Waldorf Kyra

Kyra is a powerful, hardware virtual analog synthesizer capable of creating a wide range of contemporary sounds for live and studio musicians.

From first glance it is patently obvious that Kyra is a beautifully-designed desktop VA Synthesizer — as the wording elegantly emblazoned on its eye-catching front fascia subtly states. As a truly multitimbral instrument it features eight independent ‘parts’ with up to 32 notes per PART, each effectively being a complete synthesizer with sound sources (OSC GROUP 1, OSC GROUP 2, SUB 1, and SUB 2); FILTERS; modulators (EGs, LFOs, and MOD MATRIX); multi-effects unit (EFFECTS); and a USB 2.0 connection — can exchange MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) information, as well as send the audio from each stereo PART to a computer as eight stereo 24-bit streams at 96kHz (with 48kHz downsample mode available) and one stereo audio return from the computer supporting a single 24-bit stereo audio stream from the host DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). With that being said, the only other resource they share are the four balanced, stereo output pairs — OUT A (Right and Left), OUT B (Right and Left), OUT C (Right and Left), and OUT B (Right and Left) — using 32-bit DAC (Digital-to-Analogue Conversion) running at 96kHz sampling rate connected to four internal stereo busses and that powerful pool of 128 hardware voices. Versatility further abounds as each PART has a dedicated multi-effects unit comprising nine stereo effects modules — namely, three-band EQ, Formant filter, input Limiter, Distortion module, Delay module, six-state Phaser, Chorus flanger, Stereo reverb, and output Limiter — with dedicated audio stream via USB (Universal Serial Bus).

Sound engine:

Virtual analog synthesis
128 voices
8 parts
All sound features can be used simultaneously
 

Oscillators per voice:

two Wave osc with 4096 waveforms
two Pulse osc
two Saw osc
two Noise osc
two Sub osc with several waveforms
Hard Sync
Hypersaw Mode
Oscillator FM and Ring mod
Oscillators are in two groups for better overview
All osc per voice are available simultaneously
 

Per part:

9 simultaneously available effects
6-slot Mod Matrix with multiple destinations per slot
 

Furthermore:

2 filters: 12/24dB and LP/BP/HP in all configurations
3 envelope generators (EG)
3 LFOs with 128 shapes each
 

Extras:

26 patch banks (A to Z) with 128 slots each
Arpeggiator with 128 preset patterns
Octave Transpose
Double Mode: layers the same sound two times and detunes them against each other
 

Hardware:

Sturdy full metal case
256x64 pixel OLED
Kensington Lock
 

Connections:

USB 2.0 for MIDI and audio
5-pin DIN MIDI In/Out/Thru
8 balanced analog audio outputs plus Headphone out
 

Audio interface

Kyra can be used as an audio interface
Audio is transmitted to the computer via USB in up to 24bit/96kHz
Each Part is transmitted to the computer in stereo (16 channels in total)
2 audio channels from the computer can be played back through Kyra