Shear Electronics Relic Meets Anthony Marinelli

Jacob Brashears of Shear Electronics has spent five years on the Relic. Anthony Marinelli first came across it at NAMM, where it looked like a rather different instrument. Now it is finished, the first production run is in progress, and as of October 2026 the Relic is shipping with a lead time of 16-18 weeks.

Marinelli has made a video walkthrough with Jacob, who takes him through the front panel, explains the VCA and filter gain staging before handing over the keyboard. The patches Marinelli plays were built in a few hours, so the video is a fair picture of how quickly the instrument gives something back rather than a set of sounds prepared over months.

The design pulls inspiration from classic vintage Oberheim, Moog and ARP instruments and pairs it with modern routing and expression. Firmware updates are part of the plan, so the voicing and behaviour can continue to change after delivery.

The distortion caught Marinelli's attention in particular. In his description it behaves in a nonlinear, organic way, closer to a good guitar amp being pushed than to the clipping you normally get from a synth. A gain stage that responds to playing rather than just adding grit.

Each of the 8 voices has:
2 SEM type ocsillators, 4 Envelopes, 4 LFOS, 7 VCAs 1 Supervariable Filter
Its also 4 part multitimbral capable With 4 separate outs.

This is certainly at the high-end of the analog polysynth space, the market where buyers are weighing an instrument like this against a vintage original and the servicing that comes with one.
Anthony looks to be playing it with an Osmose so there's MPE expression and you can catch the deviations in pitch while he plays - and plays it very well.

Pricing is TBC. But don't expect it to be low end, its a beast of an instrument packed with discrete components, quality controls and displays.
Jacob is taking inquiries and orders directly at relic@shearelectronics.com.

https://shearelectronics.com

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