Elta Music SOLAR 42, a microtonal polyphonic ambient machine, ready for pre-order

September 5, 2023 Synth Anatomy Hardware, News, Synthesizers 12

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Superbooth 23: Elta Music introduced the SOLAR 42, a microtonal polyphonic ambient machine packed with six drone oscillators and more. 

At Superbooth 23, the Latvian company Elta Music presented the SOLAR 42, the successor of the SOLAR 60 drone Synthesizer. Now, you can pre-order it for 1500€ + shipping.

The Starter Kit includes the SOLAR 42, the Infinity cartridge, 5 patch cables, and a power supply. You can buy all 12 cartridges for 100€ giving you 12 additional effects. ​According to Elta, you have to send an e-mail to sales@eltamusic.com to pre-ordering it.

Update: new video release and feature list added

Elta Music Solar 49

Features

  • Two V/octave morphing VCO voices
  • multifunctional touch-sensitive keypad controller.
  • six drone voices with separate push-button keypad
  • two white noise generators,
  • dual POLIVOKS filter
  • two S&H generators
  • five LFO generators,
  • 5-step sequencer,
  • CV Joystick
  • Preamp for contact mic + envelope follower
  • stereo mixer with panoramic left and right channels
  • dual cartridge effector combiner with CV control. Now you can load a different effect on each channel.
  • stereo audio output.
  • dry audio outputs volt octave voices. External audio input.

The new SOLAR 42 is also available for pre-order at Perfect Circuit $1799,99

Perfect Circuit

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Article From May 18th, 2023

Experimental synthesizers usually differ significantly in terms of the range of features or the way they play compared to classic instruments. The SOLAR 50 from the Latvian company ELTA Music also belongs to them. This is a massive analog drone synthesizer with 10 voices playable with a spaceship-looking user interface.

The SOLAR 50 has evolved into the SOLAR 42 for the Superbooth 23. No longer so crazy in the drone business anymore but still as experimental as the SOLAR 50.

Elta Music SOLAR 42 Superbooth 23

Elta Music SOLAR 42

Like the SOLAR 50, the SOLAR 42 is an analog Synthesizer. Only the effects are digital again. Unlike its predecessor, the SOLAR 42 only has 6 drone blocks. Each has 5 oscillators with a tune and own volume controls. You can put them into endless oscillation using the six touch-pads on the right side.

New is, however, two playable oscillators that you can play like regular sound generators or LFOs. All this flows into a new mixing section. Thanks to the all-new stereo signal path, you can pan the oscillators independently to the left and right.

Then, you can shape the oscillators using the built-in dual Polivoks-inspired filter. For the final touch, SOLAR 42 also comes with a dual effector section. Here you will find various effects such as delay, reverb, etc. Not internally as a DSP but again as a cartridge as you know from the former SOLAR 50 Synthesizer.

There is also a new 5-step sequencer, a refined touch-sensitive controller, and a new joystick. The latter has dedicated CV outputs for the X and Y axis.

You can also patch the SOLAR 42 like a semi-modular Synthesizer. Each section has patch points allowing you to dive deep.

First Look

First Impression

An impressive evolution of the SOLAR 50 drone Synthesizer. The fact that you can now do more than just epic analog drones makes the SOLAR 42 much more interesting as an instrument. It’s nice to see that developers still create such unique and wild experimental synths.

ELTA Music SOLAR 42 will go into production in Summer and will cost around 1500€ + VAT.

More information here: ELTA Music 

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12 Comments

  1. Experimental is a correct term. Great idea, but I still wonder what its added value really is to most of us. Of course you can use it for experimental uses, but there is a lot of experimentation I can reach with my other synths as well..

    In any case, kudos for the developers to make it! I wish them all the best.

    • Will there’s lots of people who love the Soma Lyra, I think somebody who enjoys that type of synthesizer would be interested in this.

  3. I have the Solar 50 from before and my only complaint is you get mono and lose stereo if u use the internal filter and effects. If u want to maintain stereo u have to unfiltered and dry and use external for that. It seems like they have fixed that in the new Solar 42. I won’t upgrade but I wish them well. I have their polivok filter box as well and hopefully they sell a lot of that too.

    • but they are now a Latvian company. They pay their taxes there, are registered there, etc. Yes the guys are from Russia and they moved to Lativa but this don’t make them any worse. It’s not a political topic or discussion, it’s about the tools we use to make music.

      • Beg to differ, they made their political feelings rather clear, and immigrating to another country to wash the stain of this Russian regime doesn’t clear them from the stench of their feelings towards Ukraine.

        • No political discussions, thanks. If you want to discuss this, please move to a page about politics, etc. Thanks!

          • You insisted that they are Latvian, when then are not, they moved their company to Latvia. If a person commits a crime, harbour racist or xenophobic feelings, or if they support despotic regimes, moving to another country does not change anything, only their location. I was simply pointing that out!

            However I agree with you, political discourse is best left off of these pages. However it is important to note and make the distinction when a person or a company is attempting to hide their origins….

            Thanks

          • They don’t hide their origins. At the Superbooth they clearly stated that where are from but had moved to Latvia. So they are a Latvian company because they work in Latvia and have registered it there. Just because politics has gotten crazy doesn’t mean that all people who live or have lived there should be seen in the same way. Elta no longer wanted to live and work there, so they decided to move to Latvia.

  5. For the sake of clarification: Arseniy, the founder of ELTA, is literally from Ukraine. Again, not like it matters. And for further clarification, I can’t for the life of my find anywhere online any evidence of them (quote) committing crimes, harbouring racist or xenophobic feelings, or supporting despotic regimes. Not sure where this information is coming from…? I don’t have any stake one way or another, just seems worth pointing out.

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