Behringer’s UB-Xa - a reboot of the classic Oberheim OB-Xa synth - has been in development for a tortuously long time.
We were told it was “nearly ready” as long ago as 2020, 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.
All of which means that, sadly, we’re not in a position to tell you that the UB-Xa is now available, but what we can confirm is that, while we’ve all been waiting for that, Behringer has been hard at work on a desktop version, the UB-Xa D, for those who don’t need a keyboard.
Presumably, this will have a broadly similar feature set and sound, but will take up less space in your studio (it can also be rack-mounted) We’re guessing that it might not arrive for a good while yet, though.
The same could probably be said for the Pro VS, another new synth that Behringer has in the pipeline. Inspired by the Sequential Prophet VS, this is a compact 4-voice hybrid vector synth that promises many extra functions in comparison to that instrument. There are 127 wavetables and 32 presets, plus a sequencer, arpeggiator and display with oscilloscope.
Again, manufacturing of this one will depend on when Behringer can get hold of the necessary chips, but development is said to have been completed, and we’re assured that it’s ready to go into production.
The Pro VS has a projected street price of just $99 - presumably the inclusion of a touch keyboard rather than a proper one will help to keep the price down - so could be a strong contender in the best cheap synths market when it eventually lands.
