NAMM 2022: Melbourne Instruments’ Nina is a 12-voice polysynth with motorised controls
A Kickstarter campaign for the polysynth will launch soon, but you can see it at NAMM first.
Image: Melbourne Instruments
NAMM 2022: Melbourne Instruments has previewed a novel synth concept: an analogue polysynth with motorised controls, so you can automate parameters with the feel of physical knobs.
The 12-voice Nina offers a combination of analogue and digital synthesis, with analogue oscillators, a powerful mod matrix, sampling talents and onboard effects.
It approaches wave morphing with variable shape triangle oscillators, which sweep from triangle to sawtooth shapes in order to discover new timbres. There’s also a four-pole transistor ladder VCF with modulatable resonance, a voice-level filter overdrive and digital wavetable oscillators.
Evidently, Nina’s most defining feature is its motorised controls, which could make it a powerful tool – especially for live performances.
This, in tandem with recallable and automatable controls, patch morphing and that powerful mod matrix, mean the sonic possibilities stretch way beyond simply recording filter sweeps – they could well be quite endless, really.
Melbourne Instruments says Nina’s encoders are long-lasting and offer the precise feel of analogue pots. This could be especially exciting if Nina could function itself as a controller for other instruments, but this is simply speculation.
Aside from all that, sound generation offers multi-timbral, layered, split and overlap options, along with a host of effects to finish your sound. Oh, and it also runs on open-source software, powered by Raspberry Pi 4.
Melbourne Instruments currently has plans to launch a Kickstarter campaign to fund Nina. If you happen to be in Anaheim this weekend for NAMM, you can also check it out in-person at Hall B, Booth 9900.
Learn more at melbourneinstruments.com
