Behringer today announced the UB-X, an analog clone/replica of the legendary 1979 Oberheim OB-X poly analog Synthesizer.
Almost two years ago, Behringer first posted about its UB-X project. Since then, things have been quiet. The UB-Xa, the OB-Xa clone/replica is now on the market, so the X project should continue. That is also the case.
Apparently, Behringer is bringing out the big guns for the NAMM season. After there was news about the JT-16 yesterday, today they show an update on the UB-X project.
According to Behringer, they completed the first prototype of the UB-X Synthesizer. Completion and shipping are still far in the future but the project continues. And so far, it’s looks very good. Looking forward to the final product. If it’s as solid as the UB-Xa, why not?
Behringer FB Post:
UB-X is alive! Today we’ve fired up the first complete prototype – what an amazing moment. We’re now starting to implement the firmware and do thorough testing. Please bear in mind that we’re still far away from shipping the UB-X, but we’re making huge progress.
Isn’t it a beautiful synth?
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Article From April 22, 2022
The Oberheim company recently announced its comeback with the help of Sequential and Focusrite. We know from a trademark entry that Dave Smith and Sequential are working on an Oberheim OB-X successor as one can safely say now in collaboration with Tom Oberheim and his team.
A company is competing with the two legendary developers for the OB-X races. Of course, the one with the letter B. Behringer announced the “project” UB-X today.
Behringer UB-X
I am clearly writing project as this is not an official real product but a project on the paper/screen they are working on. The UB-X will be Behringer’s answer to the legendary OB-X analog polyphonic synthesizer from 1979. It will be a clone/replica of the original with some improvements. I’m sure.
According to Behringer, they are working with an engineer who has experience with the OB-X circuits. The OB-X is quite different from other synths, as it uses predominantly discrete circuitry, which makes the design and manufacturing more challenging, says B in the FB post.
Synth flashback: the original Oberheim OB-X featured 2 VCOs per voice (sawtooth or pulse), a 2-pole VCF lowpass filter with its own ADSR envelope, a VCA with ADSR, a multi-wave LFO, polyphonic sample & hold, and portamento and patch memory. A unique functionality that the OB-Xa, for example, didn’t have was polymod.
Another major difference to the OB-Xa is that the OB-X is a discrete analog synth with a more raw and wild sound character. The OB-Xa used Curtis. CEM Ics had a more smooth sound. The UB-X is in full development and they target to offer an 8-voice version for $1199 USD.
Facebook Post
We have some exciting news for you. In our constant search to hire passionate and experienced engineers, we found a fantastic analog engineer, who has not only decade-long synth design experience, but also specific knowledge related to the OB-X circuitry.The OB-X is quite different from other synths, as it uses predominantly discrete circuitry, which makes the design and manufacturing more challenging.
This development will now give us a massive head start and we immediately formed a focused engineering team to start the development of the UB-X.As we recently shared with you, now that we have fully developed the firmware platform for the UB-Xa, we can reuse up to 80% for the next Poly synths such as the UB-X, which will tremendously speed up the development.
We’re super excited about this project and will hopefully announce the lead engineer in the near future. If you like to join this amazing team and have deep experience with mixed architecture hardware or embedded software design, please send your resume to joinus@musictribe.com.
We target to offer an 8-voice UB-X for US$ 1.199 retail. What do you think about the features, overall design and price?
Another interesting vintage project from Behringer. I hope they will add some new modern features. Poly Aftertouch keyboard, for example, would be an interesting upgrade. I’m looking forward to the first prototypes and the first sound demo.
Availability is still unclear as it is currently a project. Stay tuned, I will report on the future progress.
More information will follow here: Behringer
Hello, what happened to all the small synthétiser projets Behringer ?
Martien
They are waiting for chips and it’s hard today to get chips at an affordable price and at high quantities.
B is a real cannibal !! He doesn’t look anyone in the face! For me it’s at least… immoral! Why doesn’t he design and build something original, with the great possibilities of the made in China that for decades has consecrated its commercial success (I wouldn’t say qualitative….) ???