Lyra-8 Masterclass | Because we ain't no dummies.

video upload by Cinematic Laborat

"I wanted to share what I learned about Lyra-8, but I am no master. It's a bit pretentious to even call this a Masterclass, but I don't consider my audience as 'dummies' either. I guess the only true master out there is Vlad Kreimer, and I bet he's still learning Lyra-8.
It's a design, designed to escape the designer. It will play along for a while, but at some point it will just be impossible to control. Once you realize this, you're on your way becoming a master. You would not even try to control it and just enjoy where it takes you. So in a twisted way, Lyra-8 isn't hard to play, it's hard to accept it as it is. If you manage to master this, playing Lyra-8 is easy.

I truly enjoyed making this video, for myself and for you. I hope it will help, and I hope you'll enjoy it too. This video is dedicated to Eric, who is outthere somewhere waiting for the moment when I finally have some time on Zoom.

@somasynths #lyra8 #masterclass #tutorial"

A synth design masterclass by SOMA SYNTHS Vlad Kreimer.

video upload by mylarmelodies

"In this talk, Soma's Vlad Kreimer explains the unique difference behind 'organismic' synths like the Lyra-8 or Terra vs. everything else. He also explains how other synth brands could be more organismic - and why they may want to be. I believe ideas in this can inspire synth designers as well as anyone designing modular patches..."

This was delivered at Machina Bristronica 2023, check out the event and attend the next event in 2024 here:
▶︎ https://ra.co/events/1788966

CHAPTERS
00:00 Opening thoughts
1:50 What is 'Romantic' Engineering?
5:28 The need for imperfections
9:46 Static digital oscillator
10:22 ...vs analog oscillator
12:30 ...vs a violin.
15:47 Musician vs The Sound They Want
22:15 The secret of Lyra-8
25:12 Triggering Emotional Resonance
27:39 What is an Organismic synth?
31:08 Organismic: The Visual Analogy
32:31 Linear Synth vs Organismic
36:10 Vlad's Challenge to Synth Brands
37:19 Q&A: Macro controls vs Organismic
40:23 Q&A: What synths does Vlad admire?
41:47 Q&A: What is TOO MUCH 'organismic'?
43:02 Q&A: How do you know when a synth is done?
45:16 Q&A: Can we truly perform synths that aren't organismic?
48:19 Q&A: Beyond touch, what other ways can we control synths?
50:29 Q&A: Will people commit to learning to play instruments?
51:47 Q&A: Vlad's Dream: The brain-to-music interface!
53:10 Q&A: What is the Soma design 'difference'?

METACONFORMER Combiner Tutorial (SOMA labs)

video upload by Vlad Kreimer

"The manual: https://somasynths.com/metaconformer_..."

See the announcement post here for an additional demo, pics and details.

SOMA Labs Introduces METACONFORMER Modular MIDI Processor

demo video upload by Vlad Kreimer



"Metaconformer is a modular MIDI processor designed to expand the capabilities of musical instruments and to simplify the interaction between a musician and their MIDI instruments. It offers new ways of playing music through innovative and groundbreaking MIDI message routing capabilities between multiple instruments.

The MIDI protocol is an efficient engineering solution used reliably for decades by musicians. However, in many situations it does not take into account the musical context, which is essential for the artist. Metaconformer changes this. Located between the MIDI controller and your instruments, it coordinates human ideas with the language of hardware.

Metaconformer’s capabilities provide new ways of playing instruments, by combining MIDI instruments and exploring their interaction . You will be able to play multiple instruments at the same time as if they were part of one larger instrument. Metaconformer also opens up the possibility of sound control through pressing the keys on your MIDI keyboard, instead of having to reach for the knobs on your gear. This will allow you to discover and unlock new facets and possibilities of your favorite instruments!

The idea behind the Metaconformer is to give musicians a new way of looking at their instruments and what else they can do with a little creativity in MIDI.

SOMA is closely related to the idea of organismic synthesizers . Each of our instruments aims to give the musician the experience of interacting with a system in which several independent modules can influence each other and create more than the sum of its parts.

Metaconformer is no exception. It breaks down at least two barriers that have stood in the way of all MIDI musicians for decades. It establishes a dialogue between different instruments, breaking the barrier of parallel universes of MIDI channels. And Metaconformer also allows you to enter the values of synthesis parameters not by turning knobs on your synths, but by pressing keys on your MIDI keyboard, breaking the barrier of the one- dimensional universe of notes and creating a multi-dimensional universe of parametric chords."

