Most polyphonic analog synthesizers economise somewhere. Voices share a filter, or share envelope hardware, or get their modulation from one global source and a bit of offset. The Relic, from Shear Electronics of San Jose, declines to economise: eight fully independent voice cores, each with its own analog signal path and its own dedicated digital processor.
What is in a voice
Per the manufacturer’s own specification, each of the eight cores carries:
- 2 SEM-topology VCOs, calibrated from C0 (16.4141 Hz) to C7 (2.10101 kHz), and running uncalibrated from roughly 8 Hz to 8.4 kHz or beyond
- 7 discrete VCAs built on LM13700 transconductance amplifiers, with auto-calibration for subthreshold gain control
- 4 dAHDSR envelopes — delay, attack, hold, decay, sustain, release — described as inspired by the CEM3310 and generated by the digital modulation system
- 4 LFOs with eight waveforms: triangle, sine, pulse and sawtooth, each with a bipolar variant
- 1 supervariable VCF
Eight voices times two VCOs is 16 oscillators. Eight times seven VCAs is 56 discrete gain stages. The envelopes and LFOs are digitally generated but per-voice rather than global, which is what the dedicated per-core processor buys: modulation that is genuinely independent between voices instead of one source distributed with offsets.
The filter is the interesting part
The supervariable VCF exposes four parameters — cutoff, resonance, bandwidth and profile — and treats the filter type as continuously addressable rather than switched.
Two mode groups are listed:
| Mode | Responses |
|---|---|
| Classic | HP2, NF2, LP2 |
| Modern | BP4, XF4, LP2, LP3, LP4, with variable bandwidth |
Because profile and bandwidth are parameters rather than positions, modulation can move the filter’s character across a range of responses while a note sounds. That is a different proposition from modulating cutoff on a fixed four-pole ladder, and it is the specification item most likely to define how the instrument actually sounds in use.
Architecture above the voice
- 4-way multitimbral, with a 4-zone voice allocator
- 512 programs, each holding 4 patches — a multilayer memory structure rather than a flat patch list
- Front panel: 8 hyperfine encoders, one high-resolution lightfader mainbar, and 8 lightfader minibars
The panel layout follows the eight-core architecture: a global fader bar with a per-voice-group minibar underneath each encoder.
The design argument
Shear Electronics’ position is that vintage character is not a parts problem. The company’s claim is that “the sound is in the schematic” — that the classic sound comes from circuit design rather than from obsolete components — and that the system is optimised for “maximum precision and maximum speed.” The company also calls the Relic “the best analog synthesizer on the planet,” which is its own assessment and worth labelling as such.
The SEM oscillator topology and the Oberheim lineage are not incidental. Players and demonstrators have consistently framed the instrument against the OB-X family, and the earlier public prototype was called the Relic-6.
The timeline is the story
This is a long-gestating instrument rather than a sudden announcement, and the dates deserve stating plainly.
The Relic-6 prototype was first announced in 2017, and demonstrated publicly across several trade shows in the years after. The current eight-core Relic is the production descendant of that work. Shear Electronics’ product page states that as of July 2026 the first production run is in progress, with first units expected to ship within 16–20 weeks, orders first-come first-served and priority given to the earliest waiting-list members. Pre-orders are arranged by email rather than through a cart.
No price is published. The page directs enquiries to the company.
The product page does not name an individual designer, speaking instead as “we” on behalf of Shear Electronics; the instrument’s development is publicly associated with Jacob Brashears, as in the video above.
Sources
- Relic — Shear Electronics
- Shear Electronics Relic Features Eight Independent Analog Voice Cores — Synthtopia
- Did Jacob Brashears Reinvent the Synthesizer? — THE RELIC — Anthony Marinelli Music
- A Day in the Shop Ep 18 — Shear Electronics (Jacob Brashears) — Rosen Sound