SOMA Enigma: The Puzzling Synth You Play With Metal Objects
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Is it a synth? Is it a board game? SOMA Enigma is a little of both, generating sound via sensors that you interact with by placing metallic objects on its surface. Puzzling in the best way!
SOMA Enigma
SOMA Laboratory is a synthesizer manufacturer that thinks outside the box. The creator of Lyra-8 and the wooden Terra generally doesn’t follow the rules of what a synthesizer is supposed to be. Enigma is the latest from the company, and it’s a puzzling mix of synth, board game, and experimentation platform.
“Enigma is dedicated to the spirit of exploration and discovery, and to the courage and passion that drive us toward uncharted territories and mysterious phenomena,” says SOMA.
Who’s up for board game night?
SOMA Enigma: Metallic Objects Interact With Sensors
Enigma certainly doesn’t look like a synthesizer. If anything, it looks more like a board game – although one of the occult variety. The sound is controlled by the user placing metallic objects on the surface. Position and movement affect the sound.
According to SOMA, “The shape, size, and type of object are entirely up to you. Coins, screws, fragments, gears, tools, and any other metallic artifacts will work. The interface sensitivity is extremely high – even a fractional millimeter shift of an object can alter the sound.”
The interface is, in fact, a sensor system with eight different touch sensors that allow switching between operating states. The interface sensitivity has been set very high and will even respond to objects held up to 20mm above it.
As for exactly what those operating states are, they aren’t saying. The idea with SOMA Enigma is to explore and experiment. “How the field responds, how materials interact, how gestures translate into structure, what internal mechanisms awaken,” says SOMA, “is meant to be discovered. Let discovery itself become part of the experience and the performance.”
They do say that Enigma may remember gestures over time, and also that it’s not random: “Identical object placement and movement, under identical touch sensor states, will produce identical sonic behavior.”
SOMA Enigma: MIDI and CV
While the main method of interaction with Enigma is through its surface, it does also include MIDI and CV for some level of control. There’s a CV clock input, as well as a five-pin DIN MIDI port. While not every mode will allow MIDI or CV interaction, some states will recognize MIDI clock, MIDI start, MIDI stop, MIDI continue, MIDI notes (but velocity is ignored), and MIDI pitch bend. It can also recognize CV clock.
In terms of outputs, SOMA Enigma includes stereo outs plus a headphone jack.
SOMA Enigma: Pricing and Availability
SOMA is hoping to have Enigma available by mid-summer. It will cost €590.
SOMA will be at Superbooth this week, where founder Vlad Kreimer will present the Enigma on Saturday, May 9 at 3:30 p.m. at the FEZ Kino.
More Information
- SOMA Enigma product page
- More about SOMA
- More about synthesizers
- Buy synthesizers at Thomann*
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