Melbourne Instruments Nina: breakthrough hybrid 12 voice multitimbral synthesizer.

[zerocrossing]

It seems really odd that a synth of this magnitude doesn’t have a thread here, so here it is.

https://www.melbourneinstruments.com/

https://youtu.be/jnJeAOLcAAs

https://youtu.be/_v-Gemv3l9Y

https://youtu.be/2gPuZGx-OlY

https://youtu.be/_9b1nVeQFJo

• 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.
• 16 Step Sequencer
• Multitimbral, layered, split, or overlapping.
• Hackable Open Source software built on a powerful Raspberry Pi 4 running Elk Audio OS.

I heard those demos and I couldn’t even help myself. I’ve not heard a hardware synthesizer that moved me that much in a really long time. It’s an amazing instrument.

[cryophonik]

I’m sure people will complain about the price, but that’s a lot of synth for the money. It actually seems reasonable, if not cheap, for a 12-voice analog (+digital osc’s), multitimbral with motorized knobs. Love the Spin function, morph, and the connectivity, especially the USB host ports (all new synths need these IMO). Also nice to see someone actually making standard rackmount synths in 2023.

Disappointments:
- excessive menu diving
- limited filter
- effects sound terrible and are all but useless
- arp is nearly useless
- no parameter sequencing
- it’s sorta fugly

I think they were really short-sighted with some of those features, but maybe some firmware improvements are to come (if they haven’t already). As for the motorized knobs, I see them as both a pro and a con. Personally, I don’t always need to see their position, but it is a nice feature and makes sense for a multitimbral synth like this. That said, a dedicated software editor will show you the same and more (e.g., position of switches). I’d also be concerned about their reliability and the cost/PITA of replacing the motors. I’m sure they aren’t cheap and probably drive the overall cost of the synth up quite a bit.

Bottom line for me is that it’s a pretty cool and unique synth that will probably make some buyers very happy, but doesn’t really appeal to me.

[zerocrossing]

I’m sure people will complain about the price, but that’s a lot of synth for the money. It actually seems reasonable, if not cheap, for a 12-voice analog (+digital osc’s), multitimbral with motorized knobs. Love the Spin function, morph, and the connectivity, especially the USB host ports (all new synths need these IMO). Also nice to see someone actually making standard rackmount synths in 2023.

It is quite a bit, but when I heard it I couldn’t help myself. I had to sell a few things, but I feel it was worth it.

Disappointments:
- excessive menu diving

What? Most things have a dedicated knob and all sub functions are on a single screen. Super simple and intuitive.

- limited filter

But what a filter. So velvety. The drive and distortion go a long way toward creating different colors.

- effects sound terrible and are all but useless

I don’t know what version you heard, but the effects sound great in the current firmware. My only complaint is that the chorus is a tad subtle, but it’s fine.

- arp is nearly useless

I’m not a big arpeggio guy, but what’s wrong with it?

- no parameter sequencing

That would be a great addition. I am having a lot of fun using the wavetable oscillator as an LFO, though.

- it’s sorta fugly

It’s not my favorite, but I do sort of like the old school tech vibe of it. More importantly, I’ve barely had to crack the manual for anything other than figuring out how to use MPE.

I think they were really short-sighted with some of those features, but maybe some firmware improvements are to come (if they haven’t already).

They have been adding stuff, though I’m not sure what, other than when I got mine you could only do three effects in series, and now they can live in three parallel lanes. Sampling is coming, according to the website. So, they are actively working on it.

As for the motorized knobs, I see them as both a pro and a con. Personally, I don’t always need to see their position, but it is a nice feature and makes sense for a multitimbral synth like this.

I was surprised at how useful they are. I’m usually a huge fan of software editors, but having the whole synth always looking exactly like what it’s doing is pretty great. Push the “mod” button and you instantly see how much each parameter is being modulated by each modulation source when you press its button. Not just a number, but a visual value.

That said, a dedicated software editor will show you the same and more (e.g., position of switches). I’d also be concerned about their reliability and the cost/PITA of replacing the motors. I’m sure they aren’t cheap and probably drive the overall cost of the synth up quite a bit.

They probably did contribute a lot to the cost, but according to Melbourne Instruments, they’re high end drone motors, rated for a lot of use, so I’m not too worried. They’ll probably out live me. I do hope they also do a software editor too, though. Maybe a way to disable the motors when you’re using it.

Bottom line for me is that it’s a pretty cool and unique synth that will probably make some buyers very happy, but doesn’t really appeal to me.