Peter Theremin tries SOMA FLUX

video upload by Vlad Kreimer

"Peter Theremin is the great-grandson of the famous Leon Theremin
https://theremin.space/en/

FLUX
https://somasynths.com/flux/"

FLUX prototype demo (SOMA lab)

video upload by Vlad Kreimer

"FLUX brings forth the musicality and expression of classical instruments, such as violin or vocals, enriched by new timbres and the flexibility of postmodern instruments, harnessing the power of current technology.

FLUX is a high end professional synthesizer with expressive possibilities, an innovative interface design with top quality digital-to-analog converters and analog components.

FLUX features a unique continual touchless keyboard that offers seamless control over a number of sound parameters without quantisation.

In many ways, FLUX is inspired by the Theremin, which offers the unique opportunity of controlling sound by moving your hands in the air without touching any object, all of which lends the performance a special plasticity and beauty.

Unlike the Theremin which works by virtue of the capacitive coupling of hands and antennae, FLUX is based on magnetic principles. Two magnetic bows are pressed between your fingers, and the interface is a multipolar magnetic sensor, registering the bows’ positions and movements. The X coordinate of the artist’s right-hand bow controls the note’s pitch, while the Z coordinate controls volume. The left-hand bow’s X, Y and Z coordinates control the various synthesis parameters.

Since a magnet has two poles, FLUX not only detects the bows’ spatial coordinates, but also the bows’ angle. This means that flipping the right-hand bow on the Y-axis changes the octave, which allows a range of six continuous octaves without transposing the keyboard. With transposition you can get a range from sub-bass all the way to ultrasonic. The left-right tilting of the right-hand bow on the X-axis controls two independent modulation parameters.

The left-hand bow controls the timbres. The timbral sensor, placed in the left part, has six poles, and independently registers positive and negative magnetic fields. This lets you change which parameters you control by flipping the bow, allowing you to control up to twelve independent sound parameters. Together with the pitch, volume and two additional tilt parameters on the right-hand bow, you have access to a total of sixteen sonic controls that you can use during performance, without ever touching the surface of the instrument.

Summing up the concept of FLUX: the most direct and immediate way to play with a large number of synthesis parameters in a musical way, creating a dynamic timbre composition. Different synthesis algorithms (engines) will be created as complete musical instruments for direct timbral control. All engines will be available in a single firmware and any engine can be launched in a fraction of a second. Presets will allow the user to save and recall the entire state of the synth including engine and all tunings.

We developed FLUX with the aim to create a modern instrument for academic music, offering powerful sonic tools such as distortion, complex FM and physical modelling of non-existent, surrealistic musical instruments. We invite modern performers and composers to use FLUX in their work.

FLUX works in monophonic, duophonic and polyphonic modes. Staccato-enabling and quantisation modes are available. The quantization function has an adjustment parameter for vibrato. FLUX has a stable, even, and clearly marked note scale. This makes FLUX much easier to learn and to intone cleanly than on the Theremin.

FLUX’s synthesis is DSP-based. It features built-in spatial FX. The digital-to-analog converters and the analog circuit are based on our in-house designs using Hi-End principles.

FLUX is under development. We will inform the community about the progress."

via SOMA Lab

Terra Basic Operation (video tutorial)

video upload by Vlad Kreimer

For full and detailed information please read the main manual:
https://somasynths.com/terra_specs/
Product page: https://somasynths.com/terra/

TIMELINE:
0:00 Connecting Terra
0:31 The interface
1:40 Hands position
2:13 The pitch shifter
3:52 Holds
6:25 Loading a preset
7:09 Loading a scale from a preset
7:37 Saving a preset
8:09 Selecting a synthesis algorithm
9:43 Selecting a variation for a synthesis algorithm
14:04 Setting the gyroscope sensitivity
15:49 Knobs
21:34 Tuning the note keyboard
24:46 Selecting a pitch shifter preset
25:46 Tuning a pitch shifter preset
28:41 Master-tune
29:44 Arpeggiator and rythmic LFO

Vlad Kreimer plays the Dvina through the Cosmos at Superbooth (2023)

video upload by DECIMA1"

"In this video Vlad Kreimer [SOMA] plays the Advina through the Cosmos at Superbooth (2023)."

