Melbourne Instruments is proud to bring Mutable Instruments’ Braids engine — Emilie Gillet’s celebrated open-source macro oscillator — to its desktop NINA analogue polysynth, as of April 30…
Available as a free firmware update, all 45 Braids synthesis models run across NINA’s 12 true polyphonic voices, each shaped by a dedicated overdrive-able analogue filter. Ultimately, users can now layer Braids and analogue VCOs (Voltage Controlled Oscillators) across four multitimbral parts, morph between presets, and sequence everything.
Duly described by Mutable Instruments as a macro oscillator, Braids was a mono Eurorack module: one voice, no internal filter, and no modulation routing. It is now something else entirely on NINA, itself described as the world’s first motorised polysynth. Put it this way: when switching layers, the motorised knobs snap to new positions; morph between patches and they sweep in real time. Meanwhile, modulation routings are all visible on the panel from the moment they are selected. Surely Braids has never been this hands-on.
Digging deeper, each waveform model is shaped by two expressive parameters — Timbre and Color — adapted from the original Braids module. More meaningfully, these controls affect multiple tonal dimensions simultaneously, producing complex, evolving, and musically responsive sounds. Spanning analogue VCO emulation, vowel and formant synthesis, 2-operator FM, physical modelling of strings and wind instruments, wavetable synthesis with smooth interpolation, granular synthesis, and electronic drum simulation, the 45 models evidently elevate NINA to a new level, further cementing itself as a premium analogue polysynth powerhouse for experimental, generative, analogue, and digital synthesis.
Says musician/sound designer James Terris, ending on a high note: “I’ve always described NINA as a beautiful beast — analogue oscillators paired with its super-fat and driven analogue filter make it beastly! But while the existing wavetable oscillator adds a crystal sheen that provides a beauty, the new macro oscillator models expand this tremendously. Indeed, it can go from delicate FM, Karplus-Strong, and even vocal formant textures straight into swarming, stacked super-waves. With this update, it feels like an instant NINA ‘MK-2’!”
Excluding taxes applicable to the territory concerned, NINA is presently priced at $3,299.00 USD in North America; €3,165.00 EUR in the EU; £2,835.00 GBP in the UK; and $3,499.00 USD in Japan, while it is presently priced in Australia at $4,995.00 AU, including GST (Goods and Services Tax) — all via Melbourne Instruments’ growing global network of dealers here: https://www.melbourneinstruments.com/dealers
For more in-depth information, please visit the dedicated NINA webpage here: https://www.melbourneinstruments.com/nina
The new NINA MACRO OSC UPDATE firmware is downloadable for free from here: https://www.melbourneinstruments.com/support#nina
Coinciding with the new NINA MACRO OSC UPDATE firmware release, owners of the world’s first motorised polysynth can also download 60 new presets for free from here: https://www.melbourneinstruments.com/presets#nina
Watch well-known musician/sound designer PROTOVOLT previewing NINA’s new macro presets here: https://youtu.be/sRBWyJoiqjA