A statement piece.

SOMA laboratory is a company founded by Vlad Kreimer in 2016 and has become quite famous for its out-of-the-box synth concepts, designs, and philosophy on music gear. I’m pretty sure you’ve seen a video of a Lyra-8 or a Pulsar-23 somewhere around the internet and I’m also sure you got intrigued by its sounds and industrial design.

SOMA instruments are walking a very thin line from experimental concept projects to actually usable studio gear. But the cool thing is, that this is on purpose and not by lack of skill or intention.

So, we were lucky enough to receive a Lyra-8 from our friends at SOMA and today I’ll try to demystify this modern classic instrument and share my honest and unfiltered thoughts on it.

What exactly is a Lyra-8?

Lyra-8 is labeled as an organismic synthesizer. In their own words that means: “Organismic” means that LYRA uses some principles that lie in the base of living organisms. The way how LYRA’s modules interact with each other and the behavior of the instrument resembles a live conversation.

We’re off for a crazy ride, aren’t we?

To make things a bit easier to understand, I’ll start with the basics. Lyra-8 has 8 tones generators or voices, hence the 8 on its name. Those voices are divided into four pairs (12, 34, 56, 78) and, then those pairs are divided into two groups 1-4 & 5-8 creating a reverse tree structure.

Each voice has a dedicated sensor that produces sounds when you touch it. It consists of two contacts so when you place your finger on top of both of them, you “close“ the circuit and it produces the voice’s sound. Those sensors are pressure sensitive and by altering the surface you press or the pressure you can have different envelope attacks and volumes. While this concept can be found on other instruments like the MicroFreak, on the Lyra-8 the experience is quite different and it will take some time to get used to it.

Above the sensors, you’ll find four switches for the two envelope options. On the FAST setting, you’ll get shorter release times and if you flick the switch up, you’ll get much longer release times.

I think that the most unique feature of the Lyra-8 lies in the TUNE knobs above its sensor. Lyra-8 has eight independent voices and each of them can be tuned separately to a note. So every time you play a voice, it will play the note it was tuned by using the TUNE knob. So, instead of playing the instrument by using the sensors are a standard keyboard, you play each voice separately one note for each voice. On every sitting to play, the tuning process becomes a ritual as you set the notes you’ll play. You can use any kind of note combination, try to set up scales, or randomly tune each voice and see what happens. This is something I’ve never seen before and while it is time-consuming, it deeply connects you to the instrument and soon you’ll embrace the process and have fun with it.

Still with me?

Above all that, you find the SHARP knob that changes the voice’s shape from Triangle to Square and the MOD knob that set the Mod amount for each pair. The other two group knobs are PITCH and HOLD. PITCH transposes all the group’s voices. HOLD, when it’s above 1 o’clock, sets an infinite hold for the voices of the group.

And now to the crazy stuff. Lyra-8 can be a somewhat standard tone generator. Each time you press a sensor, it will produce rich and beautiful sounds and that’s it. But it can also be a lot more than that. Lyra-8 is also an FM synthesizer, so by flipping the FM switches on top of each pair you can set the voice pair as a modulation source and the MOD knob comes into play. The same switch can also be switched down to set the modulation source to be the LFO or the Total output of the device (if the Total Feedback switch is on).

Another FM synthesis option is the 34->56 & 78->12 switch. Once it’s on, pair 34 becomes the modulation source for voices 56, and 78 becomes the modulation source for voices 12.

The Vibrato switch turns on Vibrato for all voices. Each voice has its own vibrato generator so the effect gets very interesting. Something I love to do is play around with the Vibrato switch by switching on & off. Lyra-8 makes such a cool sweeping sound when you enable Vibrato that’s really unique.

As I’m writing this review, I realized how difficult is to explain how the Lyra-8 works. But in reality, it’s 100 times easier when you actually play it. Every knob is highly responsive and the architecture is quite simple to grasp. So don’t get frightened by it.

On top of the Voices controls, you have the LFO, Delay, Drive, and overall Volume.

The LFO can be used as a modulation source for the voices but also as a modulation source for the Delay. It has two separate frequencies that can either be added or multiplied by using the And/Or switch.

The Delay is very special. It has two Time Knobs that can run independently and two Mod knobs that set the modulation’s depth. The delays can be modulated by their own output signal or the LFO where you have a Square or Triangle option. Feedback set the overall feedback and Mix the volume. Lyra’s Delay is very noisy and lofi in the best way possible. It’s a delay with a ton of character and if you start modulating the time you’ll get so many unexpected results.

Drive is an overdrive/ distortion that adds beautiful harmonics to the sound. It’s not too harsh and can be used in high Drive & Mix settings without destroying your signal. Great analog distortion overall.

My absolute favorite thing about the Lyra-8 is that you can run other instruments through its delay and drive. It has one of the most satisfying delays I’ve played and the addition of distortion makes it an awesome effects chain for any type of sound. You can process drums, synths, or anything you want for saturation and a crazy analog delay that actually sounds analog. Crunchy and noisy that makes everything warm. The delay is, in my opinion, the highlight of this instrument and it reminds me a lot of the classic tape echos like the Space Echo regarding character and warmth.

Who is this for?

Lyra-8 is a one-of-a-kind instrument. It’s built like a tank, it’s heavy, and its raw looks are also translated into its raw and powerful sound. It sounds massive and it has probably the most “analog“ sound I’ve ever heard. But it’s not for everyone and definitely not for everything.

It is a drone and pad machine, that is great for generating lush and rich chords and thick pads, and by modulating it the sound is evolving and is full of surprises. I think it is perfectly suited for ambient artists or producers that score films and series. You can create a lot of weird and interesting tones that instantly sound cinematic and dark so it would be amazing for scoring.

If you are looking for “just another synth“, Lyra-8 is not for you. It’s a category of its own and nothing can be compared to it so beware. It’s not that easy to play actual melodic lines or even basslines so you’ll just have to set your goals straight when using it. It’s definitely a niche instrument that sounds beautiful but it’s hard to tame.

No menus and no presets but a hands-on experience that welcomes experimentation and tweaking. And remember to always record when you jam on the Lyra-8 since it’s really hard to replicate what you did on it.

The effects section for me is one of its biggest superpowers. Every sound I run through Lyra-8 sounds a lot better and it gives life to sterile and boring patches. And I’m sure that’s the reason you can also buy the Lyra FX as a standalone module. Since I don’t want to fall into the rabbit hole of modular (yet), I wish SOMA decides to also release it as a pedal or standalone effects unit.

Conclusion

As stated above, Lyra-8 is so unique that it’s impossible to compare it to anything else. I won’t even worry about its price since I cannot compare it or recommend an alternative.

Lyra-8 is a statement piece. It’s deliberately designed the way it is and it doesn’t try to be something else. It is an instrument that you’ll need to embrace its workflow and quirks and let it work with you, but not for you. Playing it is an experience that’s quite esoteric and mesmerizing. The touch plates provide a more intimate connection to the sound and its hands-on approach invites you to experiment, listen, and react.

I love it when companies dare to be different and trust their vision. And SOMA won that bet and keeps making beautiful and unique instruments since the release of Lyra-8. In a world of boring value-for-money stuff and copies of 50-year-old vintage gear, a fresh and visionary voice is important to the world of synths and Lyra-8 is the child of this voice.

It may not be the most practical or usable instrument in your studio but for the times you want to experiment and have fun, Lyra-8 will be a great companion.