I’m really happy with it. Not because of the motors, or even the full feature set, but because it’s the perfect type of sound for my music. This kind of very analog vibe with the digital oscillator. I’m not missing the M at all. I’m even going to sell my ATC-X and REV2.

[cryophonik]

I only watched the Loopop vid, and I think his review was based on the first edition, so it sounds like they’ve made some considerable upgrades since then. It’s still not something that interests me, but it is a very cool synth and novel idea.

I’m even going to sell my ATC-X...

No you’re not. You’ll come to your senses.

[zerocrossing]

I only watched the Loopop vid, and I think his review was based on the first edition, so it sounds like they’ve made some considerable upgrades since then. It’s still not something that interests me, but it is a very cool synth and novel idea.

I’m even going to sell my ATC-X...

No you’re not. You’ll come to your senses.

I took a long hard look at it, and while I love it, it’s basically a lot of overlap with my Dominion 1. The only real thing it gives me is the 3 extra filter types, but I plain and simply have too many hardware synths. For fun I counted my software synths today and I believe I have 155, not including the free stuff. I can do without the ATC-X.

[cryophonik]

...but I plain and simply have too many hardware synths.

Does not compute

[pdxindy]

Very impressive synth! 12 voices and 4 part multi-timbral.
Also, 4 audio inputs and 4 audio outputs so one can send audio out, through some external FX and back in through the filter and fx...
Plus it sounds very good in the demos I listened to!

[kritikon]

Hmmmmmm. I really want to love it. I absolutely do love those motorised knobs - not just as scifi gizmo toys to enjoy playing with under the influence of something I'm too old to be indulging in, but incredibly useful too. Superb idea, well implemented. It's so fuckin obvious but nobody else has done it. I can see it being invaluable for live playing, and I don't even play live, but really love the morph feature too.
Reverb - On those vids I agree with the 1st one - they're limited but the reverb sounds gorgeous to me, so it doesn't bother me how few FX it has, I'd rather they be good ones. Very Lexicony. I think they could have done more for the delays though, and the chorus sounds invisible. Lovely verb though, really suits the synth and makes it sparkle IMO.
The mod matrix looks extensive. Not perfect but I'd be happy with it.
12 voice - wow. Makes the price look OK. It's like a Korg on steroids with the 2 analogue + 1 wavetable (though I generally am not a fan of wavetables). Not sure of the exact price but it probably stacks well against a Prologue.

But, and I hate to have a large but (.....errrrr that didn't come out right, did it?). The filter. Oh dear me. I'm not a fan of Moog ladder filters etc, and this one seems a particularly bland one. The drive saves it a little but it needs more. It needs some filter oomph. Put some Korg filters into it and I'd get very moist. But that filter is shit. Obvs it can make some lovely noises - that 1st vid when he did the Bowie Berlin track - that is sweet. Gorgeous, in fact. But it lacks power and grit and kick-me-in-the-bollocks filter power. A synth that good needs a great filter(s).

I want to love it and I do love most of it but I couldn't pay thousands and live with that filter, sadly. f**king great design though. Really unique. Pity Korg don't make it. It's like some marathon runner ran like the wind for 26 miles then fell over just before the finish line and everyone overtook him and looked on sadly commenting about what a great race he ran but pity he's such a loser. I want to love it. Can't though, not completely and not enough to buy it. It's so, so, so close.

[cryophonik]

I think I need to watch some of the other videos before making any final judgments. Loopop showed off the features, but as I mentioned above, some of them seemed to be in an infant/v1.0 stage (e.g., the arp had little more than up/down and division; no swing, no random or as-played, etc. - pretty weak for a $3K synth). He focused mostly on the features and not so much the sound of the synth, so I didn't get much sense of the character of the filter, which, I agree, sounded pretty vanilla in his brief walkthrough (but better in the presets). The chorus was basically non-existent, delay was basic, and the reverb examples he flipped through sounded mostly harsh and metallic (with a couple of exceptions). I'll watch some other vids on my next free evening, but maybe it's best that I find reasons not to buy it, since I'd have nowhere to put it anyway.

[zerocrossing]

So weird to me that the filter is being criticized so much. Different strokes, and all, but it’s what made me love it. My only criticism is that I wish there was a way to choose between its loose filter tracking and a more precise tracking. It would also be nice to be able to route oscillators around it, but that’s not too important, considering you can run a second layer and still have 6 voices.

[pdxindy]

So weird to me that the filter is being criticized so much. Different strokes, and all, but it’s what made me love it. My only criticism is that I wish there was a way to choose between its loose filter tracking and a more precise tracking. It would also be nice to be able to route oscillators around it, but that’s not too important, considering you can run a second layer and still have 6 voices.

