Introducing NINA: Australian Designed Motorized Analogue Polyphonic Synth

Nina is a 12-voice multitimbral analogue synth that looks like it stepped off a Stanley Kubrick movie set, designed and conceived in Melbourne Australia, yes wow! According to my records, not since the 1980s with the Fairlight CMI, has a hardware synth been designed and manufactured in Australia. That’s not to say there’s a heap of fantastic boutique modular synth manufacturers of sorts such as Worng, Mungo, Elby Design, Serpens, Amalgamod and Frostwave to name a few!

Nina is a fully automatable analogue synth – combining the tactile and sonic qualities of classic analogue synths with modern functionality, patch recall and automation! This little red devil caused quite the ruckus at NAMM earlier this year and every major synth-fluencer wanting to get their hands on one. This is not your run-of-the-mill analogue synth, with the same old things, promising every polyphonic analogue synth sound in a futuristic-looking package, Nina goes way further than that.

I was fortunate to see Nina up close and spoke recently to Ian and Dan who head up its design at Melbourne Instruments. The concept for Nina has been decades in the making, and the concept has only been possible in the last few years. They have designed their own synth with a discreet analogue design unique to Nina. One of the standout features of the Nina are the motorized controllers, fully designed and developed by Melbourne Instruments. This is not a novelty, the pots are ultra-hi-res and wonderful to dial in and shape your sound precisely, whilst being able to instantly recall and see the positions of each dial. Nina invites interaction from its user. You gotta check out the videos.

Like most synth designers, they had a huge pile of ideas. Melbourne Instruments used the same approach to making music when designing the Nina with Ian and Dan both having successful careers as electronic musicians. Whilst the concept of artist-designed music technology might not necessarily be a new thing, Ian and Dan have ideas that extend beyond the ordinary, and truly understand and appreciate how musicians interact with synths and gear more broadly. They also have a refreshing approach to “building with the community” through the input and feedback they gain from a variety of artists locally and internationally. Ian and Dan are great listeners, quite the modern approach in the world of synths if you asked me! I might be gushing at this point with my gear acquisition syndrome flaring up, but the conversation with Melbourne Instruments revealed Melbourne Instruments have some big plans for more synths, with Nina just the beginning!

Given the global challenges over the past two years and the current CPU and chip shortage, it is an incredible feat for Melbourne Instruments so far, we can’t wait to get our hands on NINA and dive deeper into its sound and features.

Key Features

12 Voices. Multitimbral and layering are possible.
Fully analogue signal path.
Discrete analogue circuitry for the VCOs and VCFs, not off-the-shelf synth chips.
Digital oscillators, wavetables and samples.
Stereo output from each voice and a unique unison stereo spin effect..
Patch morphing between 2 sounds of all settings including the mod matrix.
A powerful modulation matrix that gets very close to the anything-to-anything ideal, with unlimited bus connections.
Interactive mod matrix setup mode using the motorized controls. • Large amount of overdrive possible.
Useful and expressive haptic feedback when using the knobs.
Hackable open source software.

NINA’s motorized controllers

At Melbourne Instruments, we have developed our own motorized controller* to replace the potentiometers in a traditional synth. Our design is based on a brushless drone motor with our own ultra-hires optical sensor. The brushless motor and contactless optical sensor are extremely robust with a lifetime rating in excess of 50 million cycles, which is 500 times more than conventional pots.

The result is the feel, subtlety and precision of a real analogue potentiometer while having instant recall and haptics. With haptics, our knobs can change dynamically from smooth to detented to multi-position switches. The end experience is far more useful and engaging than a standard analogue pot.

Availability

The first edition run of NINA is exclusively available direct from Melbourne Instruments. Pre-orders now available, with delivery available to most locations.

NINA is $US3500 RRP plus taxes. They have a special first-edition run of 500 units. These units will be individually badged and numbered. The first 100 units ordered will receive an Early Bird Discount of $500.00. After this, all units ordered before October 30, 2022, will have an Early Adopter Discount of $250.00. From November 1, 2022, any remaining units will be priced at $3500.00. The expected shipping date is December 2022.