Dear SOMA Laboratory team,
First, thank you for creating TERRA. It is one of the most original, expressive, and emotionally immediate electronic instruments available today. Its design clearly comes from a different philosophy: less screen, less menu-diving, more touch, listening, and discovery.
That is exactly why I am writing.
Many TERRA users deeply appreciate the four parametric blobs and the way they shape each engine’s behavior. They are central to the instrument’s identity. However, because their behavior is fixed inside each algorithm, users cannot fully customize how those expressive controls respond within a preset.
I would like to respectfully request that SOMA consider adding the ability for users to define or adjust the behavior of the parametric blobs.
This does not need to turn TERRA into a conventional synth with endless menus. In fact, it would be best if the implementation preserved TERRA’s simplicity. A few possible approaches could be:
- Allowing users to choose what each blob influences inside a given engine.
- Offering several behavior modes, such as smooth, percussive, unstable, harmonic, bright, dark, or FX-focused.
- Allowing depth/range control for each blob.
- Providing a simple editor-based mapping system, without changing the physical interface.
- Adding advanced options only through a desktop/web editor, so the instrument itself remains clean and immediate.
This would not take away from TERRA’s philosophy. It would expand it.
TERRA is already an instrument about touch, sensitivity, and organic control. Giving users more control over the parametric blobs would make it even more personal. It would allow each musician to shape the instrument around their own hands, performance style, and musical language.
Even a limited implementation would be valuable. For example, users could save blob behavior as part of a preset, or select from predefined response profiles created by SOMA. This would preserve the curated nature of the instrument while giving performers more expressive agency.
This request comes from admiration, not criticism. TERRA is already unique. The ability to customize the parametric blobs would make it even more powerful, without compromising what makes it special.
Thank you for considering this idea.
Respectfully,
A TERRA user and admirer
