ENNER – BODY-PATCHING SYNTHESIZER

SOMA have a new synthesizer. 

It's called the ENNER .

The name's origin is a combination of two words : Inner & Energy

 

As an instrument, ENNER is a unique analog synthesizer with the key principle being that all signals that make sound pass through and are managed by your body. 

 

Your hands become the central part of the circuitry. 

The central idea is that as you touch the different contact pads with different parts of your fingers and palms (with different amounts of pressure) you are letting signals pass through your body. This defines the mixing, volume, timbre, feedback and other parameters of synthesis.

 

 

Human skin has much more complex electric properties than we think. 

Our skin provides not just resistance but also some capacitive properties and even
nonlinear dependence of conductivity from current, its direction and time during which the current was applied. 

 

All of this affects the sound, making you the key part of the synthesis process

 

This makes the ENNER a very expressive sound tool.

It is great for generating bits, pads, FX, noises, clicks and glitches.
It even functions as a unique vocal mic with built-in analog FX and much more.

 

 It’s such a versatile instrument you can do a full live performance using nothing but ENNER!

 

 The main concept was to create an instrument that’s closely connected to the performer's
emotional state, our inner energy. This idea belongs to the founder of SOMA Vlad Kreimer
and Danish sound artist SiSTOR, Dalin Waldo, the designer of the instrument.

She created the design of the front panel (pads layout and handwritten inscriptions) and she came up with the name ENNER.

 

ENNER is a unique electronic instrument that offers pronounced possibilities for sound
extraction. ENNER reacts to the nature of touch, creating many subtle nuances of sound.
For example, two taps on the same pad, but with different pressure, speed, or angle, will
produce different sounds.

 

Technical features.

All pots of ENNER are metallic and also function as inputs or outputs. So touching a pot can
change not only the parameters but also patch audio signals.

 

 The wooden housing is cutom made from the Ash-Tree.

It's not only beautiful, but also provides the necessary acoustic properties for the electro-acoustic part
of ENNER.

 

" It has a piezo pickup attached to the front panel that captures sound from the casing itself. There is a metallic spring and you can attach rubber bands to the panel to create various acoustic sounds. The piezo mic can capture clicks and scratches you make with your fingers, and it also allows you to create filtered feedback."

 

The top panel is constructed with a high-quality PCB with golden metalization of the
conductive pads. The instrument is available in black and red. 

 

 

The triangle section in the centre consists of a modulated stereo delay at the apex followed by a direct stereo input and then a series of  filter arrays.

 

The filters consist of 

HP (left/right) 

BPF (high, left/right)

BPF (low, left/right)

LPF  (left/right)

The bottom of the triangle (NOISE pad) is the output of static pink noise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On either side of the triangle are two synths.

The left one has one master generator, the output of which is divided six times by two with individual outputs for each stage of division (PULSE 1-6).

 

This synth is aimed at creating rhythmical clicks, basses and octave tones. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The frequency of the master generator is defined by the TEMPO knob.

 

 The output pads &1,2,3 are logical multiplications of different PULSE outputs giving additional and more complex rhythm combinations.

 

 On the right side of ENNER, there is a five-voice synthesizer with individual adjustment of frequency for each voice

 

TUNE knobs are also the outputs of the voices, so by touching them you can patch the voices to the filter’s inputs.

 

The synthesizer has separate output pads for each voice (pads OUT 1-5), individual modulation inputs (MOD 1-5) and ring modulation outputs (the RING 12, 23, 34 numbers indicate which voices are sources for the ring modulation).

 

 

 

 

 

Connecting MOD and OUT pads of one voice with your fingers will pitch it up. The fifth voice has an additional modulation pad MOD 5- which can shift the pitch of the fifth voice down (connect it to +12 pad or any pad that has some positive signal including the output of the fifth voice).

 

External in (EXT socket and EXT pad) lets you send an external audio signal to ENNER and process it through the array of filters, delay and other ENNER stuff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Availability and price.

ENNER is produced exclusively by the Russian division of SOMA. The price is 440 euros
(excluding VAT, shipping, etc.).
You can order ENNER from the SOMA website, in the future it will be available in stores.