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Ahead of the 2025 NAMM Show, being held January 21–25 in Anaheim, California, Melbourne Instruments teases a controller that features the specially developed, self-rotating knobs from its Nina and Delia synths.

Australian manufacturer Melbourne Instruments had the synth world in a spin back in 2022 when it announced the release of Nina, a 12-voice analogue poly equipped with specially-developed motorized knobs that respond to parameter changes in real time.

Three years on, and it appears that Melbourne Instruments has placed those motorized knobs in a MIDI controller. While no official announcement has yet been made, images and video have appeared on Synth Anatomy, MatrixSynth and the Elektronauts forum that show a modestly-sized rectangular controller equipped with eight of Melbourne’s self-rotating knobs.

The video – which unfortunately has no audio – appears to show the controller hooked up to Ableton Live, its eight knobs mapped to specific parameters in the DAW.

A row of LED-equipped, keyboard-style buttons sit below the screens, mapped to the Mute controls for eight tracks in Ableton’s mixer; the track names are visible on small displays above each button. On the controller’s right hand side is a keypad with several more buttons, and it seems to be equipped with both a USB-C and MIDI DIN port.

To our ears, applying the motorized knob concept from the Nina and Delia synths to a MIDI controller sounds like a stroke of genius, giving the user real-time feedback on parameter values without having to refer to a screen, and making it far more convenient to use the same knobs for multiple parameters.

It seems likely that Melbourne Instruments will be officially unveiling the mysterious controller next week. The company says “Melbourne Instruments will be in California for NAMM 2025 and the Buchla & Friends events. We’ll have new products on show!”

Upcoming Events:

• NAMM 2025 – January 23-25, Booth 10608, Anaheim Exibition Center, Anaheim CA, USA
• Buchla & Friends – January 25-26, 1759 Glendale Boulevard, Los Angeles CA, USA

Following the recent announcement of its latest Organ, Clavia has now unveiled a new iteration of its flagship Nord Piano series, promising “great flexibility for performance and sound creation”.

The Nord Piano 6 – latest version of the iconic red piano offers advanced synth and piano layering, better hands-on control and enhanced effects.

Highlights of the Nord Piano 6 include its advanced layering capabilities. These allow the user to combine two independent piano layers and sample-based synth layers. Each layer has its own LED-equipped fader on the instrument’s redesigned interface, making it easy to balance and adjust the various timbral parts. The piano and synth engines can also be split across the instrument’s keyboard.

That new interface also offers extra hands-on control over things like modulation, EQ and the Piano’s delay and reverb effects. On the effect front, Piano 6 adds new spring reverb and spin effect types, along with new delay modes and amp tone options. The Piano 6 can apply effects individually to each layer, other than the reverb, which sits on a global send.

As with previous models, all sounds are built around meticulously sampled instruments. For the piano section, that includes a large selection of grand, upright and electric pianos, drawn from Nord’s Piano Library. These can make use of dynamic compression, unison and Soft, Mid, Bright and Dyno filter modes.

Here’s the official Nord Piano 6 intro video:

The synth section ranges from classic analogue synths through to sampled guitars and orchestral instruments, offering a wide variety of timbral flavours. These make use of round-robin sampling for increased realism, and can be shaped using unison, vibrato and amp envelope controls.

The Nord Piano 6 comes in 73 and 88-note models, both of which feature a Triple Sensor keybed with grand weighted action. The Nord Piano 6 73 is priced at $3,599/ £2,999 and the 88 is priced at $3,799/ £3,299. No word on release dates as yet. Visit Nord site for more.

NAMM 2025: It’s turning into quite the month for problem-solving switch box for music makers with more gear than inputs.

After the arrival of Heritage Audio’s Synth Buddy, Flock Audio has just announced Switch, an analogue instrument routing controller that does a similar job but with a whole lot more pizazz.

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, Flock Audio has become a leader in pro audio innovation. Best known for its PATCH Series – the company is committed to delivering cutting-edge, digitally controlled, yet 100% analog solutions for modern audio environments.

The Switch goes one better than its more functional, physical rivals by offering both digital and mechanical control of its inputs and what exactly arrives at its outputs.

At its heart it’s, once again, a transparent audio switch box, this time enabling you to connect up to eight mono or stereo inputs to the box and have your choice of ins appearing at its outputs. It is therefore ideal for those wanting to quickly swap in and out gear, or have eight pieces of hardware permanently connected to just a pair of inputs.

Now you can toggle between up eight mono/stereo ins with 100% transparent analogue routing and no AD/DA conversion or latency, all with a single, simple-to-use interface.

As is becoming established enough in this particular field, the device is equipped with a large rotary knob to make simple, physical selection of your desired input a breeze. Switch goes one further, however, in that this knob comes armed with an LCD display which is completely customisable by the user, allowing them to give each input a device name and/or other information as to what is plugged in where.

Additionally, it is possible to control the switching within your DAW, so you can program the swapping in and out of instruments and let Switch take the strain during playback.

“Switch is a new product category for us designed to directly address the needs of artists and engineers who use synths and other analog instrument inputs in their work and want a physical interface with PATCH-style control and flexibility,” says Flock Audio Founder and CEO Darren Nakonechny.

“Switch offers seamless operation and enhanced creative flexibility in both live and recording environments, and the large LCD display rotary knob makes it incredibly easy and frankly, fun to use.”

Features:

• 8 TRS/TS Inputs (Mono/Stereo / 2 XLR Outputs)
• Analog Audio & AES/EBU signal level compatibility
• A large LCD with user customisation for images, colours and text
• ‘Under Glow Knob Ambient User Customization Color’
• Switch app routing software for OSX and Windows
• Bypass, mute and mute all channels
• Noise supression while switching
• No AD/DA conversion, no Latency, 100% sonically transparent analog routing
• USB-C Power & Software Control
• Dimension: 2” x 9” x 6”
• Weight: 24 lbs

The Switch is expected to be shipping by Q3 2025, with pricing yet to be confirmed.

Switch is one of Flock’s new PATCH series of digitally-controlled, all-analogue routing solutions and will be revealed in full at the upcoming 2025 NAMM Show.

For those attending the 2025 NAMM Show in Anaheim (January 23–25), you can see SWITCH in action at Flock Audio’s booth (#16019).