I‘ve listened to the Unprrson demo and what can I say, Nina can now sound like pretty much anything synthesized, albeit with limited controls and a ladder filter. I‘m looking forward to making some patches with the more toy like, physical modeling and vowel oscillators. Couldn’t care less about the more abrasive sounds, but nice they are there for those who like that.
It’s a shame that this update and the sequencer update didn’t make much of a splash. With any other synth, people would be crazy over these huge bumps in capability. I think they really help justify the price and really hope that more people will come around to it now that it can sound like anything.
How are people feeling about the macro oscillator? I’ve only dabbled with the new presets for a bit, which are as always a mixed bag. There’s lots of harsh or overly modulated stuff in there that I hate. But there’s also some very interesting presets that sound like a welcome addition to the Nina sound palette. Thinking of FM and physical modeling especially. I also like that many of the presets still mostly rely on the analog oscillators but illustrate how the third oscillator can be used to add subtle but influential texture. Can’t wait to explore the oscillators myself.
What I don’t understand is that they made noise the osc3 level knob and osc3 level the timbre knob. I’m naturally reaching for osc3 level to then be confused, it would have been much more consistent with labeling and muscle memory to reverse it. Any guesses why they chose to implement it like this?
The macro osc is very welcome addition. Even before, the wavetable osc was kinda primary osc for mids and highs partials for me and two analog ones were there to add low and lower mid elements. I think it’s the mixing section that kinda makes the analog oscillators little ‘samey’ for my ears. Like if it’s squashing things to always sound even. Nearly like compression. And drive is helping this as well. Yes, there are nice nuances that can be coaxed out of just analog osc pair but somehow things are easier with digital oscillators (WT + macro).
I’ve only run through all the models and presets and made a few quick presets, mainly built around model type modulation with LFO, pressure and envelope. Glitchy mayhem! But also a few presets where the two macro parameters are mapped to MPE. Still at the beginning of the road that seems to be wide and long.
I guess they wanted to have the two macro parameters on adjacent knobs.
Made my first patches with the new oscillators and really enjoyed it. However, there’s some things that bother me right now. Can anyone chime in if I’m doing something wrong?
The analog oscillators always bleed, even if they’re set to zero level and there’s no modulation applies to their level at all, I can hear them loud and clearly. That sucks because I want to make some patches with only the digital oscillator.
There’s also significant clicks when using different macro osc at certain settings. Does the Jina hardware struggle to keep up with it? Even happens when there’s no modulation happening that could be taxing.
Yes, analogs bleed here as well. Not enough to bother me but it’s there. And yes, I’m experiencing occasional crackling noises too. Both issues were already happening before the Braids implementation. Crackles remind me the linux jack xruns. And as you describe, it’s not dependent on fx or modulation load. Does it appear when fx is mixed in or even on just dry signal? I’ll try to check. It’s also not a signal clipping crackle.
Also, always a few minutes after synth startup, I’m getting a high pitched down-going noise sweep. It’s not loud but clearly hearable and pretty consistent. It disappears after a while. I address this to a filter/OSCs (or maybe a power adapter?) warming up because it correlates with certain tuning instability that can be heard during this period. It’s just a matter of a few minutes and it’s gone. I have and have had other analog synths that need to warm up so it’s not bothering me and I’m happy that this warm up window is shorter than on my Slim Phatty which takes 20-40 minutes to warm up and stabilize Those analog quirks… they are wabi-sabi of electronic music I guess.
I learned about the new macro oscillator from the recent Superbooth coverage and quickly discovered their prior multi-track sequencer update, too. Both were huge factors in my decision.
Braids was perhaps my favorite synth voice when I still had a modular setup (next to perhaps the E350 Morphing Terrarium). To have 12 of them, through an analogue signal chain?! Woof.
I wonder what would happen if the outputs 3/4 are routed back to inputs and used as CV mod sources or mixed back into signal flow. Getting some feedback or feedback modulation should in theory introduce harsher/distorted tones. Unfortunately I won’t get to testing it earlier than tomorrow.
BTW, this nice Braids modes illustrated manual can come handy while exploring the possibilities
Oh that’s nice, thanks for sharing! Was already thinking I should watch some Braids tutorials to get more out of the macro osc.
Tbh, I was expecting this update to be kinda useless, usually auch updates after the fact that are shoehorned into a fixed interface with print and all are just a confusing mess, where you don’t know what the knobs are doing etc. But the way they implemented it is great, the display gives you all the information you need in case you’re not sure what the knob does. And the type select shows the name of the oscillators - that’s the part where I was sure you would just be left to scroll a long list of oscillators without having a clue what you’re landing on. It’s another example how good Melbourne are at UI/UX, it’s clearly something they put a lot of effort into.
NINA arrived today! I updated it to the latest FW, brought in the macro osc. preset bank, plus imported the Pattern banks from Cenk (MrDataline) and The Unperson. The multi-track sequencer is a blast.
I really appreciate how Braids adds that delicious formant/vowel quality.
Exploring from an init patch, browsing factory presets, or stumbling into Matt Johnson’s warm, lovely bank of stuff–all of this truly surprised me with the breadth of timbres this instrument offers.
I am trying to figure out how to use noise as a modulation source. It’s not any of the 16 shortcuts, it seems, and can’t seem to access them anyhow else…Any help would be godsent, thanks.
If I’m not mistaken, Noise itself isn’t a Mod source, but the Wave Mod source gives you access to Osc 3–including the new Braids voice. That’s awesome, because Braids has myriad flavors of noise which can then be used to modulate other things.
True that! I’m used to multitimbral layering from past instruments e.g., Nord Leads, or Groove Synthesis 3rd Wave… Honestly with Nina I’ve been exploring the multitrack sequencer mode first.
Thanks for your answer. I can use the normal Osc 3 WT’s as sources, works fine, but for the life of me, I’m not gettin’ anything when I switch to Macro Osc. Can anyone confirm that it works for them?
Those analog quirks… they are wabi-sabi of electronic music I guess.
