SOMA Lyra-8 White Angel

My first Lyra-8 was the Black Beast. My second Lyra-8 now is the White Angel. Yes they sound different LOL. Each day no matter how carefully I try reproduce a patch, it will never sound exactly the same. The Lyra-8 is the startrek of boldly sound what no one has done before. Okay that was the intro. Now the details: Operation: especially the rather unpredictable Mod knobs are very sensitive to the minutest turn depending on the other knobs. Even opening one Osc with Mod Osc another is more than enough to drone longer mindights than the usual drone synths. Not to mention all eight Osc... The Mod Delay sectionon top is not too exaggerated, a bit tame to me, but for sure I need more daring settings in the other sections. Time will tell. Features, well, I wish there were a deep (modulatable) reverb built-in. This machine deserves one, just like the well-known NYX synths. But the eight 8 oscillators grouped in pairs under 4 mods, man, that is droning to the power x. I tried the CV Voices port on a Doepfer Time analog sequencer (thank you Thomann for having devlivered) CV out, and with quantize off it produces great microtonal style phrases. Also, it would have been better IMHO the audio out would be stereo and not mono. All in all, if you are tired of the trodden path of beat and melody and even drones, well, here is some alien stuff that would even make Spock salivate on planet Vulcan.

This synth is built like a tank, sounds really crazy, and is one of the most original and inspiring instruments I have used in recent memory. It rewards experimentation, creativity, and just turning knobs, and you will end up with some of the most other-worldly sounds you have ever heard.

Because it is such an "organic" experience, as SOMA Labs puts it, it does have the drawback of not having patch memory or recall of any kind. So make sure you record what you make, and download their recall sheets just in case you need to get it replicated later on. It also doesn't accept midi, but does accept CV. That being said, this instrument performs best when it is played like an instrument! The conductive touch points react differently depending on how you press them, which adds to the expressivity.

The levels can be a little low at times, so having a nice DI or mic pre to run it into will help with getting good levels with a bit less noise.

Overall this has been a wonderful addition to my studio, and I am going to use it extensively on the films I score in the future.

10/10. It's an amazing synth. If you want something unique, this is the instrument for you.

I already had an idea of this synthesizer being different telling from the reviews on it BUT and to my positive surprise this box has a lot of character. the build quality is robust and would survive a few russian submarine missions I think ;) in fact having such an overall look combined with a sound tending to be from a different world the lyra 8 quickly takes me to places unknown far from my room. what adds a sinister charm to the lyra 8 is how well it creates late 60s and 70s horror movie sounds. I mean there should be an art form mentioned to this soma drone synth. the thing is that its sounds can hit deep areas and while here and there sounds seem to get lost the overall presence of the sound is in fact seriously dominant and clear. the mod delays are doubled which is a huge difference to the lyra 4 because for me the second free controllable delay combined with all the free adjustable 8 tracks is the spark you would add to finally give this experimental charming device the edge.