#1

This man is rapidly becoming one of the most intriguing instrument builders around.

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#2

i can confidently declare the pipe demonstration to be the most interesting thirty minutes i’ve experienced this week.

quite curious as to the price of the dvina—such elegant design and explosive timbre are an enticing combination.

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#3

Would love to see a it fed through the LYRA-8.

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#4

Well that was unexpected

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#5

Love to read more about the ‘no pickup’ electrics, specialist pre amp etc.

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#6

Emailed and heard the same as this, which was added to the page.

PRICE: It’s hard to say something concrete as we have no experience of production of wooden electro-acoustic instruments. I can expect the net price for the main part (DVINA + the step-up transformer) in span 200-500 Euros. The net price for the pre-amp/delay/distortion unit is around 300 Euros.

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#8

I cant even think how much practice one needs to play this

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#9

Yeah! Thanks so much for sharing this. My ardor for the Lyra-8 cooled fairly quickly, but Vlad’s clearly brimming with ideas, and I want to support that. This looks like a lot of fun (and work; I’ve spent enough time with bowed instruments to get a sense of how much practice is necessary just to play… shall we say “deliberately”).

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#10

Yeah indeed. I am curious about this part:

A key feature of DVINA and its sound is that there is no pickup inside. Instead, I take the electric signal DIRECTLY from the strings that vibrate in the strong magnetic field of a neodymium magnet, hidden in the neck.

So it’s kind of like a flipping of the normal guitar pickup where the vibrating string is the coil that normally goes around the magnetic pickup poles?

I wonder if it’s a much weaker signal than a “normal” guitar pickup in that it’s just the string producing the signal, vs hundreds of winds of a coil. But then again, it’s a neodymium magnet, which is a lot stronger.

#11

and maybe strong magnets dampen strings too much so you add a bit of delay…

yes for me too this is the curious part (as you say)…it would be interesting if they sell their system and electrics separate to the instrument.

#12

Yeah, or talked about it in more detail. Will see if/when he starts making them for sale.

But that’s probably what the delay is for too, as well as the custom pre-amp for boosting the (presumably weaker) signal.

#13

Anyone seen this? Interested?

I am very intrigued by this latest demo, and as always with Vlad there is something about the sound… But I’m not an electric guitarist and I feel you would need to be to evaluate this…

Any thoughts?

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SOMA Labs Lyra 8
#14

stunning…

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#15

Wow!

Violin was my first serious instrument, although I lost the muscle memory for it. I’ve also noodled some on fretless bass, which makes a lot more sense to me than a lot of other stringed instruments… I’d probably feel right at home with this thing.

I just have to ask myself if/how much I’d realistically integrate it into my musical practice, vs. the price I guess. [EDIT: I see it’s 550 Euros, plus shipping etc.] Hmm.

#16

So excited to see Divna become reality. …I’ve been captivated by it since the early demo. It strikes me as a potentially ideal way to delve deeper into the electro-acoustic space and learn new technique. Love the sound.

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#17

I wish I understood the pickup tech he’s using. I could make one of these in a day with two dollars worth of wood, two guitar tuners, and two guitar strings — plus whatever the pickup is. I can’t see paying him 550 euros plus taxes and shipping for something so simple. You don’t even get a bow. I’m a big fan of his work, but I’ll take a pass on this.

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#18

Dug out another video demo - unfortunately I don’t speak any Russian, but there is some playing at the end (including a brief snippet of a more Western blues rock approach, which is intriguing):

This appears to be an earlier prototype than the video from yesterday - there are no pitch markings on the neck of the Dvina in this version, and perhaps as a consequence Vlad’s intonation appears not as accurate when he plays.

The pricing is confusing - I think the inital message from February may have suggested that the Dvina plus distortion/delay/pre-amp together could have come in at around 500 euro (although there was a big range specified for the anticipated cost of the Dvina itself). It’s not clear to me from the latest update whether the pre-amp is included in the 550 euro price currently quoted on the website.

#19

I like the form-factor and the concept, but I can’t say that Dvina’s pickup sounds good. There’s some cheap-piezo texture to it, the tone is inconsistent.

They brag about not having a pickup, which is weird, because if you somehow taking the sound from an instrument without a mic - then there is a pickup) Anyway, what they describe as “taking the signal directly from a string vibrating in a strong magnetic field” sounds like a magnetic pickup to me.

By the way, 1k USD buys you a legit NS Design WAV four string electric cello. You get a versatile, quality instrument for that money. 5 string version is even better)

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#20

This is added by request if I’m not mistaken.
Don’t forget to calculate the shipping from RU, customs and VAT into the price of the item.

#21

Perhaps a magnet but no coil? Then feeding the metal string into the transformer? Obviously I have no clue…