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Looks like Behringer plans to “turn the synth world upside down” with a desktop version of its Oberheim-inspired UB-Xa. Downsized UB-Xa D ditches the 61-note keyboard.

Three months on from the keyboard version of the Behringer UB-Xa going on sale, Behringer says that it’s planning to “turn the synth world upside down” with the release of a desktop model.

Quite what this means we’re not sure – the only thing turned on its head so far is a photo of the new instrument – but for those who want a more compact and affordable emulation of the Oberheim OB-Xa synth, the release of the UB-Xa D (D standing for Desktop) could be welcome news.

Of course, this being Behringer, putting a date on that release is pretty much impossible – the company is known for teasing products on Facebook well ahead of their actual launches – but, given that the synth engine for this one is already in place, hopefully that it won’t be too long to be releases.

Although the UB-Xa D loses the UB-Xa’s 61-note aftertouch keyboard, we’re assuming that the majority of the synth’s other features, like VCOs and VCFs that are “heavily based” on the originals, 16 voices, 512 program memories, MIDI support and eight vintage modes – will remain. Given that the keyboard version costs $1,199, we’d expect the price to be less than $1,000, but this is still to be confirmed.

Superbooth 2024 is fast approaching, and in just over two months a lot of new releases are expected.

The new synth company Body Synths will also have a booth there. Apparently, what they will show is not a secret but already known. It will be the Metal Fetishist.

The Metal Fetishist is a new digital percussive Synthesizer with a small patch matrix on the edge.

Metal Fetishist is a beat-making platform designed for rythm discovery and percussive sound design. The unapologetically digital sound engine consists of a single two-wave oscillator with pitch modulation, a white noise source, and a resonant multimode filter (LP/HP).

For extra spice and crunch, it has a built-in digital distortion section with both downsampling and overdrive. The word digital sets the menu-diving bells ringing. Not here. The developer designed it so that it can be tweaked and patched in the analog way aka knob per function.

Randomness – The sounds can be played manually with the big red trigger button. Alternatively, you can explore the more exciting built-in sequencer. This is, however, not a traditional one. It uses two randomness generators that output CV and triggers linked to the random step mod and random skips section.

At every trigger step of the sequence, the random step mod section creates a new modulation signal that can modify the pitch, noise, or filter cutoff. The modulation amount is fully adjustable.

With the random skips, you can control whether the current step of the sequencer will trigger. All this is tweakable on the fly with the skipping amount at every sequence step. There is one more important knob.

By default, the sequencers run in random mode. STEPS, however, is capable of locking the previously generated random step values into repeatable sequences. Lengths of 2, 4, 8, 10, 16, or 32 are available.

On the top left, Metal Fetishist has a little Eurorack-compatible 8-socket patch bay with various outputs (trigger, clock, step mod), and CV inputs (noise, cutoff, pitch, clock, and trigger).

According to Body Synths, you can create simple kicks, harsh noise, fuzzy drones, digital glitches, and plucky microtonal melodies with it.

Take a look at the sounds in the embedded videos below:


First Impression – The simple concepts can continue to fascinate. You don’t have to have tons of features to have fun. The demos sound very tempting.

Body Synths Metal Fetishist will be available in Spring 2024. Price TBA. The developer will also showcase it in May at Superbooth 2024.

Find out more info. on the Body Synths website.

Synthesist Michael Manning shared this hands-on review of the Analogue Solutions Ample synthesizer.

The Ample is a 3 VCO analog matrix patch pin synthesizer that pairs a traditional subtractive architecture with a big, knobby interface, a step sequencer and a touch key controller.

Manning shares his thoughts on the Ample, but also compares it to the other Analogue Solutions synths that he’s worked with.

“I would describe it as being quintessentially Analogue Solutions,” notes Manning. “It has that iconic, luxurious sound that has carried through every machine Tom has created, this time coming with a particularly beautiful LPF and an array of generous interface and performance controls.”

“While possibly not my favorite AS synth (that for me is the Impulse Command),” he adds, “this is certainly a synth worth your attention if you’re a fan of vintage tones bursting with vibrancy and soul.”

Watch the video and share your thoughts on the Ample in the comments!