Befaco Oneiroi is an experimental,wild all-digital synth voice for Eurorack packed with rich oscillators, looping, filters, resonators, and now for VCV Rack.
At Superbooth 2024, Befaco presented Oneiroi, one of my highlights of this Eurorack year. An experimental digital synth voice that combines rich digital synthesis with sampling via a built-in looper.
If the module price is too high for you, there is now an affordable virtual version of it for the VCV Rack modular Synthesizer. The VCV Rack module offers the same features and capabilities.
One advantage over hardware is that you can load as many instances as the computer has CPU power. Something that is possible in hardware but becomes very expensive. Also neat: it allows you to try out the module before buying the hardware.
Befaco Oneiroi is available now for $35 in the official VCV Rack store.
Update From July 19, 2024
Good news from Barcelona. The Befaco Oneiroi experimental digital synth voice is out now.
Available at my partners
Article From May 14, 2024
Last year at Superbooth 23, the Barcelona-based company Befaco delighted us with the characterful, dirty FX Boy effects module, which allows you to insert Gameboy cartridges. A highlight was that they worked with numerous Eurorack developer friends.
This year, they don’t make it any less experimental and will. Befaco has just announced the Oneiroi experimental synth voice.
Befaco Oneiroi
Oneiroi is a new live performance-oriented experimental digital synth voice for Eurorack. It is powered by the latest revision (mk3) of the mighty Rebel Technology OWL programmable DSP platform, which features 24-bit 48 kHz stereo audio and 32-bit internal processing.
It is a module with many knobs and sliders that allow hands-on control over the parameters. A newly developed digital engine with a colorful mix of synthesis and sampling works underneath them.
The Befaco Oneiroi’s sound generator consists of two distinct oscillators. First, it has a stereo supersaw oscillator with detune control inspired by the iconic Roland JP-8000. It’s perfect for extensive, sharp sounds.
Then, it hosts a 2048-sample dynamic wavetable oscillator with offset control. A sine oscillator supports both oscillators.
On the sampling side, it also features a 5-second looper with continuous speed control (2x reverse to 2x forward) with pre- and post-looping selectors. You record external signals via the external stereo input or the module’s output. Excitingly, its buffer also feeds the aliasing wavetable oscillator.
All three oscillators have only a single V/oct input and an additional unison control.
Colorful Effects
Befaco says Oneiroi is suitable for ambient pads and drone-like soundscapes. Effects are needed for these, especially to make them bigger and more spacious. Don’t worry; Befaco made sure to do that.
It starts with a stereo filter with four flavors: lowpass, bandpass, highpass, and comb filter. The filter can be freely positioned along the effects chain, making it a very versatile tool.
Next to this, you have a 3-band resonator with tune and feedback controls. Resonators are very underrated effects, and I’m curious what impact they will have on the final sound. There is also a built-in 2-tap echo with controls over time and density to add more room.
For the final touch, Oneiroi also hosts a reverb with macro control for the size, filtering, and direction. It is a synth voice module for Eurorack, and modular synthesizers stand for extensive modulation capabilities. Yes, Befaco’s new module also took care of that.
Modulation
The engine offers a built-in LFO that ships with various types of self-modulation with configurable routing. It has multiple waves and controls over the level and speed.
Additionally, you can work with a powerful randomizer with four different targets, three intensity levels, and handy undo/redo. Clever, there is a soft take-over functionality for showing where the values are about the position of the control, mainly after the randomization process.
If that’s not enough, Befaco Oneiroi has eight CV inputs for the main parameters, and four can also be assigned to secondary functions. External sync via the sync input (up to 300 BPM) is also onboard.
On the connection side, it has a stereo output and input. The latter has three switchable gain levels and a two-colored LED for monitoring.
Befaco Oneiroi First Impression
As a fan of drone synths and ambient sounds, I am greatly interested in the Befaco Oneiroi module. It awakens my inner drone passion. The combination of various oscillators, looping, and effects is lovely. It’s a very tempting module.
Befaco Oneiroi will be available in early Summer 2024 for an estimated price of 400€+ TAX (around 475€ final price) for the assembled unit. Befaco will have a booth (Z170) at Superbooth 24 this week.
More information here: Befaco
35 is WAY too much, come on, its not a vst, sub 10 “synth app price” aproach is a way better idea IMO…