Behringer has released updated firmware for the UB-Xa synthesizer, saying “This update isn’t just about fixing issues—it’s about giving you the tools to create without limits.”
Here’s what’s new in Behringer UB-Xa v2.0:
- Bug Fixes & Improvements:
- No more ‘thumping’ sound when triggering envelopes.
- The mod wheel now behaves “perfectly”, giving you full control over your LFO modulation.
- Enhanced MIDI, arpeggiator, and sequencer functionality.
- Dual Mode & Aftertouch improvements.
- SYSEX and oscillator settings are smoother.
- New Features:
- Save and recall patches with precision, now including atrophy profiles, filter, VCO, VCF, and LFO settings.
- Fine-tune your sound with precision editing for filter resonance.
- Take advantage of new envelope modulation modes like Flip, Retrigger, Repeat, Loop, and Legato.
- Enjoy expanded options in the Mod Matrix, including new destinations and sources.
- Improved performance features like global transpose and enhanced live performance options.
See the Behringer site for details.
At about 0:30, the player moves his finger, when poly aftertouch is mentioned, like it’s an Osmose with side-to-side control.
That looks like “expressive performance” vs an actual capability of the keyboard to sense left-right motion.
I do this on my hydrasynth; it adds a subtle amount of pressure change which is quite nice.
Welcome to Behringertopia
Admin: You are posting comments under multiple user names, which is a standard trait of spammers. This leads to the comment moderation automatically flagging your comments as spam. If you use a consistent user name to comment, you’ll minimize the likelihood that your comments will be treated as spam.
Also – we welcome all perspectives on our coverage. If you don’t like our Behringer coverage, we’d encourage you to step and post some actual constructive criticism.
Honestly i post my opinions anonymously for fear of retribution. I’m sure you can figure out I’m the same person. But I will use the same username going forward. My comment says it all – is this a behringer blog or what? I’ll always say that I think you do a terrific job but is it necessary to copy and paste every social media update that b puts out? Some days it seems like they update their box design and there’s an article. I think it is lazy and You should spend less time focused on them and more time on manufacturers who are really taking risks and pushing the game forward. That’s my opinion. Sorry if You don’t like it but You’ve invited me to share it. And as far as I’m concerned I’m allowed to and will continue to make comments about that just as much as you’re allowed to write blog posts calling reporting on vaporware journalism. I get that B gets you clicks and I support you and want you to succeed but it reminds me of how the mainstream media is obsessed with Trump – he in a way controls them, they make money from covering him even though the truth is that he’s mostly terrible and detrimental to worldwide democracy. B is at best a bottom of the barrel manufacturer who makes too much gear without a real proper vision or a focus and at worst they are toxic to the synth community. In terms of journalistic integrity I challenge you to stop reporting on all of their movements, cover the necessary ones and tell us more about companies that need the coverage, that’s my constructive criticism. Hope it helps. I believe in you.
Thanks for the additional feedback.
It sounds like your concerns about us covering Behringer are based their knockoff focus. You mention that they’re “at best a bottom of the barrel manufacturer,” and you question the journalistic integrity of covering their actions.
And you describe our Behringer coverage as ‘vapourware journalism’, because we cover what we think is important news about their upcoming products.
We do cover every major synth introduced by Behringer. This is no different than our coverage of companies like Yamaha & Korg, though, and it is entirely appropriate, given that Behringer is one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of electronic music gear.
Here, you’re taking issue with our Behringer coverage on an article that discusses a major update to the UB-Xa, which is one of the world’s top-selling synthesizers. We generally cover major upgrades to any popular synth. So it seems like your comment is triggered by pure dislike of Behringer, vs our actual decisions about what merits coverage.
In our view, journalistic integrity is dispassionately covering the stories that are most important to synthesists. This is the approach we take with Behringer. We cover them because they’re newsworthy. That includes both when they introduce a new synth, or when they lose a court case because they were using a SLAPP lawsuit to stifle criticism of their business practices.
If you’d like to see more coverage of other companies, take advantage of the Feedback link that’s available at the top of every page on Synthtopia. We welcome suggestions, and frequently feature suggestions that meet the bar of being information that’s important to a wide range of synthesists.
tldr version: Behringer merits the coverage we give them. Behringer’s disruption of the synth industry has been one of the most important news trends in synthesis for the last 7 years.
That first line was a bit of a strawman, I actually gave many reasons why I take issue and none included the word knockoff -That knockoff stance was yours not mine. I am suggesting they are a less than average company who produces less than quality gear, promises the world ages before things are even near ready to undercut real gear that’s available, they deliver janky garbage and leave much on the bone for users to get proper customer support for things that usually don’t work as advertised . Thats what I’m saying. Is that disrupting the synth world? They are also unethical, toxic and anti semitic.
My first post. Ever.
This one of the few well regarded Synth websites around. A lot of hard work goes into this page. We don’t pay anything to read what’s being posted. If you feel that the work done here is lazy or biased in some way, by all means, go elsewhere or better yet, start yr own. We’ll definitely migrate to yours, as I’m sure you’d spend time seeking, researching and giving yr unbiased opinions.
