“This synthesiser is clearly not a clone”: Behringer releases statement following Tom Oberheim’s response to its UB-Xa synthBudget gear brand Behringer has released a statement following Tom Oberheim’s response to its UB-Xa synth, in which the Oberheim Electronics founder stated there was “no collaboration” between himself and the brand.
Though inspired by the OB-Xa, Behringer says the UB-Xa is “not a clone”. The product, which took six years of development, was announced as the best selling synth at Thomann last week. Following the news of its success, Behringer responded to a comment on social media in which it claimed it “got consent” from Oberheim himself.

READ MORE: Tom Oberheim on synth emulations: “Anything that brings new sounds is exciting — I don’t care what the brand is”

In his own post on Facebook, Oberheim clarified that Behringer does “have limited rights to use the name UB-Xa, but not the Oberheim name. So it has permission under certain conditions to release a product using the UB-Xa name, but that’s all.”
As this situation has escalated and caused much confusion surrounding matters of consent between the two, Behringer has now released a full statement via its main means of communication, its Facebook page.
“Behringer recently announced that our UB-Xa synthesizer has become the best-selling synthesizer at Thomann, Europe’s largest retailer. When questioned about the designer of the original synthesizer, we clarified in a social media post that we have the pioneer’s consent, affirming our right to market our synthesizer and use the UB-Xa name,” it begins.
“The pioneer whose name we’re unable to mention based on a three year old agreement, states: ‘…have no objection to Music Tribe’s use or registration of the mark UB-Xa anywhere in the world…’”
It continues, “We clearly shared the plan for the UB-Xa synthesizer and received consent to use the trademark. We have utmost respect for the pioneer and it is unfortunate that this situation has escalated. We wish him the very best and much success.
“We are immensely proud of our innovative UB-Xa and its success. This synthesizer is clearly not a clone; in fact it is the world’s first and only 16-voice analogue and bi-timbral synthesizer with a poly aftertouch keyboard and eight-mode atrophy settings, all priced at USD $1,199, which is a fraction of the cost of competing products.”
Behringer concludes, “We remain committed to our mission of making great instruments accessible to all musicians, especially those who ‘have not and cannot.’”

Behringer recently announced that our UB-Xa synthesizer has become the best-selling synthesizer at Thomann, Europe’s…
Posted by Behringer on Friday, May 24, 2024

You can find out more about Behringer’s UB-Xa via its official website. Oberheim recently announced the launch of the TEO-5 polysynth, a compact analogue-digital synth with a lower price tag than any other Oberheim instrument in history. In our interview with Tom Oberheim, he says the TEO-5 is the synth he’s dreamed of making for five decades.
The post “This synthesiser is clearly not a clone”: Behringer releases statement following Tom Oberheim’s response to its UB-Xa synth appeared first on MusicTech.

Should songwriters get points on recordings? Raye renews call to actionSinger-songwriter Raye renewed her call for record labels to give songwriters a share of recording royalties during her acceptance speech at the UK's Ivor's Awards last week.....
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Top 12 Strategies to book more (and better) music gigsWant to book more live shows? Here are 12 essential strategies for increasing gig opportunities with more gigs that matter.....
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Transform audio with Sampleson Scaper Scaper has been designed to save users hours of work by generating atmospheric soundscapes using any audio recording. 

What musicians and creators can do to get ready for the TikTok ‘ban’Biden signed a bill last month that could leave U.S. consumers and creators TikTok-less nine months from now. Here are some steps you can take to prepare for the worst.. Continue reading
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Decent Samples Release FREE Korg Phase 8 Sample Library
Decent Samples has released a new free Korg Phase 8 library for the free Decent Sampler.  As many of you know, Superbooth 2024 was recently held in Berlin. Superbooth is an annual event at which new and innovative synthesizers and music production gear from various manufacturers are announced. We have covered several synthesizers introduced this year [...]
View post: Decent Samples Release FREE Korg Phase 8 Sample Library

KIT Plugins release BB Chamber A KIT Plugins’ latest collaboration with Nashville’s legendary Blackbird Studio has just arrived, and becomes the first of the company’s offerings to utilise AI technology

‘Hacker’ identified in celebrity memecoin scams, says crypto sleuth RoxoA person associated with Caitlyn Jenner’s JENNER coin launch rugged five other prominent figures, but not her, according to Roxo.

The Emperor’s New ComputerYou walk into a home office and see an attractive standing desk that appears bare. Where’s the computer? Well, if it is [DIY Perk]’s office, the desk is the computer. Like a transformer robot, the desk transforms into a good-looking PC.
He starts with a commercial desk and creates a replacement desktop out of some aluminum sheets and extrusions. The motion uses some V-slot profiles and linear rails. The monitor and keyboard shelf pop up on invisible hinges. When closed, there’s no trace of a computer.

