Nina, that synth with the motorised knobs, is finally heading your way - almost

Nina, the at-the-time mysterious synth which monopolised much pre-NAMM talk earlier this year, is finally inching towards release, with pre-orders now open ahead of a December 2022 shipping date.

That pre-show buzz was mainly driven by the motorized automation in an anonymous teaser video - self-turning knobs! - but there's plenty more going on inside, as we discovered when we got to grips with Melbourne Instruments' rich-sounding synth on the show floor. 

Perhaps the most notable non-knob features are the variable shape oscillators, which can continuously morph wave-shape between triangle and sawtooth and the hackable Open Source software running on a Raspberry Pi 4 with Elk Audio OS.

Now, the first run of 500 units is up for pre-order, with a $500 discount on the first 100 secured, or $250 off of any order before 1 Nov. Thereafter, Nina will set you back US$3500.

Head over to melbourneinstruments.com for more info and to order.

Features

• 12 Voice Polyphony
• Fully analog signal path
• Motorized recallable and automatable control panel using long-lasting zero wear encoders with the feel and precision of analog pots
• Variable shape triangle oscillators. Continuously morph wave-shape between triangle and sawtooth to find new timbres. Different to a traditional blend
• 4 pole transistor ladder VCF with modulatable resonance
• Huge voice-level filter overdrive
• Digital Wavetable Oscillator
• Sampling capability
• Deep Modulation Matrix. 16 sources to 27 destinations
• Patch morphing for complex expressive effects
• Stereo 4 Quadrant VCAs with Infinite Panning effects
• Onboard digital effects
• Multitimbral, layered, split, or overlapping
• Hackable Open Source software built on a powerful Raspberry Pi 4 running Elk Audio OS