To understand why we started this project, think back to 2013.
With a small number of notable exceptions, analog polyphonic synthesizers had been out of production for 30 years.
Now fast-forward to the first quarter of 2017.
VCO polys were finally beginning to reappear on the market.
But new-school analog didn’t have the old-school sound.
Everybody knew it, but nobody knew why.
Everybody thought the only way to get true classic sound was with obsolete
materials:
you needed through-hole components,
old-stock Fairchild transistors,
RCA transconductance amplifiers,
and wet-dipped tantalum capacitors from warlords in the abyss.
In 2017, we showed that you could get the exact same sound with surface mount technology. And there’s definitely a reason that the Shear Electronics Relic-6 prototype achieved legendary status within a week of its original announcement at NAMM 2017. It shattered the popular beliefs about “through-hole components” and “obsolete materials.” It vanquished the idea that discrete analog polyphonic synthesizers were a “lost art” of a long-forgotten era. And it showed the world that the sound is in the schematic.
But we wanted to do much more than that. So we set a new goal. We invested enormous effort into an intense research & development project over a span of 6 years. By early 2024, the prototype hardware was frozen.
The final challenge was manufacturing. Our system concept was so ambitious that many people believed it could never exist outside of an engineering lab. After the prototype was frozen, we spent 22 months to build up the capability to make more than one unit.
Now it’s 2026.
Our latest system is a remarkable achievement of engineering.
It’s as authentic, and as advanced, as any analog synthesizer made today.
This… is the Relic.
In our opinion, it is the best analog synthesizer on the planet.
Specs
– 8 fully independent voice cores.
Each voice core has :
– Calibrated from C0 (16.4141 Hz) to C7 (2.10101 kHz).
– Uncalibrated from 8 Hz (or lower) to 8.4 kHz (or higher).
– 7 discrete VCAs :
– With classic LM13700 transconductance amplifiers.
– Auto-calibration for subthreshold gain control.
– 4 ENVs :
– Each envelope is dAHDSR
(delay, attack, hold, decay, sustain, release).
– Contours are inspired by the classic CEM3310 envelope generator chip.
– ENVs are generated by the tightly coupled digital mod system on each core.
– Each envelope uses a discrete exponential deltafunction summation algorithm,
so ENV waveforms are mathematically perfect and glitch free.
– 4 LFOs :
– Each LFO supports the following 8 waveforms:
TRI (triangle),
SIN (sine),
PUL (pulse),
SAW (sawtooth),
TRI± (bipolar triangle),
SIN± (bipolar sine),
PUL± (bipolar pulse),
and SAW± (bipolar sawtooth).
– LFOs are generated by the tightly coupled digital mod system on each core;
all LFO waveforms are mathematically perfect and glitch free.
– 1 supervariable VCF :
– The supervariable VCF is a 4-dimensional superset of the traditional statevariable VCF.
(The 4 parameters are cutoff (frequency), resonance (Q factor), bandwidth, and profile.)
– The filter profile is directly voltage-controllable,
and it forms a gradient sweep over many distinct profiles.
– CLASSIC mode : gradient sweep HP2 / NF2 / LP2.
– HP2 : 2-pole high pass
(SEM style SVF with LM13700 ota + mica)
– NF2 : 2-pole notch filter
(SEM style SVF with LM13700 ota + mica)
– LP2 : 2-pole low pass
(OB-X clone with LM13700 ota + mica)
– MODERN mode : gradient sweep BP4 / XF4 / LP2 / LP3 / LP4 with variable BW.
– BP4 : 4-pole band pass with variable BW
(statevariable, new design)
(12 dB/oct (lo cut) + 12 dB/oct (hi cut))
– XF4 : 4-pole X filter
(50/50 blend of BP4+LP2)
– LP2 : 2-pole low pass
(12 dB/oct, OB-X clone with LM13700 ota + mica)
– LP3 : 3-pole low pass
(18 dB/oct, statevariable)
– LP4 : 4-pole low pass
(24 dB/oct, statevariable)
More system-level features :
a high-resolution lightfader mainbar, and 8 lightfader minibars.
– 4-way multitimbral with 4-zone voice allocator and multilayer patchmemory
(512 programs with 4 patches each).
Voice Core
The Relic voice core is a remarkable synthesizer in itself.
Each voice core is a pure analog synthesizer, with a discrete signal path and a
tightly coupled digital mod system.
The Relic gives you 8 of these voice cores.
The Relic is also the first analog synthesizer with 8 fully independent voice core processors. So each voice core is fully independent from all of the other voice cores.
[see more at shearelectronics.com/relic/voice-core]
System Architecture
Any serious analog poly synthesizer is a large-scale system with a high degree of internal complexity.
Therefore, it is important to differentiate between the synthesizer architecture and the system architecture.
The synthesizer architecture is the design of the signal path and mod system.
The system architecture is the design of everything else, including the digital control system, frontpanel, graphical user interface, operating system, and more.
And when you finally get to sit down and use a synthesizer, the system architecture is critically important to the experience — even more than you might expect.
The Relic system architecture is clearly unique, yet instantly familiar. It can deliver quick results very quickly, but it also rewards careful programming. At a system level, the Relic is optimized to deliver maximum precision and maximum speed.
Status
The Relic looks like a cutting-edge analog synthesizer because it is a cutting-edge analog synthesizer. For the previous 10 years, the Relic seemed to be eternally in the prototype stage. Finally, the waiting era is drawing to a close.
As of July 2026, the first production run is in progress, and the first few units will be ready to ship within the next 16-20 weeks.
We understand that many of our strongest supporters have been on the waiting list for several years. Therefore, orders will be allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis, with priority given to the earliest members of the waiting list.
If you would like to inquire about the price, or if you would like to place a pre-order… please reach out to relic@shearelectronics.com and confirm your place in line!
If you’re interested, make sure to check out the Relic product page:
[shearelectronics.com/relic/relic].
You can also check out the Relic status feed:
[shearelectronics.com/relic/status].
And remember, shearelectronics.com is a rapidly evolving website (as of July 2026). We’ll try to update this site pretty frequently, so please tell all your friends about the Relic project, and make sure to check back here every few weeks!