Waldorf Kyra Spotted at NAMM

This one is in via Soviet Space Child.

See here for previous posts featuring the Waldorf Kyra, previously the Exodus Digital Valkyrie.

Waldorf to Introduce New KYRA - All FPGA VA Synthesizer Based on the Exodus Valkyrie at NAMM 2019

Yes, this is real. Waldorf is teaming up with Exodus Digital on their recently announced Valkyrie FPGA synthesizer. It's worth noting the Novation Peak is also FPGA based, however not fully, as it utilizes analog filters. There are also some DIY FPGA synths. A fun side note is that this is the earliest NAMM post to go up for a single year's event. :)

Here's the press release:

Waldorf Music makes world’s first fully FPGA powered synth fit to fly for full production launch at The 2019 NAMM Show

REMAGEN, GERMANY: hot on the heels of having turned heads and opened ears with its innovative flagship, Quantum, a high-class hybrid synthesizer showcased to widespread critical acclaim at The 2018 NAMM Show in Anaheim, California earlier this year, high-quality synthesizer developer Waldorf Music is proud to announce a full production launch and general availability of Kyra — the world’s first fully FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) powered synthesizer featuring 128 voices (regardless of settings and effects), each with 10 oscillators per voice, and eight-part multitimbrality (with each part having its own dedicated nine-module effects unit) — at The 2019 NAMM Show, January 24-27, in Anaheim, California…

As an extremely powerful VA (Virtual Analogue) synthesizer literally like nothing else out there — thanks to leveraging the latest FPGA technology to significantly outperform legacy DSP (Digital Signal Processing) powered competition, Kyra’s crowning glory comes courtesy of its state-of-the-art audio quality: think 32x oversampled hardware with dual wavetables providing over 4,000 waveshapes! With 10 oscillators — that can be doubled to 20 by using two voices — each offering a wide range of features, including true stereo operation, hard sync, FM (Frequency Modulation), and ring modulation, Kyra starts shaping up as a serious sonic force to be reckoned with... without even factoring filtering into an already seriously impressive-sounding instrument! Indeed, Kyra’s resonant filters are accurate oversampled emulations of classic analogue ladder filters with 2- and 4-pole configurations (offering -12dB/oct and -24dB/oct of magnitude decrease, respectively). Saying that, two linked or independent filters can be used in Dual Voice mode, making for even more creative options. On top of that, there are three envelope generators, three stereo LFOs (Low Frequency Oscillators) with 64 shapes and MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) clock sync, an arpeggiator, full keyboard microtuning, and true polyphonic portamento, as well as a comprehensive 18-channel modulation matrix to Kyra’s notable name.

Notably, Kyra comes highly specified for effects, each of its eight parts featuring a three-band EQ with sweepable mid, dual tube limiters, formant filter, distortion, six-stage phaser, stereo digital delay, comb/flanger/chorus/doubler unit, and a programmable reverb. All effects units on all parts can be used simultaneously and run at Kyra’s native 96kHz sample rate.

Kyra clearly delivers when it comes to connectivity by boasting four assignable, balanced 32-bit/96kHz stereo outputs, a headphone output, low-latency DIN MIDI, a fully class-compliant USB2 implementation for MIDI, and a stereo 24-bit/96kHz audio stream for each of its eight parts. Production-wise, there is also a USB (Universal Serial Bus) audio return feature, so Kyra can render final DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) audio under ASIO (Audio Stream Input/Output). An ASIO driver is provided for Windows users while Mac support is out of the box.

But if any aspects of this impressive instrument already have a ring of familiarity about them then Musikmesse 2018 in Frankfurt am Main may have played its part. Put it this way: Waldorf Music CEO Joachim Flor found himself transfixed there. “It was more of a coincidence to have discovered Valkyrie during a tour of this year’s Frankfurt Music Fair, but I was immediately aware of the fact that this was probably one of the most exciting synthesizers of recent years,” he admirably admits. “I got into conversation with its independent UK developer, Manuel Caballero, and I’m now looking forward to working with this talented, innovative individual, who is also a great guy! Under the direction of Waldorf Music, Valkyrie flies forth into a joint production project called Kyra, which will be shown and delivered at NAMM in 2019.”

