Plugmon: these alternative GUIs take U-he synthesizers to a new visual level: $10 anniversary sale - December 26, 2025

Plugmon is a Japanese sound and visual design company that creates eye-catching GUI skins for U-he synthesizers, leveling up the plugins.

Happy Birthday, Yuta Yoshimatsu, better known as Plugmon. The plugin UI designer is celebrating the 10th anniversary of his company, Plugmon, with a $10 sale on all GUIs and preset libraries.

If the excellence Mona UI for the U-he Diva Synth or other plugins was previously too expensive for you, now is a perfect opportunity to upgrade the plugins’ visual appearance at a better price. No info on how long the deal will be valid.



Article from October 18, 2024
If you work with synthesizer plugins, an exemplary user interface is essential. It promotes workflow and also creativity. Programming sounds is more fun and pleasing on synths with an attractive UI.

The German company U-he has an excellent reputation in the plugin world. Their synthesizers are high-end quality and have been made in many templates by award-winning Hollywood composers. Regarding UIs, U-he is not top-notch. They are modern and usable but don’t have a wow factor. There is still room for improvement.



It’s good that Plugmon exists. It’s a sound and visual designer company from Japan that creates stunning, alternative UIs for U-he plugins. For me, they are so eye-catching and lovely designed that they take the plugins to a new visual experience level. They almost make a new instrument out of them.

Plugmon has no news, so this article is not part of the daily news coverage. I want to highlight their work in the “in-depth” series mainly because little is said about the designers connecting with U-he.

Plugmon
Diva, Zebra 2, ACE, Bazille, Hive, Zebrallette 2, and Tyrell N6. These are all U-he synthesizers, and the synths for which the Japanese developers have already made UIs—two great examples.

The most recent project is the Diva Mona skin (red/grey) for the analog modeling Synthesizer Diva. When I saw the skin for the first time, I thought to myself: “Does Urs Heckmann secretly release Diva 2?” But it’s just a new skin that, in my opinion, shows Diva in an entirely new light.



The Plugmon designers have not only added a keyboard to it but also rearranged the features to make them easier and more intuitive to work with. It now has way more of the vibe of programming a hardware synth.

The modulation system has also been simplified with color coding, etc. According to the designers, it’s inspired by the NI Massive mod system.

Another highlight of this skin is the lovely embedded mini menu above the main features., allowing you to select the different oscillator, filter, LFO, and envelope modules with a single click. In the original GUI, the functionality looks very old-fashioned.



In addition, each engine (Minimoog, MS-20, Juno, etc.) has its own newly designed theme that matches the new layout. A linked a video with the official demonstration of the UI.

Bazille Tokyo Ghost
The alternative GUI for the Bazille FM Synthesizer is just as well designed. Bazille’s sound and feature set still impress me today as they did on the first day.

Conversely, the GUI has stood still and seems old-fashioned, industrial, and too dim for me. The arrangement of the elements is also a bit wild. Check this GUI now.



Plugmon has modernized the whole thing with its Tokyo Ghost GUI, which is more friendly, brighter, and more compact, shortening the parts.

A highlight of the GUI is the ghost mode, which hides all cables with a single click. “However complex your patch becomes, you can work in dead silence,” the developers said.

In addition to these two example GUIs, Plugmon has made others. If you use Zebra 2 a lot and want to give the design a breath of fresh air, check out Plugmon’s releases. They are more fun than the original.

There are also some neat freebies, like the designs for the U-he Tryell N6 or Hive Synthesizer.

Plugmon’s GUIs aren’t cheap, but for me, they’re a massive visual upgrade over the regular U-he plugins. They are fun to work with and bring fresh life to the plugins. A tip: download the demo before diving into the Plugmon GUI verse. They are larger than the original U-he designs.

The GUIs are available now and range from free to $34,99 for the DIVA Mona skin.

More information here: Plugmon

Source: https://synthanatomy.com/2025/12/pl...ally-reinvents-u-he-synthesizers-plugins.html

 

I can recommended his skins. They actually improve readability, signal logic and add some cool workflow tweaks sometimes. I use them on Diva, Bazille and Zebra.

I'm already disappointed with the mono colour Zebra 3 UI. As a sometimes UI designer in games, Zebra's dense complexity and signal path would really benefit from strong colour coding for different sections (Synthesis, FX etc). Hoping Plugmon will tackle this. If not i might have a crack at it.

 

the original looks better. you can tell that Urs is a designer by profession. ;)

 

I actually prefer Plumons Diva & Zebra skins. Not sure you could argue that they are not professionally done even if you do not like them.

 

I was really disappointed that they stuck with the same format. Even though i ended up buying Z3 the gui was what put me off buying Z2. I even find VCV rack easier to use as i can order & group the modules in a logical fashion.

 

Can you tell us a bit about your background in both programming and music? How did u-he get started?

"I don't have a formal education in either, so I guess you could even call me an amateur in both fields! Although I went to a grammar school with a musical emphasis, I didn't study music and never learned to play an instrument. It must have been providence, as I've been making music and programming music software since I was 14 - with a Commodore C64, by the way.

"On the other hand, I do have a degree in industrial design. The university curriculum wasn't limited to car design, sun lasses or cutlery: designing a synthesiser - like any electronic device - is a rather typical application of industrial design.

"I got lucky when VST came along in the late 1990s, as I had just finished my studies and life was starting to get serious. It took another few years with a few left turns, but in 2002 I decided to start building synthesizer plug-ins on a professional level. That way I could combine my passion for music with my programming skills, under the umbrella of my profession as an industrial designer. Everything added up; there was no alternative. It just had to happen that way."

Source: www.musicradar.com/news/tech/u-hes-urs-heckmann-talks-synths-programming-and-modular-mayhem-640045

 

In his '10 years' video, we can see (normal) Z3 at the end for 1 second, i think he's officially cooking something for it.

 

I agree that Urs' GUIs are better in some cases and in he makes some of the best GUIs in the business, but Plugmon's GUIs are also great, and in some cases better than the original. I find myself using his Hive and Bazille GUIs most of the time, because they are just better, easier to work with imo. but I can work with the original GUIs, too.

 

here is what he said on his YT channel

It's on my to do list. But before that, I’ll be focusing on Analog Anthem for Serum 2, 8bit Anthem for Serum 2, and a Zebra 3 skin...

 

Prices are less expensive now...I just picked up Diva.

 

Plugmon calling the ambassadoh in da name of Jah !

 

The build we are all testing at the moment is (i think) final UI as he said full release is in spring. It aligns with the other UI/UX updates released recently by UHE as well.

 

Industrial design isn't UI/UX design, especially the systems and logics applied to modern screen interfaces, many strategies literally didn't exist 20 years ago. But Urs and the team have a nightmare challenge trying to wrestle these hyper complex synths into something usable so I'm not a hater, i like the skeuomorphic originals as well. I just think there's other ways to approach these UI problems utilising colour more effectively.

 

I wouldn’t say Urs really copes by today’s standards, even though he studied industrial design. I’d make things way more convenient to the user