new to the forum, but i’ve been lurking for a while. I recently decided to delve back into making music (I mostly make industrial, drone/ambient and deconstructed sounds; sometimes I make gabber/hardcore). I saw Lyra 8 and I was immediately taken away by how colossal the sounds that it produces and I’m set on buying it
I’m trying to understand how compatible the Lyra 8 is with other gears. I understand that the synth is very difficult to ‘wield,’ especially if you’re trying to make anything melodic. But does it really make sense to have the lyra as the main part of your setup? and what gears would you integrate with the Lyra to make industrial sounds while also producing something melodic like Arca for example?
If you love the sound of the Lyra 8, I would say that this is one of the most important reasons to consider buying. Although you have to play it, because it’s a live players instrument. Interface compatibility with other gear is very simple. There are line-level audio in and out and Eurorack compatible CV/Gate inputs, that’s it.
Would I have bought the Lyra 8 as my first hardware synth? I think not. I bought the Lyra, because it was very different compared to the other gear in the studio. The Lyra is more of an experimental electronic instrument and does compare not well with standard synths. It’s more like an instrument, which the early pioneers of electronic instruments created.
If you look for a synth for melodic themes, I would check out the more conventional instruments.
Head over to the mind melting DFAM thread on here. Or check the tunes in the Lyra thread.
Lyra 8 plus DFAM is (one of) my poison, seems to be a popular one.
If your musical direction is along these lines, then Lyra-8 as your first hardware synth might work for you. You can tune up to 8 different pitches on the Lyra-8 for playing melodies.
Keep in mind though if you are writing melodies in other keys and you want to play live, you might have to retune your Lyra-8 between songs.
What other gear do you already have? Including software?
As a main part of your setup the Lyra would be an awesome inspiring piece of gear. But the ease of writing music with it is going to depend what you have to accompany it.
I think the easiest way to create music with the Lyra would be to pair it with a good sampler. This way you can dial in and record sound you like with the Lyra, then sample and sequence those sounds. This leaves you open to play the Lyra live With some pre programmed structure.
I just had an 1 hour session with a lyra, cba mood, cba brothers and an octatrack.
first i thought the brothers was too much because the lyra already has drive. but then the brothers brought out tones that were very quiet in the lyra and that i had not noticed before.
playing with the sample rate of the mood i could bring in different pitches easily.
the lyra is great for and with continuous pitch changes and drifts. but sometimes you want abrupt changes. that is where the hyper lfo of the lyra comes in or you can use an external pitch shifter.
tomorrow i‘m going to try some red panda pedals with the lyra. tensor for the pitch shifts and particle for some rhythmic gating.
the octatrack i just used as a mixer for some chorus and recording.
the lyra can be great as a solo synth. a sampler like the octatrack can give it some structure. it does not work as well with additional external delay and reverb as i had previously thought just because there happens so much already in the lyra.
but works really well with creative effects like the mood, bloober or thyme. effects that can alter the sample rate drastically.
a rhythmic gater like the suonobuono nabc should also be usefull.
of course you can use ipad apps or laptop software but i find it more fun to stay in the lyra state of mind of listening and handling hardware.
Definitely agree that a good sampler “pairs” really well with the Lyra. As far as other synths go it would depend on how much “space” in the mix you devote to it. Paired with a great reverb it can swallow up almost anything. For me I really used the Lyra’s audio input. You can route things thru the delay and the FM for some really cool out there tones.
Also this is slightly off topic but I feel like what would put the Lyra over the top would be a Mother 32 style patchbay. That way it could really be a centrepiece for a modular setup. I.e. Lyra + subharmonicon+ Dfam
I do a lot of stuff with just the Lyra and DFAM (plus FX) and I can go from blistering noise and drone to industrial to techno. It’s great for all of them. It can be a massive centrepiece but can be surprisingly subtle.
The best way to approach it is to completely give up on trying to achieve repeatable results and play the shit out of it.
This Track is just the Lyra and a couple of FX pedals, all processed through the Analog Heat
This one is Lyra and DFAM. The Lyra is much more subtle here, but effective nonetheless.
I’m a big Gabber/hardcore fan also but haven’t used it for that yet. It really sits well with distorted kicks though, so I imagine it’ll fit right in.
I think that, maybe more so than with any other synth, you can tell from listening to YouTube demoes, if you’ll like the Lyra. It has a very distinct sound, that is present always. I love the time I had with it, and maybe we will meet again, but I did sell it, and I think people researching it needs to know, that it is, in a sense, more limited, than we would maybe like to admit. But what it does, it does with a strange beauty, all its own.
It’s always nice to have stuff where you like how it sounds and you get excited by the idea of working with it. I dont have a lyra but i do other droney type stuff.
For drones and stuff like the lyra, I basically set things up with fx and controller and then just have something recording the whole session.
I can then cut it down or sample it or go back and recreate stuff i like when i listen back to it.
I would say it’s going to depend on your ability to play by ear. If you can intuitively hear intervals without quantization it’s not that bad. It can feel a bit limited esp for the price but nothing else sounds like it really.
IMO this can’t even come close to the experience playing a real Lyra, if it misses those sensor plates.
The plates take in the electrical state of our fingertips very sensitively. It’s different to play with fingers, which are dry or a little sweaty, or whether we touch lightly or press hard.
If we use the crossmodulations between the VCOs, which IMO is a major point of the Lyra, then even little differences at our fingertips will have significant impact on the overall tone. This behaviour can’t be simulated by any GUI or mouse interface
