Introducing UB-Xa

[Threadslayer]

And the award for the year's most annoying video goes to...

[dglcomp]

The atrophy modes sure look interesting and appear to be customisable unlike the Sequential vintage knob.

[JoJoB3]

On 12/12/2023 at 1:35 PM, RABid said:

I think the market and other manufacturers are adjusting. Roland's $200 line of mini synths are...

Turrible (and I wanted to like em)

[David Emm]

9 hours ago, GovernorSilver said:

 

 

Demos backed by drum machines should mostly die off. They cloud the sound field and defeat the purpose. This sound is so generic, I'm not getting much Oberheim from it anyway. Meh, so far.

 

 

[Jim Alfredson]

12 hours ago, David Emm said:

 

Demos backed by drum machines should mostly die off. They cloud the sound field and defeat the purpose. This sound is so generic, I'm not getting much Oberheim from it anyway. Meh, so far.

 

 

I don't mind the drum machine but in this video, like the earlier one, it sounds flat and lifeless. Like a virtual analog doing an Oberheim impression. 

[DroptopBroham]

Not bad, but It sounds like it needs effects. At this point Roland's Juno X seems like the better buy.

[GovernorSilver]

17 hours ago, David Emm said:

 

Demos backed by drum machines should mostly die off. They cloud the sound field and defeat the purpose. This sound is so generic, I'm not getting much Oberheim from it anyway. Meh, so far.

 

 

 

not up to your usual standard, David.  

 

You were supposed to tell us about knife wielding clowns chasing you while drum machines and synths were blaring from a passing ice cream truck and thus you were so traumatized... the caliber of humorous David Emm storytelling we've come to expect.

[ABECK]

Some of it sounds Oberheim-like.  (how's that for non-committal!)

 

[Bill H.]

Maybe because he's playing it in 4 pole filter mode? (The second button to the left in the filter section.)

[David Emm]

1 hour ago, GovernorSilver said:

not up to your usual standard, David.  

You were supposed to tell us about knife wielding clowns chasing you while drum machines and synths were blaring from a passing ice cream truck and thus you were so traumatized... the caliber of humorous David Emm storytelling we've come to expect.

 

First, you're welcome. Second, same to you. Third, the scariest clowns in my life haven't been knife-wielders; they've been corporate or religious. Fourth, if ice cream trucks played prog, I'd eat more ice cream. Finally, as Groucho once said, "These are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others."

 

[GovernorSilver]

14 minutes ago, David Emm said:

 

First, you're welcome. Second, same to you. Third, the scariest clowns in my life haven't been knife-wielders; they've been corporate or religious. Fourth, if ice cream trucks played prog, I'd eat more ice cream. Finally, as Groucho once said, "These are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others."

 

 

Now that's more like it!  👍

[SteveCoscia]

Yesterday, my Sweetwater rep said the UB-Xa is in stock.  More reviews and videos should proliferate soon.

[niacin]

 

[stoken6]

On 12/16/2023 at 4:37 AM, mate stubb said:

real HP15C

On 12/16/2023 at 5:56 AM, jazzpiano88 said:

HP 41 CV

On 12/16/2023 at 5:56 AM, jazzpiano88 said:

TI 59

Casio FX-451M FTW:

 

Cheers, Mike.

 

[Stokely]

The poly aftertouch for use as a controller on its own is what would make this tempting to me.   If nothing else maybe this will get other manufacturers off their butts about poly AT.  If Behringer can put it in an analog poly for this price, no reason Yamaha et al can't put it in their keyboards even if they can't exactly match the price (which is ok by me, I'll still go with them if in the ballpark.)

 

Kinda begs the question of how much a poly AT Behinger controller keyboard with this action would be....

[EscapeRocks]

I really liked listening to Tim's review.   I enjoy his clear voice, and way of explaining things.

 

Thanks for posting this @niacin

[Stokely]

Tim's video both reminded me that I bought a small handheld Zoom recorder (maybe the same one) and also made me feel better about the purchase, because it sounded great   Bought it to quick-n-dirty record my band out front and maybe even use on stage as a drum kit ambience mic(s) for our in-ears.

[uhoh7]

Look what the cat dragged in....

 

I was going to pass on this one, but when the price dropped in Dec I signed up. Today, a cold Saturday...13F....I heard a thump on the doorstep and some mild cursing. The cat struggled for some time to get it through the door.....

 

Just noodling through the presets, one thing stands out. This thing sounds great, no effects. Has numerous "pianos", and they are much better than I expected. Out of the box it plays with little velocity sensitivity, but reading up, that should be easy to fix. Really nice variety of sounds. Fantastic low end. Very responsive. 

 

Despite the tough but budget knob set, it's actually a gorgeous looking thing. The color I guess. Keybed is like a slightly cheaper version of the TP9s fatar. Better than DM12, but....not as nice to touch as the fatar. Of course plenty of much more plastic-like beds EG MOX-F6 play better than they feel. 2" wider than Access Virus, but not quite as deep keys to plugs, 1" less. Virus TP8s keys are longer. I guess it's a bit lighter than the virus, but seems 2x MOXF6. Wish it had a mod wheel instead of paddle, and a bigger display, etc those seem minor annoyances. 