Fortunately for Manuel Caballero, the feeling was clearly mutual — Musikmesse mission accomplished. “After nearly four years in the making, I went to Musikmesse with the intention of finding an established partner for Valkyrie,” he reveals. “There's little doubt that Valkyrie's reveal at Musikmesse caused quite a stir in the synthesizer world and I had set the bar high for potential partners to bring the instrument to market. As a result of this, I'm pleased to announce a partnership with Waldorf Music. Few companies can match their track record of innovation and delivery spanning several decades. Working with Joachim Flor and his technical and design team to achieve this is an exciting and efficient partnership as we work together to launch the instrument at NAMM in 2019. Waldorf's proven heritage in product design, manufacturing, and distribution leaves me to do what I do best, which is applying the most advanced technologies to the art of music, and I look forward to a continued deep working relationship with the Waldorf team.”

Kyra is initially scheduled for full production launch at The 2019 NAMM Show, January 24-27, in Anaheim, California, competitively priced at €1,899.00 EUR as a desktop/rackmount model (with a keyboard version to follow later in 2019).

SINTETIZADOR VALKYRIE Exodus Digital, patches only

Published on Apr 15, 2018 FutureMusic.es

"Escucha una selección de patches de Valkyrie, el nuevo sintetizador politímbrico de Exodus Digital, presentado en Frankfurt Musikmesse 2018"

Musikmesse 2018: Exodus Digital Valkyrie Synth

Published on Apr 14, 2018 KEYBOARDS

"Die britische Firma Exodus Digital präsentiert auf der Musikmesse 2018 einen neuen Hardware Synthesizer namens Valkyrie.

Der Synthexpander arbeitet mit einer virtuell-analogen Klangerzeugung und will dem Access Virus Konkurrenz machen. Valkyrie bietet 128 Stimmen, zehn Oszillatoren pro Stimme, zwei Wavetable-Oszillatoren mit 4.096 Wellenformen, 8 unabhängigen Parts mit jeweils neun Modulen, einer 32-fachen Oversampling-Rate, einen Effekt-Sektion und vieles mehr. Ein Preis steht noch nicht fest.

Weitere Features des Synths:

Arpeggiator with 128 preset patterns, chord mode, MIDI clock.
Patch storage: 3,328 in total all of which are user programmable.
Free Editor/Librarian app for Windows and Mac
Processing: 32x oversampled 32-bit hardware sound generation. 96kHz floating point sound processing.
Analogue outputs: 4 balanced stereo pairs using 32 bit DAC at 96kHz sample rate.
USB audio: USB Audio Class 2.0 – 8 stereo 24-bit streams at 96kHz with 48kHz down-sample mode available.
USB 2.0 and legacy (5-pin DIN connector) MIDI
Display: High resolution 256×64 pixel graphic OLED
Full keyboard microtuning capability with MIDI Tuning Standard (MTS) support."

See the Exodus Digital label below for more.

New Exodus Audio Valkyrie - Musikmesse 2018 Videos

Published on Apr 11, 2018 Sound On Sound magazine

"8-part multitimbral synth"

MESSE 2018: Exodus Digital Valkyrie Synthesizer First Look | SYNTH ANATOMY

Published on Apr 11, 2018 SYNTH ANATOMY

"At this year's Musikmesse 2018, Exodus Digital surprised the synth community with the Valkyrie, a new digital Synthesizer. As promised, here is a first look at the instrument including some of the questions from the community. Sound Demo:" posted here.

MESSE 2018: 128 voice VA - Exodus Digital Valkyrie - First Look!

Published on Apr 11, 2018 sonicstate

"The Valkyrie has caused quite a storm over the last few days and certainly for us here at Sonic we were very interested in getting some more information on this new synthesizer."

See the Exodus Digital label below for more.

MESSE 2018: Exodus Digital Valkyrie Synthesizer Sound Demo | SYNTH ANATOMY

Published on Apr 10, 2018 SYNTH ANATOMY

"Exodus Digital presented at MESSE 2018 the Valkyrie Synthesizer, a Access Virus style Synthesizer. It has virtual analog, wavetable synthesis, up to 128 voice polyphony and 8 part multi-timbral engine. Here is a sound demo. A presentation coming soon."

See this post for additional details on the Exodus Digital Valkyrie including specs.

