Every motorized rotary control that Melbourne Instruments builds is now covered by a 10-year warranty.
Melbourne Instruments let us know that they have extended the warranty on the motorized rotary controls in every product it makes – NINA, DELIA and ROTO-CONTROL – to 10 years.
One contact told us that the interesting part is why they can do this: there’s no contact anywhere in the control assembly. Torque passes from the motor through a magnetic field, rather than a gear train, and the position is read optically, with nothing touching. This means that there’s no wear surface between the motor and your fingers.
Here’s what they have to say about it:
“A conventional knob uses a wiper dragging across a resistive track, and that contact is what wears, collects dust and eventually fails. Melbourne Instruments’ controls remove contact from the assembly. Torque passes from the motor through a magnetic field rather than a gear train. Position is read optically, with nothing touching. There is no wear surface anywhere between the motor and the player’s fingers.
That has benefits beyond durability. An endless encoder has no fixed position, so the knob sits wherever the last hand left it and the true value lives on a screen or LED. Its detents soften over time as the disc and wipers wear. Melbourne Instruments’ knobs drive to the exact preset position, hold detents and switch positions under the hand, and change character on demand – stepped, smooth, or switch-like. No gears between the motor and your fingers. The knob moves the instant the sound does.
The motors have been tested 50 million times, far more than a lifetime of playing could reach. The 10-year warranty is not the limit of the mechanism. It is the point at which Melbourne Instruments stopped counting.”
The extended warranty is available to both new and existing customers. Customers who bought before 17 August 2026 have until 17 February 2027 to register and activate their full 10 years, running from the original date of purchase.