Also see (from 2019): SOMA DVINA as a Eurorack controller

Additional Dvina posts | Additional Cosmos posts

Sounds of SOMA

video upload by Vlad Kreimer

"SOMA users converge in a meeting of musicians on the shore of the East River in Brooklyn, NY to conduct a collaboration between sound, nature, man and machines.
Produced by @LordBlobbie

Players Left to Right:

Lyra-8
Kevin Emilio Pérez
Multidisciplinary Artist
www.kevinemilioperez.com
IG: @papo_cucaracha_vertedero_el3ro
https://papocucaracha.bandcamp.com/

Pulsar-23
THE MOON
www.MaxTheMoon.com
IG: @maxinthemoon

PIPE and Enner
Juice aka Ken Arii
IG: @Ariijuice_missile

PIPE and COSMOS
Lord Blobbie
IG/TikTok: @LordBlobbie
https://soundcloud.com/gospelswamp"

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.

Kakos Nonos (documentary about the RoAT creator)

video upload by Vlad Kreimer

"Documentary about Kakos Nonos - a new creative mind that joined SOMA."

See this post for additional details.

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 »

the mysterious Lyra-8 (synth review)

video upload by allmyfriendsaresynths

"For the past couple of months I have been experimenting with the mysterious Lyra-8, an 'orgaismic synthesiszer' from @Vlad Kreimer of Soma Lab - and have been very pleasantly surprised at how engaging and exciting it is to play with and explore. Far more than just a drone machine, this is a beautiful instrument which has encouraged me to approach music a bit differently. Check out the video to see what I make of it.

A huge thank you to Signal Sounds (signalsounds.com) for letting me borrow one of their demo units to test. They stock a wide variety of weird and wonderful electronic instruments, and are well worth checking out for yourself."

Pipelation

video upload by Vlad Kreimer

"PIPE page - https://somasynths.com/pipe/

Produced by Knyazev & Barsukov
Music & Soundesign by L.B.S."

Rumble of Ancient Times (SOMA Lab main DEMO)

video upload by Vlad Kreimer

Credits: camera/edit — Sofia Rubinstein https://www.instagram.com/degermaark/
video_fx/music — Alexander Zavgorodny https://www.instagram.com/kakos_nonos/
pixel_art — John Nornon Irr https://www.instagram.com/john_norton...
subtitle font: Mister Pixel by Christophe Badani (Velvetyne Type Foundry)

Rumble of Ancient Times DEMO | No Talking

via SOMA SYNTHS

Rumble of Ancient Times (RoAT) is an 8-bit noise synthesizer and sequencer inspired by the clever programming of the early PC era when an entire video game would fit on a floppy disk. RoAT is capable of a wide variety of sounds ranging from dense noise scapes to diverse glitching rhythmic patterns. The compact and portable instrument contains many elements that can be combined into surprising musical results.

The 'heart' of the synthesizer contains 4 sound oscillators, each with a tunable waveform and an individual LFO, which can modulate the tone or volume of the oscillator. The modulated signal of each oscillator is mixed with other signals using 1,536 variations of complex summing algorithms that contain FM, ring modulation, bitwise logical operations and more.

The synth contains an 8-bit resonant lowpass filter with a distinct Lo-Fi character. The built-in sequencer can be synced to an external device and also send clock out. RoAT is battery powered and can work up to 130 hours on one set of AAA batteries.

Rumble of Ancient Times is built on a very simple 8-bit microcontroller similar to the ones used in the “brains” of old refrigerators and other simple electronic devices. Thanks to some very clever programming, it’s also able to drive a very capable synth with many features!

In stark contrast to modern consumer electronics, this synth celebrates and emphasizes what can be achieved with efficiency of code and using chips considered obsolete by industry leaders. We live in an age where text editors can be 1GB or more and simple things like checking email require the latest OS and powerful processing, despite the core tasks being no different than 15 years ago with a fraction of the computational power.

So RoAT proposes a new kind of ecological thinking with the innovative use of chips that were developed and produced decades ago, instead of turning them into millions of tons of trash. We can still use technology that the industry forced us to consider obsolete, with the added benefit here of extremely low power consumption. It’s an environmentally friendlier approach than galloping in the rush of planned obsolescence that damages our planet and wastes precious resources.

