Befaco Oneiroi Review - Experimental Drone Synth and Effects Module for Eurorack

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Last Thursday I received this brand new synth module, Oneiroi from Befaco. Although it is advertised as experimental drone synth, I found out that it is quite interesting as an effect module, too. It has 3 oscillators, and can use external audio input, it has looper, and one of the oscillators (wavetable) can use looper buffer as a wavetable. Lots of modulation sources and options, many of them can be configured freely in effects chain. Oneiroi is fully stereo from input to output. The effect chain has Multimode filter, Resonator, Echo, and Reverb. All primary controls can be adjusted both manually and with CV.
I tried to cover main aspects of Oneiroi shortly, there are so many details and options, that couple of minutes is too short time to cover them all. I included couple of experiments I made while fiddling with controls.
Oneiroi is very useful for ambient, electronica, musique concrete, and similar genres of music.
Although I am generally very pleased with Oneiroi, there is one thing that I find strange. It can only save one configuration at a time, which limits its use in live performances, because there are lots of config options, and adjusting them manually takes more than a couple of seconds. Even having couple of save slots (5 - 8) would help a lot.

[@cyclikwavezofficial]

Befaco is an Awesome brand of Modular stuffs… I have some, and when I hear this one I think It will be my next ! 😊😊

[@MikeLaaksonen]

I like Befaco modules too, because user is allowed to customise them. Their firmware code is awailable on GitHub with clear instructions, so anyone with programming experience may alter the code, make new features etc. Next week I will start a series of videos on this subject for anyone who is interested to go deeper into DSP programming.

[@aelfulvkulning3643]

Really inspiring review! Especially because there is no talking, no stupid influencer faces. Most influencer videos and reviews focus mostly on their brand building, influencer blathers something irrelevant, 90% of time only face showing. I like this kind of reviews that focus on the subject (not the influencer), show most interesting points (I can read the manual), and contain lots of audio samples. Thank You!

[@MikeLaaksonen]

Thanks! I don't like that self-important influencer culture either. Like you said, it seems that the focus is on influencer himself, and those videos are just a vessel to advertise the influencer, instead of showing an unbiased review. They are just "talking heads" who think that because they have an opinion, they must be omniscient! I try to keep my persona off these reviews, just state the facts, and keep in mind that users have different preferences and workflows, so what works for me, may not work for others and vice versa. But I know that I am the loser in this race :D

[@cyclikwavezofficial]

Magic ❤

[@MikeLaaksonen]

Thank you!

[@Jaumeted]

Hi Mike, just a question. can you use the looper content with the V/OCT input?

[@MikeLaaksonen]

If you mean that "can you change the pitch of looper content with V/OCT input" the answer is no and yes. V/OCT changes the pitch of oscillators, not looper, so it does not work directly. BUT you have to remember that wavetable is one of the oscillators, and wavetable is generated from looper content, and you can choose or scan wavetable offset with Detune/offset CV input. Also, Looper has several CV inputs to control its behavior, like Playback speed CV (-5V to 10V), Start position CV, and Length CV. Playback can be stopped just putting speed 0. Since the speed is from -2x (reversed) to +2x, you can change the tune of looper content with speed CV. According to manual of Oneiroi "At the minimum loop length, the unit acts as an oscillator whose note is C3 at +/-1x, C2 at +/-0.5x and C4 at +/-2x speed. This will not work at V/OCT" BTW, Sync In retriggers the looper, so it is advisable to carefully adjust sync in with certain number of bars. Hopefully this clarifies your question

[@Jaumeted]

@@MikeLaaksonen Thanks Mike, i ask to Befaco too. My idea is use it as a granular synth scanning the content of the looper, perhaps in a future update. Again, thanks for your time and response.

[@MikeLaaksonen]

Basically you can do that already, but only with one grain. You just have to use Sync In CV to trigger looper, and it will start again from Start point that you can change with Start CV, with length specified with Length CV, and you can simultaneous control its speed (pitch) with Detune/offset CV. But it will be just one grain at a time. Although Befaco surely will reveal new features in future firmwares, I am doubtful if this changes, because it would mean re-purposing some inputs and controls for e.g. number of grains etc. I hope I am wrong However, for such need you could consider ADDAC VC Looper & Granular Processor that you can see in my video above Oneiroi. It is specifically designed for that, and it has much more features for granular processing, looping and sampling than Oneiroi. All its features can be controlled with CV inputs. It is bit larger and more expensive than Oneiroi, though.