---
title: Kyma
description: Symbolic Sound Kyma and the Paca, the sound-design environment and DSP hardware Sarth Calhoun has used since Lucibel Crater: Metal Machine Trio, Lou Reed’s tours, Lulu, The Book of Sarth, SeqOSC.
url: https://www.sarth.net/devices/kyma/
facet: machine
credit: Sarth Calhoun and Kyma: beta tester, credited on the Kyma X startup screen; live Kyma processing in Metal Machine Trio, on Lou Reed’s 2008 to 2012 tours with rack-mounted Pacas, on *Lulu* at the Berliner Ensemble and across *The Book of Sarth*; SeqOSC, his synthesis, built in Kyma; Rob Wasserman’s bass through Kyma on “Junior Dad.”
author: Sarth Calhoun
---
[Devices](/devices/) / Kyma

Device · Machine

# Symbolic Sound Kyma

A graphical sound-design environment and the Paca, the orange box that computes it. Under Metal Machine Trio, the Reed tours, *Lulu*, Lucibel Crater and *The Book of Sarth*.

Kyma is a graphical sound-design environment. The Paca is dedicated DSP hardware, a small orange box, rack-mountable, not a plugin inside a laptop; the Pacarana is its larger sibling. Maker: Symbolic Sound Corporation, [Carla Scaletti](/conspirators/carla-scaletti/) and [Kurt Hebel](/conspirators/kurt-hebel/), Champaign, Illinois. [kyma.symbolicsound.com](https://kyma.symbolicsound.com/)

I beta-tested Kyma and am credited on the Kyma X startup screen. [Lucibel Crater](/conspiracies/lucibel-crater/) ran its processing through it. [Metal Machine Trio](/conspiracies/metal-machine-trio/): live Kyma processing of the band. The [2011 Lou Reed European tour](/conspiracies/lou-reed-2011-european-tour/): multiple rack-mounted Pacas. [*Lulu*](/conspiracies/lulu/) at the Berliner Ensemble: Kyma processing and Continuum/Kyma playing. [The Book of Sarth](/conspiracies/book-of-sarth/) score is Kyma-drenched. I built SeqOSC in it, a new kind of synthesis, a relative of AM synthesis derived from exploring the analogies between rhythm and timbre. [Junior Dad](/conspiracies/junior-dad/): [Rob Wasserman](/conspirators/rob-wasserman/)’s electric upright through Kyma, first session at Lou’s apartment.

Symbolic Sound’s posts: [Lou Reed’s Euro tour](https://news.symbolicsound.com/2011/07/lou-reeds-euro-tour/), July 2011: the rack of Pacas. [Walking the road that only you can see](https://news.symbolicsound.com/2012/10/walking-the-road-that-only-you-can-see/), October 2012: one take, Continuum and Kyma. [The Book of Sarth](https://news.symbolicsound.com/2012/11/the-book-of-sarth/), November 2012.

The credit: Sarth Calhoun and Kyma: beta tester, credited on the Kyma X startup screen; live Kyma processing in Metal Machine Trio, on Lou Reed’s 2008 to 2012 tours with rack-mounted Pacas, on *Lulu* at the Berliner Ensemble and across *The Book of Sarth*; SeqOSC, his synthesis, built in Kyma; Rob Wasserman’s bass through Kyma on “Junior Dad.”

## Conspiracies

Kyma is under [Lucibel Crater](/conspiracies/lucibel-crater/), [Metal Machine Trio](/conspiracies/metal-machine-trio/), [Lou Reed’s song band](/conspiracies/lou-reed-song-band/), [Yellow Pony](/conspiracies/yellow-pony/), [*Lulu*](/conspiracies/lulu/), [Junior Dad](/conspiracies/junior-dad/), [The Book of Sarth](/conspiracies/book-of-sarth/) and [Introspections](/transmissions/introspections/). The [Continuum](/devices/continuum/) usually drove it. The people who make it are [Carla Scaletti](/conspirators/carla-scaletti/) and [Kurt Hebel](/conspirators/kurt-hebel/).

The entry is the one that stood on the Devices page, with Symbolic Sound’s posts linked. The Lucibel Crater looping was in Ableton Live, as I said on September 26, 2026; Kyma did the processing.