Behringer UB-Xa Synthesizer (OB-Xa clone)

[kritikon]

TBH I wasn't that interested in the UBXa, as I never really loved the original - always considered it too spongey and lacking in aggression. BUT having seen their release vid, I might have to get it. All those age modes seem to make a huge impact on the sound, and it looks like it has all the bells and whistles. If the price really is $1500 - NZ$2500 it makes it a no-brainer. That's pretty well exactly the price of a Korg Prologue 8 voice.

I have $10k backpay just gone into the bank, wondering what to do with it. Seems I don't have to wonder too much longer. I was going to get a MinilogueXD but was toying with the idea of a Prologue, so now I'd be a fkn eejit not to stick with the Minilogue for the Korg filter sound, then get a UBXa for the big poly fix. I suspect this beast is going to change my lack of nostalgia over OBXa. I absolutely don't need a 16-voice, but WTF I can use it somehow. And having a proper size keyboard will make my stands look better - doesn't look right having all small keyboards on every level.

[kritikon]

And...Behringer's hints about their future poly line-up based on this platform makes me quite moist. I can still hope they might make a poly OSCar.
Their last few releases left me very cold, but I think they're about to up their game and wow me. VCS3 and Proton sound like they might not be too far away...

[WatchTheGuitar]

If this is based on a platform they are planning to use on other polys do we know if it’s a fully fledged MIDI implementation where everything can be reached via CC like the Pro 800?

[CoolColJ]

TBH I wasn't that interested in the UBXa, as I never really loved the original - always considered it too spongey and lacking in aggression. BUT having seen their release vid, I might have to get it. All those age modes seem to make a huge impact on the sound, and it looks like it has all the bells and whistles. If the price really is $1500 - NZ$2500 it makes it a no-brainer. That's pretty well exactly the price of a Korg Prologue 8 voice.

The hard sync and resonance, and just the overall brightness and fizz, on these later Obie synths sounds fairly aggressive to me.

[egbert101]

The curtis filters might be inferior (which is a matter of taste) in terms of replacing the existing filters of the time, but people have grown to love those filters too. I personally prefer the OB-X sound but in context of mixing sounds together, the OB-Xa might be superior. Thin and aggressive works well like that.

[lfm]

Sounds truly nice

[kritikon]

If this is based on a platform they are planning to use on other polys do we know if it’s a fully fledged MIDI implementation where everything can be reached via CC like the Pro 800?

From what I remember of their promo vid, midi implementation is all-in. Quite surprised that they've gone for polyphonic expression too, not that I personally want or need it, but nevertheless it's a nice-to-have. They seem to have thrown the kitchen sink at it in terms of functional features...quite a change in direction.

[WatchTheGuitar]

If this is based on a platform they are planning to use on other polys do we know if it’s a fully fledged MIDI implementation where everything can be reached via CC like the Pro 800?

From what I remember of their promo vid, midi implementation is all-in. Quite surprised that they've gone for polyphonic expression too, not that I personally want or need it, but nevertheless it's a nice-to-have. They seem to have thrown the kitchen sink at it in terms of functional features...quite a change in direction.

That’s promising. It was something that struck me as a real benefit of new versions of old kit if they offer that, plus sounds like they have the sort of complex mod matrix that makes the Deepmind bat above its weight.

[bmanic]

If it is indeed the same system as in the deepmind, then this becomes a must have synth. People who treated the Deepmind as just a Juno clone were missing 95% of it's sound potential.

[egbert101]

I don't think it has the effects like the Deepmind though.

[kritikon]

I'm not generally a fan of FX on synths anyway. Some of them are damned good - recent Korg FX are stand outs for me and they make patches sound big and glossy. But despite great FX, I find myself mostly turning the FX off and recording synths dry. I just don't like being committed to specific FX at the recording stage, and it's rare I don't radically alter what FX I use when I get to mixing a track, and sw/DAW FX are so much more manipulatable with better wide range of choices. So it's nice to have but ultimately I only use them for noodling stuff out or just playing outside of DAW territory. I get that onboard FX are useful for live playing though. Apart from my 2 Korgs, all my other hw synths have no FX and I don't miss them at all...having FX on UBXa would just push the price up.

[stoopicus]

Big +1 for recording dry and tweaking effects in software. This is how I treat all physical instruments (especially guitar, vocals and bass). If I do get back in to hardware synths I will do the same with synths.

For live, there's always guitar pedals or rackmounts. Live acoustics are often awful anyway and in that case outboard easily tweakable EQ/preamps and effects help a lot.

[bmanic]

I don't think it has the effects like the Deepmind though.

I very rarely use any effects in the deepmind. They are pretty mediocre at best. The only time I use them is to get one more extra monophonic filter.

[WatchTheGuitar]

Yeah, Deepmind FX are reasonably comprehensive but surpassed by DAW and plugin effects.

[lfm]

Brilliant approach to give UB-Xa an 8 slot modulation matrix also extending the original.
- like in DeepMind
- will be interesting to see which sources and destinations are available

I don't think even the OB-X8 did that, but stuck to vintage specs.
- apart from all vintage filters to pick from

There are some filter choices in UB-Xa as I recall reading, but unclear exactly what.

Since nothing in stores about price tag yet I think this is another smoke and mirrors delay by Behringer and maybe in spring we will see this in stores earliest.