In an amusing way, the Terra seems to me like a more grown-up and esoteric version of the Critter & Guitari Pocket Operator. Inspiring sounds which offer predefined and intentionally vague controls which inspire the user to control with their ears. Knubby buttons. The use of wood in the design. The playful nature. The focus on the user’s self-reflective experience rather than on sound design.
I absolutely want one of these.
Am i the only one that hears terra’s sounds as overly saturated and aggressive? Somehow it doesn’t breathe…
oh it breathes. i got mine last week and it’s real capable going all sorts of places
edited for spelling
Right, come on then. I’m hovering over buying one, but I have questions.
Those of you who’ve had one of these for a bit, how far can you get it to go?
Can it go all out savagery like Lyra, or do you find yourseves veering off down ambient space tangents all the time with it?
And how much of a ballache is it to set a scale for each preset?
That is all.
I can imagine you with one of these. I love the sound and the ability to put your own ‘scales’ or series of notes together. It’s like the Aphex Twin quote:
…sadly, since i recently had a terra at my disposal, i realized, that this nice piece of gear is also hardwired to pretty cheap 80ies dsp technology, xactly the same no go point as in their sax from space/kosmos, also pretty nice product “pipe”, where u can never get rid of at least some wet reverb tail, that does only the sonic trick at first glance, but never ever on the long run…
i totally see the designer/developers point here…sure u need some wet make up…but once u hear a little deeper, there’s no escape from this pretty cheap metallic reverb gnarls…and if u go full wet, it’s drowning nicely, but will never ever let u work it out to match in with any other additional gear…
so, this is for everybody who wants to go a little eso, loves to fool around in stand alone solo droning and/or is totally into atonal noise sessions, just for the fun of it…
for everybody else, this only ends up, after a great sonic honeymoon, that much is for sure, but never the less way sooner than later, on their “ready for resale” items list…
Cool, just what I wanted to hear
For what it’s worth, I think the Terra is pretty fast to set up notes, has a decent sound engine for its intentions, and has the feel of a responsive instrument. I’m really enjoying it so far.
There is no scale mode that I’ve seen—that would have been super useful for diatonic transposition, and is my big hope if they update firmware—but setting the notes or modifying the notes of another patch is extremely fast and easy.
plus looks like nice wood music art too! I am waiting for the new Buchla Music Easel. That and a new ARP 2600 would be fun to play with. Maybe a new Erica Synths techno system for me next year. I had to spend a lot on home and auto repairs this year so no new toys. But I am meeting the no new gear challenge!
Hi everyone, and thanks to the administrators for giving me access.
My name is Giovanni and I am an explorer of sounds. I love synthesizers because they allow me to reveal the hidden side of sounds. I've been experimenting with Soma Terra for about a month. It is a unique tool that cannot be compared to any other, in my opinion.
I add it into my setup and I'm really happy with the new possibilities it's giving me to express myself musically. I wanted to contribute to the discussion by posting one of my videos that might help anyone considering purchasing the Terra. Thank you all and have a nice life.
Which music easel are you gonna get? I really hate waiting when the modem is so much more powerful… but I’m gonna go for the old school.
I tried using Terra with Super 6 (controlled by Terra) a few days ago, and the results turned out quite well. It seems Terra really can provide an expressive and intimate interaction with not only its built-in sound engine but also other synths.
I agree. I really love this thing but it feels like a product that needed just a little more contemplation.
The copper playing knobs are just fantastic to play.
The extreme limitation of the synth engine, silly form factor, and a plethora of quality of life improvements that just won’t get made because according to SOMA the thing is too complicated to make any changes to… such a shame.
Anybody have any fresh takes to share on the Terra?
I’m especially curious to hear from anyone who’s been playing it for a while, gotten past the honeymoon period and is still exploring what Terra has to offer.
I’ve really enjoyed the sound demos (noisy and melodic alike), and I love highly expressive instruments, but it feels like there’s still an air of mystery around Terra. What’s going on in that musical little tree slab?
i’m over the honeymoon period and still in love. it’s definitely got its own signature but it’s a colorful signature. it’s like a graffiti tag.
feel free to DM for specifics or we can keep the convo alive here
I will never sell mine, it’s a glorious instrument. I think the sound engines are some of the most unique and beautiful I’ve ever heard when you really start using the MPE factor to play them expressively. I also own a Linnstrument (which is a very good device too) and MPE VST synths but I always reach for the Terra these days, plus I can take it into the couch or garden or wherever (with a battery).
It’s 100% a SOMA instrument and it’s not meant to be flexible or have a bunch of capabilities or necessarily fit anywhere in a setup. I suggest thinking of it the way you would approach a well-crafted flute or violin. I also wouldn’t say that it takes “skill” to play necessarily, since touching it is all it needs to sound good, but it is completely designed for expressive live playing, not for sequencing/MIDI, and having a sense of scales/harmony/rhythm is going to get much better results.
I tend to get lost in playing for long periods of time when I pick it up and it is great for unique percussive stuff, pads, and expressive melodies. Because of the non-intuitive (or at least not easy to remember) nature of the preset system + different control methods for each sound engine, I wouldn’t reach for it with a goal of like “Yeah I need to dial in a fat, funky bassline for this track.” the way you might with a more traditional synth or VST. I find it works best to explore it’s engines and when I find things I like start saving/recording/turning them into songs rather than vice versa.
It also does just look and feel fantastic. The metal “keys” are extremely expressive and satisfying to play with and they thought out the finger layout well.
One thing I don’t like: the multi-combo touches for things like shifting octaves, really doesn’t make any sense why they didn’t just add a few more sensors/knobs for some direct functions.
I will also say that my taste preferences tend to be on the more esoteric/noisy side of things. For example, there is a vocal synth sound engine that kind of sounds like a choir a Soviet robots, and some people might think it sounds harsh or cheesy, but I love that engine.
Instrumentalist skill does pay off, however: if you take the time to woodshed the moves required to play timbre changes rhythmically along with the notes, it’s akin to learning useful combinations on a conventional instrument like a piano or flute.
I’d also like to add that its monophonic bass patches sound and respond really nicely, with that pressure portamento feature, which also takes some practice to use well for bass grooves.
Oh yeah it can do everything, I get great bass out of sometimes. I mean that I don’t approach it as an all-in-one synth that tweak to get some specific sound I want from head, at least not quickly. Like if I want to get a certain sound of the Digitone I know what I am going to start doing with tone controls and envelopes and LFOs, whereas if I was trying to mimic a sound I heard in my head my instinct wouldn’t be to reach for the Terra (unless the sound I hear is a Terra specific sound like Soviet robots).
I have let my partner use it a few times and, while they have no familiarity with synths, they are a classically-trained musician and they find it intuitive and beautiful to play piano compositions on.
i emailed soma recently to request a few more drum-centric algorithms. let’s say they said ‘maybe.’
my one gripe that i have is with the paramteric keyboard (left side) that A is so frequently used for that straight-to-silence effect and i mess up a lot of beautiful moments when i hit that. that’s on me tho.
i wish we could pick which effects are there. has anybody found a way to do this?
i guess i’ve never tried to change the engine of a preset. i don’t think that’s possible
