Hi @LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER we know a few of the same people, could we have a brief chat? I’d like some general UA-cam-y advice if that’s ok. I’m easyish to find on Facebook 😊
This is the most exciting innovation in hardware synths in a long time, and I'm SO GLAD you paired it with a deep and polyphonic sound engine. It could've been a bare-bones proof-of-concept synth and it still would have been a big deal, but this is so much more than I even hoped for. I told myself I would never preorder a synth again, but I think I'll have to make an exception.
Looks amazing, super excited about this. The potential for a live performance is pretty great. I'm already signed up, and I mentioned this elsewhere, but please consider adding at least one more filter mode by tapping the ladder at 2 and/or 3 pole, because it would clearly expand the tonal range significantly. Saying this, I'm hyped already and wish you the best of luck with it.
I got to try one of these. Love the sounds and features. Are there any plans for a VST editor for it (for patch recall in a DAW and easier modulation in a daw)? I feel like that would be incredible to work with, especially with the motorized panel!
If you guys want to sell any of these at such a crazy high price, it has to sound better than a chip tune box. The knobs are cool, but sound is everything.
@@romulus_ performance and cost of the required components, largely due to the popularity of drones in recent years. Most new technology is something people have dreamed of for decades, but it only finally comes around when it's possible, technologically and economically, etc.
They perform like analog pots on analog equipment. It's very different in practice to endless encoders. For example, to get fine control of an oscillator or filter frequency, you need to turn the endless encoder multiple times, as they're very low resolution devices, and you can't just turn them intuitively and immediately to a known position to get what you want. That's one of a few reason many synths and controllers still use pots and not endless encoders, but of course those pots can't be automated or have their position recalled. It's just a desirable system in the context of analog equipment.
Pretty sure this is exactly how it is going to work, due to being able to be used as a host controller. Just mapping the onboard CC to DAW and it should function as you said.
We haven't tested this yet but in theory yes. NINA sends and receives MIDI parameter changes over DIN or USB MIDI, and when receiving parameter changes, the mapped controls move to position, smoothly and silently, I might add. We'll post demos of these things over the coming weeks, here and on our Insta.
So it's a Kickstarter project :/ That could spell problems, however... Major points for having the software open-source, it means if your company dissapears, the community can still maintain the product. That's almost as big of a deal as the motorized faders. Only other concern is the motor lifespan and how to source replacement parts. If you can either provide replacement parts yourself or link to your supplier, then this is looking like a must-buy. Those keycaps look familliar, so if you're going as off-the-shelf as possible, and everything is user-servicable, I'll preorder on day one.
@@melbourneinstruments I think I'm #1 on your email sign-up list :) Also re: my comment, you did the work, and you're the first company to deliver motorized knobs, you should reap the rewards. You don't have to disclose your suppliers, but a promise that you WOULD disclose your suppliers specifically regarding the motors, IF you ever went out of business would be a big relief to your customers. Kind of like how Valve promised to unlock the DRM from all their games on Steam and let users download them IF they ever went out of business and were going to shut down their servers. It's just a safety measure, and helps build trust with your customers from a new, unproven company. BTW if you ever want a beta tester, I'm your man! :)
@@melbourneinstruments no way I'm buying one of these until I know more about those knobs, no offense. More moving parts means more maintenance and potential for things to go wrong. Will these knobs work faithfully two, five or ten years down the road? Will your company even exist to get parts from? Can this thing take any abuse on the road, being taken in and out of bags and cases, getting it's delicate motorized knobs banged and dinged in the process? The synth engine sounds okay but there's no way this many motorized knobs can be reliable over time, right? Shouldn't it be at this price point?
@@melbourneinstruments mess is brilliant, I have been a few times, Byron got me into the whole hardware thing, he is an amazing individual and really does give you the nuts and bolts of why hardware is so tactile and important. He was my gateway to spending around 30K in 5 years lol. He showed me the System 55 but it was still way over my head, BUT it was that he took the time to explain and that's why he and mess is an amazing place to hang out. My posts being removed have nothing to do with you guys, YT hates me kek.
This looks like it could be groundbreaking. But I’m skeptical of the sound quality - if what we’re hearing is the synth in the video it sounds like a Commodore 64, or old video game system. “Qualities of classic analog” - I think this means it’s all digital inspired from analog…. I hope it’s truly analog and has much fuller and complex sounds then what I’m hearing, and if so then I’ll be in line to purchase one.
More audio demos are coming shortly. This recording was made in a retro computer style because we like that. It does much more and yes it is analog. Stay tuned
@@melbourneinstruments that’s cool. I watched a demo and it appears to be 66% digital and 33% analog. I look forward to hearing more demos of how it sounds.
@@melbourneinstruments fair enough guys I'm pretty excited for you , would you ship to Canada ?? What the warranty going to be like , the whole motorized knob thing scares me abit in case things fail but nonetheless pumped for this .
