A fantasy comic/stompbox pairing may seem a bit odd, but in the case of the DigiTech Lyra ($220 retail/$149 street), it’s really not that big of a stretch. Lyra is the main character in the Eternal Descent comic series, and when she’s not doing comic book related activities, she plays in a metal band. The Lyra is based on sounds from DigiTech’s RP1000, the same unit that Eternal Descent creator/guitarist Llexi Leon used to record the last Eternal Descent album. The Lyra sports seven presets that are tweakable via Level, Gain, and FX Mix, the latter of which brings in more or less modulation, delay, and reverb wash for each preset.

The Lyra is fun to play and fun to play with. Clicking through the presets you find crystalline chasms of echo, trippy ultracompressed textures, ethereal shards of scooped distortion, doomy low-octave tones, searing shred overdrives, and lots more. Although the Lyra excels at overthe- top sonics—it is based on a fantasy comic after all—the FX Mix control provides ample control over the zaniness, allowing you to dial out the crazy reverbs (some of which are quite scary sounding) and freaky flanged warbles if you want to. Some of the Lyra’s coolest sounds were the gated clean tones that swelled into the notes when picking lightly. This coupled with delay (although you can’t adjust the time, only the level) makes for some neat textures. With its cool graphics and cinematic effects, the Lyra is a blast to futz with. It’s easy to use and a few of its tones are wonderfully unique.

Kudos Cool modern shred tones and ethereal effects textures.
CONCERNS None.
Contact Digitech; DigiTech.com