The Pipe

PIPE is a voice / breath / mouth-controlled dynamic FX processor and synthesizer. It turns your voice into a powerful FX / beat / lead / soundscape synthesizer and it offers unprecedented levels of vocal processing, truly expanding the traditional boundaries of singing. Conventional singing with lyrics is also possible, and you can use the FX to add live modulations to your vocal performance.

This is the story of how the Soma PIPE came to be.

I’m a composer of electronic music and I always wanted to use my voice, but I’m not a great singer. The biggest problem for me was trying to sing with lyrics. I can write either a text with good sense but it will not be poetic, or I can write a good melody for singing but then it’s hard to attach meaningful text to it. So instead, I began using my voice as a lead instrument or as a coloured sound cloud. Soon I realised that what I actually wanted was to sing like a synthesizer. But there were needed new sound possibilities for it.

The search started for a way to make this dream a reality, and this led me to design the vocal contact mic used in the PIPE. It was the decisive step in the development because this mic made possible the type of sonic explorations with my voice that I was looking for. Then I decided to add a dynamic FX processor, programmed specifically for processing signals from the mic.

The PIPE has 12 different algorithms: ORPHEUS, FILTERRA, SYNTH, REVERB, MADELAY, PULSE, BASSDRUM (three versions), OCTAVA, GENERATOR, HARCHO!

The PIPE consists of the handheld part and a small break-out box with L R output jacks (1/4-inch) and DC IN for power. The handheld part and break-out box are connected by a single cable that contains both output channels and DC power.

The handheld part consists of the contact vocal mic (connected by a standard 1/4-inch jack), electronic components and the controls. You can easily attach a cable extension to the mic which opens up many more options. Attach it to a stand, or put it inside of or on the surface of acoustic instruments such as drums, guitars, trumpets etc. Also, you can use the mic in jack as external in and use the PIPE to process any signals you want.

The handheld part weighs 840g.
The stereo output has 2V zero-to-peak amplitude and is ready for a transmission by a long balanced cable (a direct box is not required for the converting).

The PIPE will be available in white and black versions.

Here is the full demo video for the PIPE:

Here is the demo of four additional algorithms:

Here you can see description of the controls on the PIPE:

Here you can download detailed manuals (ENG and RU):

the PIPE manual (ENG)

the PIPE manual (RU)