Rumble of Ancient Times was designed and programmed by Kakos Nonos, a new creative mind who joined the SOMA development team. His very unique style of building electronic musical instruments combines quality craftsmanship, advanced programming and a love for medieval acoustic instruments such as gusli, wheeled lyre and bagpipes."

First Month with Soma Pulsar-23: compilation of improvised pieces

video upload by Honeysmack

"An assortment of 7 short improvised clips with the Soma Pulsar-23, all very techno, all with different configurations of gear. There's lot's to be said about the Pulsar-23, it is one of the most expressive machines I've come across in recent times. There is always something new to explore each time I turn it on. As an improvisational tool, this is amazing. Okay I'll stop gushing, you get my point. Vlad Kreimer is a genius and I put him in the same company as Don Buchla, Bob Moog, Roger Linn, Dave Smith and Tom Oberheim.

Each clip is recorded in a single take, with no editing or post production. I used a variety of clock sources and sequencers as indicated below. Some sections get rather crunchy and distorted, sorry! Pulsar23 runs into a Playdifferently Model1 mixer, that runs through an Elektron Analog Heat as the master bus.

00:00 Clip1 - Using internal clock source and looper-recorders, exploring kick and modulating effects.
02:10 Clip2 - Quadrantid Swarm audio running through the Pulsar23 and also modulated by the Pulsar. Beat Step Pro is the main sequencer.
03:52 Clip3 - Funky Techno with Beat Step Pro sequencing the Pulsar via MIDI.
06:21 Clip4 - Harder Techno jam with Beat Step Pro sequencing the Pulsar via MIDI.
07:08 Clip5 - TB-303 running through the Pulsar effects and filters.
10:04 Clip6 - Integrating with a Eurorack rack, using a combination of clock sources and Pulsar's looper-recorders. Crunchy and noisey!
10:56 Clip7 - Straight up Techno jam!

Gear featured in these clips:
Soma Pulsar-23
Arturia Beat Step Pro
Roland TB-303
EO Wave Quadrantid Swarm
Eurorack modular
Playdifferently Model1 DJ mixer
Elektron Analog Heat MkI
Follow me here: http://www.instagram.com/_honeysmack_"

Pulsar-23 patch Volca Kick Simmons

video upload by Dj Puzzle

"My latest patch. Korg SQ-64 driving my drum synths. @Vlad Kreimer Pulsar-23, Korg Volca Kick, Volca Modular, Simmons SDS 800. @1010music Bluebox. #modularsynth"

SOMA Cosmos - Its Not A Looper, Its A Drifting Memory Station

video upload by sonicstate

"We take a look at the latest unusual creation from Vlad Kreimer of SOMA Laboratories. The Cosmos is an unusual device, less a looper and more Drifting Memory Station (which is its official title)
Editor Nick Batt takes a look.

Exclusive extra content on Patreon
https://patreon.com/sonicstate

00:00 Intro and overview
02:21 Algorithm 1 and controls
03:45 Hardware
4:35 4 tap algorithm
4:50 Hall Algorithm and examples
7:23 Granular delay algorithm
08:40 HP and LPF
10:25 Reverse and SUP|COM and sounds
13:45 Flash Drive
14:06 Examples
17:55 Conclusions"

Anthony Rother + PULSAR-23

video upload by Vlad Kreimer

"Written and performed by Anthony Rother at PSI Studio Offenbach Germany"

the PIPE by SOMA laboratory (the main demo video)

video upload by Vlad Kreimer

"PIPE is a voice / breath / mouth-controlled dynamic FX processor and synthesizer. It turns your voice into a powerful FX / beat / lead / soundscapes synthesizer and it offers unprecedented levels of vocal processing, really transforming the possibilities of singing.

Here you can find a demo of the additional four algorithms: [posted here]

---------
the PIPE was designed by Vlad Kreimer.
Idea, sounds, video, edition - Vlad Kreimer.
Source video streams for the background video art - Iliya Sidorenko.
Also, in the background used fragments of math fractals from “Eye of the Universe” by Math Town

SOMA laboratory 2018
somasynths.com
somasynths@gmail.com"

Additional PIPE by SOMA posts