Behringer today shared a short audio preview of their upcoming UB-Xa synthesizer.
The Behringer UB-Xa is an updated clone of the classic Oberheim OB-Xa polyphonic synthesizer.
“We’ve just got audio passing with the UB-Xa,” they note. “Obviously, it’s very early and we have a lot of work ahead of us – but we’re very happy so far!”
Behringer has been sharing updates as they develop the synth:
- Jan 2018 – Behringer UB-Xa announced.
- Nov 2018 – Uli Behringer says that development of the UB-Xa had stalled, because their engineers were working on other, higher priority projects
- Jan 2019 – First Behringer UB-Xa prototype
- May 2019 – First audio demo
Behringer’s approach to announcing their plans early, and sharing updates along the way, has fans and detractors – but it does provide some insight into the time necessary to create a synth of this complexity – even when based on an existing design.
YES! More STEROIDS buttons!!!
Sweet 5 octave keyboard. It sure looks luscious!
Uli, the mankind will remember you!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Presets? If not, no thanks.
LOL! ^^ awesome synthesist right there.
I was waiting to see if some one would reply without thinking. My point is saving presets for convenience and speedy workflow not because I want a bunch of factory presets. It’s not the 1980s anymore and this isn’t a modular.
The phrase you’re looking for is “patch saving,” not “presets”
No display either. I sold all my synths without patch memory. It’s a deal breaker for me too.
Im with you, I really want some of these to have presets/midi cc access.
OB-Xa has memory if I remember correctly and you can see the buttons in it. It didnt have midi but you could do cassette dumps of the mem back in the day. they will add basic midi, but hopefully also some ways to do easy dumps. I can kind of do it with my Ob8 but its still kind of a pain. Everyone knows that the first thing you are supposed to do with it is play Jump. i thought he was going to when he hit that first c note. lol
They should put in a Van Halen “Jump” preset. That’ll save us all a lot of time.
AHHHHHHHHHHH!
Behringer must not have anything new to introduce at Superbooth, given all the teasers they’ve dropped this week.
Haha great “demo” ! 😀
When it comes to poly synths, there really is only one important question: Can you play Jump on it? After all, that’s what really matters, isn’t it?
WOW!… Massive lower end! Can’t wait for this… my studio is going to be full of the golden triangle with the ear if they keep this up (You better… 🙂
I would be happy to accept an analog re-creation without preset storage but be able receive MIDI CC’s for:
1. To be able to send/receive panel ‘snapshots’ to a PC or tablet, then store the snapshots in a librarian/editor app.
2. MIDI automation of individual controls
There’s a ‘manual’ button and a ‘compare’ button. Both which would make absolutely no sense without presets. So yes, this thing will have presets.
Looks a little boring at this point, to be honest.
There are lots of more sophisticated polys available now, including synths from Sequential, Korg, Elektron and others.
This looks like it is the way to go if you’re in a Van Halen cover band, though.
These synths are not being cloned for their options or for their sophistication. These synths are being cloned because even after 40 years, people agree that they just sound wonderful. Same with the MS101, which had some people wondering why on earth you would want to clone such a limited synth.
We have control of all 8 voices – plays a single bass note.
P.S. If you listen with headphones you can hear there’s some strong hiss in the background – i hope it’s not coming out of the synth itself!
It might be Behringer’s soundcard and mixers though 😀
No no, your headphone is just defect..no worries.
powerfully lofi
Desktop/rack version, OK go
I have yet to hear a behringer clone that was worth the copper. Poor synth players are giving money hungry companies a reason to flood the market with trash. Just save your money for something worth listening to.
You couldn’t be further from the truth. Also, just to clarify, you’re WELL in the minority with that view. Behringer have produced fantastic sounding, well built and authentic recreations of synths musicians want to get a hold of, and for an affordable price. 99% of the synth community are loving it. That’s fine if you don’t agree, but that’s not the popular opinion. Behringer’s killing it, bravo to them
Based on this thread and every other topic related to Behringer, your comment is BS.
At least half of the synth community has long-term experience with Behringer gear and knows it has a well-earned reputation for looking like a good deal but breaking as soon as it’s out of warranty.
Many also bring up Behringer’s business model, which is based on copying other people’s ideas and selling them as their own. The only reason that they are relevant in the synth community is their cheap knock offs other company’s designs.
Finally, Behringer has a history of trying to stifle discussion about their products with lawsuits, including suing news sites that report on their factories, suing forums like Gearslutz where people discuss the company’s business practices and even suing Dave Smith. If I remember correctly, the judge in that case even said that Behringer’s lawsuit was intended only to censor discussion, threw it out and made Behringer pay Dave Smith’s court costs.
I have yet to meet a synth player that has the attitude that you describe. Anyone who is paying attention knows that Behringer gear comes with legitimate pros and cons.