New Exodus Digital Valkyrie Desktop Hardware Synthesizer Coming to the Musikmesse

It looks like we have a new maker with a new hardware synthesizer coming to the Musikmesse this year. Launch the player above and read on.


"Exodus Digital is a UK company that has built an exciting new virtual analogue hardware synthesizer. Here at MusikMesse, we’re unveiling Valkyrie. It’s here on stand F46 in hall 4.1. See and hear Valkyrie for yourself. When you play it, you’ll soon find out Valkyrie really is the next level in sound synthesis. With guaranteed 128 voice performance, 8 independent parts, each with a nine-module effects unit, Valkyrie is a true powerhouse.

Sound generation is all done in custom designed hardware at an incredible 32x oversampled rate and there’s ten oscillators per voice (1,280 in total) which can be doubled to twenty by combining two voices. There’s two wavetable oscillators available each offering 4,096 perfectly looped single cycle waveforms. Valkyrie’s filters are also implemented in hardware and are accurate emulations of classic two and four pole filters. Valkyrie has all the features you’d expect of a virtual analog synthesizer but takes it to the next level; there’s hard synchronisation, ring modulation, frequency modulation, wavetables and the hypersaw from heaven waiting for you to experiment with.

With four stereo 32 bit 96kHz outputs and 8 part streaming over USB 2.0 at 96kHz, physical and USB MIDI, Valkyrie integrates into your setup perfectly.

Valkyrie is perfect for live performance as well as studio-based producers. With a comprehensive control surface with real knobs and buttons as well as high-resolution OLED display, Valkyrie is a pleasure to work with and it comes complete with a full interactive editor/librarian application for Windows and Mac.

Valkyrie is the new standard in synthesis. See and hear the difference for yourself – we look forward to seeing you at MusikMesse !

Processing: 32x oversampled 32-bit hardware sound generation. 96kHz floating point sound processing.
Analogue outputs: 4 balanced stereo pairs using 32 bit DAC at 96kHz sample rate.
USB audio: USB Audio Class 2.0 - 8 stereo 24-bit streams at 96kHz with 48kHz downsample mode available.
USB 2.0 and legacy (5-pin DIN connector) MIDI
Display: High resolution 256x64 pixel graphic OLED
Polyphony: Guaranteed contention-free 128 voice channels. A Dual Mode or Dual Filter Patch uses two voice channels per note played. Up to 32 notes (single or dual) per multitimbral part.
Multitimbrality: 8 independent Parts each with dedicated 9 module multi effects with dedicated audio stream via USB. Each Part can be mixed to one of the four analogue stereo line outputs.
Full keyboard microtuning capability with MIDI Tuning Standard (MTS) support.
Oscillators: Two primary virtually alias-free Oscillator Groups per voice each with sawtooth, pulse, wavetable and noise available simultaneously. Each oscillator group also has an independent detunable suboscillator with four selectable shapes and two selectable pitches. Real Hard Sync, Ring Modulation and FM (frequency modulation) is available between the oscillator groups.
Hypersaw: 6 or 12 real oscillator hypersaw with adjustable geometric detuning and intensity algorithm.
Wavetables: 4096 18-bit linear PCM single-cycle oversampled wavetables covering a huge range of synthetic and emulated sound sources. Two independent wavetables per voice.
Filters: Accurate emulations of classic analogue ladder filters with low pass, band pass and high pass configurations. 2-pole (12dB/octave) and 4-pole (24dB/octave) responses are available for all three filter types. A Patch can be configured to have linked or independent parallel filters.
Envelope Generators: Three fast-response ADSR envelope generators.
LFOs: 3 LFOs with 64 wavetable shapes. Monophonic, polyphonic, random, antiphase and quadrature phase settings.
Modulation Matrix: 6 channels with up to 3 destinations per channel.
Effects: Nine module stereo effects unit per Part with a 3-band shelving EQ, a Formant Filter, 5-mode Distortion module, dual Limiters, stereo Delay module, 6-stage Phaser, Chorus/Flanger module and a Reverb module. All 72 effects modules can be used simultaneously without affecting polyphony.
Arpeggiator with 128 preset patterns, chord mode, MIDI clock.
Patch storage: 3,328 in total all of which are user programmable.
Free Editor/Librarian app for Windows and Mac."