The mechanics of the pop-out hatch are complex, but they worked the first time. At least, we think it was the first time. Video editing is a possibility! He did have to add some springs and pneumatics to keep it from slamming down. A magnet gives a positive lock feeling when you open the hatch.
The monitor is an ultra-wide OLED that can be curved or flat. He removed the electronics from the panel and mounted the screen on the inner part of the hatch. Half of the electronics went back into the desk. A small but powerful PC with an Intel I9 and a graphics card fit in the desk. A conventional power supply would be too large, but a pair of very thin GaN power supplies come to the rescue.
Surplus server heatsinks keep the system cool without breaking the bank.
Thermal management is also something that could easily be too thick. The solution was a custom brass heat spreader that runs the length of the desk, onto which he mounted 40 surplus server heatsinks paired with laptop fans. But when they failed to get the job done, larger heatsinks and fans were brought in. These stick out below the bottom of the desk, but you wouldn’t notice unless you were laying on the floor.
Honestly, the build is amazing. If you are on the fence, watch the first few seconds of the video where the desk transforms, and you’ll be hooked. The final step was to make the aluminum desktop look like wood with oak planks and some optical illusions.
We doubt our woodworking and machining skills are up to duplicating this, but we wish he’d take our money. Desk computers aren’t really a new idea, of course. Be glad you don’t have to build a 1965 “desktop” computer into a desk.

A System Board for the 8008Intel processors, at least for PCs, are ubiquitous and have been for decades. Even beyond the chips specifically built by Intel, other companies have used their instruction set to build chips, including AMD and VIA, for nearly as long. They’re so common the shorthand “x86” is used for most of these processors, after Intel’s convention of naming their processors with an “-86” suffix since the 1970s. Not all of their processors share this convention, though, but you’ll have to go even further back in time to find one. [Mark] has brought one into the modern age and is showing off his system board for this 8008 processor.
The 8008 predates any x86 processor by about six years and was among the first mass-produced 8-bit processors even before the well-known 8080. The expansion from four bits to eight was massive for the time and allowed a much wider range of applications for embedded systems and early personal computers. [Mark] goes into some of the details for programming these antique processors before demonstrating his system board. It gets power from a USB-C connection and uses a set of regulators and level shifters to make sure the voltages all match. Support for all the functions the 8008 needs is courtesy of an STM32. That includes the system memory.
For those looking to develop something like this, [Mark] has also added his development tools to a separate GitHub page. Although it’s always a good idea for those interested in computer science to take a look at old processors like these, it’s not always the easiest path to get original hardware like this, which also carries the risk of letting smoke out of delicate components. A much easier route is to spin up an emulator like an 8086 IBM PC emulator on an ESP32. Want to see inside this old chip? Have a look.

EU’s ChatGPT taskforce offers first look at detangling the AI chatbot’s privacy complianceA data protection taskforce that’s spent over a year considering how the European Union’s data protection rulebook applies to OpenAI’s viral chatbot, ChatGPT, reported preliminary conclusions Friday. The top-line takeaway is that the working group of privacy enforcers remains undecided on crux legal issues, such as the lawfulness and fairness of OpenAI’s processing. The issue […]
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Earth, Wind & Fire legal fight offers lessons for tribute acts, cover bandsEarth, Wind & Fire's lawsuit against a tribute band could redefine legal boundaries for all cover bands......
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2 Days Left to weigh in on Mechanical Licensing Collective’s futureThe MLC's (Mechanical Licensing Collective) sometimes controversial first five years are almost up, and the US Copyright Office is asking for public comment before May 29th as it considers the organization's future......
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Last week’s most-read posts: Live Nation breakup • State of Music Data survey • Spotify vs music publishers • MoreCatch up on what you need to know with this week’s most-read Hypebot posts. We’ve got topics ranging from the breakup of Live Nation and Ticketmaster to the State of Data in The Music Industry survey tips for an album release, Spotify sued by publishers, and more...
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Hit the Decks! It's Nation BeatScott Kettner of fusion Afro-beat/hip-hop project Nation Beat got his start in music when he was just eight years old.

"I got serious about it when I was about 13 years old when I joined the school band and started my own garage band where we played school dances and parties," he says.

Kettner describes the Nation Beat sound as, "a mix of Brazil meets USA through the lens of jazz improvisation and sensibilities. Our music is uplifting, fun and surprising. It's not like anything you've heard before yet there is a familiar element to the sound. Its carnival meets Mardi Gras. Dr John meets Chico Science. Forro, Funk, Bop and Brass."

The latest release is Archaic Humans.

"We recorded mostly at Mercy University in their state of the art recording studio," he says. "We also recorded some tracks in Brazil and at my studio in NJ, Jumbo Sounds. The album features special guests: South African vocalist Melanie Scholtz, D.C. Beatbox master Christylez Bacon, Brazilian percussionist Luca Texeira and master percussionist Michael Spiro. The concept of Archaic Humans is carrying the past to the present while we look to the future. As humans we all carry the DNA of our neanderthal ancestors. Our music is the same. Nothing is new. It all comes from something before it. Our music aims to carry the past musical traditions into the current day while we also imagine how it would sound in the future."

As for gear:

"I'm fortunate to be endorsed by some of the greatest drum companies in the world: Tama, Sabian, Vic Firth, Meinl and Remo."

Looking ahead, Nation Beat has plenty planned for 2024.

"We're currently preparing to tour on and off all summer to support the release of the album," he says. "We'll also be dropping music videos between now and the end of the year."

Archaic Humans is out May 31.

Photo by Jason Gardner

The post Hit the Decks! It's Nation Beat first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.