Published
Wed, May 22, 2024, 14:30
- It's the first fully featured instrument with motorised knobs.
Melbourne Instruments is releasing a new synth.
Delia, named after acclaimed British tape-music composer Delia Derbyshire, is the first full synth to feature motorised knobs that are able to recall sound settings.
Previously, all synths able to store and recall sounds (presets) have faced the same problem. When a sound is recalled, the knobs or sliders on the front panel don't reflect their settings for the new sound. Users have to move each knob to find out where that parameter was set to create the recalled sound.
In contrast, when a sound is recalled on Delia, all the knobs on the front panel automatically adjust in real time to reflect their new, true values. To achieve this, all the knobs on the synth are motorised. This also means that when a DAW is used to control parameters on the synth, the knobs move in real time to reflect these changes.
Melbourne Instruments used this approach with its first instrument, Nina, which was a desktop module lacking a keyboard. Delia is a fleshed-out version, featuring a four-octave velocity- and aftertouch-sensitive keyboard and two bender wheels. In addition, it adds multi-mode analogue filters, high-pass and low-pass resonance control, a three-stage overdrive effect and a vastly expanded modulation matrix with 20 sources and 40 destinations.
Delia is a hybrid, using analogue filters and digital (virtual analogue) oscillators. It offers four oscillators per voice (including a digital wavetable oscillator), three LFOs, three envelopes and a stereo digital delay, chorus and reverb. It's bitimbral—meaning it can play two different patches at the same time—and you can morph between its A and B patches, with its motorised knobs shifting as you morph.
Delia is also more affordable than Nina, despite the additions. The original is currently priced around €3,600, whereas Delia will cost around €2,245 ($2,400).
Watch a demo of Delia from the Superbooth synth show in Berlin.
Delia is available to pre-order now from dealers and is expected to ship this summer.