VOID9 MÕNAI Is an “Evil OP-1”: Superbooth Synth Journal
The best of the rest of Superbooth news.
2,5 / 5,0 | 
VOID9 MÕNAI is the black star of this Superbooth edition of Synth Journal. We also check out a new synth from Analog Sweden, a sequencer from KOMA Elektronik, and the craziest looper you ever did see.
Superbooth Synth Journal
VOID9 MÕNAI
Another Superbooth has come and gone. We do our best to cover as much as we can, but stuff slips through the cracks. In last week’s Synth Journal, Lasse sopped up the synth juice that spilled over the brim of our regular coverage, and today I’m doing my best to absorb the rest. (For more Superbooth 2026 coverage, check out the rolling report.)
First up is VOID9 MÕNAI, a self-contained synth that Hainbach called a “cool evil OP-1.” It’s a portable multitimbral synthesizer with multiple sound engines inside, including sampling (with an onboard microphone for that too). They will also make an SDK available for third parties to create sound engines for it.
While you can connect it to your computer via USB, VOID9 sees it as a self-contained instrument, with lots of expressivity possible via the unique buttons, which offer both piano-style (29 keys) and function ones, through the two touch-sensitive strips, and the two-axis joystick.
VOID9 MÕNAI is currently in prototype stage, but the team is hoping to have a beta release out in summer of this year. The price is TBD, but apparently they’re looking at around €1000.
- VOID9 MÕNAI product page
KOMA Elektronik Monoplex Melodic Microtonal Sequencer
KOMA Elektronik’s Komplex Sequencer is the big daddy of Eurorack sequencers. It also has a big price. At Superbooth this year, KOMA debuted a new sequencing alternative, the Monoplex Melodic Microtonal Sequencer, which takes inspiration from the Komplex Sequencer but significantly brings down the price
The Monoplex has a lot of solid step-sequencing functionality packed into its 42HP real estate. You get the sequencer with up to 16 steps and controls for gate width, glide, speed, direction, and clock division/multiplication, with CV patch points for all of these parameters. You can also affect first step starting point, step skips, repeats and ratchets, and transposition.
Conveniently, Monoplex includes a built-in quantizer with chromatic, major and minor modes. It also allows you to import your own scales via MIDI SysEx using the browser-based tool with a dedicated MIDI-note capture mode that lets incoming notes define the active scale on the fly.
Monoplex is available now for preorder on the KOMA Elektronik site for €498. Shipping will start in late June.
- KOMA Elektronik Monoplex product page
KOMA Elektronik and Passepartout Duo Haloplane
Here’s another from KOMA. You may remember the Chromaplane, the electromagnetic synthesizer created by performance team Passepartout Duo and KOMA. You play it by moving two electromagnetic pickup coils across the surface. Now the collaborators are back with Haloplane, a continuation of the ideas begun in Chromaplane but with some intriguing changes.
Haloplane uses the same electromagnetic theory as the Chromaplane, and you play it with the two stereo pickups, but this time you’re working with two different sound engines: a micro-loop sampler and wavetable synthesis. It includes a built-in microphone and line input for sampling, and you can save up to 100 presets. Haloplane also offers a unique field rotation parameter, where rotation of the Haloplane’s body shifts the seven playing fields around, “creating everything from agile melodic riffs to precisely timed sequences,” according to the developers. This is CV-controllable; there’s also CV out, plus a multi-mode filter and audio effects.
KOMA Elektronik and Passepartout Duo have yet to release a price or release date. This certainly looks cool, though.
- KOMA Elektronik Haloplane product page
Analog Sweden Swen2
Analog Sweden, the company behind the Crum2, a drum machine collaboration with Love Hultén, showed off their latest instrument this year. Called Swen2, it’s the evolution of their swENIGISER, which itself was a take on the Orgon Systems Enigiser. That’s quite a lineage.
So what is Swen2? In a few words, it’s a monophonic analog synthesizer with a lot of modulation possibilities. While it may seem bog-standard at first, it actually offers some pretty unique synthesis elements, including PWM for the sawtooth wave on the single VCO, a 12 mode Proto VCF/A https://analogsweden.com/swenigiser-euro, a mixer to blend in filtered and clean signal, plus three envelopes and two LFOs, one of which is digital and can be clocked to the generative sequencer.
There’s also a second, digital ‘ghost’ oscillator that tracks and doubles VCO one, plus two sub oscillators, a sine and SH-101-style, with the sine one going straight to the VCA for Serum-like sub bass bolstering. Each point in the signal path can also be driven pretty hard for grit and distortion.
Swen2 also includes a Eurorack-ready patchbay and a dedicated headphone out.
The synth will cost €699 and be available directly from Analog Sweden in June.
- Analog Sweden Swen2 product page
Synthux Academy Spotykach
Synthux Academy is not just a developer. As the name suggests, it’s also a source for education, running residencies every year to teach people how to design and build instruments. Very cool.
Their latest device is also their most complex. Spotykach is a tabletop dual looper inspired by 1960s reel-to-reel tape, 1990s-style digital slicing, and modern algorithmic chaos. The hardware unit provides 12 touch pads across two stereo recording decks, each with three modes based on those inspirations: tape, slider and Drift. There’s also a crossfader.
Spotykach plays well with external gear, too, with seven CV inputs (three per deck and one for the crossfader), clock input, a gate input and output per looper, and two modulation sources. Each of these has a dedicated attenuator and three modes, including an envelope follower per deck and various waveforms.
Spotykach is available now to purchase for €800 from Synthux. The next batch goes out in June.
- Synthux Academy Spotykach product page
More Information
- More about synthesizers
- Buy synthesizers at Thomann*
*Note: This article contains advertising links that help us pay for this site. Don’t worry: the price for you will always be the same! If you buy something through these links, we will receive a small commission. Thank you for your support!
This might also interest you