 

Anyway, it exceeds my expectations, at first touch. 

 

The manual, as usual is quite spare, but to get an idea of the workflow, the video below lays it out pretty well.  It's a simple system, and available settings are at hand with at most a shallow menu dive. The "vintage" modes are editable in many aspects, which means you can affect the circuits in unusual ways. The mod matrix has 40 sources and a like number of destinations. As he goes through it, you are thinking "OK that's normal..that's the usual..." The he will hit on a little option, like the negative portamento bend, and you think...."well that's pretty cool...I never did that before"

 

 

 

Such a simple, contained workflow means a player might easily grasp the choices and apply a few in the heat of battle. Daniel Fisher pointed out in a Sweetwater video comparing MIDI and CV that analog voltage, if it does not need conversion to digital, is insanely fast. Hence those crazy "glitchy" Eurorrack percussion riffs which retain definition at great speed. This synth feels fast. That could be my imagination, and it may be going through some conversions I don't know about. In that case the DACs are great  

[Bill H.]

18 hours ago, uhoh7 said:

Look what the cat dragged in....

 

Can you read the display from your playing position? I don't care about it being red (something they're going totally apoplectic about in the other forum) but I do care about it being legible without having to scoot over. 

 

Congrats! And keep us informed about any reliability issues that come up please. 

[uhoh7]

Bill: "Can you read the display from your playing position? I don't care about it being red (something they're going totally apoplectic about in the other forum) but I do care about it being legible without having to scoot over."

 

EDIT: [Bill, it could be an issue if you are filming a youtube video with camera lights. Maybe outside in daylight. I checked this again, it is a non-issue inside my house daytime and after sunset with house lights on, it's super clear. I don't feel the need to move my head at all. Data is very clear, plenty large, compared to any hardware I've used.]

 

This thing was made for kindergarten--in a good way! The screen is way easier than you think and you hardly need it. Look at those monster knobs! You can't miss a button. Some accuse me of being born in 57. I won't confirm or deny. But for an increasingly physically challenged player, like me,  it's pretty nice. I've been playing around more. Velocity working "normally". There are so few options you don't even need to read..you soon remember the fuzzy shape. Now you do need it sometimes with the envelopes...you hit compare to see the original setting. It's pretty darn clear, even with two rows of letters. I saw Starsky complaining about that...in the first hour of delivery. I never once thought about it--despite trifocals. Of course there are a million ways the interface might be "improved" to the taste of me or whoever. The paddle section is huge...there is no place for the cat....you might have little LEDs to show you the envelope settings...but actually you get easily used to the way it is. I did some experimenting with effects. My conclusion? Keep them analog. It's a great lesson about the cost of conversion, AD or DAC. I tried the Virus effects and behringer space FX, 24bit reverb, compared the analog Roland 500 series (clone) effects, and B2600 blue marvin spring reverb. No contest. The character of unconstrained electrons is the whole point of the thing...it seems to me anyway. It really does have knarly character in a fully analog signal path, on both the sweet tones and the big saws, but that's fragile, like recording big pianos, good, but not like being there. 

 

I haven't even tried the vintage tones. Splits are dead easy. I saw some reference to MPE so it may do some sort of Midi 2.0...for the poly AT I guess. It does split as a controller. Curve options are simple, hard medium and soft. Not like the old days. My SL880 has a really nice selection of options, and 4 layers. Anyway you see the size etc. It won't be to everyone's taste of course, many players trade even the ones they love..but it's very affordable time travel, to keep or just try out. 

 

EDIT: The is extra AT adjustment I did not see, looks very nice. He also explains MPE on the UBx-a: it receives, but does not send. This could be a very nice destination for the Osmose   He demos MPE in bitwig:

 

 

Probably Jack's review was linked above...check the last few seconds:

 

At the very end... "It's the most powerful, best sounding synth I've ever had the chance of playin in this room" Jack is a great salesman; nevertheless it's high praise from a guy like many of you, a real player, from a young age. An old  wannabe such as myself is certainly going to sell it short in many ways from inexperience. 

 

Still 1199 at Sweetwater....the DM12 is 799, I bought mine about a year after it came out for 525, new. The "real deal" OB-X8 is hovering at 5k. I'm sure it's nicer in many ways. But you can't fill one 19" eurorack row for 1200 without some serious selection. Life is getting short...especially for some of us  There will be whining, considering the source....extra whining. I watched people proudly sell their Osmose after a day. Less time than it takes to learn happy birthday on the Kazoo. Many more owners are crazy about it. 

[Dr Mike Metlay]

On 12/13/2023 at 10:32 AM, ABECK said:

For the better part of my life, I had assumed ARP was pronounced phonetically (like karp).  You can imagine my dismay when I finally came to the realization it is pronounced Ayee Arrrre Peee.  (At least I don't say Mooooooog!)

Actually, Dina Pearlman (the daughter of Alan R. Pearlman and the head of the Alan R. Pearlman Foundation) has no problem with the word-like pronunciation. In fact, her autograph is "d'ARP". Take that as coming from as primary a source as you wish. And woohoo, I posted on this thread! Big whoop.

