MÕNAI Synth, BMF Raffle, Adventure Synth and More! – Synth Journal
5,0 / 5,0 | 
This week’s Synth Journal takes a look at some very cool, interesting projects, including the MÕNAI from VOID9 and the latest Bob Moog Foundation raffle!
One of the best things about the synth community is the sheer number of clever people doing amazing things and delivering quirky, unique and compelling ways to make music with technology. This week, we take a look at just a few of the latest, plus we have news of the latest Bob Moog Foundation raffle, with a prize worth over $24,000 USD!
Synth Journal – 4/12/25
VOID9 MÕNAI
We kick things off with a super cool project called MÕNAI from VOID9. It’s described as a standalone multitimbral synthesiser whose creators say it’s meant to make portable music-making more accessible and less of a hassle!
At first glance, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the MÕNAI is giving out strong Teenage Engineering vibes, or maybe a hint of Sonicware’s ELZ_1, not that there’s anything wrong with that. But MÕNAI is different in one key way.
From the outset, MÕNAI is designed to be open source. The hardware contains 8 endless encoders, a joystick, touch-sensitive strips and an array of buttons, all housed in a CNC-machined aluminium hardware enclosure. Power comes from an integrated rechargeable battery.
Developers can embrace this hardware and create their own custom extensions that run directly on the MÕNAI, taking advantage of the controls and powerful internal synthesis engines. The creators envisage custom sequencers, arpeggiators and MIDI processors. The large screen offers up a wealth of creative opportunities too.
Plans for MÕNAI include audio and FX generators that will allow for the custom building of oscillators, filters and FX. There is no firm price or release date for MÕNAI yet, but the hope is that the SDK will be available sometime around Q2 of 2026. Check out the VOID9 website for details.
“What Would Bob Do?” Bob Moog Foundation Eurorack Raffle
The Bob Moog Foundation has just announced its latest fundraising raffle and they have teamed up once again with Chris Meyer to come up with what must be their most valuable and mind-blowing set of prizes ever!
The winner of the raffle will take home a massive Eurorack system, made up of a wealth of modules and real-time controllers and all housed in a beautiful walnut case, lovingly curated and assembled by Chris himself.
Chris, aside from being the guy who gave us vector synthesis and the amazing Learning Modular website, amongst many other things, has once again assembled an amazing rig that also includes units from Moog music themselves!
Tickets are on sale now, with localised pricing shown on the order page, at $25 each, 5 for $100, 12 for $200 and 35 for $500. The winner will also receive a copy of the fabulous Push Turn Move from Bjooks, signed by Kim Bjorn and Chris. They’ll also receive free access to Learning Modular and free cables!
This time, there are also runner-up prizes. Second place will get an Expressive E Osmose 49, and third place, a copy of Noisy 2. The raffle closes on Friday, December 19th at 23:59 ET. All proceeds benefit the three projects of the Bob Moog Foundation: Dr. Bob’s SoundSchool, the Bob Moog Foundation Archives, and the Moogseum.
Purchase your tickets here.
Odd-1 Modular Grain Synth
Digital is the new analogue (again) and both wavetable and granular synths have been seeing a huge resurgence of late. The Odd-1 Modular Grain Synth from Oddment Audio is an upcoming project that bills itself as a laboratory for modular sound synthesis.
However, for something calling itself modular, there is a distinct lack of patch cables! That’s because the modular name is used to describe the way the synth’s controls are organised. Featuring a new grain synth engine, the Odd-1 also features resonant filters, LFOs, FX and more to create your sounds.
It also has two layers and a 60s sample buffer, so you can really get into the weeds with your creations, all in a very cool-looking desktop unit. Beta unit pricing is $795, limited to 100 units and shipping around May of 2026.
The production units will retail for $995 and are expected to ship in September of 2026. More details can be found over at the Oddment Audio website, along with a bunch of FAQ’s and testimonials from people who have had early access.
Prismatic Spray II ByteBeat Adventure Synth
I was today years old when I discovered bytebeat. I genuinely had no idea what it was and I guess that this admission outs me as the Gen X’er that I am! I still don’t fully understand it, but a bit of research tells me that it is a minimal programming language for generating synthetic music by using mathematical formulas, typically bitwise operations, to define an audio waveform over time.
It allows users to create rhythmic and melodic electronic sounds from a single line of code by treating time as a variable and applying a formula to generate audio samples. The resulting sounds are often compared to 8-bit or retro video game music due to their simplicity and algorithmic nature.
I’m still confused, but the Prismatic Spray II, a stereo bytebeat adventure synth (their description not mine) from Distropolis Goods contains two such bytebeat engines and multiple on-device visualisation styles, viewable in colour or grayscale.
There’s pitch scaling to keep the bytebeat tempo consistent whilst you change the pitch, plus detune, pan and glide. The analog filter is digitally controlled, and there are 60+ bytebeat incantations. Prismatic Spray II is tuned to a Western 12-tone scale, and quite frankly, that’s the first bit of this I have understood!
I can hear the “yoof” scoffing at my ignorance, and I’ll gladly sit with any of them as they educate this ol’ fossil, but if the Prismatic Spray II interests you, it’ll set you back £212, and you can buy it in different colours from their website now!
Alma – A Synth Built For a Daughter
“I believe the children are our future”… as some warbling songstress once said. But it’s true, and when it comes to making music, we ought to be encouraging our little ones to engage with music however they can. For me, in mid-70s England, it was with a descant recorder.
Luckily, kids today have a much better choice of ways to make music, and some have really cool Dads like Alastair Roberts! Alastair saw an opportunity to build a simple, colourful and tactile unit based around an Arduino board running an onboard synth and linked to a little screen with a small speaker.
After initially breadboarding the concept, he set about building and testing the necessary code, before testing it out virtually. He then set about designing the enclosure and physical UI in Fusion 360 and moving from breadboard to PCB.
After completing the testing and prototyping, he went ahead and built a fully functional unit to give to his daughter. But what does this unit do, exactly? Well, it plays four notes in a looping sequence, and the controls allow you to interact with that in a rudimentary way.
Each of the four sliders controls the notes. Slide up to raise the pitch, slide down to lower it. The rotary knobs allow control over tempo, volume, scale, pitch and other instrument controls. The OLED screen gives you a modicum of feedback, and the whole thing is powered by 3x AA batteries!
Alastair would love to make a small production run of these, but the inevitable costs around safety certification, manufacturing and distribution may be too prohibitive. However, he does seem determined, and if you visit his website, there’s a link for you to sign up to be kept in the loop! We wish him all the luck in the world!
This might also interest you
One response to “MÕNAI Synth, BMF Raffle, Adventure Synth and More! – Synth Journal”
Re Void9… Sounds interesting, but be aware that being open to extensions via an SDK doesn’t mean the thing is open source. Open source means everyone gets to see and modify the source code of the device’s software.