Does the filter self oscillate? And from what you say, it sounds like it doesn't track pitch well.

What sort of voice distribution options does it have? Can I have a 9 voice sound and 3 mono sounds?

[zerocrossing]

So weird to me that the filter is being criticized so much. Different strokes, and all, but it’s what made me love it. My only criticism is that I wish there was a way to choose between its loose filter tracking and a more precise tracking. It would also be nice to be able to route oscillators around it, but that’s not too important, considering you can run a second layer and still have 6 voices.

Does the filter self oscillate? And from what you say, it sounds like it doesn't track pitch well.

It does indeed self oscillate. Sounds pretty pure. I think I was thinking it was screamy, but what I was hearing isn't distortion, it's that the voice cards are not calibrated the same. So, say I tune the filter to C5 to match the C3 I'm playing. When I start playing new notes each voice card is off and giving me dissonance. The oscillators are drifty, but only pleasantly so. The filter is all over the place.

c5
f#4
f4
c5
c5
c5
f4
c5
f4
c5
c5
c5

So maybe my Nina's not warmed up enough yet, but that's what I'm measuring now. I don't expect them to be all right on pitch, but you can see that a bunch seem way off. I'll do this test again later after it's been on for an hour.

Of course, unless you're hoping for a sine wave over your oscillators, the actual result in a chord sounds really nice. So I'd like for there to be a type of Sequential style "slop" control so I can have the filters all similarly calibrated, or loose. BTW, I got these exact type of all-over-the-place cutoff amounts on the Waldorf M, and I love the sound of that thing too. It's one of those things where the per voice offset just sounds great for almost all sounds. Frankly, if I want a perfectly tuned sine wave, the digital oscillator will give me that. If I want my soldiers all in a row, there's software.

What sort of voice distribution options does it have? Can I have a 9 voice sound and 3 mono sounds?

Good question... I don't know. I'm not usually a multimbral guy. Let's look at the manual! To the internet Robin!

Yes. You can set up the layers in any arbitrary number as long as they all add up to 12. Each layer does not get its own effects, arp and sequencer, though. You can send different layers to different outputs, so you can get each layer it's own effects processor, and assign its own MIDI, so you could also sequence and arpeggiate it from external sources too.

[cryophonik]

So weird to me that the filter is being criticized so much.

I wouldn't say I'm criticizing the filter so much as I'm just acknowledging the lack of attention Loopop gave it. Honestly, I'm not usually a filter snob and I don't dislike ladder filters. That said, imagine this synth with a multimode filter, even if it was an additional digital multimode (high-pass, band-pass, 12dB low-pass) added in the effects section! Sure, the analog purists would bitch and moan, but the sound design possibilities would be amazing!

Re: mulit-timbral voice allocation, Loopop explained that you need to assign the number of voices per part and that there is no dynamic voice allocation, but I wonder if that's something that could be added in a future firmware update or if it's impossible due to being somehow tied to the synth architecture.

[kritikon]

I'm a filter snob and proud of it. Filters need to be dirty. Bend over and take it from the rear without asking kind of dirty. Korg, Wasp, Polyvoks, even OSCar all have filth as part of their DNA, they can growl. Even the newer Roland ones with drive on them can get nice and things like Pro3 etc can get characterful. The drive in this Melbourne adds dirt but 2 of those vids showed it almost loses all its resonance when it and the drive are cranked up together. Korg filters don't even need drive - they scream on their own even before full res. That Melbourne filter even with drive just seems to be...missionary with the lights off? It's purely a matter of taste, and I know I'm in the minority re Moog filters. Moog people will probably have no issue with it. My very first impression listen to the vids was that the filter was digital. Obvs it's not, but it just seemed tame and predictable. Actually, it played nice higher up the keyboard but for bass sounds etc it just seemed to go boing, not even an interesting boing. Maybe the demos just don't delve in enough (though the 1st vid was quite good, I thought).

I love almost everything else about it though. If it's $3k...something like NZ$5k, there's some serious competition in sonic terms. Not sure the lovely motorized knobs would win over a PolyBrute with its deep mod and dirty filters. Summit with cleaner filters but more versatile (those OSCar-like features are what tempt me) and Polylogue with its filthy 12db filters. All of which are proper keyboards too...

[kritikon]

...but I plain and simply have too many hardware synths.

Does not compute

There's no such thing as too many synths. What you need is a bigger house.