 

mike

 

[Dr Mike Metlay]

On 12/9/2023 at 2:10 PM, Bill H. said:

It's a prototype. The left hand control section is a little different, and it has the Oberheim logo and OB-Xa on the front panel. 

My God, am I the only person who caught this? Not a single reply or emoji? Tsk. (Or did I miss one? Seven pages to wade through... er, eight... make that nine.......)

 

[uhoh7]

5 hours ago, Dr Mike Metlay said:

My God, am I the only person who caught this? Not a single reply or emoji? Tsk. (Or did I miss one? Seven pages to wade through... er, eight... make that nine.......)

 

MusicTribe bought the Oberheim name. Then gifted it back, or so I read. That might explain it. Jack is playing a preproduction model above....maybe it was better, I have no idea, maybe somebody will ask him. 

 

There is a button on the upper "auto". When you hit that it shows you which voices are firing via lights on the central buttons. This is interesting after you set the spread. Mine came with all voices in the center. The board has three outs, left, mono, and right. I spread the voices and used the stereo jacks last night in my small music/living room, which has lots of carpets and a number of speakers, basically a 5 channel stereo. The effect is nice to my ears. Would be nice on the Hammond between my two Leslies. 

 

There are 8 vintage modes (if memory serves) with huge, some interesting, sound changes to the same preset. You can create your own with a wide set of variables. In digital synth it's just some number changes, which is cool. But here its a physical change for the voltage path, cooler

 

The biggest sounds would come from doubling. This guy tries to make the Vox Humana:

 

I don't know if he succeeds, but he gets some big sounds with the doubling, which I want to try

 

 

 

 

[David Emm]

Migod, after all of my sideways sneering, I don't know how I'm going to cope if B'ger begins releasing tough synths that don't go belly up within 90 days. If this thing appears on a concert stage, I'm gonna get whiplash from the speed of my retraction. Darnit, I was casually enjoying my hate. 🤨

[ChazKeys]

Here is a free basic editor. No sysex so there is no two way communication but lots of stuff like panning and atrophy control that reduces menu diving . There is a page dedicated to the Mod Matrix which is very powerful.

 

https://aka-v-c-f.blogspot.com/2024/02/behringer-ub-xa-editor.html?m=1

 

 Check out my other editors here

 

https://aka-v-c-f.blogspot.com/2023/10/ctrlr-panels-collection.html?m=1

[uhoh7]

Nice looking editor!

 

About the screen. It's hard to get a pic that gives an idea what it's like, but here is the best I've managed which gives an idea:

It's daylight about 4pm. Natural light from snow outside...I don't use indoor lights in this room till later. This is the most useful screen for me right now, I pull up a preset and I want to fiddle with the release or something, but I like to know where I'm at. Big giant button near screen: Compare. It's lit. You see the original VCA release at 121, and my twist to 143. Clear as day. I moved all the way left after I took this, standing over the paddles. I could still read it no problem. IMHO it's way easier to read than you might think. 

 

EDIT: good user thread here with all kinds of tips tricks: 

https://gearspace.com/board/electronic-music-instruments-and-electronic-music-production/1419757-behringer-ub-xa-owners-discussion.html

[Dr Mike Metlay]

On 2/13/2024 at 5:41 PM, uhoh7 said:

On 2/13/2024 at 11:53 AM, Dr Mike Metlay said:

My God, am I the only person who caught this? Not a single reply or emoji? Tsk. (Or did I miss one? Seven pages to wade through... er, eight... make that nine.......)

 

On 2/13/2024 at 5:41 PM, uhoh7 said:

MusicTribe bought the Oberheim name. Then gifted it back, or so I read. That might explain it. Jack is playing a preproduction model above....maybe it was better, I have no idea, maybe somebody will ask him. 

 

OK, I guess my sense of humor is way too esoteric. Doesn't anyone remember the prototype Behringer console that, whoopsie, had a Mackie logo on the PCB? And here we have a prototype Behringer synthesizer that, whoopsie, still says Oberheim...?

 

Sheesh, tough crowd. Forget it, I'll get my coat....

 

mike

 

[ElmerJFudd]

[bennyray]

Gentlemen you get what you pay for Mic Drop!

 

The OB -X8 is superior hands down if you ain't first you are last.

[ElmerJFudd]

39 minutes ago, bennyray said:

Gentlemen you get what you pay for Mic Drop!

 

The OB -X8 is superior hands down if you ain't first you are last.

$3800 superior?  That’s a question for the purchaser and their expectations.  
 

I’ve seen a few A/Bs lately on YouTube.  American Strat vs knock off strat straight into amp. $2k vs $189.  Does the $2k sound better?  Yep, but not by much.  The player makes the greatest difference.  
 

$4500 vs $270 saxophone. Yes there’s a difference - but how far off to the listener with the same player keeping his mouth piece.  Depends on the listener, the player makes the biggest difference.  
 

These sorts of comparisons were impossible until recent history.  Cheap labor, improved manufacturing processes and quality control. 
 

Regardless… there is an instrument out there for everyone at every price point.  Student instruments, entry level instruments have never been better.