Why choose between your guitars/ basses and synths when you can get both in one powerful unit?

Pushing the frontiers of synth-guitar hybridity is Elyra, a new multi-timbral and polyphonic synthesizer by BLL Instruments that’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen.

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To start, Elyra is a synthesizer that can be played like a guitar or bass. It has two strumming zones, a fretboard with 4×12 touch-sensitive pads, two assignable sliders, an OLED screen with a wheel, and eight contextual buttons.

Similar to a guitar, players can select notes on the Elyra’s fretboard and sound the ‘strings’ by strumming the zones. There are two strumming areas for strings, one dedicated to back and forth and another dedicated to bass and arpeggios.

To play the Elyra, all you have to do is hook a strap on, hold it against your body and shred it like you would a guitar. You can also use it placed on a table or on your knees like a conventional synth.

With the Elyra, all “essential subtleties” of guitar playing are retained, says the brand, allowing you to slide between notes, execute pull-offs and hammer-ons, and tune the virtual strings according to your needs.

Under its wooden hood, the battery-powered Elyra features a synth engine designed by Kodamo, creators of the Mask1 synthesizer. It combines virtual analog and FM synthesis, with 16 voices for polyphonic sound. Voicing is freely configurable, which means you can have one instrument with 16 voices or 16 instruments with one voice and everything in between.

Two LFOs are available along with two resonant filter options: a 2-pole -12dB/oct low-pass and a 4-pole -24dB/Oct high-pass filter. Additionally, the master section offers three slots for effects, including distortion, overdrive, bitcrusher, chorus, delay, and reverb. For those who prefer a more conventional interface, there’s also a 256-step sequencer onboard for programming patterns that can be stored via SD card.

The Elyra is now available for $1099/ €1199. Check out the synth in action below.

Learn more at BLL Instruments.

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