In his latest video, Bernd Brüning, aka The Synth King, explores the polyphonic aftertouch of the upcoming Behringer UB-Xa synthesizer.

Polyphonic aftertouch is a keyboard feature that’s, unfortunately, been extremely rare. It brings an added dimension of possibilities and expression to you keyboard performance, because you can add expressive modulation to individual notes. It’s one of the features the promise to make the Behringer UB-Xa more than a cheap knockoff.

“This little piece of music showcases the superb keybed of the UB-Xa,” notes Brüning.  “It provides velocity sensitivity and polyphonic aftertouch, enabling you to play your music with extraordinary expressivity.”

Here’s what Brüning shared about the technical details of his performance:

“In this split performance, filter frequency, volume, LFO speed and intensity of the upper preset (in unison mode employing only one voice) is controlled by poly aftertouch. Moreover volume, VCF and VCA attack is also controlled by velocity.

The lower pad sound uses OB-8 “second page” functions such as LFO rate delay here controlling panorama position. Furthermore LFO rate is influenced by poly aftertouch as well.

This music genre begs for delay and reverb. I´ve used two Lexicon PCM 70 connected to my main mixing desk as send effects.

Everything is played life and recorded in one take without any edits or further audio processing.”

Check out the performance and share your thoughts on the UB-Xa’s polyphonic aftertouch capability in the comments!