Neutral Labs Elmyra is a weird sounding DIY drone/texture Synthesizer heavily inspired by the one and only SOMA Labs Lyra-8
One of the synthesizers that everyone should have played in their life is the Soma Labs Lyra-8. The reason is simple: there is no Synthesizer that has so much character and can be played in so many variations. Lyra-8 takes you on a crazy sound journey that is not pretended. It really shows what an experimental synth is and therefore it sounds different in every hand.
Elmyra can be described as a little DIY brother of the Lyra-8 that is fully supported by Vlad Kreimer. It is based on an Adafruit ItsyBitsy Mo Express microcontroller and outputs an audio resolution of 10bits. Great for wonderful gritty sounds. There are three sound engines in this microcontroller which reacts to your skin’s electrical resistance via the touch plates. The part that was most inspired by Vlad Kreimer’s masterpiece.
The engines are individually tuneable and shapable with envelopes before they travel in a delay/feedback path. Additionally, you can activate oscillator drift with the help of the MOD knob. Besides the digital engines, Elmyra also has an analog distortion built-into the signal chain perfect for really nasty sounds.
There is also a Scratch control for further shaping options and a built-in filter. At first look, it looks like a lot of fun and much easier than the Lyra-8 from Soma Labs.
Do-It-Yourself (DIY)
Neutral Labs Elmyra is not a current commercial product but is an open-source (hardware & software) so you can build it yourself. A perfect project at the present time. All the instructions, PCB files, and designs are on the website. There is no ready-to-use kit available to buy, so it’s a complete DIY project.
However, there is hope for PCBs, etc for this exciting project. Neutral Labs writes on the website: “However, if you’re interested in a factory-made panel, PCB, pre-programmed microcontroller, kit or a finished unit (I will only do a small number though), send me a message
Update
For all non-DIY affine musicians, there is now a possibility to buy the Elmyra already built. A German dealer is currently selling two different versions: black gold & white black on Etsy for 280€ + shipping what is a fair price.
More information here: Neutral Labs
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