Waldorf Kyra
The German brand team up with UK synth-maker Exodus Digital for a futuristic digital instrument
Waldorf are one of those brands that like to take their time with things. Take their forthcoming flagship synth Quantum. We got our first glimpse at it at Musikmesse 2017, well over a year ago now, and while we had a chance to try it at NAMM this year – and have heard rumblings of an imminent arrival – at the time of writing the final version is still yet to make its public debut. By the company’s own admission, their latest reveal, Kyra, is still a way off from release, with a ‘full production launch’ scheduled in for NAMM 2019. Still, from the early details unveiled this month, we’re already itching to get our hands on this new digital polysynth.
Kyra will be the result of a collaboration between Waldorf and independent UK developer Manuel Caballero of Exodus Digital, after Waldorf CEO Joachim Flor heard Caballero’s Valkyrie synth on the show floor at this year’s Musikmesse.
“I was immediately aware of the fact that this was probably one of the most exciting synthesisers of recent years,” said Flor. “I got into conversation with Manuel Caballero and I’m now looking forward to working with this talented, innovative individual, who is also a great guy!”
Kyra is a virtual analogue synth that will be based on the same FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) technology as Valkyrie, which its creators claim can significantly outperform the “obsolete” tech of existing DSP synths. Feature-wise, it’s set to house an eight-part multitimbral engine offering two groups of 32x oversampled oscillators per voice (with a total count of 1280 oscillators) with hard sync, ring mod and FM. Dual PCM wavetables will provide 4096 waves to choose from, while the dual analogue-modelled ladder filters will come in -12 and -24bB varieties.
Other features include an 18-channel modulation matrix, a stereo hypersaw, an arpeggiator, polyphonic portamento and three EGs and three stereo LFOs with 64 shapes and MIDI sync. There’s a nine-module effects unit, featuring EQs, limiters, distortion, modulation effects and more, which can be used independently on each synth part.
Kyra’s connectivity sounds interesting too. As well as standard audio outputs, the synth promises stereo 24-bit/96kHz audio over USB for each of its eight parts, as well as a USB audio return feature, so Kyra can render final DAW audio.
What all this means sonically is to be seen, but we’ll find out at NAMM in January. We do, however, already know that Kyra is due to be priced at at €1,899 EUR for a desktop/ rackmount model (with a keyboard version to follow in 2019).