@@sammydreamz9788 I discussed this with a friend of mine, since we're both familiar with drones. I had come to a conclusion that it was a coreless based motor which has the benefits of a brushed motor without the brushes, so no wear and tear but no cogging issues of a brushless motor unless you use the more expensive sensored design. Whether I am right or not, these motors are going to have a very low failure rate, meaning their MTBF figures should be extremely high due to very low usage. This means a superb thing, generally there is always a load on these motors for drones, you are cycling them continually where in the synth application, you are only momentarily moving them as required. RPM load as far, far lower for synth application which means the MTBF is going to be much better used for this application, this is all based on my theory though. I am pretty confident this is how it would be.
That's damn near entirely the point of this thing, forgive my French. It is absolutely a synth, no doubt, but one of the huge reasons they're making it is to bring the motorized knobs concept to life. If you want no motorized knobs, I would personally recommend looking elsewhere; there are alternatives.
Electric motors last quite a long time, though, especially brushless ones. Imagine how many revolutions the propellers of a drone make per minute vs how many times you will be pressing recall or turning a knob. It's not really anything in comparison to how many revolutions they are designed for.
definitely one of the freshest ideas i've seen in new poly synths. how cool! love it.
Thanks man! That means a lot to us. It's no Megadrone but we're trying
@@melbourneinstruments haha it definiitely has momre than enough oscillators in that beast!!!no need for 1000 haha :D
Hi @LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER we know a few of the same people, could we have a brief chat? I’d like some general UA-cam-y advice if that’s ok. I’m easyish to find on Facebook 😊
This is the most exciting innovation in hardware synths in a long time, and I'm SO GLAD you paired it with a deep and polyphonic sound engine. It could've been a bare-bones proof-of-concept synth and it still would have been a big deal, but this is so much more than I even hoped for. I told myself I would never preorder a synth again, but I think I'll have to make an exception.
I have been dreaming of motorized recall on everything I have, now I must have this machine.
I seriously can't wait for this guys. I've been trying to figure out what synth I wanted to grab lately and this one beats them all.
Im beyond excited for this synth
excelente..................................................
Looks amazing. Looking forward to the kickstarter.
Really awesome. About time I suppose. Some people hope for a VR future. I hope for a RR future.
Looks amazing, super excited about this. The potential for a live performance is pretty great. I'm already signed up, and I mentioned this elsewhere, but please consider adding at least one more filter mode by tapping the ladder at 2 and/or 3 pole, because it would clearly expand the tonal range significantly. Saying this, I'm hyped already and wish you the best of luck with it.
Thanks Charlie. Valuable feedback.
Mmm. Good point. You could get more into Oberheim-esque territory perhaps.
reminds me of Metronomy, they make heavy use of the Roland Juno, love the detuned pad.
Well this looks a bit bloody lovely.
I got to try one of these. Love the sounds and features. Are there any plans for a VST editor for it (for patch recall in a DAW and easier modulation in a daw)? I feel like that would be incredible to work with, especially with the motorized panel!
How did you fit 12 analog voices and motorized knobs into a small box ???
Have you ever seen honey I shrunk the kids?
Oh. Y’all made this. Figured this was some synth review channel.
Hell yeah, congratulations.
If you guys want to sell any of these at such a crazy high price, it has to sound better than a chip tune box. The knobs are cool, but sound is everything.
I never understood why analog synth manufacturers never made it. Finally!
cost saving measures, probably.
It's never been feasible until very recently.
@@melbourneinstruments what has changed recently? I'm genuinely curious, not trying to be a prick.
@@romulus_ performance and cost of the required components, largely due to the popularity of drones in recent years. Most new technology is something people have dreamed of for decades, but it only finally comes around when it's possible, technologically and economically, etc.
@@melbourneinstruments of course. makes sense, thank you for the answer. looking forward to the release of the NINA.
neat, but I'm curious-- what are the benefits to having motorized pots rather than endless rotary encoders?
They perform like analog pots on analog equipment. It's very different in practice to endless encoders. For example, to get fine control of an oscillator or filter frequency, you need to turn the endless encoder multiple times, as they're very low resolution devices, and you can't just turn them intuitively and immediately to a known position to get what you want. That's one of a few reason many synths and controllers still use pots and not endless encoders, but of course those pots can't be automated or have their position recalled. It's just a desirable system in the context of analog equipment.
When will it be available to buy?
They have KS, sign up. You will be notified and it will be an introduction price.
Can this be used as a midi controller, so if a parameter is changed in Ableton, the knobs reflect the param change, and the other way around?
Pretty sure this is exactly how it is going to work, due to being able to be used as a host controller.
Just mapping the onboard CC to DAW and it should function as you said.
We haven't tested this yet but in theory yes. NINA sends and receives MIDI parameter changes over DIN or USB MIDI, and when receiving parameter changes, the mapped controls move to position, smoothly and silently, I might add. We'll post demos of these things over the coming weeks, here and on our Insta.
@@melbourneinstruments much excite, many joys.
This is going to be a killer device.
So it's a Kickstarter project :/ That could spell problems, however...
