After the 12-voice debut synthesizer Deepmind and its offshoots, numerous monophonic and paraphonic synthesizers from Behringer came onto the market, but no real polyphonic synthesizer with complete features including its own filter for each voice. With the UB-Xa, they didn‘t limit themselves to a faithful replica of the OB-Xa, but rather gave the synthesizer a few additional extras. In addition to USB and MIDI for easy integration into a modern setup, there is twice the number of voices (16 instead of 8), a keyboard with polyphonic aftertouch and a modulation matrix. But does the UB-Xa also offer the signature sound of the Oberheim classic and how does it compare to the OB-X8 keyboard, which is four times as expensive? We tested this in detail with one of the first devices available.
Lots of space!
Visually, the UB-Xa is very similar to the original with its dark blue color scheme and the striking black horizontal stripes, and the large buttons and controls are also very reminiscent of the OB-Xa. The Behringer version is a little more compact and lighter than the Oberheim classic or the new edition OB-Xa, but with a width of over a meter and a depth of 35 cm, it also takes up a lot of space in the studio or in the car on the way to the gig or jam. The advantage of these dimensions is the generous spacing between the controls, which makes tweaking your own sounds a pleasure even with large hands
