First Look - Soma Pulsar Utilities - Modular Add On

video upload by sonicstate

"During our visit to Soma Sound Machines in Warsaw, as well as the factory tour and look at the Terra production unit, we also had the chance to see the new Pulsar-23 Utilities - a stand alone device with triggers, attenuators and a variety of amplifiers designed to just add gain or to add character by using some unique and antiquated amplifier technologies.

It is designed as a companion to the Pulsar-23 Drum Machine - which is possibly one of the most unusual drum machines you'll come across, but could be equally useful as a general box of utilities in modular world, though it still uses the crocodile clips and post system of the Pulsar-23. Available in a few months we're told."

SOMA Synths Terra - First Look at the Production Unit & Factory Tour

video upload by sonicstate

"We were invited to visit Soma Sound Machines at their Warsaw factory and while we were there were shown the pre production model of the Terra - the unique and very sensitive instrument . Terra features twelve extremely sensitive nodes (cant think of what else to call them!) for playing pitches, plus five for modifying the timbre, there are also 7 modifier knobs which globally effect the sound with two being dependent on the algorithm used.

Despite the wooden case, Terra is a digital sound source and has multiple models which are played rather like instruments, each model has 64 variations. As usual, its a rather off the wall concept, but thats what makes Soma the way it is. In practice, its incredibly sensitive and flexible - reminds us of the Eagan Matrix instruments found in the Haken Continuum or the Osmose.

The Terra will be in production very soon and making its way into the stores."

You can find additional Terra posts here.

VISIT: SOMA Sound Machines Factory in Warsaw

video upload by

"A couple of weeks back we were invited to visit the Soma Sound Machines factory in Warsaw, Poland. As well as a look at the first production models of the expressive Terra instrument, we got a look around their place.
PCBs and components are delivered here, the Through Hole hand soldered components are put onto the boards, any SMD (surface mount design) parts are sent off to the machine, units are tested put into the cases and shipped to distributors and customers. Lyra 8 , Kosmos, Pulsar-23 and Ether are made here and pretty soon the new Terra will be too.

Its actually a pretty cottage style industry, surprisingly small but also very efficient."

TERRA (SOMA lab) demo video

video upload by Vlad Kreimer

"All sound is just TERRA without external FXs or post processing."

You can find additional demos and details on SOMA Lab's TERRA in previous posts here.

Soma Labs "Enner" NAMM 2022 live audio demo

video upload by SynthAddict

0:48 basic mods
1:40 noisy bits
3:35 drone bits
4:15 stereo drone FX
6:37 video/audio demo


"Enner is currently unreleased but coming out soon.
Projected price: about $700 :-)

Soma Labs 'Terra' will come out later"

SUPERBOOTH Berlin Presentations & Recap - SUPERBOOTH23/SOOPERgrail Set for May, 2023

video uploads by Superbooth Berlin

Playlist:
Oberheim OB-X8 - Gesprächskonzert @SUPERBOOTH22
Erica Synths Syntrx II & Perkons - Gesprächskonzert @SUPERBOOTH22
SOMA Terra - Gesprächskonzert @SUPERBOOTH22
UDO Super 6 - Gesprächskonzert @ SUPERBOOTH22
Verbos Electronics Polyphonic Envelope - Gesprächskonzert @SUPERBOOTH22
ALM/BusyCircuits presenting the ASQ-1 - Gesprächskonzert @SUPERBOOTH22
Quanalog - Gesprächskonzert @SUPERBOOTH22

And the recap press release from SUPERBOOTH:

"SUPERBOOTH SUMMER SUN & SYNTHESIZER

SUPERBOOTH22 and SOOPERgrail welcomed around 6000 trade visitors, day guests and over 170 international exhibitors at FEZ-Berlin. In the year of the 20th anniversary of the Superbooth, for the first time innovative guitar builders were represented in larger num- bers and with their own exhibition space under the name SOOPERgrail.

The expanded concept of the largest trade event for electronic musical instruments in Europe has proven successful, and Superbooth Berlin GmbH has overcome the worst obstacles resulting from the Corona crisis. This clears the way for next year‘s planning - the date is set:
SUPERBOOTH23 and SOOPERgrail #2 at FEZ-Berlin: May 11-13, 2023. with even more innovative instruments and music, concerts, workshops, presentations, indoors and outdoors

Andreas Schneider: "For the anniversary version of Superbooth, as it turned out after all obstacles and difficulties, we can really only be grateful to everyone and congratulate everyone who was able to be there. The delicate little flower called #SOOPERgrail also made a successful start and the international events - above all the presentation with Hainbach for the Goethe Institute Tokyo and the partici- pation of Tom Oberheim and Dave Smith with their new instrument - were im- portant factors of culture and economy alike. We are already excited to see what will develop from this next year!"

