells you a quantity and nothing about quality.

What does it connect to?

This is where Behringer's own pages are thin. JAM's page lists class-compliant USB, MIDI Out, a sustain pedal input, CV/gate, and a sync connector with four sync sources you choose from the front panel. Power comes from USB or an optional DC supply. JAM PLAY's page lists USB, MIDI Out, CV/gate and sync, says it is powered via USB or an optional DC power supply (not included), and mentions an optional footswitch for sustain.

Retailers and press fill in more detail, and it is not identical. MusicRadar lists three 3.5mm CV/gate outputs, 3.5mm sync in and out, 5-pin MIDI In and Out, a 1/4" sustain input and two USB-C ports on both, plus a 1/4" audio output on JAM PLAY. Thomann's listing names the three CV jacks as keyboard CV, gate and mod CV, and says JAM does not run on batteries. So check the shipping manual before you plan a rig around MIDI In. Behringer's pages do not list it.

What does it cost?

Behringer's product pages for JAM and JAM PLAY show no price and no release date, and Synth News also reports the price as not announced. Retailers are ahead of them. Andertons lists JAM at £89 and in stock. When we checked on 23 October, Thomann's international store showed JAM at $92 with no delivery date and JAM PLAY at $168, sold out and re-ordered. MusicRadar reported Thomann's European pre-order prices as €99 and €179. These are shop prices, not a list price, and they may move.

For comparison, Arturia's KeyStep mk2 also has 32 keys with velocity and aftertouch and a 64-step sequencer with 8-note polyphony, and its page showed $169. It has four CV/gate outputs (pitch, gate and two mod), MIDI In and Out with Thru support, and its page describes converting incoming MIDI to CV.

Is it a cheap hub for a small modular or DAWless setup?

It depends what "hub" means for you.

For one modular voice, yes, probably. A pitch output, a gate and a mod output are enough to play and sequence a single mono voice. Having keys, a 64-step sequencer and an arpeggiator in one box for under £90 is a good deal for a first case. Sync in and out with a front-panel choice of clock source means it can follow or lead a drum machine.

For a whole rig, less so. Our reading of the specs: with one pitch/gate pair, the 8-note polyphony and 16-note chords only reach CV gear one note at a time. The chords need MIDI, or JAM PLAY's own engine. If you were hoping to clock a computer, a drum machine and a Eurorack case while converting MIDI from the computer to CV, Behringer has not said it does that conversion. The KeyStep mk2 page says it does. Until the manual is out, we would not buy JAM as a MIDI-to-CV interface.

JAM PLAY is a different pitch. It is a sketchpad: sequence its own sounds with no laptop, out of one audio jack, then send the same patterns to other gear later. That is useful away from the studio desk, as long as you have USB power or Behringer's optional DC supply. As a hub, its extra cost buys sounds, not more connections.

What we think

Behringer is selling the KeyStep idea for less, and the saving is real for beginners. The first CV sequencer is where a lot of people get stuck: a modular voice with nothing to play it. A box at roughly £89 that plays keys, steps and arps into a case removes that barrier, and we think that is good for people starting out.

The cost of "cheap" is in the paperwork. On launch, Behringer's own pages leave out the MIDI In, the CV voltage standard, the number of sequencer patterns and the engine behind the 128 voices. Retailers and press fill those gaps with details that do not quite match each other. For a device whose whole job is talking to other gear, those are the specs that matter. We think buyers should wait for the manual, or buy from a shop with an easy return policy.

On the Arturia question, we are less bothered than some. MusicRadar sees JAM as more original than the Swing, and the built-in sounds are something the KeyStep mk2 does not offer. Still, we think much of the price gap comes from Arturia having done the design work first, and Arturia is the one carrying the firmware and support behind the KeyStep. If you plan to build a rig around a sequencer for years, firmware support counts for more than the saving. If you want to find out whether you like hardware sequencing at all, JAM is a cheap way to find out. JAM PLAY makes sense if you want a laptop-free sketchpad, though no source we read mentions a speaker or battery, so it is not as self-contained as Roland's latest Boutiques. Neither makes much sense as the centre of a growing rig until Behringer publishes the specs that would let it be one.