"La voix du luthier" coneless acoustic speakers for electronic instruments

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

There have been multiple attempts to design a powered speaker for electronic instruments that makes the instrument sound like it’s “acoustic”, in that the sound is coming from a single point - where the instrument is located - and emanating in all directions from that point in the room, instead of coming out of PA speakers. It’s like the difference between hearing an unplugged acoustic guitar in a nice room, and the same guitar through a mic or pickup into a PA in the same room.

These two acoustic speakers - the Onde and the Pyramid - look pretty nice. They’re not as cheap as the low-end brand acoustic amps, but they’re also not as expensive as Acoustic Image or Henrikson amps either. At least not at the Kickstarter prices.

Octatrack/Digitakt/Digitone/etc through one of these could sound pretty cool. Especially in a room with a nice view and potted plants. Gotta have the potted plant.

#2

I think its a cool idea, but it wont work (satisfying) with all types of sounds. I think in the right hands it will be very awesome. I doubt that it will enhance the average electronic musicican, only if they are avid key players.

#3

There are videos featuring Buchla modular, Haken Continuum, etc. - not typical keyboard instruments. Cheap synths represented by Novation Mininova.

Scroll to the middle of the web page to see videos.

Keep in mind though that due to the nature of the Onde and Pyramid, no video can give us an accurate portrayal of how these speakers would sound in person, any more than a video of a Strad violin or a fine classical guitar can replace the experience of hearing the instrument in person, in the same room. As such, these speaker would be of most interest to people who like to play live, and of little to no interest to those who only work in the studio.

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#4

La Voix du Luthier has a new resonator “speaker”. It is called La Voile (the sail) and has two separate sound boards, and a battery powered amp, and optional pre-amp. They have simplified their design while still maintaining high sound quality, hence a lower price and a better price performance. They are utilizing “floating soundboards” in this design.

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Would need to hear these, but i am expecting a precision in sound that would likely fit many applications. For instance as a guitar amp for a hollow body electric guitar. Or perhaps as a keyboard amp, for you digital piano, now with a real soundboard. Or perhaps in a stage performance to give a new presence with a synth, or modular. Looking forward to hearing these.

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#5

Hey, if any moderator ever stops by this topic, @LyingDalai for exemple ? :innocent: , could you please rename this topic to something along :

"La voix du luthier" Pyramid-Onde-La voile

Since the product range has been widening and the brand seems more and more established I think it could be interesting to have its name in the dedicated topic ?

All in all, any users here ? I’m more and more intrigued by these resonators the more my setup becomes smaller and smaller…

I’m really looking for a way to get more “acoustic” with my osmose…

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#6

They will be showing at both Synthfest France ( thread ) in a week, and then after that at Superbooth ( thread ), the middle of May.

So many fascinating options with these resonators. They become part of the sound, and part of the experience in smaller venues.

How about using them with something like the ET-5 from Therevox ? ( thread )

#7

For La Voix it says Left and Right driving separately the 2 soundboards
so they are stereo, but what does this mean here?

two sonically complementary soundboards

Let’s say I want this for my DT. I then send my kick track to board 1 (Left) because it sounds fuller there and my instrument tracks to board 2 (Right) for more clarity?

Edit: also very good overview:

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#8

I intend to purchase either L’Onde or the Pyramide in the coming months. Schneidersladen is around the corner from me and they have both (and a few more resonators) locally available to play and try out. Just haven’t found the time yet to drop in and give both a good whirl, but I really want to and will.

I like the full spectrum capabilities of the Pyramide, but also love the idea of having l’Onde on a stand with a nice synth and have that set up with my acoustic instruments ready to jam (Onde should be very good for this). Pyramide is obviously much more stationary.

#9

I have a “la voile” being shipped to me. I will report in a week or so…

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#10

Really want one of these. Do you think they work well in a small space or do you need a big one ideally? All the demos seem to be in giant rooms.

#11

Please do ! :smiley:

#12

So … I have the thing. I will not write much because I’m still in the “honeymoon” phase where everything is awesome. Hopefully in a couple of months I can give a better assessment.

That said….

It’s no doubt a very artisanal product, in the good sense mostly, but some annoyances come with it.

It looks good and the fake leather cover is welcome since it will reside in my living room, and there is enough ugly gear there.

