SOMA Laboratory Lyra-8 Organismic Analogue Drone Synth

Welcome to the world of sound of LYRA-8, the unique organismic analogue synthesizer designed by Vlad Kreimer. “Organismic” means that LYRA uses some principles that lie in the base of living organisms. The way how LYRA’s modules interacting between each other and the behaviour of the instrument resembles a live conversation.

LYRA-8 is based on eight generators, which will be referred to as voices. Their design is not like a traditional subtractive synthesis VCO. Instead of having a linear or logarithmic dependency on control voltage, they resemble the tone generators in old electric organs. Hence the use of the term “voices” instead of “VCOs”. Lyra uses non-linearity a lot, and the voices are constructed in such a way that allows for non-linearity to express itself.

The voices are divided into four pairs (12, 34, 56, 78). All the pairs are divided in two groups, with two pairs in each (1234, 5678), creating tree-like structure.

The voices can function either in an electric organ mode or in an FM synthesis mode with each of the voices and its envelope acting as a separate FM operator. The voice’s impact on FM synthesis will decrease along with the decay of its envelope.

LYRA-8 also has the next blocks:

The HYPER LFO is a complex low-frequency generator, whose waveform is synthesized from two simple LFOs by summation or multiplication of their frequencies. It also has a sync mode. The LFO can modulate the selected pairs of voices and the MOD DELAY.

The MOD DELAY consists of two lines of delay with cross-feedback and a special architecture that enables resonance between the two lines. Each line’s delay time can be individually modulated from various sources, including external ones. The delay has a unique possibility of self-modulation where the output signal modulates the delay sample rate, creating cool effects.

The DISTORTION is last in the chain, after the delay. It enables the delay to also influence the distortion.

For all its experimental character, LYRA is a professional instrument. Its output dynamics and frequency response are balanced and ready for a live performance or studio recording without any additional processing.

Throw away everything you know about traditional synthesizer architectures. Designed by engineer Vlad Kreimer, the SOMA Laboratory Lyra-8 is a legendary, desktop "organismic" analogue synthesizer that abandons linear signal paths in favor of an interconnected, chaotic ecosystem. Rather than behaving like a predictable machine, the modules inside the Lyra-8 interact with one another like a living biological system, shifting from lush, celestial harmonies to massive, earth-shaking wall-of-sound industrial textures at a single turn of a dial.

The Lyra-8 features eight individual analogue voice generators that abandon traditional VCO principles, choosing instead to replicate the raw, free-running character of vintage electric organs. These eight voices are organized into a tree-like structure of four pairs, allowing them to transform into separate operators for volatile, non-linear Frequency Modulation (FM) synthesis. Instead of a plastic keyboard, you interact with the synth using 16 ultra-responsive, capacitance-based metal touch sensor plates that measure your body's natural electrical current and finger pressure to dynamically manipulate volume, pitch, and envelope shapes.

The end of the signal path is where the true sound design magic occurs. The voices are fed into an experimental dual Mod Delay block featuring cross-feedback networks and unique self-modulation that allows the audio output to warp the delay's sample rate. This is driven straight into a brutal analogue overdrive and distortion circuit, letting you blend pristine drone layers with speaker-shredding textures that breathe with organic movement.