As for admin, haven’t you learned anything about the internet yet? NEVER run a comment section. You invite the worst kind of people to constantly shit on yr hard work. I know you can never please everyone, but honestly, is this really worth it? Synthtopia, Musicradar and Gearnews don’t have a comment section, and they are free of these ungrateful degenerates. It’s time you break free too. This about your mental health and wellbeing.
Comments engage readers and create traffic. Hence all of
The beheringer posts. Which is part of my point. For the record I’ve given synthead some criticism and critique- and provided context. I am invited to do so. Just because it’s not complimentary doesn’t mean I’m wrong or that I should just go read something else or make my own blog, i support the journalism they do and I say kind things about it, I acknowledge they do a great job. And we do pay because we view advertising and are marketed to,
Yes fair point about not running comment sections, because they attract certain types. But in the end I disagree: occasionally, some longer comment threads here are interesting (to me at least) and informative, especially when people with decades of experience write in (with wisdom, not with condescension).
The key is moderation. I feel admin here really doesn’t want to be a jerk to people and remove angry commentary. But at some point one must tear off the band aid …
I guess most Behringer bashers are some kind of middle age person, who has spent lots of money on the original devices who is now angry/envy, that people with lower income have the same opportunities….
Now they spend endless nights trying to convivence other users on forums, that they didn’t waste their money…cluelessly talking about quality [original devices also breaks] and 1% sound differences between original and clones…
but I still wish you good luck.
I’m a middle-aged person and I find B-bashing pointless and cringe-worthy, almost as much as I find cringe-worthy the attempt to conflate the synth-troll meme with my age category! I enjoy very much all the fun made around us Gen X, but can’t give a pass to this: whoever lived thru times when samplers and synths used to cost an arm and a leg would not dismiss or bash accessible tools that easily. That’s what spoiled brats do and we ain’t none, Sir.
Eff dis ish, please 🙂
Manufacturers will produce, haters will hate and musicians will play: as simple as that. If the manufacturer infringes any copyright, the applicable legislation will apply: that’s what lawsuits are made for. Tutto il resto è noia, as the famous Italian song goes.
And finally to reply to the OP: what should a blog about music and its tools do, when a major manufacturer drops a new product, update or announces a new line? Yep. Exactly. The same thing they do when there’s any controversy around the same subject: publish it. Because guess what? Journalists gonna publish.
Sounds like a beheringer comment troll farm response
Beheringer is for the people, blah blah, bitter people with money cluelessly hating on people with less means. Cool story bro
Behringer makes some pretty great synts — you should try them some time.
Their 2600 is rock solid. Their recent take on the Kobold sounds fantastic — I know a guy who bought 4. And the Proton is gearing up to be a very interesting piece of kit.
Where do you get off here? Go play/listen to a few of the good ones and report back.
Good that you can confirm your side of this. thank you.
This is an excellent and very useful news site about synthesizers. Behringer, loathe them or love them or anywhere inbetween, manufactures probably more synthesizers than any other company at the moment. Thankfully Uli Behringer isn’t running for office or ganging up with obscenely wealthy tech bros to try to create a fascist dystopia (at least yet). You’re relentlessly demanding that a free website that’s entirely independent from you adopts your perspective and value judgments and withholds information about certain synthesizers and related products from their audience so you don’t get upset when – for whatever strange and unhealthy reasons – you keep revisiting the website. This is childish, silly, and boring.
Every Behringer critic: “I won’t buy Behringer gear, because of the company’s sleazy business practices and mediocre build quality.”
Every Behringer fanboy: “THE HATERS ARE ANGRY BECAUSE BEHRINGER IS MAKING GEAR MORE AFFORDABLE!!!!”
Don’t be toxic and anti semitic please
blah blah blah
the same old tired out BS we’ve been hearing for years now
and nobody cares
Buy their stuff or don’t
Most of what you’re saying here is just gear-shaming of people who have less money to buy musical equipment
I’m sure you’re equally as vocal on the Sony, Yamaha, Gibson, Fender [insert any other music corpo here…] forums too right?
Okay every time you mention gear shaming by people with money towards people with less money who use behringer products that make them affordable you give away the fact that you are obvious behringer troll or employee. Moog makes cheap synths for people too.
In the eurorack world this Behringer hate thing I like a fanatical cult, usually the same people who have spent about £30k+ on MakeNoise modules without realising they’re all rips of 50 year old Serge and Buchla designs. Usually they grow up after a few years.
^^^^^ Warning: 100% fact-free comment ^^^^^
Try harder
the voices of sanity. thx!
“I’m sure you’re equally as vocal on the Sony, Yamaha, Gibson, Fender ”
Literally no company is as much of a bottom feeder as Behringer.
“You should spend less time focused on them and more time on manufacturers who are really taking risks and pushing the game forward”.
It would appear that it is you who are spending your time focusing on them. Quite a lot of time to write such a lengthy comment.
You could just not read these articles.
Instead you choose to push engagement. Not only that you ask, nay demand, that there be less coverage because your personal option says so. How is that fair to people who want to see / read that coverage?
Also, please explain to me how you think they are anti semetic?
