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Will the upcoming Behringer UB-Xa be the first truly great knockoff synth?

That is the question raised by this video demo by Bernd Brüning, aka The Synth King.

Previous demos of the UB-Xa left many unimpressed, with some readers saying it sounded ‘boring‘ and other saying it sounds ‘bland and uninspired‘. But Bernd Brüning has been part of the beta tester team for the Behringer UB-Xa, and has had time to understand the capabilities of the synth and create his own custom presets.

Brüning notes that “The sounds were recorded without any effects, dynamic processing or whatsoever straight into the audio interface. For the performances in split mode, I’ve added a slight touch of reverb.”

The results speak for themselves. His video demonstrates an instrument that sounds lush, biting, expressive and capable.

Behringer has pioneered the category of knockoff synths – inexpensive, unofficial copies of popular instruments – and they have gotten very good at it.

With most of their instruments, though, the key selling point is that its a cheap copy of a collectable vintage synth. It’s often obvious where design changes and compromises have been made to make the copies cheaper to manufacturer, whether it’s shrinking the instrument, using tiny controls, chopping an octave of the keybed or forcing the design into a stock form-factor. These changes help make Behringer’s copies really affordable.

The Synth King’s demo suggest that the Behringer UB-Xa is something different.

It  is still obviously a knockoff, copying the Oberheim OB-Xa’s name, architecture, styling and sound.

But, unlike many of Behringer’s synths, the UB-Xa does not have obvious design changes and compromises to make it cheap to manufacture. With an expected price tag of $1,500, many won’t consider it inexpensive. The Behringer UB-Xa is a big instrument, with a full-size keyboard. And it has features that promise to move the UB-Xa design significantly forward, including polyphonic aftertouch and 16-voice polyphony.

Watch the video demo. Does the UB-Xa take Behringer’s knockoffs to the next level?

Most importantly, based on this demo, the Behringer UB-Xa sounds good and like a capable, powerful instrument. H2

In Behringer’s latest revelation, the company says that the free DAW that it promised in 2020 will come with a selection of free VST synth plugins, and it looks like some of these will be based on Behringer’s hardware synth clones. Perhaps, the company knows how to redirect our attention;

Software versions of the Pro-16, UB-Xa and Wave synths appear to be in development

However, it is worth noting that not all of the plugins will be free – Behringer will charge “a small amount” for some of them – but the screenshots posted indicate that the company is working on software versions of its Pro-16, UB-Xa and Wave synths clones – based on the Prophet-5, OB-Xa and PPG Wave.

We are assured that these will “seamlessly integrate” with the hardware versions, indicating that patch sharing and MIDI control should be possible

The plugins are being developed by “some of the world’s best VST developers,” who are working with the Danish TC Electronic team (like Behringer, TC now falls under the Music Tribe ownership umbrella). Other developers are being invited to join the project, as well.

Of course, it remains to be seen when you will actually be able to get your hands on any of this software; it’s been more than two years since Behringer first announced it was working on a free DAW, after all, and we have yet to see anything of it.

Good News; at least it can’t blame the chip shortage for the delay this time…

Behringer unveils an Oberheim OB-Xa-inspired desktop synth. Behringer UB-Xa D – a reboot of the classic Oberheim OB-Xa synth – has been in development for a long time.

We were being informed it was almost ready way back in 2018, and then came the news that it was being beta tested in 2021, but that was before it became clear that chip shortages were causing delays in manufacturing of multiple new Behringer products.

What they say about the upcoming Behringer UB-Xa Desktop synth:

“While we’re all waiting for chips to finally produce and ship the UB-Xa, our engineers haven’t been sitting still and in the meantime finished the prototype of the desktop version. Like with all our other desktop modules, this one will be rack mountable, too. We’re super excited and hope you love it, too”

Audio demo of the final design for the UB-Xa keyboard version:

The global chip shortage is now entering its third year, triggered by a variety of causes, including: growing demand for integrated circuits; the impact of the global pandemic; and the Trump adminstration’s trade war with China, which added tariffs to semiconductors imported from China and imposed sanctions on Chinese semiconductor manufacturers. Several synth makers have attributed product shortages and increased prices to the trade war and the global chip shortage.

Behringer has been hard at work on a desktop version, the UB-Xa D, for those who do not need a keyboard.

Apparently, it might not arrive for a good while yet, though.