Major points for having the software open-source, it means if your company dissapears, the community can still maintain the product. That's almost as big of a deal as the motorized faders. Only other concern is the motor lifespan and how to source replacement parts. If you can either provide replacement parts yourself or link to your supplier, then this is looking like a must-buy. Those keycaps look familliar, so if you're going as off-the-shelf as possible, and everything is user-servicable, I'll preorder on day one.
Keep an eye out for the Kickstarter. We'll be posting up all the info you want at that time.
@@melbourneinstruments I think I'm #1 on your email sign-up list :) Also re: my comment, you did the work, and you're the first company to deliver motorized knobs, you should reap the rewards. You don't have to disclose your suppliers, but a promise that you WOULD disclose your suppliers specifically regarding the motors, IF you ever went out of business would be a big relief to your customers. Kind of like how Valve promised to unlock the DRM from all their games on Steam and let users download them IF they ever went out of business and were going to shut down their servers. It's just a safety measure, and helps build trust with your customers from a new, unproven company. BTW if you ever want a beta tester, I'm your man! :)
@@melbourneinstruments no way I'm buying one of these until I know more about those knobs, no offense. More moving parts means more maintenance and potential for things to go wrong. Will these knobs work faithfully two, five or ten years down the road? Will your company even exist to get parts from? Can this thing take any abuse on the road, being taken in and out of bags and cases, getting it's delicate motorized knobs banged and dinged in the process? The synth engine sounds okay but there's no way this many motorized knobs can be reliable over time, right? Shouldn't it be at this price point?
subbed, my post is being removed?
Will you guys be showcasing at mess?
Yes we will organise demos at MESS in a month or 2. We love MESS. BTW we haven't removed any posts, not sure what's going on there.
@@melbourneinstruments mess is brilliant, I have been a few times, Byron got me into the whole hardware thing, he is an amazing individual and really does give you the nuts and bolts of why hardware is so tactile and important. He was my gateway to spending around 30K in 5 years lol.
He showed me the System 55 but it was still way over my head, BUT it was that he took the time to explain and that's why he and mess is an amazing place to hang out.
My posts being removed have nothing to do with you guys, YT hates me kek.
Yess Australian synth company!
is sound based on FPGA or DSP?
Competetively priced you say... I was hoping the competition was Novation Peak and not something like Black Corporation Deckard´s Dream MKII
Hey, the synth sounds great, but I don´t need (or want) the motorized knobs.
Please make a cheaper version without them!
This looks like it could be groundbreaking. But I’m skeptical of the sound quality - if what we’re hearing is the synth in the video it sounds like a Commodore 64, or old video game system. “Qualities of classic analog” - I think this means it’s all digital inspired from analog…. I hope it’s truly analog and has much fuller and complex sounds then what I’m hearing, and if so then I’ll be in line to purchase one.
More audio demos are coming shortly. This recording was made in a retro computer style because we like that. It does much more and yes it is analog. Stay tuned
@@melbourneinstruments that’s cool. I watched a demo and it appears to be 66% digital and 33% analog. I look forward to hearing more demos of how it sounds.
Yowser!
What's the price going to be like approx ???
We'll announce it soon. We prefer not to say anything until we know for sure.
@@melbourneinstruments fair enough guys I'm pretty excited for you , would you ship to Canada ?? What the warranty going to be like , the whole motorized knob thing scares me abit in case things fail but nonetheless pumped for this .
@@sammydreamz9788 I discussed this with a friend of mine, since we're both familiar with drones.
I had come to a conclusion that it was a coreless based motor which has the benefits of a brushed motor without the brushes, so no wear and tear but no cogging issues of a brushless motor unless you use the more expensive sensored design.
Whether I am right or not, these motors are going to have a very low failure rate, meaning their MTBF figures should be extremely high due to very low usage.
This means a superb thing, generally there is always a load on these motors for drones, you are cycling them continually where in the synth application, you are only momentarily moving them as required.
RPM load as far, far lower for synth application which means the MTBF is going to be much better used for this application, this is all based on my theory though.
I am pretty confident this is how it would be.
I'm curious why you didn't just license the tech to Korg et al.
Of course we consider these things. It's complicated
Excuse me I'm a very well unknown completely uninfluential synth user and I would like a review copy LOL
We'll send it right over
the encoders may be "zero wear" but anything motorized eventually wears out rendering it unusable. maybe no motorized encoders?
That's damn near entirely the point of this thing, forgive my French. It is absolutely a synth, no doubt, but one of the huge reasons they're making it is to bring the motorized knobs concept to life. If you want no motorized knobs, I would personally recommend looking elsewhere; there are alternatives.
Electric motors last quite a long time, though, especially brushless ones. Imagine how many revolutions the propellers of a drone make per minute vs how many times you will be pressing recall or turning a knob. It's not really anything in comparison to how many revolutions they are designed for.
This is beyond beautiful…
and then you find out the price
Sounds so thin and anemic. 3k? What are you smoking? xD
Very curious synth... I sent you guys a message on Instagram.
Thanks, we'll write you back in a minute. We've had a lot of DMs