Correct. My opinions drive my desire to not see synthtopia just be behringertopia basically lately an article or 2 each day about whatever b posts on their socials. Just my opinion. I’m allowed to use my own energy to think about this stuff and react to it. Telling me not to read the posts tells me that you aren’t really serious in engaging in this conversation in a meaningful way.
You’ll have to research the anti semitic stuff. Try searching Uli, Pete Kirn and Corksniffer.
To be fair the corksniffer thing was absolutely hilarious. It was in no way anti semetic.. that’s just total nonsense
I play flute with my nose.
Synthtopia isn’t Behringertopia. That’s the very point of this whole thing isn’t it?
You’re, very obviously, triggered by any mention of them. For what ever reason.
I’m not going to argue, I think it’s good to have principles and values. And you clearly have yours and I respect that.
However, I do believe your allowing your principles to cloud your objective reasoning.
On every Synthtopia “page” there are 10 articles before you have to click on “older” to view more. I suggest you take a look through them.
If you did you’d see that, percentage wise, Behringer posts are about just under 10% of all articles posted.
Please don’t stop behringer coverage. I am obsessed with seeing all their new releases so I can complain about them in modwiggler ?
In all seriousness though, I love behringer stuff. Especially the micro range
No, it seems you are obsessed with impersonation.
Really, I find it quite funny.
You must be so bored.
i wish they put a button lock switch so my cats would stop writing over the presets, it’s a great sounding synth though. they did remove the thump without breaking much else afaik see with a scope, not that the thump was a problem for me. the rest is ‘don’t care’.
No mention of the death of Daniel from Behringer? Considering the amount of his videos of his you posted, to ignore his death seems strange. Maybe you don’t want to draw attention to the sudden and unexpected death of such a young man. It’s been happening a lot the last 3 years. The experts are still baffled apparently.
If this is true that’s really sad. Any info to share to verify? If true i hope his family and loved ones and friends can make sense of the grief and such.
Tin foil hat time folks ? ?
After work today, I unboxed and fired up my new Behringer Pro 800 that arrived this afternoon via Fed Ex. I got it with the Price Drop for $339 plus tax. All I can say is that I’m lovin’ it. It sounds great. I’ve already created and saved a number of great sounding patches (I’m kind of an expert). $339 for an 8-voice analog synth that can save 400 presets is quite the deal, quite amazing. Thanks Behringer!
You have to appreciate Behringer’s synths for what they are – cheap copies of classic synth designs.
Anybody can see where they’ve cut corners with their designs, which makes Behringer synths hard to love. I’ve got a Behringer D, VC340, RD-8 and some of their synth modules. All of them feel pretty cheap and have obvious compromises.
When people pretend that these compromises don’t exist, or that only rich people can afford better gear, it’s fanboy talk.
he likes his pro 800. You’re telling him he shouldn’t – you know better- because he’s just overlooking all of the problems. Did I understand you correctly?
You do realize that people are well aware that when they buy a $340 8-voice analog synthesizer that corners have been cut when compared to a $3,000 – $5,000 8-voice analog synthesizer.
You wrote, “I’ve got a Behringer D, VC340, RD-8 and some of their synth modules. All of them feel pretty cheap and have obvious compromises.”
You didn’t know this when you bought them? Then why did you buy more than one Behringer synth? There are reasons that the Behringer D is $300 and a Minimoog Model D is $5,000. The irony here is you’re besmirching a far less expensive synth that is actually more flexible, with more capability than the $5,000 synth.
And don’t try to convince me that the Behringer D doesn’t sound like the original Minimoog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYxc8R_Qys0
You wrote, “When people pretend that these compromises don’t exist, or that only rich people can afford better gear, it’s fanboy talk.”
No one is pretending that compromises don’t exist, and I don’t believe that only rich people can afford better gear. I bought a new 8-voice analog synth for $340 and am liking it a lot. If that’s fanboy talk then so be it.
I had an Intel iMac that repeatedly crashed like a drunken crop duster. I bought the extended warranty, so after some fruitless repair effort, they sent me a new Mac. That one roared properly. Even Apple has its bumps in the road.
I’m too suspicious of their negatives over time to become a B* customer, but big deal. A lot of newbies are getting affordable gear. There are also players who are further along, but who happily slot a few B* synths and for example (I think), X32 mixers into their racks. The UB-Xa seems to be winning people over. If it performs well, that’s a good thing. I’m sure Uli doesn’t mind the free advertising when someone stomps their tiny hooves for a page & a half. If “WE” don’t like the way other people spend their money, “WE” can get bent. 😛
Hm… I used to play the old OB-Xa. Yesterday I got an UB-Xa. And the latter is a better synth by just about all means. We all know about the number of voices, the poly aftertouch keyboard and so on (the keys are not that good in my book though, but better than the original… not that it would take much) – but what really sets it apart and lifts it into our decade is the modulation matrix. It allows you to fine tune your patches for performance in a way very similar to a CS80. A problem that only recently has been adressed again by manufacturers of fine synths. The matrix also allows for creativity way beyond the aspect of performance. It is in fact very little to hate about this synth… may be apart from the fact that it seems impossible to get rid of that old Oberheim CEM sound.