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, we assume) 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, we’re hopeful that it won’t be too long in the oven.
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 - VCOs and VCFs that are “heavily based” on the originals, 16 voices, 512 program memories, MIDI support and eight vintage modes, for example - 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.