The Bluetooth works well and that allowed me to experiment some music on it, most I think did not benefit, even to my surprise Hania Rani, which I would have guessed it would be perfectly suited. However I played some solo piano work, and some piano and strings, and those did sound wonderful. Vikingur olafsson’s Philip glass album did particularly well, and so did Natalie Stutzmann’s Contralto.

For connecting instruments : it can have a nasty ground loop. Installing the optional batteries cured it. And in reality it suits the thing to have one less cable hanging from it. I’m thinking one of those wireless jacks could be a natural fit since it sends sounds in all directions it really “wants” to be in the middle of the room and not against the wall like a PA or guitar amp.

Hooking it to my Roland fp-30x does complement it nicely, especially in the low end, but I must say it does not replace the onboard speakers. They work at its best together. And while not a bad sounding digital piano, the fp30x just got better. Still experimenting with speaker positions and equalization and volumes, but so far so good.

Connecting to the osmose it’s hit and miss so far. Some presets sound lovely, others sound messy. So I would say if you take time to pick the correct combo it will enhance the experience. Some factory presets I liked on le voile:

Howling sines (wuuuut?)
Lost beacon
Oblivion
Or cherry (if I close my eyes I swear it’s an acoustic instrument)
Releasy
Rewind time
Tales of feathers

And some I did not like:
Kinaflap
bass pad
Dirty osc pad
Grandmas garden (surprise on this one)
Psy squelches (can’t say why…, it just sounds so bad)

Noticed that these are all in my around 40 favourites list picked with headphones. I also want to point that as you can see the divide is not on analog like / digital like. And it’s of course highly personal.

I said I did not want to write much, but well…
Any questions fell free to ask.

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#13

Thanks for the review, that was interesting. The fact that it’s a hit or miss kind of device was expected but may lead to disapointment in the long run…Do you have the optional preamp installed ?

#14

Yes, I do have the preamp option.

As for the disappointment, yes I think that is always a possibility with this kind of stuff. But I think is a question of managing expectations. If you think such a piece of equipment is going to be an instant hit in your workflow or make everything better without effort, than it can’t survive the hype. I think you know this of course.

So, the question would then be, where do you want to fit this….

In my case, the purpose is to record / play live intimate solo music, mostly keyboard based, tending to acoustic with a slightly digital edge. Assuming I convince someone to book me a gig, it would be my guess in venues for 20 or so spectators. This seems to use the strengths of it. Zero chance it will be used with my jam band with a drum set and a bass player that loves drones, etc.

Don’t discount it just yet, as I said give me a couple months and for sure I can say a bit more.

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#15

Seems to work fine in my weird L shaped 15 m2 living room. So huge room not necessary.

No. It does not sound like stereo. Stereo is the wrong concept to think about here. It does not sound mono either. You would not describe a cello as sounding stereo/mono and I think this also applies a lot here. Its very hard to explain, and for me its greatest strength.

From my limited testing Im not sure you would. But with time I can perhaps experiment a bit with it and let you know. One thing I will say the front and back boards sound very different, but complementary. If you completely turn down the volume on one or the other the sound becomes mostly flat and uninteresting, so I think they need to work together, and I’m not sure having completely different sounds in the front and back will work as you expect.

As an aside I would love to record this, but I’m not sure it’s very helpful, maybe only with a binaural mic set would make any sense…

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#16

So,… I have been mucking around with stuff, and by the chance of having the “wrong” cables at home and the “right” ones in the studio, I found a very pleasant setup for “le voile”.

Still not super convinced with the Eagan matrix + la voile, but…

Osmose + noisy 2 + la voile seem to be a very good match. And speaker placement has an effect as well. You could say that noisy 2 has a more restricted pallete, but by being more controllable with a much simpler interface means it’s easy to make the presents sound good.

The placement on the table also helped I think, but of course this is all so subjective. But as there seems to be some interest on this unusual gizmo, I will keep posting my thoughts and experiences.

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#17

I’m really enjoying your review.

I grew up with a piano in the house. I sucked at practice, but I loved playing it. The physicality was (and remains) so appealing. I’ve mostly made electronic music since then and miss the “air” and “wood” feeling. My Wurlitzer gets close to it, but synths through monitors sound dry and sterile in comparison, even with distortion and reverb.

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