The various areas of the anniversary edition each convinced with their very own at- mosphere, which always meandered between music festival, nerd get-together and a group trip with friends. The basis for relaxed encounters, lively exchange and a good mood was provided by the extended event area in the park, the large number of exhibi- tors and the summery weather.

Live:
The stage program represents an enormous variety of musical variation. Early electronic instruments such as the Trautonium were on display. Hainbach presented how electro- nic music was made by artists like Stockhausen in the 1960s, and many concerts fea- tured modular synthesizers, which can be seen as modern successors to the featured instruments. From the stages you could hear great live electronic music from ambient to techno, a lot of experimental and innovative works. Surprisingly for many guests, there was a performance by Richie Hawtin on the last day of the event.

The Modular Synthesizer Ensemble gave the mostly young participants their first stage experience with a composition they had previously developed together in a work- shop lasting several hours.
Within the framework of SOOPERgrail, there were many outstanding concerts and workshops, with individual instruments presented. In addition to traditional crafts, the artists and exhibitors also showed possibilities that enable expanded artistic expression. With the presented technologies, external devices can be controlled and microtonal music can be played.

The main stage for diverse guitar music was located in the circus tent. There was, among others, a blues concert by DobBroMan with spontaneous support from Thorsten Quaeschning of Tangerine Dream, the performance of Nagen & Kotzmann, who blurred the line between drone, ambient and free jazz, and Linalab, who brought along a drummer for her electronic post-rock, processed the sound of her electric guitar with a synthesizer, thereby ideally united the concepts of SOOPERgrail and SUPERBOOTH22.

Dokumentation:
The lecture-concerts (Gesprächskonzerte) recorded during the event are now available on Superbooth Berlin‘s YouTube and Vimeo channels, and the recordings of the other concerts will be released in the coming weeks.

Lecture-concerts are a combination of concert and presentation, where new inst- ruments are introduced in a concrete musical context. This year, legendary synthesizer manufacturer Oberheim made a comeback and presented a new instrument in this for- mat that, like its predecessors, seems to have the potential to become a classic.

We would like to expressly thank all exhibitors, artists, media representatives, trade vi- sitors and last but not least the numerous private visitors for their great support and the wonderful three days and are already looking forward to SUPERBOOTH23 and SOOPER- grail next year.

Save the date now: SUPERBOOTH23 and SOOPERgrail from May 11 to 13, 2023 at FEZ-Berlin!"

See the SUPERBOOTH label below for more.

Soma Labs - Terra - Superbooth 2022

video upload by KlangDing

Soma Instruments Terra Sound Demo (no talking) at Superbooth 2022

video upload by Bonedo Synthesizers

Superbooth 22: Soma - Terra

video upload by sonicstate

"Terra is a very organic-looking creation, crafted from wood and metal to fit comfortably to human hands and allow for the subtle expressivity of an accoustic instrument. The core idea is unity of nature and technology.

Under the (wood) hood, lies a 12 voice polyphonic digital synth, but as Vlad tells Gaz, it's a synth that embraces the best side of digital and avoid the worst, with no plasticky sounds here.

Soma Terra availability: the first custom units are becoming available, but production begins at the end of 22

Price: TBA - under 1000 euros for the production model"

Superbooth 2022: Soma Labs Terra

video upload by Future Music Magazine

New SOMA TERRA Synth

TERRA announcement (SOMA labs) video upload by Vlad Kreimer

"All sound in this video is TERRA without additional FX.
Just a slight master limiter was added."

via SOMA LABORATORY

TERRA is a new SOMA Labs synth that is currently in development.
TERRA is a highly conceptual device. The core idea is unity of nature and technology, and a perfect balance between simplicity and versatility. Behind the extremely simple interface hides a complex polyphonic, microtonal synthesizer with a broad and flexible sound palette that ranges from classical beautiful tones to complex atonal noise, and offers smooth and fast transitions between these extremes.

The innovative keyboard design invites new playing techniques and covers the full range of a grand piano with the possibility to tune each note with an accuracy of 125 steps per semitone. To achieve this range with such a simple keyboard we designed a unique system of pitch shifting using four additional sensors. Pressing different combinations of them will result in 16 variations of keyboard transposing, including up to 3 octaves up and down, fifth, fourth, third, tone etc.
Not only do you get the full range of a grand piano in a very compact design, TERRA also offers an entirely new and different approach to playing melodies and chords.

CLICK FOR MORE »