Ambient jam with the Soma Terra and Soma Cosmos

video upload by Jay Hosking

"A live, semi-improvised synthesizer jam performed entirely on hardware.

First, apologies for the change in video quality. I upgraded my camera, but some problems with the SD card led to a reversion back to 30 frames a second (I'm a big believer in 24fps). It also isn't looking quite how I want yet. I hope it's not too jarring.

Second, I got the Soma Terra. It is a joyful experience.

Some of the Soma stuff just doesn't work for me: the Lyra was always halfway to what I wanted, the Pulsar has great sounds and (for me) small sweet spots. But the Cosmos was a revelation, like something I'd always wanted but didn't know how to put into words. The Terra has a similar feeling.

The Terra is expressive and has complexity, but also is immediate to understand, musically. It's quick and easy to modify in terms of the sound engine and the notes associated with each brass button. The sound engines were a real positive surprise, with lots of warmth and musicality. The reverb and delay are good and totally useable, but not near the level of some of the dedicated pedals out there.

The Terra's not perfect for me—the number of buttons, and general layout, make it feel more like a device for solos versus a complete arrangement like guitar or piano—but it's a joy to play, and utterly unlike anything else. I wonder if Soma will iterate upon the design, make something a little more for two-handed playing. I'd also love to see diatonic transposition, though that would require some sort of way to set the scale; in the meantime, I love how fast and relatively seamless it is to switch patches (and thus switch the notes). Ultimately, I'm sitting here thinking about going back and playing the Terra some more, and that's always a fantastic sign.

Thanks for listening.

Soma Terra - synthesis and performance
Soma Cosmos - asymmetrical looping

Performed and recorded live to a stereo output, with EQ, compression, and limiting on the master."