Yeah, IDK why but they kinda dropped off my radar. I got into heavier underground metal, like grindcore and death metal and sludge metal around the time With Teeth came out and kinda went into that rabbit hole for a decade. I did just recently re-listen The Fragile and it was really, really good!
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An OTO BAM might be a nice alternate, then.
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Maybe? The person looking for a reverb is @Grate_expectations - you should tag or respond to this person with your reverb suggestions.
I just watched the recent Ben Wheatley film In The Earth and Iām pretty sure the Lyra-8 is used to create the diagetic sounds that a scientist is using to try to communicate with some kind of forest spirit. Clint Mansell did the soundtrack and perhaps created those sounds too.
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Whereād you see it? Really looking forward to watching it
Ben Wheatley, Clint Mansell and Vlad Kreimer walk into a barā¦
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Yeah, The Fragile is good, and The Downward Spiral is great. Since then I lost interest. I think Trent (and collaborators) has a great sense of atmosphere, but he couldnāt write a vocal melody to save his life.
Damnit, now that I missed out on a good deal for one, because I was doing some research into it, Iām all GASsed up and ready to go.
Do me a favour, tell me if you regret buying yours in anyway?
Definitely didnāt regret buying mine (2nd hand) but I did end up letting it go about a year after. As fun and unique as it was, I felt in most of my songs I was kinda holding it back, just sampling it or indeed not using it at all - and couldāve used one of my more tonal synths more easily to the effect I was looking for.
About a month ago a friend of mine bought one and I started digging the recordings I had done with the Lyra. There were definitely some that made me go āI want one againā just due to the inimitable sound of the thing. My GAS has (mostly) shifted since though. 
I feel there are Lyras pretty regularly on the 2nd hand market, so I think youāll end up scoring one at a good price if you just keep looking.
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Thanks, really appreciate that. Was I keep wondering is how controllable it is. All the reviewers say āitās like an instrument, you play it like an instrumentā but generally speaking an instrument is something you can gain skill at, and maybe even master. Which all implies control, expression, repeatability etc.
I guess Iām asking, is it kind of a very good random noise generator, or can you learn to play it?
Sure you can learn to play it.
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Its not really that random. Everything effects everything else so the signal chain can be chaotic, but its not random. You can recreate sounds and play it like an instrument.
Its not like a drone synth, even. It can drone, but its more like an electronic organ that can do some weird shit.
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awesome!
This guy learned to play two of themā¦
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Never. Lyra is unique. Genius. Beautiful.
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You can definitely learn to play it. In my opinion itās relatively easy to tame, but it seems so boring when you lock it in a cage. So many other synths can make such sounds more elegantly. Again, in my opinion, the Lyra shines when you let it fly. Give it a few pushes and see where it goes.
Personally I tune it to most of the notes of a desired scale, ātameā it by turning off all modulation and distortion. Then I start opening filters, adding modulation, pedals etc. If something is dope I either repeat it or push it harder. If something goes sour I just back it off.
I like it best front and center or solo. Maybe I add a sequenced bell behind it and some light percussion. Sometimes Iāll do a binaural beating drone quietly behind other synths or use it for a techno rumble.
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I often say that Iāll never sell this or that piece of gear, shortly before I end up selling it.
I honestly canāt think of a single situation where Iād even consider selling my Lyra. I wouldnāt describe it as super useful, or versatile (even though it is both of those things, within reason) but itās the one piece of gear Iāve owned that feels like it was made for me. I can sit and play it for hours without once thinking I should record it or make a track with it, Iām just playing it for the sheer enjoyment, for myself and even though thereās a lot of Lyra on the music I do record, that probably accounts for less than 1% of the time Iāve spent playing it.
To engage pretentious mode, when you sit with it and really get into it, itās fucking transcendent. It does more for me in an hour than a lifetime of happy pills and therapy could ever hope to achieve.
Bit over the top, but you get my drift.
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Not sure I do. Do you like it then?
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No, sound quality is bad.
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But not as bad as the Octatrack.
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